Tea Group Project - Mood Board

For one of my modules I have to work in a group to create an animation about tea for the Gyllyngdune Tea Festival. To be honest I was both excited and nervous when I heard about this project. I like working in a group, and I'm good at taking on responsibilities, however group work makes me stressed as I have to depend on other people as well to make sure we are done for the deadline. Luckily, our group is really talented and hard working, so I'm excited to get started on this project!

At first everyone in my group had lots of ideas for storylines, and I had none. I struggle with getting ideas without researching, but after looking at some sources I found some inspiration. Ideas that did pop into my head from the start were all design related, which may show how I am more suited for the design aspect of animating rather than the storyline. 

I instantly had the idea for 2D animation to put over the top of backgrounds made out of tea leaves. I like the look of mixed media animations, as it really changes the whole effect of the film. I did quickly realise this would be a time consuming stylistic choice, however I want to test it to see if it is manageable, or if it suits the storyline.

The Tea Festival is located in a more ornate environment, with the target audience being elderly and families. Therefore, I wanted to make sure the animation's content was suitable yet interesting. I was interested in how tea was actually first made, and found out it was discovered by the Chinese Emperor Shen Nung in 2737 BC by accident when some tea leaves fell into his boiled water. (credit to http://www.tea.co.uk/tea-a-brief-history for their information on the history of tea!)

So I created a mood board collecting images and some of my own sketches for this idea. I really like the look of the rows of tea leaves, so included them as just an extra idea for style and patterns. It was quite difficult to find images of Emperor Shen Nung as he lived in 2737 BC, however all the drawings of him looked very 'devil-like'. Rather than appearing wise and noble, he seemed a lot more scary and a character you would stay away from. I grouped these images and came up with my own sketch as a sort of design for Shen Nung. I think he looks too cute in my version, but maybe this would appeal to the target audience? I also collected some images from 'Song of the Sea' as it is known for it's use of watercolour blended with digital drawings and effects in the backgrounds. 

There are a few more sketches I did of a 'tea leaf character' and some studies of tea tree branches and bushes. For the storyline I wanted to do the journey of the leaf making it's way to the boiling water. As if it wasn't an accident, but the leaf's mission to fall into the water to create tea. The idea is only rough right now, as I would need the help of my group to fill out the story.

I'm presenting my mood board next week, and each member of my group is exploring their own ideas and we will decide which idea we go with. I like this way of introducing ideas to the group, as no-one is left out from the ideas process and we can even combine some really good ideas.