Scene 4: Final Clip

I knew after I'd watched the animatic of this scene that I'd have to make a number of changes and experiment a little with it to see if it actually worked once I'd animated it properly.

This is the first version of the plant gathering scene that I've created. It accurately follows what I've outlined would happen in the animatic, but I don't think that it's quite clear enough what's happening. I quite like the light rays and the dusty bits that I've added to the shots of the plants as it livens up the still images, however, I'm starting to worry that it's becoming quite a tired trope in my film as I've repeated it so much.

I also don't think that the fact that she's gathering plants is clear enough. I feel like I'm going to have to animate it happening instead of simply alluding to it. I'm hoping there's a way to do it that isn't too time consuming but still looks effective and is easy for the audience to comprehend.

This is the second version of the plant gathering scene. I've removed the light rays and dusty bits in favour of actually showing the witch gathering the plants herself. I definitely prefer this version to the last one. I think it's so much clearer and easier to understand.

However, I think that the crosses should be changed to ticks and then a circle as she's gathering the plants. After some feedback from other people watching it, it seems that using ticks to affirm the fact that she's gathered the plants then a circle to signal that she's missing the flower would be much easier to understand. As well as this, I think that it would be nice to actually animate her drawing the ticks and the circle. It wouldn't be too hard to do if I just key framed it so I'll do that and see what it looks like.

This is the final version of the scene that I'd like to be in the film. I think that the changes that I've made to it have really improved the over all aesthetic and has made the scene much more comprehensive. I also think that by showing the witch gathering the plants and writing in the book reminds the audience that not everything she does concerns magic. To do menial tasks like this she just uses her human abilities like everyone else. She keeps the magic for the important things - nurturing and growing the plants and the forest around her.

I'm also glad that I removed the light rays and dust bits from the shot. I think that it was a little bit too much and distracted from the real action that was going on. Also, I think that the last shot just empty with nothing going on is effective as it really emphasises that there's nothing there. This helps to drive the narrative of solving this problem by growing the plant with her powers instead.