504 Documentary #7 - Script

 Using the timeline points I wrote before, I expanded on certain points more than others to try and keep the time down, but I decided it was better to go a bit over the time since we could cut some scenes later if needed.

504 Documentary #6 - The Other Species' Designs

 I had a list of what specific creatures I wanted to fill the world around Carnotaurus.

First was Abelisaurus, the main territory rival. Abelisaurus is a close relative of Carnotaurus, so their basic structure and hunting styles are similar, however Abelisaurus is smaller, longer and has a different skull shape. I also wanted to differentiate in colours, so I used one of the other Carnotaurus colour palette, greys for scales and blue/yellow for feathers and proto-feathers.

The pterosaur doesn't play any story role in the documentary, rather just there to populate the world, but that doesn't mean it requires any less attention to detail.

This was more of a challenge, as there is less fossil information of Late Cretaceous Argentina pterosaurs, but pieces of fossilised skull of Aerotitan was enough of a jumping off point, as large pterosaurs have a pretty uniform body structure. I added a small brightly coloured crest and eye markings for display, but the rest was informed by other pterosaur fossils. Large pterosaurs have small or non-existent tails to prevent drag, have air sacs around the body to help with breathing, and were covered with feather filaments, giving them a fuzzy appearance. 

Although this was the hardest one to research the design for, I really enjoyed drawing it and have definitely found a new appreciation for pterosaurs.

The design I wanted to spend the most time on (aside from the Carnotaurus) was the Austroraptor as small -raptor predator dinosaurs have some of the most misinformation around them that annoys me, mostly from Jurassic Park. 

The animal is mostly covered in feathers and filaments with larger feathers on the forearms and tail, and I also added some more noticeable fluff on top of the head. The hands are also pointed inwards not backwards.

For pigmentation, I looked at modern day raptors for inspiration and drew on the rusty reds, dark navy/light blues, and creams for feathers, greys for scales, and bright yellow for the iris.

Before I had chance to design the Neuquenosaurus, Pippa sent a design on the group Discord for the dinosaur, but I was severely disappointed with what she sent.

The head does not resemble the fossil skull of Sauropods (and the nostril position and size are off as well), the neck does not thicken around the base, the front right leg bends in completely the wrong direction and the wrist is on the ground when it should be on tiptoes, the back legs have the ankle joint off the ground when the bone structure is more similar to ours (with the ankle on the ground and thick amounts of muscle on both thigh and calf), the feet have a paw look to them when individual toes should be near invisible, the osteoderms on the back are pretty shapeless, and the tail is far too short and looks almost prehensile when the base has a thick amount of muscle to keep it straight to provide balance.

After the amount of research and work I did into constructing the other animals, I was really let down with this. Small inaccuracies would be forgivable, but the inaccuracies here are so glaring it makes me think that Pippa didn't even look at fossils or reconstructions when making it.

Rather than get Pippa to redesign it properly, I just took on fixing it myself as it'd be quicker. 

I moved the nostrils to the edge of the snout and changed their angle, I added more soft tissue around the head to round it better, and added some loose skin under the throat. I also thickened the base of the neck, put the leg joints in the correct places and fixed the feet (adding a single claw to the inside of the front feet, made the U shape of the footprints more obvious, and added claws to the back feet). I also added muscle correctly to the tail and straightened it out better, and also streamlined the osteoderms.

Now I had the other species, I added them to the size chart, keeping individual size charts for each fossil on hand to make sure they're accurate.

504 Documentary #5 - Character Design

 Now I had some solid colours to pick from, I started with the young adult model, as it would be the face of the character. 

I combined the sandy colours (with counter-shading for camouflage) and the blue/red feathers for display. The forearm feathers are more pointed wing shape for animating and I added tail feathers because it was one of the few areas that feathers may have been (and smaller dinosaurs like raptors had quite heavy tail feathering). I also added spinal proto-feathers as I felt it help spread the display colours across the body better. I used darker colour for natural armour and kept it around the head where much of the fighting tends to centre around and added osteoderms along the back as well, although I may end up decreasing the number. The horns have a darker colour on the outside for better blending whereas there is a brighter colour on the inside (to follow a theory on how their mating displays were performed that we are presenting in the documentary in which the inner part of the horns would be more visible).

