How Fire Sprinklers Work

This was actually my audition animation for Jellyvision Inc. I was given an audio clip (the voice acting portion), and needed to come up with the visuals to clearly explain the logistics of how fire sprinklers work (and how dangerous Pop Tarts can be). I only had a handful of days, so I had to move quickly. I decided to lean into my animation background, create appealing characters and build a little world to really engage the viewer. Spoiler alert, this animation got me the job!

These are the actual boards for this animation. It was a quick and dirty job! I made thumbnail sketches to block out the shots and get a flow of the action. Then did a bit of shorthand illustration for character gestures and animation direction. Finally I dragged each individual panel into Adobe Animate to create an animatic, and just built out the final animation from there. The bonus was the bit of audio editing and sound effects I added to help carry the limited animation.

This character line-up was something I made as a reference for myself. A line-up always comes in handy for making sure that the characters stay on model, and that their proportions are generally consistent. At a glance you can tell who’s who, and it also makes for a great pre-production show piece!