initial plans for FMP

1. Initial Plans

2. Initial Thoughts
Initially I feel as though this project may be difficult
given the lack of editing experience at this level for
the video portion, however I feel confident that the
script that I write and record footage of will be
adequate enough that it gives enough freedom to do
as much as I want that isn’t too needlessly complex,
however I will use online tutorials of course if any
sections seem to be too difficult. For the video
portion in relation to previous units I’ll be taking some
inspiration from the group Irn-Bru TV ad for editing
and pacing techniques that I can apply to my video
portion. As for my print portion I’ll be looking back on
what I did for my print project, as it also had an
Animal Crossing theme that is relevant to this project.

3. Pre-proposal
• My aim is to create a print project outlining the script/concept for a video essay I
will also make a video accompanying discussing the video game I have spent the
most time playing & my favourite game of all time, the differences between the
two games and the appeal that draws you in from both of them that stem from
entirely different reasons.
• I hope to create a first draft of the script as well as a rough version of what the
print version will look like that illustrates the script, such as custom assets made by
myself and artwork created specifically for the purpose of the project.
• The video that will be produced alongside it will be a small portion of the script
overall that will be heavily edited and stylised to come close to the research and
inspiration that I will draw from for the project overall. I would like to create a full
5 minute video, however feasibly I may only be able to make 1-3 clips that are
proof of concept of the video itself.

4. Skills Audit
STRENGTHS
• Competent in creative writing
• Experience with script writing
• Vast knowledge of both games that are being discussed in the project (Team
Fortress 2, Animal Crossing New Leaf)
• Passionate towards all processes involved in the project and motivated
• Good at storyboarding
WEAKNESSES
• Not a good visual artist
• Understands editing but only on a basic level, not very advanced
• Time management
• Some processes involved in the project may be sometimes too reliant on others

5. Mood Board: Video Essay
These images are representative of the kind of
style I want to emulate in my video portion of
the project.

6. Mood Board:
When it comes to discussing
Animal crossing in the video I
want to accompany dialogue
relating to it with visuals of this
kind of atmosphere and tone
TF2’s art style is very well defined,
so using concept art and visuals
straight from the game are
essential when discussing its
Animal Crossing & Team Fortress 2

7. Mood Board Analysis
How does your mood board inspire your project?
• My mood board illustrates the contrast between both games that are being discussed,
though they share a similar tone in visuals being earthy and warm in colour palette
especially, with saturated colours, they both serve entirely different purposes and are
the setting of two totally different games. The bright colour scheme and the tone
applied to Animal Crossing is—although expected—is well executed and very
endearing. Team Fortress 2 is a class-based FPS but with a similar cartoonish and light
art style that represents the “gold rush” era of America’s history, a setting that in and of
itself seems very unappealing and not at all exciting, which is then injected with the
upmost character and creativity through the visual design of all of the 9 classes as well
as the maps present in the game.
How will your mood board influence your final product?
• My mood board encourages me to stick with lighter, saturated colours to match both
games that are being discussed, but make sure to note that they are used for
completely opposite reasons as the subject matter is drastically different when
comparing the two. It also shows me that I should absolutely focus on the aspect of
Animal Crossing having no real objectives and no violence whatsoever, whereas TF2 has
violence and goals, how all aspects of TF2 are focussed towards this objective based
gameplay, while Animal Crossing is care free and peaceful.

8. Discussion of Concept: Video Portion
Initial Idea & my approach:
The plan for the video portion of this project is to produce a several clips from a would
be video essay on my favourite game Animal Crossing: New Leaf VS the game I have
the most hours in, Team Fortress 2. As standard for YouTubers, most in-depth and well
executed video essays discussing video games (be it mechanics, appeal or aesthetics
etc) take an incredibly long time to craft and produce, especially if a video contains
lots of editing and the subject matter is incredibly lengthy. Therefore I have opted to
create a few clips of that are proof of the concept.
I will create the first few minutes (including editing in an amalgamated style based on
several key influences) based on the first few paragraphs of the script—the
introduction portion of the “full video”.
Then I will create the midway portion of the video, with the intention of making it
appear as if the clip itself is cut directly from an active portion of the video with
implications of a cut from a previous unseen segment of the overall video. This is in
part to one of my main goals when approaching this being to add as much
believability to the idea that the full video actually exists as a finished project, so when
devising the portions of the video that I do actually create it adds a layer of
authenticity.

9. Video Portion: Mind map
This mind map is a general
approach to what inspirations I
want to use primarily when it
comes to editing clips together.
The structure section is how I
want to approach the
video/script, as sometimes
keeping it more general can be
more entertaining, but other
times it can be too drastic.
For editing inspiration
I’m leaning more so
towards JonTron’s
original style back in
2015-16.
Presentation wise I don’t
want to lean too heavily on
using gameplay with a voice
over of me reading the script
as I feel it’d be not only
restricting when editing, but
also less engaging for the
viewer.

