Test Animation from Daniel Lenneér

Daniel Lenneér sent me a message yesterday.

In essence, he wrote that the animation he used for monsters was 2D cutout animation.

An example of 2D cutout animation from Daniel's own work: Cthulhu arrives on Earth to fight against the Elder Things in his Terror from the Abyss, a comedic adaptation of At the Mountains of Madness.

Then he wrote that 2D cutouts were NOT the way to do these creatures. He said this because he had done test animations of the Bubble Congeries (using pictures from the Internet) and the Polyhedron (using a drawing he made based on the design). While they had a slight charm about them, they weren't horrifying. They were good, but they were NOT menacing in the slightest. They were strange, but not scary at all. The Bubble Congeries didn't do much justice to the design (but it was still strange) and the Polyhedron looked "funny" (I disagree: I liked the look of it, but it still isn't right for a horror movie). He said that if the Arabesque was done in his style, it would look AWFUL.

Now I can't show you the actual animations. They're tests. But I can show you some screenshots.

The Bubble Congeries, drifting through outer space/the sky with a rainbow cloud hanging about it like some sort of gas. It does look strange, but it certainly isn't scary and does not do justice to the design.

The Polyhedron, floating in a room which Daniel presumably meant to be a room in the Witch House or whatnot. Daniel says it looks "funny", but I disagree. I really like it, and I like the Bubbles too. But again, it wouldn't work in a horror film.

He used the Bubble Congeries screenshot and put some effects and filters on it. In his opinion, it helps a lot for the mood and feeling of the clip.

Dirty stains are seen below the Bubbles, and there is a black-and-white filter.

Beams (tentacles?) of light emerge from the Bubble Congeries. The black-and-white filter is still present.

I wanted to do my own versions of these screenshots, so I played around in Picasa.

The Bubble Congeries in a bright shade of pinkish-violet. I tinted the picture that color, then added a focal black and white effect. The glowing effect was added afterwards.

I think the Polyhedron turned out much better than my attempt with the Bubble Congeries. I went much darker, and tinted the Polyhedron a dark shade of violet/purple. Then I increased the shadows so only a very subtle violet light and a few vague shapes can be seen in the background.

I went to KingOvRats to see what he thought. He personally agreed with Daniel that they were not right for our project, but preferred the Polyhedron Creature.

I'm going to close off this post with a quote from a message from Daniel. It was some important advice. Grammatical edits by me.

If I were to give any advice; don't put to much focus on the creatures in the project. Lovecraft himself always hide them in fog and smoke and darkness, playing with the fears of the reader. Put focus on the rest, deliver a good story and let the creatures be the topping of the cake.