Class 3 Week 12: Progress Reel and Halfway Point

Back from vacation!  Wow.  A week to unplug with no computers or internet.  Plus a week off now until Class 4 begins.  It's been a long haul so far trying to balance work and school (and as much a home life as I can manage - thank god for a very patient wife).  But here we are...at the halfway point of Animation Mentor.  Time to relax for a bit and enjoy the "normal" life - see ya in a few weeks! :)

Class 3 Week 11: Pumpkin Finale

Spent the most time this week working on the fall.  Tried to make it a bit bigger/stronger - really worked on the arcs of his body and limbs, and get them all to reinforce the movement.  Adding the little double bounce on the body was a happy accident that I loved and built up.  Really focused on using overlap on the arms/hand/fingers and leg/foot/toes to sell the fall.

Speaking of fingers and toes - also spent a lot of time adding those little details throughout the shot, from gripping the pumpkin, catching himself, toes on the weight shifts....took a lot of time, but it really helps.  One of those where you tend to "feel" it more than "see it" the first time through...but really gives life to the character.

On a side note - taking a tip from one of our lectures, on the beginning I combined his actions.  That is, he looks around and walks forward at the same time, and even starts to reach at the same time.  So far most of my actions have been very 1, 2, 3....look, pause, move....etc.  Having this overlap of movement AND intention really was a little revelation.  So, I look forward to keep exploring these more natural and complex and interesting way of telling the story.

But now...I'm looking forward to my vacation to Alaska with my wife! 

Class 3 Week 10: Pumpkin Polish

Well, lots of big improvements this week, especially in terms of storytelling.  Got a lot of comments from classmates about "Why?" is he picking up the pumpkin.  So I add the beat of him looking around and now choosing the pumpkin.  Having that one little bit of acting (the act of making a choice) REALLY helped inform the animation for the entire shot.  My mentor gave the idea that he should have the shaking knees and looking side-to-side.  Again, this really defined the character and made it a lot of fun to work with.

Just look at the amount of blinks alone!  I feel like this is the first time that I started to get some real character and personality conveyed thru the animation.

Otherwise, spent lots of time on technical fixes - biggest is I lessened the big breaking/stretching of the arms from last week.  Worked on fixing some out of balance poses in the first half, and starting to fix some interpenetration issues between the pumpkin and Stewie.  Started to block in some more specific hand and foot movements.  Lots still to polish - and I have to pack for an Alaskan cruise too!!!

Class 3 Week 9: Re-Blocking the Pumpkin

Well, once again some big changes.  Got some great feedback last week - and decided I really needed to push the animation a lot more, it had too many subtle things crammed into it.  So, this week was about simplifying and giving enough time to the one or two big actions.

Also, my previous video reference wasn't all that helpful, so I filmed new reference this week.  That also changed quite a bit of my staging.  Really happy with the new changes and direction.

Class 3 Week 8: Blocking Pass on a Pumpkin

So, this week took a bit of a left turn.  I decided to change my project at the last minute (which seems to be a pattern for this class).  I went back to my Mentor from last class, Jeremy Cantor, gave us a list of what shots he thinks every animation reel should have.  This is why my last several assignments have had jumping, running, pushing/pulling, etc.  The one thing on his list I haven't taken a crack at yet is "lifting a heavy object" - so here it is.

There's actually an earlier pass of this one I like better - it just was a bit cleaner, not so much overlap built in...so I think simplifying out the animation curves on this one will really help next week.  I have a big vacation looming on the horizon that will interrupt part of this project, so I'm really hoping to get ahead of the game this week.

Class 3 Week 7: Elevator Final

Last week on the Elevator!  Had some really good comments from our substitute mentor this week, so actually made little changes to just about everything in this one.  The one problem with that is I think I was starting to overwork some things...and I definitely broke a lot of stuff in the process that I had to go back and repose frame by frame.

Biggest change is the feet doing a few baby steps skidding to a stop rather than the big slide I had before.  Really tried to make the timing snappier too, so he falls a bit faster, jumps a bit quicker, etc.

