Pre Production Panic

Due to the time limit of the clip, being only a mere minute long in duration give or take, I’ve found myself being over eager with the amount of information I’m trying to pack into story boards.
A Sheppard in the mid ground, and sheep in the fore ground, a shack in the background, and a footprint in the middle. It just feels like I’m cramming too much information into a single shot, so I’m going to rethink my layouts.
I’ve been going over John K’s blog, which I’m finding enthralling in a pre-production stage, but it’s a little disenchanting reading the amount of abuse 3d productions cop from traditional artists. Regarding layout and scene composition he writes
1) Extremely clear simple staging, focused on the gags.
2) One idea is presented at a time.
3) He sets up each main idea clearly first, then builds on the gag, making it more and more ridiculous.
I watched ‘Detective Droopy’ as a reference for gags related to characters not being able to make a sound. Feel very tempted to steal a gag or two, but I’m scratching my head in search for something original.
Rule of thirds is beginning to look quite mechanical, and I think when over used it becomes boring. I also find the rule confusing when taking into consideration the amount of characters in the scene. It seems impossible and cramped trying to fit two characters into one side of the picture.

The first Model of the Sheppard was far from functional, having a massive head and a tiny body made him extremely hard to move. The new version seems more operational but he’s a lot less cute then the first, and has a plastic dead feel to him at the moment. I always find it hard to project life into a 3d model when it’s staring blankly with dead eyes in its unnatural relaxed default position. I’ll have to tweak him around and start thinking of unique personality traits I can invest into the character.
The idea of the Sheppard always appealed to me, as the Sheppard must be both tender and strong. These two traits work well for a lawfully good aligned character, but I think perhaps there is more entertainment to be found in giving him an almost contradictory behavior. For example, the Sheppard could lovingly cradle his sheep, before ruthlessly using him as bait.
As for the Sheep’s personality, he is obviously nerve racked and terrified, but as the rivalry builds between the two he becomes seemingly more confident and cheeky, attempting to sabotage the Sheppard’s attempts at catching the monster.
The monster itself as I said, was written to be quite tragic similar to Grendel, but I don’t think this fits well into a gag focused piece. I had the idea of having him weeping and whimpering, then chuckling madly. Perhaps he works better as an antagonist without a personality, but we will see. He could even be quite gleeful in his behavior, over excited when he’s about to snag his lunch.
Music wise the clips mood seems to be a combination of comedy and suspense, but sadly none of my muso friends, as talented as they are, feel equipped to write music with only storyboards as visual aids, So music will have to be done in post. I’ll have to talk to them about tempo and beats, so I can attempt to animate to that as a guide.
Researching all revues for references, and using my old failed project as a visual guide at times.