Shape's Race Animation Storyboard By Colin Leet

Shapes Race Beginning From April 25, 2015

This is the video from my first public presentation of this project.
It's just the first two minutes of the film.
Download MP4 Link Here

This was my first storyboard for my animated short Shape's Race.

I only ever ended up completing the first 1 min 50 secs out of 7 minutes I had planned for this animation. By the end of the semester I was working on this full time (Spring 2015) I hit a major burnout on this project, and needed to take a prolonged break from it. In the years since I've only occasionally battled down in wee' little bits the mountain of work this project is; updating the rigs, scenery, completed animation, music, etc. My hope is to still complete it sometime in the next 10 years (by 2024 would be great!).

Storyboard Version 1.0

Starting Shot Sequence / Scene Setting
*Boxy wobbles forward as the ball passes him by. [Boxy] stops, turns, sees the ball [passing him], and then goes double time. Spring comes in near the end of the shot.*

This idea for boxy to have a butterfly pass boxy by was cut.
While [Boxy] is stopped a butterfly [passing him by and] gets caught in his breath and gets swayed around a lot.
[This also blows around several flowers]. (I may add in this animation at a later date.)
*[Boxy] stops and turns to view the sign.*

1) [Boxy reads the sign. Then springy boings in [frame], leveling out. [They both] ready the sign.
Springy and boxy look at each other. Spring shakes his head and moves on.
2) Box [and Springy] look over at the tack start.

Spring and Ball look back at Boxy. Spring gestures to boxy to hurry up.
[Springy jumps to the sphere at the starting line.]
[Boxy, annoyed, quickly waddles to the starting line.]

This is as far as I ever got animating the film by the end of the semester (it was up to 1 min 50 sec long). Although the animated version does follow the same general movements as these first five storyboards, the final shots ended up completely changing from my initial plan shown here.
*Panting heavily [Box] collects his breath and looks up at the distance...*

Rack focus all the way from the end of the track [zooming to reveal the characters, while dollying back] to behind the starting line.
[The three starting lights are above the lane for each character. Boxy's lane turns green.]

*Pivoting slowley on his edge boxy tips back and forth, back and forth, [flipping] forward...*

[0) Box falls on his face and starts wriggling on the ground.]
1) Sphere and Spring look at Boxy, and then each other.
2) Boxy twitches his feet [trying to flip onto his head].
3) Sphere and Spring look at eachother again.

*Box turns his nose to look at the other two, [at their expression he sighs] and rolls his eyes, and [then] starts flipping [onward].*

Frame A) [The light for Sphere's lane turns yellow, the greene.
Frame B) [Sphere] rocks back and forth picking up momentum.
Frame C) [Sphere picks up speed bouncing some on the ground as he rolls towards the jump.
Frame D [Tracking Sphere]) Sphere nears the jump and tries to fly over the pit.

[Transitions from focused to a blurred POV of Sphere looking up at his glasses.]

*Sphere bumps into walls rolling around.*

Shot A) Spring looks over at Boxy.
B) Switch to Spring POV: Boxy, upside down, stops to catch his breath.
C) Spring shakes his head.
D) Spring's lane turns green.
E) (Same angle as C) Springy starts bouncing forward.

[Spring jumps across the pit but] lands just short of the edge, and tries to balance.
[Spring] reaches his head out and [grabs onto the nearest tree].

*Spring seeing the Sphere about to fall on top of him jumps upwards.*

*The ball splats onto the ground. Spring examines the wall and sways slightly.*

Spring stretches out to his tallest but is able to only just grab the edge with his top of the Cliff with his chin.
Trying, he can't find a leverage to spring himself out.

*Sphere looking up at Spring uses him in like an elevator rolling to his stop.*

*Spring with Sphere crossing his face let's go, flinging the ball backwards with his face, back onto the top of his spring.*

*Box flops a couple more times and then stops to look forward.*

*Box starts laughing so hard that he starts to deflate and falls over.*

Sphere bouncing on top of the spring try catching forward momentum to launch himself across the finish line.
Spring shuffles a couple of feet left end while the ball is in the air.
Sphere splatz onto the ground.

*Box waddles in between the other two contestants, inflates his breath, and blows himself 2/3rds up the way of the wall.*

*Box folds around the last third of the wall and crosses the finish line.*