Storyboard and animatic

This is just a short post showing the storyboard and animatic.

The story following on from the thumbnails has not change much if at all. 

As seen in the Storyboard below, the only real changes were additions of a panning shot of the bayonets (including Excalibur), a close up of Arthur's eye in the lake scene and an extra ending shot of Excalibur underwater.

The animatic below shows the general camera movements and sound effects that i would like to incorporate into my animation.

As far as ideas for creating the animations, I am still considering using a UK DEMs in VUE to help get an accurate landscape of Edinburgh. I also briefly thought of the idea of combining 3D and 2D but decided to keep it as 3D. 

This is a post showing some moodboards for my King Arthur story.


The first is a moodboard for the soldier uniforms both generic and battlefield wear.

This is a moodboard of Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh, including views from Dunsapie loch.

This is a moodboard for the bayonet, Arthur's Excalibur in particular

 This is a moodboard for the war veteran, merlin, including some references for clothing and beards

This is a post showing some very rough thumbnails for my modern King Arthur story.

The frames basically first show a close up of playing cards on the table before the camera pans away to show a group of people playing cards at a round table. At frame 3 the Klaxon sounds and the camera shows Arthur, standing up from the table before he and the group of people walk away outside. The original idea was to show them getting into the helicopter to the battlefield but instead it will cut to the flashback of Arthur talking to Merlin before showing Arthur and his comrades in battle.

The camera will then black out with the sounds of gunfire and various noises, heard in battle. Still with the sounds of battle, a scene fading from black will show Arthur standing at the lake with a bayonet before throwing it into the lake. frame 12 then shows Arthur crouching over, unable to silence the hallucinations from PTSD. He is then shown wading in the lake before a soldier apparition /hallucination pulls him under before showing nothing but rippling water on the surface. The scene will then show a close up of Merlin before the camera pans out to show him standing on Arthur's Seat with the lake underneath.

Hello everyone.

This is just a short post going over the ideas for my modern King Arthur idea in more detail.

After a little bit of research, I have decided that the loch in which Arthur could possibly drown could be Dunsapie Loch, which is a small loch near the foot of Arthur's Seat. It would make sense as Merlin would be able to look down upon the Loch from where he would be standing on Arthur's Seat.

I have also decided to use Digital Elevation Maps (DEMs) so that I can have an accurate representation of Edinburgh's terrain, Arthur's Seat in particular. After some research, we may have found a DEM for the entire United Kingdom, which can be read my AutoCAD. For the Edinburgh Skyline, I may layer some images to give the impression of a slow camera pan.

Graded unit 30% - The Sword in the Loch ideas

Hello everyone. my name is Samantha and welcome to my blog for my graded unit in second year of HND 3D Animation.

This particular blog will contain my individual 30% part, where we each were tasked to come up with a modern take on a classic Scottish legend from a list given in a brief.

This list given in the brief were: Story of King David and the Stag, Sword in the Loch, Thomas and the Rhymer, Ossian and Tir na n-Og, and Mallie and the Trow. Out of the list, I chose the Sword in the Loch, which involves the legend of King Arthur and his sword, Excalibur.

As the Scottish version of King Arthur depicts him as more of a warrior figure, my modern take on the legend will involve a hero who returns from war in either Iraq or Afghanistan. In homage to the legend, Arthur will also have a bayonet named Excalibur.

The opening scene will involve Arthur and a group of people playing cards at a round table in homage to the original legend. The group of people will then be called to war.

There will also be a flashback sequence involving Arthur talking to merlin at Princes street Gardens in Edinburgh, who in this story is an old war veteran offering advice.

In a modern take on the legend where Arthur is taken into the lake by a woman, Arthur will throw his bayonet into the lake in attempt to get rid of PTSD. After the hallucinations fail to stop, Arthur will, like in the legend, wade into the lake to try and retrieve Excalibur. Instead of being pulled under by a woman, however, he will instead be pulled under by an apparition of a soldier.

The story will end with Merlin standing atop Arthur's Seat, watching over the lake in which Arthur died.

And this is the basic crux of my story idea. I will include thumbnails, storyboards and moodboards, as well as some 3D model ideas for the project.

Thank you for reading.