This video from Gorillaz and with characters made by Jamie Hewlett was my main inspiration to the Picto group because it is a mix of animation with real-life people and scenarios. When I thought about a good idea to introduce our characters to the world Gorillaz came into my mind for being a band that makes "virtual" shows and where the members are not there with the public in person. I believe that the general idea fits very well with the pandemic situation in which we are in and also because of the way we can make our characters gain life in a fun way.
Mary Poppins
Mary Poppins was also an important reference for our group video idea since it was one of the first movies that mix the real world with animated characters.
Bahia
"Você já foi a Bahia" is another great example of our live idea. The movie was made before Mary Poppins and besides the fact that there are real people interacting with animation, they also introduce Brazilian culture and characters. One of the casts that sing is a Brazilian singer Aurora Miranda and the name of the Brazilian character is Zé Carioca.
When I first introduced Robin to the video compilation I made the sketches with orange (without painting on the inside, in a way that you could see through him) to test the movements he was going to make and so I wouldn’t "lose time" making the final painted version to an undefined animation movement.
When we talked about it in the crit the feedback was that it was nice to see him interacting more with me in the video, so I tried to make him jumping near to call my attention.
I liked also the idea of him interacting with the camera (public), and licking the screen, therefore, introducing his lizard unusual side.
With the intention of bringing more interaction of Robin with the scenario, I played with the idea of him sniffing the spray tin and then sneezing because of the ink smell, but after talking to the group we decided that it was not a good idea because it could refer to a COVID situation where the character contaminates the object and therefore all the other characters.
It was a very fun and engaged project that our group did, we helped each other filming and generating ideas. We went on the streets and chose the best spots for each person and their character, we took many takes and did many trials because each filming had a different issue, according to the idea of the chosen action and the location
