Harris L. Kligman's third illustrated children's book, "The Wordman," is a captivating tale centered around the principal character, The Wordman, who possesses control over all the words spoken in the world.
One fateful day, The Wordman made a momentous decision to gather all the spoken words and store them within his word box. Consequently, silence enveloped the world, rendering people unable to speak due to the absence of words.
However, destiny intervened when The Wordman encountered a young girl who, like the rest, had lost her ability to speak. He presented her with a challenge—to solve a riddle in order to retrieve all the words.
Did the young girl succeed in unraveling the enigma?
To generate even more excitement around the book's release, Harris L. Kligman conceived the idea of bringing the characters to life through a captivating 60-second video. This involved a meticulous process of 3D modeling, rigging, and animation.
The project commenced with the creation of a script for "The Wordman" to engage in dialogue. Once the script was finalized, collaboration ensued with Mark Williams, the narrator of all of Harris L. Kligman's audiobooks, who lent his voice to The Wordman.
As a delightful surprise in one version of the video, they incorporated background music composed by Harris L. Kligman himself. The song, titled "Nancy Ann," pays homage to his wife.
The next phase involved the initial steps of storyboard development, outlining the sequence of events. This led to the creation of an animatic, essentially an animated storyboard. The images from the storyboard were assembled into a video format, complete with dialogue, sound effects, and music. This provided a glimpse of what the final clip would look like upon completion.
Following the animatic stage, the team delved into modeling, encompassing the creation of environments, props, backgrounds, and characters. Concept art and earlier storyboards served as the foundation for this modeling process.
Rigging followed suit, involving the establishment of a digital skeleton with controls to facilitate movement. Prior to rigging, the models resembled statues, but now they possessed nuanced motion, akin to action figures. Rigging ensured that each part of the body and face had controls for crafting various actions and expressions. Subsequently, the rigged models transitioned to a 3D program to commence video shot production. Animation marked the final phase in which the characters sprang to life, and the video took its ultimate form.
Below, you'll find images showcasing the different stages of video creation, culminating in the final 60-second clip that breathes life into The Wordman!
At the completion of the video, listen to the Wordman and the little girl and purchase your illustrated copy of "The Wordman" today at Amazon.com!
First version of The Wordman
Second Iteration of the Wordman - Adjusted walking movement of The Wordman and size ratio
Third iteration of The Wordman - Adjusted mouth to move in synch with voiceover
Fourth iteration of The Wordman - We see the little girl for the first time as she introduces the book
Fifth iteration of The Wordman - Improved handling of the book for little girl
Sixth iteration of The Wordman - First rendering with color
Final Video
Final Video With Music Written & Composed By Harris L. Kligman
Published book titles available by Harris L. Kligman include "The Profession," "The Shaolin Covenant," "Her Father's Daughter," "Life Impossible,", "The Dark" , "The Original Alphabet Gang" "The Day the Night Did Not Come", "Kill Alexis Markovic","Requiem For A Soldier", "The Treasure",The World of Nicholas Lord, "The Wordman", and Hakoah.
Audiobook tittles are also available for purchase through Audible, iTunes and Amazon. Audible stores distributes each title in the US, UK, Canada, Germany, France, Australia, and Japan.