PREPRODUCTION: July-August 2023
Primarily, I wanted to make a fun film.
I made this animation in April of a caramel apple man dancing in a display cabinet. I was reminded of a film idea I had in the past about a pumpkin not wanting to become pumpkin pie. Eventually, I chose this to make into my thesis project. “Escape the Kitchen!” follows a pumpkin as he desperately escapes a kitchen to avoid being baked into a pumpkin pie.
I was torn between dot eyes or eyes with scleras for the pumpkin. After mulling it over and discussing with friends, I opted for the latter as it would better capture his fear and anxiety.
Turnarounds
Setting
My initial image of the kitchen was one that matched the grandmother’s color palette: light pink cabinet, warm toned tablecloths. However I decided on a cooler toned kitchen so that the warm-toned characters would be more distinct from their environment.
Beatboards
When boarding, I wanted to emphasize the imposing size of the kitchen compared to the tiny pumpkin trying to escape it. A large part of the escape involves the pumpkin using utensils to their advantage, hiding under teacups, and navigating dangerous, culinary environments. To raise the stakes for the second half, the pumpkin is up high, and in addition to the danger of falling, a cat obstructs the pumpkin’s path.
PRODUCTION: September-Present day
On of the first assignments was a look of picture. I chose a shot with both the grandmother and pumpkin. I wanted to test how each of them moved. The grandmother should move slower, due to her size and age. Putting her and the frantic pumpkin together in one shot showed me their different styles of movement could work together.
Pumpkin Animation Test
I have an affinity towards animation styles that are bouncy and expressive, and wanted to explore that in my own work. So I didn’t concern myself with strict consistency and instead put movement at the forefront. Since my little pumpkin has no mouth or eyebrows, and generally has their eyes in either a closed or wide open position, I relied heavily on bodily performance. This proved to be sufficient, as sadly my little pumpkin only varies between two emotions: extreme stress and fleeting relief.
Production Spreadsheet
This film has 45 shots, and I wanted to spread out the workload effectively. I assessed every shot and ranked their expected difficulty/time to animate on a scale of 1-5. From there I made sure that I was never animating two “5s” in one week when scheduling.
Color Guide for Background Artists
USC provides a budget for students to hire for our thesis films. I was lucky to have two animation assistants, which I assigned 14 shots total, as well as three background designers, who are responsible for most of the backgrounds. I prepared a background art guide with a brush pack, as well as pngs of the color palettes for the artists to insert into their scenes.