MILESTONE 1: *9-12 PANEL STORY PITCH & MOOD BOARD
**CLIENT PITCH 1: FULL PANEL PITCH, MOOD BOARD, EARLY CONCEPT, TONAL SCRIPT**
MILESTONE 2: ANIMATIC & COLOR CONCEPT
MILESTONE 3: LAYOUT REEL & PRODUCTION TESTS
MILESTONE 4: MID-SEMESTER PRODUCTION CHECK-IN
MILESTONE 5: FINAL SUBMISSION & EVALUATION FORMS
Each team will present three separate PSA concept pitches. One concept per team member. Each concept will include a *9-12 panel story pitch accompanied by a Moodboard.
Individual Research: Each team member should take in upon themselves to dive into the documentation available on the PSA ASSIGNMENT PAGE. Keep a sketchbook on hand while your doing your research.
Team Collaboration & Support: Even though each Story Pitch and Mood Board will be an individual pursuit, Artists should rely on their team members for feedback BEFORE presenting final pitches to the client.
Discord: Meet with your team via Discord to share your research observations, and discuss possible angles moving forward. It would be helpful if your team identified a "Unifying Concept" to guide all three pitches.
Pintrist: Create a Shared Pintrist Board so team members can collectively gather images to support their individual pitches.
A. *9-12 PANEL STORY PITCH (x3)
For the first Milestone in this project, you will be pitching three possible *9-12-panel sceneries. Each team member will develop a single pitch sequence that addresses the PSA theme. Each Pitch Sequence should be visually engaging utilizing narrative flow, and cinematic design.
* "9-12-panels" is loosely defined and may be expanded upon if one or two more panels are needed. 15 or more panels at this stage may suggest your idea could be too complex to execute as a 30-45 second PSA.
Workflow:
1. Each team member should and bang out simple images to share in the team Discord channel. Work quickly at this stage. Once you have narrowed your options to a single idea, begin developing this into multiple panels. Don't worry about sequence, that can come later.
2. Take as many panels as you need at first to clarify the concept and then edit them back to essential panels for your final pitch. ALWAYS save your outtakes! If it turns out that you need an extra panel or two to sell the pitch, this is acceptable. Any more than that and you're either not editing as well as you should or your idea is too complicated to deliver as a 30-45 second PSA.
3. Reformat your panels to a 16;9 aspect ratio (1920 x 1080)
Pro Tip: Shift/Select all your panels in Adobe Bridge and then go to Tools/Photoshop/Load Files into Photoshop Layers.
4. Take time to clean up your images. Line, color, tone . . . use whatever you need to clearly communicate your vision for the final animation. Save each pitch in a single folder of sequential jpgs and practice flipping through them in Adobe Bridge.
B. VISUAL RESEARCH - MOOD BOARD
Visual Research into design, color, lighting and mood, the Mood Board should establish a singular visual direction for your piece. The Mood Board should consist of color swatches, frame grabs, illustrations and concept art form existing works arranged in a way that will convey the overall mood of the piece you are proposing. If there is a mood progression in your project be sure that this is represented in your Mood Board.
Click on examples above for a closer look.
Workflow:
- Draw from the Team Pintrist board to assemble no less than 12 images that support a singular visual direction for your pitch.
- Images should be arranged in such a way that they are easy to read and conveys an overall mood or progression of moods.
- Export s a single JPG.
C. TONAL SCRIPT
Go here for instructions and template for building a Tonal Script.
Specs for Tonal Script:
- Between 6 and 9 B&W Panels
- Multiple panels arranged in a single image against a black or neutral background.
- Presented as a single JPG no less than 2-3K in size.
NAMING & SUBMITTING FILES:
Single Folder for all three pitches:
team01_PSA Pitches (folder)
Story Panel/Mood Board Pitches: Submit each story pitch sequence and Mood board .jpg in it own folder
simpsonH_PSA_01 (folder)
flandersN_PSA_02 (folder)
simpsonB_PSA_03 (folder)
Submitting to Basecamp: Submit all three to your respective Basecamp team folder.
