Films Studies and Cinematography/ Final Project: Animatics & Storyboard
30/06/2025 - 27/07/2025 / Week 6 - Week 14
Lim En Yu / 0354452
Films Studies and Cinematography / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media / Taylor’s University
Final Project: Animatics & Storyboard
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Instructions
Fig 1.1 Module Information
Final Project: Animatics &
Storyboard
The objective of this project is to produce a 1-3 minute animatics storyboard based on your approved short animation.
Fig 2.1 Instructions for final project
Thumbnail Drawing
At first, I have drawn my thumbnail drawing in a more detailed way, but Mr Kamal said that thumbnail drawing should be more simpler, it can be stickman, even though the audience might not understand the drawing but if I understand what I wanted to convey then it is okay.
Fig 2.2 Thumbnail Drawing
Storyboard
After I have completed with the thumbnail drawing, I then proceed with storyboard drawing. Storyboard drawing need to be more detailed, and include timing, description, sfx and etc. I spend quite a lot of time on storyboard to draw it out in the right sequence and thinking of the camera movement.
Fig 2.3 Storyboard
Animatic
As I actually prefer drawing on ipad, I choose to use Procreate to animate instead of Krita as Krita only available on dekstop. Procreate is actually easy to use as it has updated the animation function which has the onion skin function. I have found some tutorial online before I started to proceed with it.
At the start, I have drawn a few frames of some shots to show Mr Kamal, but he said I draw too many frames for one shot, and if I am so detailed I would not be able to finish the whole animatics while maintainig the quality at the same time.
Fig 2.4 Before feedback animatics
After receiving feedback from Mr. Kamal, I adjusted the number of frames and made sure that each action only includes 2 to 3 key drawings to keep it clear and readable. Below is the opening scene, which shows the character typing on a keyboard.
Next, it will be the scene of through crumpled paper on the laptop. This one I only added after Mr Kamal said that there need to be something dropped on the table to be accidentally clicked on the mouse, so I added this scene.
Fig 2.5 First scene of animatics
On the other hand, for scenes like the snowflake flying, I only separated the foreground elements and background. I decided to animate the background separately in After Effects to achieve a smoother and more dynamic movement. This approach allowed me to focus on the key visual elements while keeping the motion clean and fluid.
Fig 2.6 Foreground and background
Here is some additional progress made in Procreate, where I have added shading, color, and a blur effect to enhance the scene. The blur effect is especially used when the character walks toward the camera, helping to create a sense of depth and focus in the animation.
Fig 2.7 Progression in Procreate
Progress in After Effects
For the typing effect of texts, it is hard to achieve by drawing frame by frame. So, same goes to the background, I animated it in After Effects, therefore I can apply the typewritter effect. Besides that, the cursor clicking effect I also done in After Effect.
Fig 2.8 Typing effect
Furthermore, the camera movements, such as zooming in and out, were also achieved using After Effects. This allowed me to create smoother transitions and add a more cinematic feel to the animatic.
Fig 2.9 Camera movement
Progress in Adobe Audition
After completing with all the animatics, I proceede to audio editing in Adobe Audition. Before compiling the audio, I lists out all the sound effects that I need to search online first so it will smoothen the progress. After I have downloaded all the sound effects that I needed, then I imported them into Adobe Audition. When matching the sound tracks with the video, I also edit some of the audio like adding parametric equalizer to them.
Fig 2.10 Audio editing
Here are the overview of the multritrack session and the total sfxs and bgm that I have used:
Fig 2.11 Overview of multitrack
Lastly, after completing the audio editing, I combined both the video and sound tracks in Adobe Premiere Pro to finalize the animatic. This allowed me to sync the visuals with the sound effectively and ensure everything plays smoothly together.
Final Project: Animatics & Storyboard
Fig 2.13 Final Project: Animatics & Storyboard
Feedback
Week 13: The overall animations looked a bit detailed,
one action should take 2-3 frames only. The text on the screen
can be slowly typing out.
Week 14: The cursor can be clicking on the paste
button, and the pasted text should be pasted at once. Also, can
add an action of crumbling paper. Mushoroom scene can add a
scene on mushroom only, and add an action of Snowflake getting
up. The moment of Snowflake getting a new weapon should stay
longer.
Reflection
Working on this animatics project was a meaningful and eye-opening experience. I was excited at first because I enjoy drawing and storytelling, but I quickly realized how much planning and decision-making goes into making animatics work. I spent a lot of time on the first few drawings, trying to make them perfect, but after Mr. Kamal’s feedback, I understood that being too detailed could actually slow me down. At first, I felt a bit discouraged, but simplifying the frames helped me focus on the core of each action.
As the project progressed, I started to enjoy the process more. I liked experimenting with visual effects in Procreate and After Effects, and adding sound in Adobe Audition helped bring everything to life. There were still challenges, especially figuring out how to time things right, but I felt proud when I saw everything come together in the final edit.
This project taught me not just technical skills but also patience and flexibility. I learned that it’s okay to make changes along the way, and that feedback can really help shape a better outcome. In the end, I felt more connected to my work and more confident in telling a story through visual and audio elements.
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