Background References

Various techniques for jungle backgrounds:

Background Roughs

Setting

Realife references for my animations settings:

The Island

The Jungle

Sub Character and Item Design

Banana Tree

Animated Facials and Arms

Belly Poke Scene

Monkey

Main Characters

Initial Character Sketches

Research

Story Boarding: The Simpsons way

Found this useful PDF explaining tips and tricks of Animation storyboarding:
Camera Moves
Using Angles
Perspective and Horizon Line
Scene Transitions
Screen Direction
Various Shots

Chosen Animation Style Reference

Happy Tree Friends

I have chosen to replicate the same graphic style as the short film and Tv series "Happy Tree Friends"

i choose this style as i think it will help add to the comedic happy mood. the characters are very bright and are used on soft pastel coloured backgrounds 

Example Background Styles:

Anamatic

Draft Story Board

Draft Story Board
looking at Scenes/Shots/Timing/Cuts
Building the story

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Monkey Character Style Research

Jake Spider Monkey

My Gym Partners A Monkey

Jacob P "Jake" Spidermonkey., as his last name implies, is an Irish-American spider monkey who quickly became Adam's best friend. He is often very possessive of Adam and hates not having him around regularly. Jake is emotional and goofy who takes to heart some of Adam's comments and actions, leading to some overly dramatic and exaggerated reactions. He can be lazy and selfish, but at the same time he is also fairly sensible. Just as well, Jake tends to display feminine tendencies quite often.

Boots

Dora The Explorer

Boots is a character whom Dora met one day in the forest, is her best friend. He is friendly and enthusiastic, and usually wears nothing but his beloved red boots, hence his name, Boots. He is blue with a yellow stomach. Boots is present with Dora on most of her adventures, and he helps Dora to solve clues and puzzles. 

George

Curious George

George, a tailess monkey, is the show's title character. As his name implies, he is very curious, a trait which helps him to learn, but which also often gets him into trouble. He is used as the "teachable" character in the show, and he is the one to whom new concepts are explained in detail by the other characters; the viewers learn the new concept along with George. 

Abu

Alladin

Abu is Aladdin's kleptomaniac monkey partner with a high-pitched voice and can talk a little, The animators filmed monkeys at the San Francisco Zoo to study the movements Abu would have. The character is based on the similarly named Abu the thief

Lazlo

Camp Lazlo

Lazlo is an eccentric Brazillian spider monkey. Often annoying to Lumpus the scout master, he is a very happy-go lucky monkey. As a hippie, Lazlo loves peace. Lazlo has a serious case of Coulrophobia. Lazlo "goes where the wind blows" by his own statement. He is the main protagonist of the series.

Buddhist Monkey
Happy Tree Friends
Buddhist Monkey is a martial arts master who has appeared in only three episodes, Enter the Garden, The Three Courses Of Death and Books of Fury, in which he has survived. His enemies, the Generic Tree Ninjas, are bears that try to destroy what he cherishes. he is the only star character to never die on happy tree friends.

 

Evil Monkey

Family Guy

The Evil Monkey is a monkey living in Chris Griffins closet, who scares Chris whenever he jumps out of the closet by pointing at him with an evil grimace and a strange tremble

Proposed Animation Idea

My story will be based on the Nursery Rhyme Jack and Jill

Characters:

Monkey 1

Monkey 2

Sub Character:

Gorilla

The animation starts on a tropical island inhabited by two monkeys. monkey 1  is bothering the other, monkey 2 has enough of monkey 1 so he snaps and gives him a wack and he blackouts. monkey 1 regains consciousness as he looks up laying on the ground he sees a banana pod at the top of this tall banana plant. he tries to make his way up the tree without monkey 2 noticing. unfortunately he does and the both scurry up the plant and both jump onto the pod. they both pause both holding on and suddenly it breaks off the plant. they all plummet to the ground and blackout. a gorilla walks pass and notices the unprotected bunch and runs off.

Monkeys go up a tree
to fetch a bunch of bananas
Monkeys fall down
and lose the banana bunch

Brainstorming

Lists:

Characters
Story
Goal
Achievement
Failure
Desire
Animals
Funny
Colorful
Animated Action Figures
Stopmotion
Competitive
Fight
Mistake
Rushing
Tunnel Vision
Cartoony
Adult Audience
Teenage Audience
Manga & Anime
South Park
Robot Chicken
Happy Tree Friends
Food
Adult Swim Shows
MonkeysJungleChicken
Lions
Africa
New Zealand
Kiwi
Stupidity
Protagonist and antagonist

Potential Style Research

Exploring Possible Styles to use in my Animation

South Park

Chowder

Adventure Time

Mr Bean Animated

Happy Tree Friends

Beijing Olympics

Analysis

Jack & Jill Analysis


Jack and Jill went up the hill
Who are? 
What are they doing? 
Where?
Going to the top.
Moving up.
Aim.

To fetch a pail of water.
Why they are doing this?
Goal?
Acquire something (Get, Take, Fetch, Steal, Given)

Jack fell down and broke his crown,
Error, Mistake, Loss by one of the characters.
Failed to Achieve Goal.
Off track.
Injured.

And Jill came tumbling after.
Error, Mistake, Loss by the other.
Followed by the other.
Soon After.

Research

Nursery Rhymes

Ring o Rosies
Ring­a­ring o' roses,
A pocket full of posies,
A­tishoo! A­tishoo!
We all fall down.