Basecamp/422_dropBox/. . . Pitch Folder.
**CLIENT PITCH 1: PANEL PITCH & EARLY CONCEPT**
Come to class ready to pitch your proposals to our CCL client. Your job is to help the client Imagine what the final PSA will be by the end of the semester.
Keep in mind that these proposals are a starting point for your project and are subject to change over the entire process.
PRESENTATION:
1. Story - Full Panel Story Pitch: Somewhere between 9-15 sequential panels that clearly communicate the narrative/cinematic flow of the PSA.
- Panels should be drawn well, easy to read
- Drawings should be well-composed and should reflect a cinematic vision for the final PSA
- Panels should include clear, legible on-sceen text.
2. Design - Mood Board, Early Concept & Tonal Script: Sequential JPGs. No PDF files.
- Mood Board - Revised and focused toward a single stylistic vision with compatible color elements.
- Early Concept - Character & Environment sketches that communicate a clear stylistic vision.
- Tonal Script - 6-9 black & white story panels presented in a single jpg. The Tonal Script should conveys the use of lighting and the overall emotional tone.
NAMING & SUBMITTING:
Submission: Place the following folder in 422 Basecamp/Dropbox/Milestone 01C - Client Pitch 1
Parent Folder Name: Team 01_CCL Pitch 1
Pitch folder Set-up:
Story Folder: 1_Story_workingTitle - Sequential JPGs.
Design Folder: 2_Design_workingTitle - Sequential JPGs (No PDF Files)
- Mood Board *1,2,3,etc.* - Revised/Focused
- Early Concept *4,5,6,etc.*- Character & Environment
- Tonal Script *7,8,9,etc.* - Single Page JPG (6-9 Panels)
MILESTONE 2: ANIMATIC, COLOR CONCEPT & COLOR SCRIPT
The second milestone is all about nailing the timing and cinematic presence of your project and refining your "look of picture".
A. ANIMATIC
The Animatic nails down timing and composition. It insures that your visual story beats not only engage cinematically but that they unfold with impact and clarity within the allotted time frame. The Animatic is more advanced than a typical Storyreel making use of moving cut-outs, replacement drawings and multiple layers to convey a higher level of design, cinematography, and pace. Typically animatics are black & white but color can be used strategically if necessary.
Animatics can be executed using a variety of media, including Adobe After Effects, Adobe Premiere, Toon Boom Storyboard Pro or even Toon Boom Harmony. 3D can be used in a limited capacity but often can slow down or encumber the process. The whole point of the Animatic is to move quickly while taking your project to the next level of engagement.
Audio is a must! Preliminary audio (or scratch audio) plays a huge part in establishing timing and conveying a limited but film-like experience.
Click on examples above for a closer look
Specs for Animatic:
- Scratch Audio
- Conveys key action beats and basic cinematography
- Black & white with strategic use of color as necessary
- Export at Full HD 1920 x 1080 H264 compression
B. COLOR CONCEPT
Color Concepts are an exploration into the "look of picture". Use this process to determine how color and visual style will be used through the arc of your piece. Use your exploration time wisely, as you will need one image for each significant color shift in your progression. Focus on the cinematic beats themselves, avoiding the detailed exploration more suitable to longer-form animation (ie, character color breakdowns, etc.). It would not be uncommon to render each of the beats in full progressive color.
If you are using traditional media, now would be a good time to start experimenting with actual materials.
Click on examples above for a closer look
Specs for Concept Art:
- Between 3 and 5 Color Concept images that best reflect the visual style as it progresses through your project.
- Concept images should be no less than 2-3K in size.
- Present Concept images as sequential JPGs. Eventually these images will be combined as a Design Workbook PDF.
C. COLOR SCRIPT
Download Tonal Template here.
Tonal/Color Script Template_6.psd
Specs for Color Script:
- Between 6 and 9 Color Panels
- Multiple panels arranged in a single image against a black or neutral background.
- Presented as a single JPG no less than 2-3K in size.
