Virtual reality has been receiving a wide audience, not just in the commercial scene but also from household consumers. The immersive experience that the medium can of[1]fer has accelerated the growth of the same in visual storytelling, whether it be live-action or animation. The use of a Head Mounted Display (HMD) for viewing purposes has the constraint of limiting the audience within its field of view, and anything that happens in the story has to be experienced by the viewer in real time and with realism, and it should ensure that the audience should not lose track of where to look so that the action is never missed out. This can be achieved through proper storyboarding. The progress of the VR story is different when compared to a normal short film or movie. The audience’s presence and interaction define the next action in the story if it is an interactive story, and if it is a 360° video, the audience needs to know where the action is going to take place so that the entire story is unfolded without confusion. The way a storyboard is done for a VR story is not the same as that followed for a regular frame-based movie. The storyboard artist needs to take the utmost care about the entire 360° of the environment and ensure that the whole set is present and scripted. The actions and triggers should be carefully planned before executing the story. This paper deals with the studies conducted on the topic of storyboarding and animation for VR.

HopMotion Studios is a full-service digital 2D animation studio engaged in creating broadcast-quality content for Indian as well as international clients. Founded by Anish Patel, Carmen Martinez, and Neel Lukkani, the studio has 5000 sq. ft. of studio space in the heart of Mumbai. The studio consists of script writers, pre-production artists, storyboarders, animators, and video editors. The major works of the studio include the ongoing television series Chhoti Anandi and webseries like Modern Activity, Kung Fu Singh, Ninja Patel, etc. The studio also works on international projects like CampWWE.

My internship project began with an introduction to the basic work processes in the industry. It was followed by the familiarisation of the software tools used within the studio. Each working day spanned a total duration of 9 hours, during which I found time to learn and experiment with the software tools and got to do the work related to the ongoing projects. The work was divided in such a way that the first half of the project period was utilised in performing the basic understanding of the software, Toon Boom Harmony, and the latter half included the work on certain ongoing projects of the studio, namely creating props and finalising the animated shots. Regular meetings were done with the team leads, which helped in understanding the features of the software, the project cycle, the animation flow, and the background art. Overall, my tenure working in the studio has equipped me with an understanding of the animation studio’s business processes and animation processes.

The concept of "Wow!" signals has been intriguing to the science world since its discovery in 1977. The only possible explanation that has not been ruled out for the strange phenomena are unexplained causes, which also include acts of extraterrestrial intelligence. With this idea in mind, the story was developed and the film was made. The final product of a short film goes through various steps, from the first idea to the final animation. This report lines up the processes that went into it, the problems that were encountered, and the output that was achieved through months of preparation and refinement.