Home | About | Writing | Art | Music | Other | Links | Contact

CSUF Preproduction for Animation - Return to Index (2.20.06) Character Development Additional Development: Poi: Backstory Poi is the runt of the penguins. He's always been the smallest of the group, and he if often ridiculed by the other young penguins because of it. While the other penguins play and socialize with one another, Poi has taken to playing his own games apart from the other penguins. He likes to slide down hills of snow on his belly or push himself around on a patch of ice. Sometimes, Poi will build massive mounds of snow and ice just to see if he can climb to the top of it without it falling. When he doesn't succeed, he'll start over again, making the mound higher and steeper than even before. Poi: Character Attributes Hero, small, relaxed, affectionate, determined, young, imaginative, dreamer, persistent, optimistic, trusting, sheltered, naïve, honest, open-to-change, shy, confident, resiliant, forthright, easily distracted, motivated, introverted, expedient, socially inept, adventurous, lively, engergetic, outsider, fearless, forthright, ambitious, curious, self-assured, versatile, hopeful, playful, clumsy Poi: Situation Response Your Character has come up to a mechanical toll booth and finds he has no money. here are cars behind him lining up and honking. What happens next? How does your character respond to the situation? Poi is driving around, having some fun on the road, when comes to a small bar stretched across the road in front of him. He remembers another penguin telling about this road and its peculiar obstacle, and he smiles at the sense of familiarity that gives him, even though he can't recall anything of the conversation. Visually, it's an interesting sight for Poi. Being used to the harsh white landscape of his home, he's excited by the bright yellow painted bar in front of him. Shifting his gaze across the bar, he notices a rather large blue box by its side, and the red and blue reflect off the snow, casting a dazzling array of dark red and purple patches onto the road ahead of him. At this moment, Poi's thoughts are interrupted by the playful sound of a car horn barking behind him. Poi welcomes the game, and he taps his own rhythm, allowing breaks for the other cars to join in. This lasts for a bit, but Poi quickly tires of the game and directs his attention back toward the yellow bar in front of him. Curiously, he pushes forward in his car, slowly inching forward until his bumber rests against the yellow paint. Then he nudges it ever so slightly, allowing his car to barely rock forward and back again. He watches the gate as it relaxes back into its position, vibrating softly. Again, Poi pushes forward and then back, this time further than before. Again, the gate springs back into position, though this time more forcefully, and the gate is still vibrating when Poi drives into it a third time. He wonders how far he can push it backward, and soon gets his answer as he hears a loud crack beside him. Suddenly, his car picks up speed, and the gate that had once pushed forcefully against him now swings back without resistance. Flightless: Initial Story Concept Poi is wandering along the ice away from the other penguins. His parents have both gone to catch food, and those remaining on the packed ice seem content to ignore him. Poi sees an Antarctic Tern flying above him. He’s never seen such a sight before, and watches in awe as the bird soars overhead. Poi starts to get excited, and he runs along underneath the bird as it glides effortlessly away, gradually pulling further and further ahead. Poi tries to keep up, running faster, and faster, until he runs straight into the side of a glacier and finally loses sight of the bird. Poi steps back and stretches to stand on his tiptoes, gazing at the top of the glacier. Poi thinks for a second, and realizing the key to the Tern’s secret, he starts to flap his wings. Nothing happens, so he tries flapping his wings even faster, and he starts to run around, jumping up and down. Some of the other young penguins stop to watch Poi, running around in a circle, waving his arms frantically, but he barely acknowledges their quizzical glances. Determined to succeed, Poi decides that the secret to the Tern’s success is in it’s height, and he starts climbing up onto a mound of ice where he can try again. Once on top, runs toward the edge, starts flapping his wings and leaps off the side of his mound. Rather quickly, he falls to the icy ground below and slides into the glacier ahead of him. Obviously, his mound was not high enough, but the glacier, he sees, as he picks himself up, will do much better. Poi makes the arduous climb to the top of the glacier. At its peak, he pauses, welcoming the swift breeze that blows through his feathers. Cautiously, he looks over the edge of the glacier, and then up toward the sky, where he sees the Tern still circling above. Then, feeling confident, he backs up, spreads his wings, and takes a running leap off the edge. Poi flaps his wings and, letting the wind carry him, he hangs in the air for a brief moment – before plummeting downward uncontrollably. Poi flaps his wings frantically, though to no avail, and he smacks hard into the icy ground below, where he lies lifeless for a second. Raising his head, he notices the ice below him cracking, and he tries to pick himself up and run onto solid ground, but he can’t move fast enough on the slippery ice. As the cracks widen, the ground Poi is standing on begins to fall in pieces into the frigid water below, and soon, Poi falls in with it. Scared, defeated, and not knowing what to do, Poi falls like a weight to the bottom of the shallow pool. There, he sees another penguin swim past above him, as though flying though the water. He begins to get excited as another one flies past. Experimentally, Poi moves his wings, and, as he feels himself lifting off the rocks, he starts flapping faster and faster until he, too, soars through the water joyfully. Notes: Medium: Photoshop 7. Reference: None.

Home | About | Writing | Art | Music | Other | Links | Contact