MILESTONE 3: LAYOUT REEL & PRODUCTION TESTS
The third milestone is all about building technical strategies and resolving any outstanding questions you may have about moving forward into production. A huge return on this process is not only a visual sense of what the piece may look like in its final form, you also get a fairly concrete idea of what it will actually take to pull it off. Think of it as a dress rehearsal for the final film.
A. LAYOUT REEL
The Layout Reel is like a working scale-prototype of your final film. Layout stands in the gap between development and production laying the technical and aesthetic foundation for the production milestone to come. Working to scale in the actual production medium allows the Layout artist to compose the scene with technical accuracy, anticipating physical (and material) limitations for the final production. It is also an opportunity to solve the many potential production problems that could arise further down the pipeline.
The Layout Reel, set to final timing, establishes the role of the camera and its relationship to the elements in the scene. The tools you'll have at your disposal will vary according to your chosen medium. These tools may include various lens choices, multi-plane layers, temporary lighting and effects, character blocking and even key character poses.
One final return from the Layout process is a complete inventory as to what you will need to pull off a finished production. Done well, Layout sets the rest of the pipeline up for an incredibly smooth execution.
Click on examples above for a closer look and notice the different choices animators made in layout to nail down their process before heading into the final shoot.
Specs for Layout Reel:
- Work to scale in the actual medium of choice
- Solve potential technical and pipeline issues
- Include Scratch Audio
- Export movie at full HD 1920 x 1080 H264
B. PRODUCTION TESTS
Milestone three is the time to test any unknowns that may have arisen in your previous milestones. Areas of testing can include, but are not limited to, Visual Effects, Combined Workflow Issues, Animation tests/Character Exploration, Rig Testing, Render/Shader Testing . . . and the list goes on. Anything you're not sure about at this point should be looked into to alleviate surprises during actual production.
Specs for Production Tests:
- Stills should be rendered no smaller than 1920 x 1080 and number sequentially
- Demos can be presented from the software interface (IE. Maya or After Effects). Be sure to practice presentation ahead of time.
- Movies can be playblasts. Renders should be at least 720 x 1280 H264
- Place all tests in a single folder
Click on examples above for a closer look
NAMING & SUBMITTING FILES:
Layout Reel: simpsonH_flandersN_Square_Layout_021718.mp4
Production Test Folder: simpsonH_flandersN_Square_ProductionTests
Submitting to Basecamp: Submit to Basecamp/420_dropBox/. . .
MILESTONE 4: MID-SEMESTER PRODUCTION CHECK-IN
A. PRODUCTION CHECK-IN TBA
NAMING & SUBMITTING FILES:
Submitting to Basecamp: Submit r to Basecamp/420_dropBox/. . .
MILESTONE 5: FINAL SUBMISSION & PARTNER EVALUATION
If the final PSAs are on brand, CCL would like to distribute them on CCL social media channels and as a "break video" to play in between sessions the CCL annual conference.
This would require a full horizontal version (1920 x 1080) and one or two 5-10 second asset bits in vertical alignment for Instagram (1080 x 1920).
A. SUBMIT FINAL PROJECT & SUPPORTING FILES
Please name files and submit the following in a single folder to Basecamp/422_dropBox/Final Submission Folder/simpsonH_flandersN_Square_finalSubmission
1. FINAL ANIMATION MOVIE FILE – A finished movie of your project should be submitted at 1920 x 1080 H624 Compression. Uncompressed files are unplayable and therefore un-submittable. Be sure to include a six-digit date to the file name.
File Name: simpsonH_flandersN_Square_final_092920.mp4
2. VISUAL DEVELOPMENT PDF FILE - Include original research, inspiration & pitch images; concept art and significant test renders as a single pdf file.
File Name: simpsonH_flandersN_Square_visualDev.pdf
3. PROGRESSION REELS & MOVIES FOLDER – Include the Animatic, Layout Reel and significant test & process movie files in a single folder. Please name files accordingly.
Folder Name: simpsonH_flandersN_progressionReels
Stephan Leeper 2025/CMU Animation
