Animation with Flash Report 03

Animation with Flash Report, Entry 03 - A Little Recap on the Idea Pitch

I thought of writing the Idea Pitch (Assignment 2) briefly in this post just so that this entire report/work progress blog flows and become easier to read and understand.

The idea:
To create a 2 minutes and 20 seconds (maximum) animation based on my own story "Tales of 2 Ronins" with Flash.

The methods:
While most of the graphics are to be done with Photoshop, simpler graphics (i.e. bubble speeches) are to be created directly with Flash. Due to time constraint, the animation wont have 25 cels per second (but the frame rate will still be 25 frames/second). There are simply TOO much to draw otherwise!
Some of the movements (i.e door opening) will incorporate Flash's motion tween just to make my life easier.
I'm creating all the raster images much larger than the intended final display ratio because I'm following the advise of my ex-lecturer when I was in MMU; "Make things really HUGE! And then size them down in the final production. That way mistakes are made hardly visible". Now I'm putting that theory to the test!

The story:
Tales of 2 Ronins is one of my original stories I created as a nod to Japanese mangas (comics) which have inspired me through many years. You can call it a tribute to Japanese mangas if you wish.
It is set in a fictitious land (alternate 1700-1800AD Japan, perhaps?) where samurai code of honour was upheld vigorously by swordsmen.
The story tells the lives of swordsmen; Hiro and Hikaru who later became ronins due to them abandoning said code.

The animation:
The animation in this assignment will feature a look on Hiro's and Hikaru's day where they were ordered by their master to attack a rival clan.

Right now I'm rushing through the characters' animations until the whole of next week. I will [hopefully] begin animating on Monday, 22nd March 2010.