We all remember cozying up in front of the television and watching animated films in awe as a kid. However, as adults, many of us were fascinated by how there are actual people behind these stunning artworks who bring these characters to life.
What if we told you that you can learn how to make an animated short film all on your own?
This article breaks down all the steps you need to follow to bring your childhood dreams and stories to life.
8 Easy Steps To Creating An Epic Animated Short Film
Step 1 – Get Your Story Straight
Before you figure out how to make a short film you should know that it needs to be a well-planned process, no matter how well you know the story or how personal it is to you. The film you’re making should tell a tale that will leave an impression on your audience.
When you decide on how to make a short film, ask yourself; does your story aim to enlighten the viewer about a topic? Does it have a moral? Or do you have some other reason why you want your story to be heard? Your short anime movie should address all of these questions.
Tip: If you’re struggling to find inspiration for your story from your personal experiences, try looking at other mediums. Perhaps an intriguing art piece could stimulate your creativity, or talking to other people could help you build a scene, and help you figure out how to make an animated short film.
After you’ve decided on how to make a short film, and everything you want to say or depict, you can begin storyboarding it. If you want a more concrete strategy, you can write a script. If, on the other hand, your tale is still evolving, start illustrating and let your imagination pave your path. Brainstorming does wonders.
Step 2: Get into Character
This is one of the most crucial stages in the development process, and the most underrated when you think about how to make a short film. A great plot can still be brought to life by mediocre art, but a bad story will not improve merely because of wonderful aesthetics.
Ideation generally happens when you have a general notion of what you intend to portray but don’t yet have a firm grasp on the visual depiction or plot. At this point, you may want to look for references and inspiration. You could also choose a character or cartoon that you made up as a kid.
Developing characters for your animated short film is an excellent place to start. You can sketch your characters from various angles, such as facing the audience or facing away from them, so your viewers get to take in all the little intricacies that truly animate these characters.
When thinking about characters in addition to wondering about how to make an animated short film, create a protagonist with distinct character traits. In addition, give your primary character a unique backstory that will set them apart. Your characters will come to life with distinctive and innovative ideas. Avoid reusing plot concepts you’ve seen before. Originality is key to a successful animated short film.
Step 3 – From Ideation to Conception with Storyboards
You can think of a storyboard as the foundation of the animation process. Storyboarding helps you finalize your story and aids in creating concept art. Concept art provides filmmakers with a continuous visual aid that serves as a guideline throughout the filmmaking process. It also allows you to update clients, directors, and investors on the status of your project. All of these are crucial aspects when you think about how to make an animated short film, and create a flow from conception to storyboard.
You may make storyboards by sketching your storyline as if it were a comic script. This will make the animation timeline easier to visualize. A storyboard also serves as a visual record of the initial plan, which you may return to as you go further.
A storyboard doesn’t have to be overly accurate, but it should include all of the main poses. Once you’ve finished all of the panels, make sure to name them clearly so they’re easy to find. When you’re satisfied with the results, scan them and convert them to digital format.
Step 4 – Bring Your Short Film into Motion
It is now time to bring the story into motion. You begin the animatic once the first draft of the storyboards is done. An animatic is essentially a moving storyboard. It helps in assessing each shot’s timing and placement of characters so that the end product comes out looking realistic.
When you are planning out how to make an animated short film, know that animatics help animators and filmmakers to sort out any flaws with the present storyboard, such as script, camera placement, shot sequence, and pacing. You want to make sure that the final scene that the audience views flows as seamlessly as possible.
Initially, your animatics can simply be a video of your storyboard panels to give you a concept of how the story advances. As the elements travel, and you understand how to make make a short film, you can begin to time how they interact with one another.
Step 5 – Build the Background
Once you have a strong plot and decent animatics, the next step is to set the scene. You can begin sketching them in the appropriate field size based on your field guidelines. If you plan on reusing the backdrop in different field sizes, design a larger-sized background so you can use it for both without compromising any pixels.
Since you already have an idea of what your background will look like, make sure you only sketch what will be in the scene. You don’t need to sketch all the furniture in a room if you’re only focusing on the character standing in a corridor like in the picture above, for example.
Step 6 – Time for Action!
After you’ve timed the animation, you can begin animating. Start animating in rough circles. Maintain loose lines while pushing the poses. Make use of the main poses you sketched in the storyboards. Sketches and anatomy are among the most important factors of animation, and something you can perfect once you have learned how to make an animated short film.
After cleaning up, jot down the number of in-betweens you need on a dope sheet. Keep characters on different layers as much as possible. Once you’re satisfied with the animation, you can begin tidying up the line art.
You’ll need to pick what kind of lines you want to use. You can select from a variety of line art styles. Normal lines are of the same thickness; however, rough lines are not connected and appear to be dancing in your animations.
Step 7 – Tweaking and Tweening
In-betweens are essential for smooth animation. The animation is led by the keys, but the in-betweens soften out the movement. This is referred to as inbetweening or “tweening” and there are many software that can help you with it.
You don’t necessarily require a lot of in-betweens. When animating an action shot, you need just a few keys and an in-between or two. More in-betweens result in a smoother finish for nuanced animation.
Step 8 – Add Color and Life to Your Short Anime Movie
After you’ve cleaned up and tweened your animation, it’s time to color it. The hard effort we put in earlier to clean up will now pay off. Coloring will be a piece of cake with superb line work and sealed lines, and the satisfaction that comes from it is a bonus! Open lines make it harder to fill all animation with color using the paint bucket tool.
After you’ve finished painting all of the artwork and characters, you can use software to composite them all together. Compositing involves merging all the elements into a single scene. Assemble your everything and watch it come to life, which is the best part of the process after you have mastered how to make an animated short film!
Are you ready to Create an Animated Short Film?
At Arturo Digital, we use the power of video animation to help individuals and businesses bring their stories to life. Get professionally created short animated films with a quick turnaround at the most competitive pricing in town! Contact our team right away to start creating scripts and storyboards.
