Production dossier – Elizabeth Midgley

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Initial Research & Idea Generation

Introduction

I have chosen to base my Digital Storytelling project around the backstory of a DND character of my creation, Leona Lionheart. Strong female characters through both fantasy and history, such as Leona (League of Legends), Brigitte (Overwatch), and Joan of Arc, have been used to inspire her character design. For my animation, I want to create a short narrative window into Leona’s origin story, how she became a paladin and began adventuring.

I had a few set character elements that I worked with to develop her backstory: She crafted her own armour, she’s a young adventurer, she was born in an area where it’s more common for men to be warriors, and she is a paladin hoping to join the paladin order of The Golden Lions. I created a mind map with these elements in mind to prompt further thought about her character backstory.

Inspirations

I found the Overwatch Origin Stories and the World of Warcraft shadowbox animation stories to be interesting inspirations for my project. They are small storytelling segments and don’t always follow a traditional narrative arc. Instead, they use voice-over narration and vignette-style storytelling to tell a brief but intense story slice.

In stories, the heroes get the honour and glory.

But their gleaming armour,
their mighty weapons…
…the people who built them were heroes in their own right;
and I thought I was going to follow in their footsteps.

But a hammer and tools can’t fix every problem;
there are some things that can never be repaired.

It’s not enough to wait until the battle is over to fix their armour,
and bandage their wounds.

If you can fight at their side,
you can try to keep the blows from falling;
and maybe even protect them from themselves.

I am Brigitte Lindholm,
and I will be their shield.

(Overwatch, 2018.)

Brigitte’s origin story only consists of 6 narrative frames, but utilises detailed voice-over storytelling and sound design to engage the viewer in the story. The intention for this story appears to be to deepen the viewer’s emotional connection to the character and provide context for some character elements. My character’s backstory will be somewhat similar to Brigitte’s and the style of my animation will follow a similar structure with few frames, focusing more on the sound design.

In life, I was Draka, of the Frostwolf clan.
A warrior… who gave everything…
…to protect what mattered most.
But I was not done fighting.
Maldraxxus,
where the armies of the five houses once stood side by side,
to protect the realm of death.
It was here I served the House of Eyes.
A strange fit for a warrior’s soul.

…

I am Draka,
once of the Frostwolf clan,
now Baroness of the House of the Chosen.
And most of all,
a protector of Maldraxxus.

(World of Warcraft, 2020)

The Warcraft animation is much longer than Brigitte’s story and follows a more standard narrative arc. However, focusing on the beginning and end of the animation, we can see that they share similarities in how they introduce and conclude the story. They also share a similar animation style of “shadowbox” animation for key beats and focus heavily on voice-over and audio design.

Story and Character Overview

My animation will follow a very short narrative arc as Leona Lionheart talks through her backstory, specifically about the day she left to forsake her name and train to become a Golden Lion. It will begin with the “Setup”, where she talks about how she was inspired to become an adventurer; then there will be a “Conflict” – both internal and external – as her father finds out she’s leaving home; finally, the “resolution” as her father accepts her decision to leave.

Story Overview

Leona grew up in a small coastal town on a large continent, where her family ran a blacksmithing business. As a child, her father would tell her stories of the Order of the Golden Lion, a Paladin Order he had once hoped to join in his youth.

However, when dark times befell the realm, Leona’s father decided that his duty was to the forge, forgoing his dream of joining the Paladin Order but unknowingly passing his aspirations onto his daughter through his stories. As Leona grew older, her aspirations grew with her, and she dreamed of leaving home to join the Order of the Golden Lion.

When the local officials in her area began recruiting and training soldiers to fight in the war effort, Leona decided to begin preparing to leave home. Part of her preparation was to secretly craft her own armour by stealing metal offcuts from her father’s forge. Leona believed that she could grow her strength independently as an adventurer, eventually return home, and make a great impact in the war once she was trained as a paladin.

When she is about to leave home on her 18th birthday, her father finds her packing her bags, and a confrontation occurs. A moment of uncertainty lingers as Leona and her father lock eyes before her father hugs her, reassuring her that he accepts her decision. To further demonstrate his acceptance, he gives her a gift, a hand-crafted piece of armour he lovingly made – sculpted with a design of a Lion’s head to represent the Order of the Golden Lions.

Character Overview

Although my original character design for Leona had her with golden hair and blue eyes, I will re-design her for this animation. Instead, Leona will have bright orange hair, matching her father’s, and golden orange eyes (also matching her father’s). This is to give her a unique character design look and make her and her father instantly recognisably related to each other.

Leona’s armour will be the same as my original design and will utilise simple rounded shapes. In shape theory for character design, round shapes with some squared edges denote a lawful good character – this will help to set the viewer’s expectations of the character.

My character design for Leona’s father is unique to this animation, and I feel that the clothing detail shows how much I’ve progressed as an artist since my original design of Leona’s armour. I’ve tried to add enough character design elements to Brynor (Leona’s father) to identify them as related while also giving him elements consistent with his backstory.

Script Draft

I completed a script draft from a sequence that I can visualise clearly in my head. I’ve tried to keep the amount of “telling” in the script to a minimum to follow the “show don’t tell” mantra. Instead, I’ve tried to focus the speech on storytelling depth to draw the reader in. In the final animation I will voice act Leona’s character myself, and I will ask a friend or my partner to voice act Leona’s father.

LEONA: When I was young, my father told stories of great paladins from the Order of the Golden Lion.

He told me of Stordon Stilldream and how he slew a Beholder.

And of Jonde Garethian…and how he defeated the evil Lich, Azrakul.

My father once dreamed of joining the Golden Lions, but he said his duty was to the forge.

My father trained me, teaching me how to craft armour and follow in his footsteps, but I never forgot the stories of the Golden Lions.

I secretly began collecting offcuts from the forge, hoping to one day craft my own armour.

But soon, as war encroached from the south. There weren’t as many offcuts anymore; every piece of metal was needed to arm the soldiers.

But, I made do with what I had. I felt the light burning inside of me. I knew I was destined for more.

Finally, my armour set was complete, and I was ready to leave home and seek my own path.

FATHER: Leona…

LEONA: Dad… I’m sorry –

FATHER: I know…

I have something for you, wait here…

You have a light inside of you; I’ve seen it, and now others will see it, too.

LEONA: My name is Leona Lionheart; I walk my own path and forge my own destiny; I will be a Golden Lion.

Storyboard

When I was young, my father told me stories of great paladins from the Order of the Golden Lion.

He told me of Stordon Stilldream and how he slew a Beholder.

And of Jonde Garethian…and how he defeated the evil Lich, Azrakul.

My father once dreamed of joining the Golden Lions, but he said his duty was to the forge.

My father trained me, teaching me how to craft armour and follow in his footsteps, but I never forgot the stories of the Golden Lions. I secretly began collecting offcuts from the forge, hoping to one day craft my own armour.