PolterHeist; References!

Hi! This is a list of references used for my final animation project at NCTEC, entitled PolterHeist.

I'd like to begin with one of the bigger inspirations for this story so far, which is the "Reflega" magic from Kingdom Hearts II. I had recently finished KH I and II in the Winter, and so the sound effect was engrained into my mind and when thinking up the final storyline for PolterHeist, that seemed like the only viable option as for what Delle does when the gemstone drops. Although the mechanics of the KH Reflect magic are different than what I'm animating, it's still the same general concept, except instead of shooting back enemy attacks, Delle's magic acts like a trampoline, although small in size. It was only a coincidence that this lines up with her character's archetypes as a Heart attribute, one who protects, whether it be by reflecting magic attacks away or by healing wounds, she's got it covered. It might've been subconscious when storyboarding, making the scenes as "canonically accurate" to my story that doesn't exist anywhere yet, but I like where this is going.

The story was driven entirely by music beats. Specifically, Hypnotise by Psychadelik Pedestrian. I include this as a reference due to how often I went back to different parts and ruffled through the song as a whole on repeat to accurately bring this concept of mine into a storyboard. The process of making up stories for your OCs driven by songs is quite fun if you've got the imagination for it!

As soon as I thought about River and Delle searching for Blitz's soul, my mind immediately shot over to the paranormal; specifically, the Ouija board. Popular as a gimmick toy back in the 1900s, this became a source of many spooky coincidences, stories, accidents, movies, and shows that have no signs of stopping. For this project, I decided to delve into what makes ouija boards "work", and it isn't ghosts, sorry to say. Ideomotorism is the true source of power for the Ouija boards, actually! The boards rely on your subconscious actions and reactions in order to supply you with the spooks you desire. So, the next time you find yourself around an ouija board with your friends and everyone agrees to not push/pull the planchette (the piece that moves on the ghost's behalf), just know everyone is doing exactly that, even if they don't think they are. Here are some Ouija Rules to get you started!

So, we all know by now that Blitz enters the scene dead and spends all his time being lazy and relaxing on this comfy operating table that willed itself into existence in a haunted mansion. I imagine on the way to the mansion, Blitz had to be carried there by both of them, and therefore no more hands to drag this thing along. Plot hole #1, baby!!
(I realize now that these have wheels, so the plot hole has been patched. They wheeled him in on this and dropped him on it in the beginning for some reason. To check for consciousness, I imagine?)

I had no clue how to draw these characters sitting down at a table in perspective on this kind of angle, and after all of that, it's clear I still have 0 clues. perspective is a hard practice and takes time to master, along with the other elements of Illustration, so I'd like to request a formal pardon. I did, however, try using these tutorials on perspective by various YouTubers!


I took a lot of inspiration from various animations and V/SFX reels I looked over when researching this idea I had in mind. For my bigger story involving these characters, they all have magic of some sort, belonging to three archetypes; Mind (Psychokinesis, lie detector, temporary weapon materialization, hindsight, and premonitions), Heart (Healing properties, Hope, Temporary Weapon Materialization, Active Shielding, Reflective Magic among other Defensive magic, Regenerative properties), and Soul (Control of the Elements via technical Apparatus/Natural sources such as a gemstone, "Ghosting" ability, Strong Willpower,  Courage). With this in mind, I wanted to push the boundaries a bit if I had extra time with the project during the magic sequence with River and Delle to better reflect their Mind and Heart paradigms.
Power Up VFX
Seb Iglesias 2d FX Reel
Magic VFX (Variety of inspo)
Magic VFX

I utilized a Voltronesque split-screen layout while River and Delle were summoning the gem from the Ghostly Realm, so here's a reference of what I mean by that. Sort of an anime-like transition to show all parts of the action at once; I think I made it work quite well.

I would have used this last one had I kept the candlelight in, but animating the light seemed ambitious when there was a lot more to focus on, such as the dragging and falling animation River goes through. I do plan on polishing this up a ton during the summer, though, so it might be added back in then.
Lighting Blog

unsurprisingly, for a majority of the motion I didn't know how to animate, random GIFs online came in handy. Despite being lazy and not knowing, I didn't record any live references, I just drew them out and figured what would happen to each character's form based on the circumstance.


To keep my creative gear in drive, I revisited amazing works of animation by my idols to persuade myself to finish this to the best of my ability. These include Ghost, a song by Mystery Skulls, animated by MysteryBen27, Starlight Brigade, a song by TWRP and Dan Avidan, animated by Knights of the Light Table, and Welcome to Hell, an animation created by Erica Wester. These were huge inspirations on their own terms by keeping me going and protecting the imaginative flames in my heart.