Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Fight Scene !! Kicks off....

Hey Guys,

last week I was off of work with a BIG focus on kicking off the Fight scene sequences. This was a major undertaking for us because its going to put us off schedule a bit in order to create the footage.

We are feeling that the ammount of animation needed to get across the story needed will require quite a bit of footage- over a minute at least I am thinking....OUCH!!

Thats quite a bone to swallow.....but I am really excited aboout the entertainment value that could be gained in the telling- watching .

me and shel went down in the gym and choreographed the action and then I spent alot of time thinking about the scene and drawing tons of thumbnails -I basically let my brain soak up the movement and poses before I began the animation.

Well here is the Kick off footage from the NEW first meeting out of the crashed ships -



this will have LOTS of cuts to close ups and detailed-clarifying moments.....I did the whole sequence from this one perspective-staging - so shel would have lots of cutting options in the edit.

and here is the no wire removal version.



I have started now the second fighting pass....and should finish in the next couple of days. We are planning on 6 fight passes for them to fully exhaust themselves......in which will motivate the New line drawing- You stay on your side- Ill stay on mine.

wish me luck guys....Ill keep ya posted.

jriggity

Friday, September 3, 2010

Finding your Story - And Comparrisons.

Hey Guys!

been a few weeks of of Busyness at work and a possibility of another job switch. Luckily its all settled now and I look forward to being able to clearly Focus on my day job project for many months to come.....and My Night time job of making movies.

As for the film...I have managed to get a Big sequence done with Flea Pilot.....this was a sequence expanded-upon that wasn't in the original script. We found-or Discovered it.

This guy's..... is one of the coolest things about film making-Storytelling.......throughout the process of telling story's....you discover!! Find....connections... moments.....New ways of tying things together....opportunities to show character in entertaining ways that didn't exist in text or on paper.

These are thrilling times and can often be my favorite moments of character throughout a film.

Well......after talking to a multi talented buddy of mine - Paul Linsley - he pointed out a hole in our story-a question that needed to be -answered . We really thought about it and I agreed it needed to be addressed......

After discussing it with Shel we have come to a quality FUN solution to the problem.....This is very exciting to me as an animator.....because we get to Choreograph and I get to Animate a fight scene.

Wooo Hoo.....this will improve the story ....Hopefully create some laughter and be an awesome piece of animation to look at.

Ill keep you guys in the loop on how it progresses.
Here is the last shot I animated sunday Night with the help of one of my Art assistants- Justin Connolly. Me and Shel enjoyed the way this shot leaves fleas current repair situation and enters Dober's continuing collection of materials. Plus...its fancy 3D in your face Neat-o ness.


I had to move all over the table for this one even though it looks simple...The ball falling....Flea looking around the wing.....and then Dober stepping into frame in the foreground......all the while

animating the camera tilt as the ball nears the foreground.{and a focal shift ta boot} Justin Did the Clickin and flipping so Could see what the heck was happening on the screen.
this ended up taking me a good 12 hours....Sunday 7 pm till Monday 7 am......2 hours sleep then off ta work.....uughh.

I am pretty happy with the shot....but I can really see the fatigue set in as the shot progresses. I get sloppier with my frames.....and I can feel I'm rushing to finish.

Thanks Intern Justin!! ....this shot would have taken twice as long if you were not there.
- in comparrison - Last post I share the thumbnail sequence I created for Misha to animate....

here is the animatic



here is the Shot - post production is not done.....just thrown together to share what it came to.


and LAST but NOT least.....I had a POWERFULL breakthrough this last weekend with Brother Todd- Son-Nicky and Composer/BMXer/Yaghtsman/Lady's man/Intern -Robert Litton.

One of my many goals in Life- was to do a 360 over the spine as an older man.....We went to the sk8park this weekend and made it happen.

I havn't thrown one of these since I was 17 years old- and 2 very imprortant pieces of information on the incident.

#1- I was Scared as Hell ....I havn't done somthing where I knew the likelyness of Injury was VERY likely in a LONG time...ha!
As a young Kid I had NO FEAR AT ALL.......physically...I would do pretty much anything and bounce right back up.....its so funny how getting older lets fear creep in as much as the aches and pains of aging.

#2 - I did somthing I havn't done since I was a youngster...... I PUMPED myself up .....like in a cartoon.....filling myself with that crazy -falling out of your bed.....BURST's of adrenaline......and just tried to put that Stupid fear out of my mind.....Get really Spockish about the movement...LOGICAL....to non Star Treak Fans.

and bottom line- GO FOR IT.....

it worked out....and I get to cross another Goal off my list....I was sooper happy guys!!

Really.............THRILLED!!!!

untill we meet again.

jriggity