I'll Be Fine is the original work created by myself, Lina Nasrallah (student in the Graphic Information Technology Program at Arizona State University). For the GIT 411 Visual Narrative in Motion Graphics course (Fall Semester) we were assigned to use our art, design, and storytelling, and self-management skills to create our very own project of our choosing. Having only dabbled in 3d animation projects such as a bouncing ball and jumping I decided that I wanted to create a character animation for the course project. With the guidance, support, and feedback from Professor Hentges and the TAs I was able to finish my short reel on December 1, 2023.

The goal of the animation project was to create a short character animation roughly 16 seconds long and provide lifelike quality animation that demonstrates characters interacting with one another while telling a complete fun and playful short story. 

          Length: 11-16 seconds long

          Project contains these conditions:

                    -Element of the story makes a singular statement.

                    -Spatial interplay between moving objects that brings the scene to life

                    -Motion that defines function, use, focal points add a sense of thought or                              intent between inanimate objects.

                    -Camera placement and motion that promotes the idea without adding                                  distraction. 

                    -Rendered video at either 1980 x 1080 or 1280 x 720 pixels in resolution.                 

                                           ~Upload final video to YouTube

I’ll Be Fine is a playful, comedic, and lighthearted short about a young man who is blowing up some balloons for a party. His friend warns him that he is going to pass out as a result. The young man refuses to believe him. Eventually he passes out after attempting to blow his first balloon and his friend is not surprised, very much like Woody when he watched as Buzz gasped for air after opening his space helmet for the first time. The young man overreacts and passes out like Sully when he thought Boo turned into a block of garbage. If only the young man took his friend’s advice.

          -Maya 2022

          -Adobe Photoshop

          -Adobe After Effects

          -Adobe Audition

          -Eleven Rig from https://elevenrig.blogspot.com/ 

Before starting the animation, I drafted a creative brief and outline containing all the information related to the project. I created an assets list as well as a task list that helped me stay on track and organized throughout the creation of the project. The creative brief, assets list, task list, etc. were updated regularly to keep up with any unforeseen changes throughout.

I also created an animatic of the storyboards with the sound I compiled myself. The animatic was used to help with staging and timing. 

The sound was compiled in Adobe Audition. I used the clip from Matthew Gray Gubler: (Season 2 Episode 6) The Unauthorized Documentary at 2:25-2:45 as the basis and included sounds from Toy Story and clips on YouTube Shorts.

To help me figure out the placing of the cameras and the layout of the characters in the background I created a Previs based on the sound and the motions of the animatic.

After the first pass I decided that I needed to add in more breaths and lengthen the time of the animation from 11 seconds to around 16.

The second pass helped me to play around more with the camera shots so I could effectively tell the story while creating a piece with good composition to frame the characters.

This pass was after the key poses were animated. I got a feel for how the shots would look and this matched the animatic very closely. For the final animation I made a few tweaks that deviated from the final pass, but I felt as though it helped the overall animation to keep from getting too bland.

All background assets were designed, modeled, wrapped, and created by me.

The final video was compiled using Maya Playblast and Adobe After Effects. I created the intro and outro of the video as well as the scene transitions to effectively tell the final story and provide the tone and feel of the animation.

I think the project was a bit ambitious, especially because it was my first time creating a character animation and modeling an entire background all by myself, but I decided that through the effort I could learn more about the different responsibilities of the animation industry and gain more knowledge and skills. I learned a lot of useful tips from Professor Hentges, and I am grateful for his support and guidance. The TAs gave helpful advice and supported me from the beginning, and I am truly filled with gratitude for all the help and kindness I received from everyone who assisted me throughout the course.

Created by Lina Nasrallah 

All Rights Reserved.