The first versions of Jahela! started as storyboards. In an attempt to explore what the film could be, working with storyboards is a great way to try out a lot of ideas quickly. After a mass of storyboards were generated, we started to pick out the best ones and assemble them into sequences. We would then flesh out more until we had something that resembled a film.
For some of the more complicated scenes, like the opening which originally featured a 360 degree camera move, we built scenes in Autodesk Maya and did the camera work that way. We also experimented with some of the more impossible character actions to see how they might play out. In this example we have a cliff dive and a running trip by the main character.
Eventually, everything was built into an animatic that acted as the guide for the film. It would go through several versions before we reached principle photography.
JAHELA! 