Propercorn: The new concept

From the peer feedback I began sketching new concepts involving a more open world, showing the corn growing in the field to being cooked and adding the flavouring. After talking to Alex about how the popcorn could be transported to each of these scenes, we decided to keep the cart and tracks that we had in the previous concept. We both agreed that it worked with the characters and it helped to tie in the wacky world that we wanted to create. This new concept gave more room for ideas and developing them further.

For the popcorn to be cooked I debated from huge frying pans to a furnace, asking Alex for feedback on these ideas, she decided that the furnace was the best idea. I began to design the furnace thinking of different ways to incorporate the tracks, each of these tracks would represent a different flavour. As the popcorn cooking scene would only be possibly 3 seconds at the longest due to the amount we wanted to show in the short animation we wanted to make, I felt that the furnace needed to be simple and incorporate the gnome characters. I thought that there could be a small window for the gnomes to check on the popcorn to ensure that it is done properly and could also allow more character designs for the gnomes. For example in this scene there could be gnomes dressed in lab coats experimenting with new flavours in the background as gnomes in the foreground control the temperature of the popcorn. After this scene we wanted a room to be dedicated to the addition of the flavour, with this room being the most craziest and interesting scene compared to the previous. I found inspiration for this through the concept art of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Wreck It Ralph with the Sugar Rush game level. As we wanted to focus on one flavour, being the lightly sea salted one, I decided to fill the room with shells and sea weed, the tracks being slightly underwater, and possibly huge shells pouring more sea water into the room.

Corn in the field

The flavour room

Tracks

The flavour room continued

Cooking the popcorn