Premise - Moodboards

It is time to start the premise project and therefore the final film of my animation degree.

 The most important part of the film will be its connection to music. I am looking for a composer to work with in order to create this piece together. I want to inspire someone with my vision to create a music piece and I want to be inspired by their music for the animation of my film. So my film will be kind of like the Fantasia 2000 series by Disney, in particular the firebird suite.

I have created some moodboards to capture the feel of my film, its world and characters.

World

Even though I will mainly focus on the characters of the story, I am thinking of bringing the idea of a destroyed world (after an atomic war with no humans left) into it, as well as a forrest that starts growing on destroyed buildings. It would connect to the idea of the seasons changing from winter (darkness) to spring (lightness).  

Character

In terms of my characters I don't want to include any human characters into it, but only animals. To be exact deers or stags. (main character white stag) Stags represent strength and a deep connection to nature.  

Story

In terms of the story I am thinking of diving into the common good vs evil story telling. I want to show two stags fighting as the main sequence of the film. (Stag fight with their antlers in the rutting period to impress a potential mate, but not to kill one another) I am seeing a light and a dark stag to fight against each other to support the idea of good and evil. 

To connect it back with nature and the idea of rebirth I am thinking of making the two stags morph into one, instead of one winner. Because light can only exist when there is darkness - representing a golden stag with an impressive set of antlers wich look like branches to make him look like a massive tree (Tree if Life) at the end. 

Style

Lastly I was looking into a style for my film. I am a big fan of the sculptor Beth Cavener. Her sculpting style is rough and soft at the same time. And even though her work looks very realistic, they have an abstract undertone. I don't know if I will be able to accomplish that level of detailed hand sculpting digitally but I like the idea of having the characters look like they are made out of clay. As Alan suggested I might look into a more drastic style, that is more stylized and not too realistic looking as well.