Nora Magica is a story-based 2D animation within the magical girl genre in which Nora, the main character, must fight against Janus, an evil force destroying the home she swore to protect.
My work on Nora Magica was a research exploration into creating compelling characterisation and story through the animated rhythm (i.e timing, spacing, contrast, flow) of a character’s non-verbal expressions. With a self imposed restriction of two non-verbal characters, I worked to utilise animation techniques to craft my character’s facial expressions and body language into an understandable story.
My reasoning for this was to push my animated storytelling skills without relying on words to support me and to explore emotion in a visual format. I drew upon both the knowledge and skills I had gained whilst studying Animation at AUT, as well my background studying and performing as an actor.
I created Nora Magica alongside Nadine Ramiso and Cindy Xu. I was the story and character director and a lead animator. I worked on the treatment, storyboard, animatic, and final animation, whilst directing my fellow animators on their own additions to the animation.
