Thoughts After Pitch

The feedback I got from my pitch was positive overall. I got good feedback for the story, and the art style I was aiming for on my story. However, I have a few things to think about after getting some comments about where to go after this.
The first thing I have to think about is the navigation. I haven't really done too much about it, and I need to think about this a bit more. I got suggested a timeline of events idea, where you can scroll through what happened during the day.
After my map intro video, I was thinking about making the map interactive. Because I have the information about where the bomb hit on the day, I could make small info boxes about the other bomb hits, without it taking focus away from the main story. As there is no autoplay on iBooks Author, I could make it so clicking on the Newick part of the map could make the story part start playing,
Other than that, I haven't really thought much else about how to make it more interactive... I'll do some sketches and see where I can go from there.

My Animatics

I have made a couple of animatics before my pitch, just to show what some of my animation could look like from my storyboard drawings.

 

This map scene would be either at the start of the story, or could be the intro sequence. This part is a map of Sussex, showing the main points that the bomber hit, with the last point being the start of the story. The plane moves across the map to each point, and stops at Newick, where the map would then stop and zoom into the main story.

 

In this animatic, it starts showing the sky, as it happens just after the map zooms in to the village, showing a peaceful day. It then pans down to show my granddad's story, which starts with him walking along the road to do some work.

Storyboards

Before making my animatics, I have storyboarded where everything should go beforehand. So far, my storyboards are very basic, but they give me an idea of where to animate everything for my animatics at this point.

This first part is a map scene, a plane will fly over parts of Europe until the map zooms in on Sussex, where the plane will then fly to Newick.















This scene starts the main part of the story. It starts in the sky, and then panning down to the town, where my Grand dad is walking to work. A man then shouts, that there is a plane overhead.













He then gets shocked, and sprints to the nearby bomb shelter. The plane then drops them bomb, causing an explosion.

This part show the explosion happening, and the glass being blasted from the windows.

Although I have not drawn it yet, I have planned to show my Granddad getting injured, and then being sent to hospital after the incident.

What my Ebook Could Look Like?

I started to experiment with one of the WW2 posters I found of the British countryside, and I took a picture of the countryside in East Sussex to replicate the style.

This is the image I edited.

This is the art style I replicated.

This is my replica.

Recording my Audio

Over the weekend, I have managed to record my audio. I got my dad to provide the voiceover, and used one of the college's own microphones as they are good quality.
The recording I have isn't too long, although I will have to edit out some of the pauses and possibly cut some parts of the story out so I can keep each part under 1 minute long.

Thinking of Art Styles

Althought it would looks a bit similar to the propaganda posters from last year, I was thinking about a style that would work well with illustrations, that would also fit in with the time period of the story, The first thing I thought of was the WW2 posters or srt in that style, as it would be possible for me to emulate that style in Illustrator or Photoshop.

More Research on the Bombing

On Wednesday, I went to visit where the bomb hit years ago, and what it looks like now. From this trip, I got an idea of how big the blast radius of the bomb was, and what it would have been like to be there at the time.

What the garage looks like now.

Where a bomb shelter (where my granddad ran to) was situated.

I have also met my granddad's cousin, who although was very young at the time, had a part of the bomb that was dropped, so I have a couple of pictures of that.

             

I also got some more facts of the bombing, which are in my sketch book.

Time Plan

Before I start, I thought I'd plan out my time,so I can get my ebook finished for the deadline. I have also planned my time around crit, and should certain things done before then.

Where I started, so far I have thought of my idea and I kind of have an idea for my art style. In the first week of this project we started looking at existing ebooks and got the brief.

I should get the interview done for my story well before the pitch, so I can get some animation done to show. I'm planning to do this by getting a college microphone, and then interviewing my dad over the weekend. Then I can star my first animatics to get feedback from crit.
After this, I need to plan out my animations further on after effects before I start getting my main animations ready...

