Tidy Town
Tidy Town is a 2D animated graduation film made by Thirza van der Zee and me at the University of the Arts, Utrecht (HKU) – which I directed, wrote, and produced. The film is about a raccoon cub named Joy, she has a plan to get rid of the plastic trash that has overwhelmed her island.
visual development
While figuring out our style, characters, and environment, I also wrote the script. Tidy Town was going to be a fun but serious film, with a virtuous tone. Inspired by animations I loved when I was little. I wanted the visuals to be cute with a hint of realism.
CONCEPT ART
In an earlier version, the story was about three kids. They wanted to expose the damage Wolf\’s water bottle production had done to their island. They did so by making videos for their school, or the Tidy Town version of youtube: Wooftoob. This idea became too complicated for the amount of time that we had, so I rewrote the story. Eventually, we settled on one main character: Joy.
Characters
environment
CHARACTER DESIGN
STORYBOARD
I reviewed, gave feedback on, and adjusted the storyboard Thirza created and contributed scenes myself. Here too, a lot of our fun ideas had to be cut. Due to the delicate conflict of the story, it was the most difficult and time-consuming part of the production to get right.
I used vivid colours to accentuate Joy’s childlike innocence and contrasted those with dark clouded backdrops when the story takes on a more melancholic tone.
Storyboard snippet
colour board
After completing the storyboard and the layouts, I worked on the backgrounds. I also created a workflow for incorporating the use of Ebsynth in our project.
Backgrounds & Colour
A selection of backgrounds based on layouts by Thirza van der Zee, Charlotte Lemmers, and Myself.
From keys to ebsynth
I have a preference for a painterly style in my animations. Ebsynth became a perfect solution. While the team worked in lightning speed to finish up the flat colours, I painted the keys to render in Ebsynth, and afterwards cleaning them up in Tvpaint, as sampled below.
Animation
During the animation production phase, I worked on both the visual effects and the character animation for Joy and Wolf. When all animation was completed, I adjusted some character shots for Joy, for the sake of consistency.
Selections & Awards
cinekid
best dutch animated short – nominee
Noordelijk filmfestival
Best student Film – Winner
Netherlands film festival
Student competition – official selection
Giffoni film festival
Elements 6+ – Official selection
FFTG Awards
Quarantine Film – Multiple wins
Canadian cinematography awards
november 2020 animation film – winner
Queen City Film Festival
Animated Short – Official selection
credits
original concept by
Dana Alink & Thirza van der Zee
Written, Directed, & Produced by
Dana Alink & Thirza van der Zee
Componist
Isabella Calmet
Sound Production
Jose Varon
sound effects
Milovan Güich
Final Mix
Geoffrey Cannock
Voice acting
Joy & Mayor – Dana Alink
Linnaeus Wolf – Jon Adams
Secretary – Wesley Eagle
CONCEPT ART
Dana Alink & Thirza van der Zee
CHARACTER DESIGN
Dana Alink & Thirza van der Zee
LEAD STORYBOARD DESIGN
Thirza van der Zee
ADDITIONAL STORYBOARD DESIGN
Dana Alink
LAYOUTS
Dana Alink
Cecil Eijgendaal
Charlotte Lemmers
Thirza van der Zee
BACKGROUND ART
Dana Alink
BACKGROUND ART
Dana Alink
LEAD ANIMATION
Dana Alink
Charlotte Lemmers
Thirza van der Zee
ADDITIONAL ANIMATION
Cecil Eijgendaal
Jil Siu
Noémie Bajor
VISUAL EFFECTS
Dana Alink
COLORING
Dana Alink
Dara Dharmaperwira
Cecil Eijgendaal
Tobi Springer
Emelia Waterman
Thirza van der Zee