10. Discussion of Concept: Graphics Portion
Initial Idea & my approach:
For the graphics portion of my project I’m going to create a full script for the
would-be video essay and instead of fully adapt it (due to time constraints
this wouldn’t be possible to achieve in a satisfying manor) I will use the script
as a basis for a graphic design/presentation that visualises a lot of my
commentary alongside lots of custom designs that are representative of the
script, as well as designs made through splicing and transforming images in
photo shop, which is also where I will create the graphic. The custom designs
could be artwork inspired by the script, as well as artwork based on my player
characters that appear in both games as they share a similar level of character
customisation to personal your player’s look. As for the graphics that go
alongside the art work these could range from edited screenshots from both
games to stills of what some edits that would appear in the video essay could
look like. Planning would be required for the creation of stills however as I
would have to consider how to convey the same message and tone as well as
think whether if the still is a joke, if the joke will translate in one frame
whereas it might only work in motion, etc etc.

11. Graphics Portion: Mind map

12. Key Influence #1: Jerma985
Jerma is one of my
main influences and
relates heavily to
Team Fortress 2 and
its history.
Jerma is a semi-popular
YouTuber who used to produce a
lot of TF2 videos in the past 5 or
so years that garnered immense
popularity within the TF
community.
To say Jerma hasn’t had an
impact on not only TF2’s
development—but people’s lives
would be a lie. His charm,
charisma and talent and
creativity are a huge source of
inspiration for me, and I hope to
be half as funny and as kind as
him as expressed through my
video portion.
A lot of Jerma’s humor is
situational/hypotheticals as
well as general absurdum. A
few videos in particular made
by him in the early 2010’s
have become well known in-
jokes within the community,
and ripples from those videos
are still prevalent today in all
corners of TF2.
Creativity is one of Jerma’s strong
suits as well, with some of his best
work (in my opinion) being videos in
which he takes a singular
concept/joke and just continues to
roll with it doing strange and often
hilarious work with that topic, such as
his “A Blast from the Past” video
Most of my comedy
will be similar to
that of Jerma,
especially when
discussing TF2.

13. Key Influence #2: Aya Kyogoku
Aya is the co-director
for the Animal Crossing
series ever since she
worked on City Folk.
Her work on New Leaf
changed the games course
forever, especially with the
waves she made for female
game devs within Nintendo
Aya also gave a presentation
at the GDC called “How to Turn
A New Leaf”.
Researching Aya’s
philosophies and ideas
when developing Animal
Crossing entries will be
crucial going forward as it
will give me insight as to
why aspects of the game
are as they are.
Aya Kyogoku is also a
fairly new face in
Nintendo’s ranks as well,
therefore acquiring
information on her will
be difficult but necessary
to learn the in’s and outs
of her mindset as a
director and game dev.

14. Key Influence #3: Egoraptor/Arin Hanson
Arin is also a huge source
of inspiration for more
and his work will
definitely be influential
on this project, especially
his older works
One series in particular,
Sequelitis is a main
source of inspiration
towards the video
portion of this project
Arin has done a ton of work in
relation to video games, such
as voice acting and even
publishing a game through
the help of his company
Game Grumps, which is
popular YouTube let’s play
channel he co-created back in
2012
Sequelitis discusses the differences
between games in a franchise, the
“original” versus the sequel and
which one could be argued for being
better. However they aren’t without
flare, each video has charm and
elements of humor present as Arin
uses little cutaways in between
talking points as well as visuals to
better illustrate his points.Arin’s brand of comedy is also something
that may be present in some shape or form
within my script piece and video sections,
especially given his format is very good for
breaking up long segments of information
into digestible bites accompanied by
sprinkles of humor.
Arin also has a very
close relation to
Nintendo games as
well, and has spoken
in the past about his
love for Animal
Crossing especially.

15. Key Influence #5: Matthewmatosis
Matthewmatosis is a
relatively small YouTuber (by
todays standards) who has
produced several very
insightful deconstructive
analysis of a fair few popular
games in the hardcore side of
the community
A majority of his videos are
talking points based around
critiques he gives to popular
games, most recently his
review/observations discussed
in his Breath of the Wild review. Some videos in particular are
what I look for in what I want
to achieve in part
presentation and structure
wise are his critiquing videos
on the Demon/Dark Souls
series of games, better
known as the “Soulsborne”
anthology
Matthew’s extensive deep
dives into what works and what
does about the mechanics of
these games is the level of
detail that I want to reach
when discussing both Animal
Crossing and Team Fortress 2.
Although most of the games
he discusses on his YouTube
channel have inherit
mechanical depth, I still
want to apply this way of
thinking to Animal Crossing
as to keep its comparisons
to Team Fortress 2 fair.