Next week we move on to the last project of the term...right now its a toss up between a guy trying to get a soda out of a vending machine, or stealing the last doughnut sitting out at work :)

Class 3 Week 6: Refining Elevator Shot

The big note coming out of last week was that the camera was too far away.  So I pulled in the camera fairly dramatically - however, that meant that my little running guy was out of frame for most of the beginning frames.  Since I need at least 100 frames of animation for the assignment, my wife Heather had the idea to add a second person in the elevator.  It was a lot of fun to have some conflict added to the shot and play with the personality of the new guy.

One other change that might not be noticeable at first -  the set is about half the size it was last week.  Once I added the second guy (and added elevator buttons) I realized the doors were about 12 feet high.  With their smaller scale and the camera pull in, they look almost the same.

Before the suggestion of adding the second guy, I had just planned on doing a camera move to pan across and follow the run (therefore keeping the 100 frames of animation).  I'm posting that video too, just because I really liked the dynamic the camera pan gave.

Class 3 Week 5: Blocking Pass on New Assignment

Here's my first pass at our next assignment.  I changed the idea a bit from my initial plan (which was a guy falling off a treadmill).  Basically, that idea felt way to much like a good ol' crowd cycle.  And I'm trying to use this class as a chance to explore more dynamic movements than that. 

My last mentor, Jeremy Cantor, gave a list of shots he thinks every animator needs under his belt.  This is why I did a big jump on the last assignment.  One of those he suggests is to have a character running.  (The last one on his list I'm lacking is to lift something heavy...guess what my next project will be...)

So I kept with the running idea, but had Stewie run after something - gave him a goal.  Since my last assignment had a bit of an Indiana Jones inspiration, I went the same route here again.

Class 3 Week 4: Final Pass on "Idea"

Another crazy weekend, another assignment in the bag.  I had a lot of fun on this one.  I really took the time to get into the details and perfect the animation curves.  I haven't gotten that detailed into one of my assignments since way back on the "Ballie Stairs" assignment.  Felt good to get back into that mindset.

Now it's on to planning the next assignment.  I quickly posted an idea to the class that had one of the Mythbusters comically falling off a treadmill...but I still my change that if I think of a more dynamic idea in the next day or two.

Class 3 Week 3: Refining Pass - now with more Swing!

So, decided that this shot needed a bit more dramatic action.  After falling asleep to Indiana Jones a few nights this week I decided a nice swing off the lamp would be a fun addition.  I'm really happy with how this turned out so far...finally a good foundation to the shot.  I also like that it adds even bigger movements into my animation experience, this is one of the most fun weeks I've had animating so far.

Class 3 Week 2: First Blocking Pass on New Idea

 

 

Well, this was an "interesting" week.  I was really unhappy with my initial plan for this shot (the stage swordplay).  I felt that idea would be 1) too similar to the sword in the stone shot from last class, and 2) would involve lots of complicated movements that still wouldn't have the WOW physical action I want to try my hand at.  Since the first class, I tend to gravitate towards more subtle actions, so I wanted to open it up with this class.

This idea came to me really really late in the process - so what you're looking at is what I was able to block out between 10pm and 5am (before heading in to work).  I really like the idea and I'm anxious to get in some more time on it.

I like that this shot can be viewed as a metaphor for me in this class - struggling to find an "idea" (i.e. lightbulb goes on) that's just out of easy reach...

Class 3 Week 1: One-Third of the Way There...

Class 3: Advanced Body Mechanics

Finally had a week off!  It was much needed :)

Moving on to the third class now - which means I'm officially one-third of the way thru the Animation Program...it feels very fast and very long at the same time!  My next mentor is Raquel Rabbit, who's worked at some of the studios up in the Bay Area and is now a full time college professor.  As always, it'll be great to get a new perspective on animation.

My plan for the first assignment is to involve an actor on stage doing some stage combat - ending up falling over the scenery after doing his sword flourishes.  Dug into the good ol' Thesis to get some stage assets to potentially use for this assignment.