Jason Robinson
DCC Capstone Proposal
The Right Tool for the Job – An animated short
The concept behind my project drew inspiration from the situation that undoubtedly a majority of college students face: with so many opportunities and different possibilities facing us all as we move forward into the world, how do we find our purpose? I’ve been struggling with this question for the majority of my time here at Maryland, so I decided to take this capstone project as an opportunity to both explore a field of interest as well as tell a symbolic story using digital media.
My project’s format will be a digital animated short film of around 3 to 5 minutes.
To create this project, I plan to use a combination of softwares, including but not limited to StoryBoard Pro, GIMP and/or Photoshop, Autodesk 3ds Max as well as post-production software which I have yet to decide on fully, but likely will be tools featured in 3ds Max as well. I chose to use an animated film to tell my story because it is a medium that I have never worked with before, and it is something I have almost no experience with. I really want this project to challenge me and I will ideally be leaving the project with both a new skillset as well as a quality production that I can be proud of. I find that I work best on challenging tasks and projects when I am self-motivated and have a personal desire to learn the material and succeed; thus, I feel that moving out of my comfort zone in this project will be a decision that will have a beneficial effect on my final project and semester in DCC.
To complete this project, I need to utilize tools in programs like 3ds Max and Photoshop, as well as 3D modeling skills that I am currently teaching myself via online tutorials and experimentation. By my estimation, by the beginning of next semester I will need to be working with these programs at a high level of ability, so over the winter break, I plan to keep working with and using these programs, developing my skills in the following areas:
- Modeling
- Texturing
- Rendering
- Rigging
- Animating
I plan to be capable with modeling and texturing by the end of the semester, so I can focus on the final three aspects over the break. Once the spring semester starts, my plan is to draft a very focused plan with realistic goals for each week, so that I can measure my progress and have an accurate gauge on my project’s success.
Having discussed the tools I will use to create the project, I would like to touch on the actual project itself. My idea for the animated short was somewhat inspired by Shel Silverstein’s “The Missing Piece” as well as the question of purpose, as mentioned before. The basic premise for my animated short is a Swiss Army Knife (a knife named Mack) trying to find its purpose in life. With so many different tools for so many different settings and situations, what does it do with its life? Thus, my film will follow this animated tool through approximately 5 different main scenes where it will be experimenting in very diverse situations with its tools. These scenes would use quick transitions, as Mack will “drop” (fall through one scene to the next) into new settings; these scenes will be laid out as follows:
Exposition/Introduction
Setting: Blank area, reminiscent of “loading area” from the Matrix, seemingly infinite space.
Mack is looking around, searching, wiggling his limbs, showing all of his different tools. Drops into:
Scene 1: Tweezers
Setting: Bathroom mirror
Mack is being used for plucking eyebrows and other “manscaping” tasks! Breaks away and drops into:
Scene 2: Bottle Opener
Setting: Living Room at a house party
Mack is at a party, being used for opening beer and drink bottles. Loud noises and spilling drinks don’t suit him at all, so he drops into:
Scene 3: Corkscrew
Setting: Dining room
Mack is at another party, but with classical music playing and fancy food. He is used to open wine bottles, but doesn’t quite like it, so he drops into:
Scene 4: File
Setting: Carpenter’s Workshop
Mack is now being used for his file tool, as a carpenter finishes off the carving on a rocking chair. Mack then drops into:
Scene 5: Can Opener
Setting: Campfire
Mack is now being used to open cans of beans around a campfire. The outdoors frightens him, so he drops into:
Scene 6: Walking a lonely street, depressed that it hasn’t found its true purpose, until an idea strikes
Final Scene:
Setting: Typical den in a house
Mack is finally being used for a multitude of purposes instead of just one, and he is content to be able to use all of his talents.
That sums up my project’s plot and theme, as I will attempt to use digital media to show how a person can have many talents and opportunities and not be forced to commit to just one. I feel that my concept works well on multiple levels, and that I will be able to produce a quality capstone project that I will be proud to present to the DCC community.
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