So, updates haven't been quite as forth coming as they normally are and the reason is...complicated.
Mostly, I'm working on parts of the film that you've seen.
I brainstormed to figure out a solution to the aesthetic shift problem. My thesis committee pointed out that they didn't think it quite worked but that the shifts really shouldn't be eased from one aesthetic to the next. They wanted more blunt transitions. Some of the proposed changes were interesting like adding notes onto the storyboards, having the thumbnails move from one frame to the next with a little transition like taking a camera and literally moving it really quick to the next frame. The idea was also thrown around to have the camera stray from the animation in the roughs and show part of the computer interface. I tried a bunch of stuff and you can see some of it on this blog but I've come to one BIG conclusion:
ALL ELEMENTS TO THE AESTHETIC OF THE FILM MUST SERVE THE STORY AND ADD TO CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT.
Basically, the film needs laws with which to govern the look. To this extent, the film shows only what would be shown on-screen while making the film. This means rough timing of thumbnails, animatic, rough animation, clean-up animation, color animation, and full rendered animation. The film will not show the computer interface, character design sheets, movement that doesn't belong in the sequence, etc. Including this kind of tertiary material does not show the world or character evolving but may actually detract from it.
Somewhere in production I lost site of this. It happens. But I really feel the look is back on track to serving the narrative as it should and not just being different for the sake of being different.
I just finished redrawing a fair portion of the storyboards for that aesthetic sequence. I'm including basic shades and slightly more rendered drawings. This will cause a more noticeable shift from the thumbnails.
I'm also adding notes to the rough animation showing the keys, breakdowns, holds, etc. This technique is commonly used in roughs to keep track of elements when timing out and drawing in-betweens. With paper animation you'd see more detailed notes labeling the frame numbers and layer. This isn't the norm with digital animation because you've got a timeline and layer structure in front of you in the interface.
So yeah!
I'm working but not much to show you quite yet. BUT STAY TUNED cause I'm making a new animation reel with these changes and it'll be up soon!!!