During November, I really need to get on with my drawings, animating, and then start putting everything into iBooks Author. Hopefully the drawings won't take too long, and I can get them done by around mid-November.

Lastly, by the start of December I should more-or-less be done, just making final touches to my ebook.

What I am Going to do

Earlier in the week I talked to my dad about how to tell the story, and he said that he would be able to narrate it for me, which is good. He also told me some more details about the story, such as the specific times the bombs struck, and what happened to my grandfather during the bombing.
I have also visited the bombsite to get a clearer picture of how it happened.
I shall update soon with some pictures I have took recently.

Possible Problems?

Although I think that the bombing of Newick would be an interesting story to tell, the problem is that my grandfather is not alive to tell his side of the story. Even thought I do have a first hand account from somebody, they are not from my family, so I don't think it is suitable for the brief.
I shall talk to him soon, to see if my dad knows anything that my granddad told him, otherwise I will have to see if my Nan knew anything about this story, as she might have not known about it. If not, I may have to choose another story...

Research

For my research, I have got a report written by one of the locals, which is about the garage and how it was repaired following the years of the bombing.
The incident happened on the 22nd May 1941, and there is a account of what happened that day written in this article.
These are some quotes from this account:
"Only two enemy planes reached England on that day, one in Wiltshire and one here in Sussex. The German bomber came in over Shoreham at 4.45 in the afternoon dropping bombs at Henfield and Lindfield, then at Chailey/Scaynes Hill and it reached Newick at about 5 o’clock."
"The bomb fell on Dove Cottage opposite the garage with a massive explosion, blasting lime tree branches through the air. After the sound of breaking glass with rubble and tiles falling there was silence. Then came the voices of the frightened people, gradually seeing the damage caused."
"The chemist’s shop ‘Oddie and Whitby’, by the garage, was damaged and inside on the floor surrounded by broken glass was the dead chemist, 62 years-old Percy James Horsley. Broken glass had hit the back of his neck. The blast had lifted and damaged the roof of Terry’s garage and the staff there were injured from flying glass. One of the mechanics Cecil Holman had been trying to get to the air raid shelter at the back. The walls and roof of Bannister’s shop and post office were damaged and the windows were all shattered. Rubble and glass lie over the pavements. Staff had injuries. Mr Carter had intended to dive underneath a lorry for protection but was pleased that he hadn’t because the lorry had rubble scattered all around and under it and the concrete had lifted and jammed against the underside. Soot had come down the chimney of Mrs Annels house and the clock fell off the wall at Red Brick House, the home of Mr and Mrs Fuller."

As seen by these quotes, there was a lot of damage done to part of the village, and my grandfather, Cecil Holman, was part of this incident as he mas a worker at the bombed garage.

This is an image of damage done to a shop nearby to the garage. It was taken from a local newspaper.

Story Idea

Whilst talking with my family about this project more, and looking through the folder about my grandfather, a story was brought up that could make for an interesting ebook as it was around the war time period, and it happened quite locally. I have also started to gather some research for this. This story was about a bomb hitting Newick garage back in 1941, and as my grandparents lived in Newick. The ebook could be about how it affected my nan, and some of the people in the community. As I develop my research, i will hopefully get a clearer picture of how my ebook will look...

Looking at Animated Documentaries

As well as looking at existing ebooks to get a look at how they can be interactive, I have also looked at a couple of animations that are used as informative stories or documentaries.

This animations is called "The History of Evil", and is about evil from Ancient Greek mythology, to the present day. The whole thing is drawn in a cartoon-like style, which I like because I would like to do something like that for my own ebook. Although the animations are simple, it uses sounds and narration to make it entertaining throughout. As we have to have a narration in our ebook, this is a good example of what can be done in After Effects animation.

This animation is much more complex, as is about the Earth's orbit. It uses a lot of 3D models, and 3D diagrams, which can be done in After Effects. This gives me an idea of what I could produce if I had a lot of knowledge on the program, It is very informative, and the animations really help with talking in the information.