Inspiration for Animation

[Euriiko]

I was wondering what kind of inspiration or thought process people had this past season while creating an animation for the Autodesk Award. It would be awesome if you'd share maybe the funny experience that influenced the animation, the situation where maybe the main idea just hit you, or elaborate about how ideas evolved and developed over the course of brainstorming. It would also be great if you posted "deleted scenes" or something of the sort that never made it into the final cut.

For my team (2-person team, of which I was the Lead...haha) my partner and I had two different visions of what the final animation would look like. We also had different strengths and weaknesses. He had a background in CAD and a soft spot for modeling and making cities. I, on the other hand, loved to animate and did not care much for the process of modeling. He was convicted that we should make some sort of iiko city with modern technology like flying cars and show the audience how this was a result of the iiko's advanced education system. I didn't particularly like the idea, but with no better idea, we immediately set off to working. I started storyboarding; he began to make fancy buildings.

One week later and I had a new idea, a better idea. So we trashed our work and didn't look back.

The way the inspiration came to me was most random. I was sitting in my AP Biology class, daydreaming, and annoyed that with the great weather outside, in high school there wasn't recess, so it made no difference.

And then it hit me. RECESS.
I became all excited and began visualizing a playground a school, iikos having fun and staying fit all at the same time, and everything I learned about how exercise improves cognitive functions and such.
I contacted my partner at Robotics that night and we discussed it. Recess it was. And he, being the nifty modeler, soon came up with a variety of playstructures, a school, and other props. I began working on swing cycles, jump cycles, run cycles, and all the goodies.

So that's my story. Tell yours!

PS: Here's the animation, if you want to see the final product!
http://youtu.be/BXwxhN0W0dg