Introduction
When the semester at Freestyle Academy was about to come to an end, I reached to one of the last projects that was also my biggest challenge yet: the Zenith project. If you don’t know what the “Zenith” project is, the Zenith project is a presentation similar to the Explorations project, and it allows you to come up with various ideas and turn them into a final product. Additionally, you also have to tell everything that you’ve learned in your elective class and make it outstanding in front of your peers.
For my project, I wanted to create a story that could be relatable and cute, so I went with a short film called “Through the Water”, about a 12-year-old boy named Copper that meets his reflection in the pond that’s next to his house.
Pre-production
When I first thought of doing the project, I drew a little sketch a month ago that features an anonymous person looking at a puddle and seeing his reflected self having three eyes. I used it as a test to come up with the idea for my story.
Two weeks later, I’ve decided to draw another sketch, but this time I used Photoshop to do it (which you can see below). It features the same scenarios as the previous sketch, but I’ve made it in LEGO form, because originally, the medium was supposed to be stop-motion with legos. However, I had to scrap it because it would take too much time, and it was difficult for me to choose which medium to animate the story, since I was also stuck on choosing either 2D or 3D animation around that time. Once it was decided, I went with 2D animation so it would make the process faster.
I also made a document to write down the plot of “Through the Water”, but it was different from the current version: the story was supposed to take place during the modern times, and it would feature Copper seeing his reflection through a mirror rather than water, and he would meet his reflection through a TV screen and have fun times together until he tells him he had to go back to where he came from.
At first I thought the story would work, but I scrapped it because when my dad was helping me with the project, he said my story was cool, but he told me that I should rather focus on getting whatever I need to get done so I can present the project to the whole class.
Production
Production on “Through the Water” begun during the weekend, where I had to draw lego versions of two of my characters on two sticky notes, Copper and Reppoc. Copper is, like I said, a 12-year-old boy who lives with his dad in the woods. Reppoc is Copper’s reflection through the water, but with green skin and three eyes, and he also comes from a dimension where everyone has the same appearance as him. Furthermore, I also drew a character named Jim, who is the father of Copper and wants his son getting to do hard work, but has a hard time due to his son’s annoyance of doing chores.
When I’ve realized that I’ve switched to making the film 2D animated, I drew the models on Adobe Photoshop after the lego form was abandoned for a more cartoony look.
After doing the characters, I went on to do the backgrounds of Copper’s house on Photoshop. First, I drew out the sketches of the house and then I took a snapshot of the sketch so I would trace it digitally. It took me a few days to get the backgrounds done and overall it was quite easy. The other backgrounds are traced from a few shots I took of my storyboards around the same time too.
Around the same time I did the backgrounds, I did the storyboard for the story, which starts off with Copper looking out through the window until he gets called by his dad, who tells him to pitch a bucket of water out from the pond, but Copper isn’t too pleased about it. He walks out to the pond, but when he was about to scoop a bucket of water, he sees his reflection, Reppoc.
Copper becomes a little frightened and runs back to his dad so he can show him. However, Copper’s dad doesn’t see it, thinking that it was just Copper’s imagination and walks back. Copper goes back to the pond and sees his reflection again so he could look closer. Copper gets a little calmer once he interacts with Reppoc, even bringing him a bucket full of water through the pond, which Copper thanks him for. Once Jim was calling Copper’s name, Copper waves goodbye to Reppoc and runs back to his dad, ending the film.
Storyboards
Post-Production
Soon when the Zenith presentation was about to start, I really had to rush through the project before I had to come up. Because I didn’t have much time, I only put in a few shots of storyboards 2-3 as a preview for the film. Even though I didn’t get to do the full movie, at least I got a little bit of progress done.
Here’s a short animatic down below!
Presentation
Reflection
You can watch my Reflection seen below:
Through the Water
Hi, I’m Jack, and here is my reflection of the Zenith project.
I wanted to challenge myself by taking risks in storytelling, and I wanted to make a story that I could feel proud of, because I’ve been passionate about art since youth. I’ve decided on going with a short film, because I know that they’re a good starting point for coming up with a story. I came up with a story called Through the Water, starring a young boy named Copper meeting his reflection in the pond next to his house.
Originally, the story was supposed to be about Copper meeting his reflection reppoC through a mirror, but since it was a little long, I had to change it with a much simpler storyline. My dad has helped me with this project, because he usually helps me with my homework for other classes, and when he looked into my project, he told me that I should make it shorter so I could get the project done faster. He also helped me with the slideshow too.
Overall, working on the Zenith project was fun, and I loved doing it. I loved that I was able to show what I can do in front of my peers. Although I wasn’t able to tell the whole story, at least I did put a lot of effort into it, and a lot of heart.