Origin:
Black Death - the bubonic plague that spread through Europe in the 1340s, or to the Great Plague of London, 1665/6. 

It is Thought that the Nursary rhyme means:

Ring­a­ring o' roses, 

meant the red rash symptoms which were often rings found on the infected.

A pocket full of posies,

Posies and nice smelling herbs were taken around by all as they were thought to protect from the supposed airborne infection.
A­tishoo! A­tishoo! / ashes! ashes!
the sneezing of infected / the cremation of the dead.

We all fall down.

fell down dead.

The idea is usually deemed false due to:

It wasn't published until 1881.The 'atishoo, atishoo, all fall down' lyric isn't present in many of the the numerous versions. Neither soreness about the mouth nor sneezing tally with the actual symptoms of people suffering from bubonic plague. The plague theory didn't appear until the 1950s

Humpty Dumpty
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king's horses and all the king's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again

Origin:
Humpty Dumpty was a large cannon used during the English Civil War 1642 - 1649 in Colchester (13 Jun 1648 - 27 Aug 1648). Colchester was strongly fortified by the Royalists and was laid to siege by the Parliamentarians. In 1648 the town of Colchester was a walled town with a castle and several churches and was protected by the city wall. A huge cannon, colloquially called Humpty Dumpty, was strategically placed on the wall. A shot from a Parliamentary cannon damaged the wall beneath Humpty Dumpty which caused the cannon to tumble to the ground. The Royalists, or Cavaliers, 'all the King's men' attempted to raise Humpty Dumpty on to another part of the wall. However, because the cannon , or Humpty Dumpty, was so heavy ' All the King's horses and all the King's men couldn't put Humpty together again!' This had a drastic consequence for the Royalists, the town of Colchester fell to the Parliamentarians after a siege lasting eleven weeks.


The imagery of Humpty Dumpty
Humpty Dumpty was a colloquial term used in fifteenth century England describing someone who was obese. 

Little Miss Muffet
Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet
Eating her curds and whey,
Along came a spider,
Who sat down beside her
And frightened Miss Muffet away.


Origin:
This nursery rhyme is based on a little girl named Patience Muffet. Her stepfather, Dr. Thomas Muffet was a famous entomologist who wrote the first scientific catalog of British Insects. 
One morning whilst eating her breakfast of curds and whey Little Miss Muffet was frightened by one of his spiders and ran away.
This particular Nursery Rhyme of Little Miss Muffet dates back to the late 16th century.

Jack and Jill
Jack and Jill went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water.
Jack fell down and broke his crown,
And Jill came tumbling after.

Origin:

Jack and Jill are said to be King Louis XVI; Jack who was beheaded "lost his crown" followed by his Queen Marie Antoinette; Jill  "who came tumbling after". 
The words to the Jack and Jill poem were made more acceptable as a story for children by providing a happy ending! 
The beheadings occurred in during the Reign of Terror in 1793.The first publication date for the lyrics of Jack and Jill rhyme is 1795, which goes with the history and origins. 

Orange and Lemons

"Oranges and lemons" say the Bells of St. Clement's
"You owe me five farthings" say the Bells of St. Martin's
"When will you pay me?" say the Bells of Old Bailey
"When I grow rich" say the Bells of Shoreditch
"When will that be?" say the Bells of Stepney
"I do not know" say the Great Bells of Bow
"Here comes a Candle to light you to Bed
Here comes a Chopper to Chop off your Head
Chip chop chip chop - the Last Man's Dead."


Origin:

The date of origin is unknown 
it  is believed to be a Square Dance from around the year 1665 called 'Oranges and Lemons'.There are no known records of the lyrics that go with dance but is likely that the words were similar to that of the nursery rhyme. The words of the nursery rhyme are chanted by children as they play the game/dance of 'Oranges and lemons' the end of which a child being caught between the joined arms of two others and the act of chopping off their head is portrayed.This is from the words of the poem, which talks about the unfortunate victim who would await execution on 'Death Row' ,Victims would be informed by the Execution Bell from The Church of St. Sepulchre the Sunday prior to execution and they would get recited the following :

All you that in the condemned hole do lie, 

Prepare you for tomorrow you shall die; 

Watch all and pray: the hour is drawing near 

That you before the Almighty must appear; 

Examine well yourselves in time repent, 

That you may not to eternal flames be sent. 

And when St. Sepulchre's Bell in the morning tolls 

The Lord above have mercy on your soul.

The executions commenced at nine o'clock Monday morning following the first toll of the tenor bell. 

Types Of Animation

1) Stop motion Animation
Stop-motion animation is the manipulating of real-world objects and photographing them one frame at a time to create the illusion of movement. Some types of stop motion are Puppet / Figure, Clay / Plasticine, Cutout and Pixelation

Example of  Stop Motion Animation:

Show: Pingu 

Episode: "Pingu Goes Fishing"

Year: 1987

2) Machinima

uses real-time 3D computer graphics rendering engines to create cinematic productions. 

most commonly video games are used to generate the computer animation.

Example of Machinama:

Show: Red Vs Blue

Episode: "Why are we here?" Season: 1

Game: Halo: Combat Evolved

Year: 2003

3) 3D Animation

3D animation is digitally modeled meshes created and manipulated by an animator (A mesh is a geometric configuration that gives the visual appearance of form to a 3D object or 3D environment). The meshes are then given a digital skeleton and are then able to be animated with movement.

Example of 3D Animation:

Name: "Round 6"

Short Film

Snowball Studios

Year: 2010