Bad Signal is a another one of my 2D animated shorts however this one is made in collaboration with a friend of mine, musician, fashion designer and Artist Ahmad Jamal Wiggins AKA Snowey Rooftops.
The Bad Signal Plot
The Animation is about a doting husband Nokia cellphone trying to get in contact with his wife a cordless phone to let her know he will be home on time for dinner and whats for dinner. Little does he know he will be on the adventure of a lifetime, from the top of a mountain to jumping out of a plane. This man will stop at nothing to reach out to his wife only to hilariously crash land through their roof.
The Idea
Ahmad mentioned the idea when we were talking about something else via IG messenger, I beleive it was a voice recording, I don’t remember how long I thought about the idea whether 5 minutes or 5 days but I do remember reaching back out to him and letting him know I was gonna animated it.
I drafted a storyboard and went out and bought a pop filter for my Samson mic but some how ended up recording the audio in my car with the pop filter and being happy with the clips. I did the animatic with break neck speed and sent it to Ahmad which he gave me his emphatic approval.
The Animation Process
For the animation process I took a different approach which I hope to replicate for future animations. Mainly repurposing angles for different shots and only animating elements when it was absolutely necessary. This is my attempt at breaking away from my original approach from my pitch adult swim days.
In short I enjoyed this process and I think it helps the story more then conflicts with it.
The Final Export
This is by far the most annoying part of the process because the rush to just get it out there gets the best of me and I upload the finish product with errors that for some reason I alone notice.
My biggest issue was uploading the final product to Instagram which butchered my clips by eliminating 5-10 seconds off each clip, this is why I recommend the youtube video above.