The Pitch + Animatic Ling Zhi Mushroom Life Cycle

The animatic of my proposed animation - the life cycle of a Ling Zhi Mushroom.



I was pleased with the response of my pitch today. Not only were the responses reassuring, but I feel more inspired than ever to continue the next steps and bring the animation to life. Now begins the process of production where hopefully everything will come together.

Storyboard Mushroom #01

I would have liked to have got this up a lot sooner, but I guess I've underestimated a few things and fallen victim to some dreaded procrastination. Despite this little setback, one must keep their spirits up and persevere onwards!

The storyboard encompasses the whole cycle beginning with the mushroom, growth and release of basidiospores, the germination of the spore as shown through mycelium, and ending with the sprouting of a new mushroom. Ideally, I've tried to focus on a level that cannot be seen by the human eye to further utilise the effective use of CG, being necessary to visually illustrate such remote worlds.



Some sketches of workings outs. Storyboarding really is one of those processes where you just have get things on a page to start resolving anything of significance.



An animatic should be coming shortly to further resolve timings and transitions.

The Life Cycle of a Mushroom

Some technical research into the life cycle of a mushroom. After learning so much about mushrooms of late, its actually quite exciting to delve into the finer points in how such a fascinating organism comes to life.

The life cycle of a mushroom can be summarised into 3 phases: Mycelium, Fruiting Body and Spores.

A couple of Haploid mycelia begin reproduction to produce dikaryotic mycelium. The mycelium biomass (roots) is able to extract nutrients from their environment while protecting themselves from other organisms. At this stage, many beneficial compounds, known as Extracellular compounds, are produced and released into the ground.



As the mushroom is ready to reproduce, most mushroom species will produce a fruiting body, which is most commonly referred as the actual mushroom being the most visible part of the fungi.


Here the fusion of two nuclei cells (process known as Karyogamy), will undergo meiosis to produce haploid nuclei, or basidiospores. The spores are then released by the fruiting body and dispersed by the wind, where they will find a new suitable place to germinate and start the reproductive cycle again.



Mushroom spore release


Once their spores are released, they may live up to a few days before they collapse and decay, providing nutrients to the surrounding plants and wildlife.
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To begin with, I will explore the early stages of myceluim as it grows and develops into a fruiting body. However, if things go well, I would be more than happy to try to do the whole cycle in its entirety.

Mushroom Research

I've been immersing myself into the world of mushrooms of late. Its fascinating stuff I think I've gained a new found respect for our fungi friends. Not only are mushrooms one of the oldest living organisms on earth existing before plants or trees, they possess great benefits to nature and man alike as a source of food and medicine properties.



They are able to grow and reproduce without light, as well as gain energy from radiation. Additionally, they are able to process waste deposits such as oil and thrive growing foods for other insects and plants to effectively create a new ecosystem of life. As such, mycologist Paul Stamets believe fungi possesses the key in saving our world.



A particular strain of fungi that is quite mind-blowing is the Cordycep Fungi. It infects its host, manipulating and confusing it to a state where it is able to sprout from its body, and thus reproduce more spores to infect others. There are thousands of types of Cordycep fungi, where amazingly each only specialises in targeting one species. There are benefits to its cause, in that it is able to maintain control of the population of each species - natures way of balance I guess. Watch the video of the process below, presented by David Attenborough.



Its astonishing as much as I find the concept quite frightening, being something like from a sci-fi thriller.

Mushroom Life Cycle + Target Audience

After some consideration, I've settled on the scenario of the mushroom life cycle as it generally feels more engaging to me as a whole, with a wide variety of different species of mushroom that are naturally captivating. With some concepts and sketches, I hope to resolve which part of the cycle to create, although the whole cycle itself is tempting as it is ambitious. Here is a video that help illustrates the process, as well as talk about mushrooms in general with their intriguing healing proprieties.



Additionally, my target audience will be of an undergraduate age group to capture a mature style and aesthetic that while educational, it will focus more on the visual experience to provide the opportunity for greater creativity; with possible cinematic approaches with dynamic camera movements and visuals. With some more research and concept ideas, I hope to resolve this approach.