Mill+ was invited to participate in the 5th annual showcase of MotionPoems, a collaboration between world-class writers and visual-artists where each entrant was given a curated list of poems to select from and visualize for the screening.
Directors:
Aran Quinn, Jeffrey Dates
Production:
Mill+
Mill+ artists Aran Quinn and Jeff Dates jumped at the opportunity, and chose 'Wayne the Stegosaurus' by Ken Nesbitt, an adorable poem about a not so bright stegosaurus. They first set about creating a rough animatic to portray the poem's tale through a series of simple vignettes. Once the initial story was set, they poured over each shot with a blend of 2D and 3D animation, creating a hybrid visual aesthetic.
Aran chose to keep the hand drawn look, and push his illustrative style into a 3D space. Jeff animated the very cute but very stupid stegosaurus, Wayne, while Aran used the classic 2D cell animation technique for the birds, sun, moon, and Wayne's boiling painterly skin.
The deep texture of the wise sounding narrator's voice helped amplify the silliness of Wayne's simple mind. The sound effects and design then became a subtle layer to aid the jokes. They were necessary to help hit the punch lines for most of the gags such as farts, disco beats and thunder strikes.
The entire piece came together into a sweet visual narrative about a really dumb but really lovable dinosaur. Read more about the Motion Poems' story here.
Production: Mill+
Directors: Aran Quinn, Jeffrey Dates
Executive Producer: Danielle Amaral
Producer: Jason Bartnett