Now I had a basis for the full grown model, I moved onto altering it for the different ages.

Adapting a theory on the Tyrannosaurus Rex (in which the adults were featherless, which we known from skin impressions, but the hatchlings/juveniles had feathering for camouflage or insulation), I added more proto-feathering along part of the head and tail and made it a darker colour to aid in counter-shading. I also made the head bigger and darkened the display feathers, creating my own developmental timeline where during puberty, the juvenile would lose some filaments along the spine (and those that remained would change to a brighter red) and the rest of the display feathers and horns would become brighter to signify sexual maturity to potential mates.

I then went back to the Young Adult model and added some scarring for the full-grown model where it would be likely there may have been attacks, around the mouth from hunting (as many prey dinosaurs had bony osteoderms on the back that could cut flesh in certain circumstances), on the neck from fighting rivals, and on the underbelly from either.

For the elder model, I added more scarring, especially around the leg that becomes permanently injured during the final fight (to emphasise how he was pretty vulnerable), I also dulled all his colours (aside from eyes) to help show his age.

Once I had all the stages that we'll use, I created a size chart. 

Now I had the design and the colours for the male, I needed a design for the female (both for mother, siblings, and mates). I decided to remove the spine filaments and make the horns smaller, but keep the forearm and tail feathers for camouflage, insulation in colder months, and to make it look bigger to dissuade rivals or predators. The biggest difference is the duller colours, which I looked at Birds-of-Paradise for, so I used dull browns and reds.

For the mother's model, I altered the shades of colours (as real life individuals will have different shades) and added a couple scars from age. 

504 Documentary #4 - Early Development

 The team got together and blocked out a timeline of the Carnotaurus' life we could use as narrative points.

The opening title would play over the main Carnotaurus hatching. 

There would then be a time skip to the juvenile Carno being kicked out of the parent's territory before he becomes a serious competitor for resources.

The Carno, now a young adult, roams around the continent, and at some point gets bullied out of a territory by an Abelisaurus or a Quilmesaurus.

The Carno gets to full size and returns to the territory, now bigger than the 'bully' predator and forces them out, leaving the Carno in charge.

A female Carnotaurus comes by, which could be a way to show how Carnotaurus would communicate (using low frequency 'mumbling' rather than roars like in films) and how it may have done mating displays.

Timeskip again to show the Carno now older, a bit slower, possibly have some healed over injuries that still slow it a bit, and a new, younger Carnotaurus fights him for the territory. This could show how the horns were used for shoving matches. The Carno is left severely injured.

The Carno, now being older, weaker, and injured, finally dies and is eaten by the smaller dinosaurs. I also made note this could happen in a marshy area or in a lake, as we could have the credit sequence over footage of the Carnotaurus holotype MACN-CH 894 on display in Bernardino Rivadavia Museum of Natural Science in Argentina.

While we worked on the narrative, I really wanted to explore colours, so I used Scott Hartman's reconstructive outline as a base and coloured over it to look at where it could go.

Model A uses lighter colours for the main scales (with countershading) to camouflage easier and uses blues and greens for display.

Model B uses much darker colours with darker back scales and osteoderms (inspired from the Harpy eagle) and no proper countershading. The display colours are blue and yellow (I also tried green out for horn colours but obviously we can pick and choose colours from different models).

Model C uses dark colours as well with lighter back scales and osteoderms and white face markings inspired from tropical parrots, which may have helped confuse the eyes of prey and be used for display. The feather colours are red and blue.

504 Competition #5 - Final Ad

 The final scene, the box turning to a letter, was much easier to finish up with colouring as it was much more simplistic. Then it was simply editing.

Now Ly had uploaded the v/o work to our Google Drive, I went back in to fix all the editing so it lined up properly with the lines. Some of the sections had to be extended to keep the lines relevant to animation, but overall I'm happy with how the editing turned out.