A Tale in the Sting - Pre Production - Development 1

I took a pretty different route this time round when I first started concept sketching, seeing that I had to choose the actors for the 'film', I figured that this would be the best way to warm up first before I started on any real ideas.

Mana Ashida as Totto-Chan

For the role of the titular character, not many japanese child actresses came to mind, I remembered Mana Ashida to be pretty decent (If not adorable) as young Mako in "Pacific Rim", also she just oozes that adorable cheekiness (Have you seen her in those game shows and charity events?) I am going for in Totto-Chan, so aside from the two being pretty close in age, Mana would make a suitable candidate for that role (Shame though that I will have to simplify the art style immensely until she is near unrecognizable).

Koyuki as Totto-Chan's Mother

This choice was a bit more random (I really, really don't know my japanese actresses and actors, eurgh), I decided to just look through one random list of "The Hottest Japanese Actresses", and I thought Koyuki would be great for the role (It's also a plus side that she acted in "The Last Samurai"), considering how old Totto-Chan is, it would make sense for her parents to still be in their early 30s, and seeing Koyuki pull those worried and wary looking glances just makes her seem perfect for the role (At least I didn't pick some random Jpop singer… I could have picked Hikaru Utada you know).

Rocky

The girl had a german shepherd named Rocky, there's nothing else to say really except that I might have to simplify him immensely too (Something tells me that he will be one of the most difficult characters to animate, the stupid cutie…).

Inhabitants/BG Characters

This is just to get a rough feel of how people dressed and the lifestyles they lived at the time, I doubt any of them will be in the final product though, still it was fun. Originally I was going to use them as background characters in certain scenes, but I feel that there wouldn't be enough time and the animation is already complex enough as it is.

Musicians

Going back to that research post I did, I had to make a wild guess and just pick out various types of musicians throughout the ages to form that eccentric band that Totto-Chan (Let's see how many times I say her name before it drives you nuts) had called into her classroom just before her expulsion. As long as they stay in place, their actions might also be quite limited (Such as the Shamisen player simply flicking her hand back and forth over the strings), so aside from their more complex costume designs, I just might be able to animate them without driving myself completely nuts.

Train

Another concept that sadly won't be included in the final product (Save for one very small scene I suppose), I believe the trains in the book was a very important element, to me it represented the short but nevertheless amazing journey the girl takes in her young life. 

Soon enough I was fortunately able to generate a few ideas for the title animation… some a lot simpler than others in terms of the animating technique but far more detailed in terms of design and vice versa. I still need to look into more title examples, and perhaps make a few more changes as I go along, in the meantime, I believe I have made my choice, which will be continued onto the next blog post.

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