Finalised Character Sheets (Study Task 2)

I began this process by experimenting with shapes and colours. I then went on to refine these concepts into the characters pictured below.

Originally, the vision in my head was much brighter and warmer. However as director, I needed to take a step back and ask 'Am I going too far?'. Considering this advert promotes alcohol consumption, I didn't want the colour palette to look as though it was aimed at children. This was made clear to me during the pitch session.

So, I started refining these characters based on the feedback I received.

I started by toning down the colour palette. I made the primary colours less saturated and also incorporated colours that can be found on the neck of an actual Martini bottle as this way, people shouldn't be able to criticise the brightness of the colours, as I went to the source. I couldn't mute all the tones however, as the brief regularly stressed how important the warm, bright, golden hour motif was.

As we see the characters in their work attire as well as their going out clothes, I needed to make two turn arounds for certain characters as the second half of the animation features them in more casual, party clothing.

To keep the warmth in the animation, which the brief asked for, I decided to keep the backgrounds on a stricter colour palette which is made up of orange, yellow and red tones to emphasise the importance of the sunset. This way, the blue and navy colours should make the characters stand out more.

One of the major changes made to this character was that I made her outfit much darker, as to appear more formal and professional. I am hoping this helps makes the characters look less chidish and more adult. I also wanted her to stand out on the backgrounds.

I also changed certain features of the characters based on feedback, such as the eyes and mouth. While the design remains simplistic as that was the vision I originally had, I added lines around her eyes and defined her lips more to make her look older. That way, the advert should be aimed at a more appropriate audience.

As the final scenes at the bar required more people, I designed some secondary characters to interact with the main three. The brief wanted the atmosphere to be bubbly and highlight friendship so I am hoping adding more characters will make that difference. I kept to the Martini colour palette and designed them in the same style so they didn't stand out while interacting with the other characters.

I applied the colours from the characters' palette to the Martini logo for the final shot. However, I don't think we are allowed to make changes to the official logo so we will most likely use the black, red and white logo we have been given.