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Project Merak
"Merak" was my senior thesis project that spanned from mid 2018 to mid 2019. This is my documentation of my process from beginning to end- all the good, the bad, and the dirty. I have gathered my working files from this project just for this sneak peak to see what went into the making of "Merak" and I hope you enjoy seeing it come together- I know I sure did after working hard on it for so long!
-The Men in the Moon
"Merak" film poster
Pre-Production
August, 2018
Before there was a film, there was an idea. This video showcases the very first pitch I ever made for "Merak" including 2 other short film ideas. At this point I had Merak's story rattling around in my head but I hadn't started writing anything down yet. This shows the birth of this project- and the rest is history.
Mood Boards
Inspiration for the setting. Merak and his mother live in your average crumbling Russian apartment. From the outskirts of town to the desolate city-center Merak ventures into the Underground to get his fix of club music, drugs, and god knows what else.
Inspiration for Merak. A once-bright boy falls in with the wrong crowd and eventually descends into darkness.
Inspiration for Merak's Mama. In a lot of ways Mama serves as a reminder to Merak of his youth where he once held an abundance of innocence. We first meet Merak and his Mama when he is just a child- basking in the sun and the security his Mama provides for him.
Inspiration for Temnota. A dark, mysterious figure presented as a brooding shadow that begins to taunt and loom over Merak.
January, 2019
Before much art was even made I tried creating realistic deliverables for myself. I was working with a firm deadline after all- graduation!
A very loose timeline of when my roughs, backgrounds, cleanup animation, and FXs would be due
September, 2018
My final pitch for "Merak" and my first thoughts on the theme and plot.
Animatic
This is the first pass of my initial animatic for Merak. Every scene I initially wanted in the film is included in this moving storyboard as well as how I imagined the timing to work out... The final piece ended up being a lot longer than this first run through because I felt there needed to be more breathing room to rest on certain scenes. Included in this animatic is also the rough sound I wanted to have in the final piece.
Storyboards
First page of storyboarding the intro!
February, 2019
LOTS of shot lists. Lots of editing went into which shots stayed and which shots had to go.
What I have here is my working time sheet. Since this was a project fully created and managed by myself, I needed to keep track of my time spent working... down to the hour.
And that's about it for pre-production.
March, 2019
Concept Art
Color script concept
April, 2019
Backgrounds
Animation
Roughs
Cleanup & Color
Final Cut
April, 2019
