alexiss dawn

Time is definitely speeding by. Last week we had to block out the 2/3 of our film. It still has some rough patches but it’s getting closer.

A good portion of my time last week was spent away from the computer — sketching, planning, and trying to visualize exactly what I wanted and how each motion was going to work. That last shot of the four took the most time. I took a whole different approach of how he flies back to the pole with some suggestions from my mentor. It’s been fun though to work on something that pushes those poses since I’ve always stayed more contained. I’ve worked to break the rig a bit to really smash his face and just throw him around. But like I said in my last post, it’s been so much quicker for me to spend most of my time away from the computer for this first blocking pass, really getting to a point that I can visualize exactly what I want. Then it’s pretty quick to get it into Maya.

This last week finally brought some specific video reference. There had been a lot of chatter among some AMer friends and they even started voting in our forums if I should do it or not. So, I finally did it — I stuck my tongue to a frozen pole. Oy vey. More than anything it was for a few laughs. Would I jump off a building for reference? Well, probably not. But no hurt in this…or at least not too much.

This last week we had to block out the first third of our films. With the way I’ve divided it that meant the first 622 frames. Crazy.

Yes, yes, the snowflake will be smooth and twirling, but there’s no sense in tweaking that just right until I for sure have the character’s movement set. I’m having a lot of fun working on this. This go around I’m pushing to work with the little things more — spending time doing work on the shoulders, more work on the brows, little finger movements, and all that jazz. This is only the first pass on this section for the term so it’ll definitely get sweetened up. More to come as usual.

Class 6 is going great so far — had my first Q&A with my new class and Justin. The group is excellent — so full of life and excitement. It’s going to be a great term.

The two lectures we’ve had so far this term have been great. It’s all been about process. Carlos Puertolas talked about the process of his short film Bath Time and how he ended up getting a job at Dreamworks, and then Victor Navone talked about his process of making Alien Song which lead to his current job at Pixar. It’s really cool to hear about the process they went through and see how it relates to just what we’re doing. This week our lecture is with Pete Doctor and I’ll just leave it at: another amazing lecture.

Here’s my final assignment for class 5! Worked on refining the timing and posing, jumping into a few more details, and not get too ahead of myself.

Oh, and the ending after the credits. That stems from a Q&A session with my mentor and class and a 4 am video chat with several other AMers the other night. Yes, we think we’re hilarious. Gracias to John and Teresa for that!

Class 5 has been incredible. It’s definitely been the most challenging class at AM for me so far. So many different elements are involved but it was great to be able to explore so many areas. I was able to jump in deep with other classmates and develop my understanding of appeal a little bit more. Probably the biggest thing I’ve learned this term is to stand by my ideas. It was so incredibly tough for me at first as I was trying to find a story idea that would please everyone. Just as a heads up for those of you who haven’t hit class 5 yet — it’s not possible! No matter what your story is, it just won’t fit everyone’s tastes. You just work to make the best story you can. So a huge thanks to everyone that supported me again this term over at AM — you guys are family and I appreciate it!

I’ve had an amazing mentor and group of people in my class this term. It really is an amazing process to see films develop from ideas, to pitches, to boards, and on. Probably the most creative time I’ve been able to be involved in.

Anyway! I’m off to California for the week! There’s no break between terms this time around, but during week 12 there’s technically not as much to do. But I’m still bringing my laptop with me to animate! Addiction? Possibly. But more like I’m knee deep in production…and I love it. I leave in 5 hours and I have yet to pack…or sleep. See ya guys in a week!

Heavens knows I didn’t get to spend as much time as I wanted to on my film last week with everything going on, but I was able to accomplish all of the goals I set for it last week. Sweet. So here’s the full layout, with some temp music on there. I’m in the process of getting the final music so it’s coming! Anyway, a few more tweaks then it’s time to get really blocking this baby.

Have I mentioned that I’m really enjoying this short film process? Man it’s fun.

Ok, so technically it’s more than the 2/3. I actually did it all last week, I just ended up trashing the last two shots right before deadline as I really wasn’t satisfied with how I had done them. Plus, I figured I’d save it for this next week. Having done a lot of detailed movement in my storyboards has really helped me do my layout so far. I have a better idea of how the action is happening and the timing of it all. Given tweaks have to be made in Maya, but it’s easier than if I had just done a couple of drawings for an entire shot. It’s been great sketching out movements, figuring out how things work. And man, it’s so fun seeing it start to come together.

So this week I’ll get those last two shots in there and also get some more detail/make some changes to shots 1-9. I was only so-so on making my own film earlier in this class but I’m really, really enjoying it now. It’s great to have so much freedom creatively and set my own timing. I’m really happy with where I’m at right now — really enjoying it. I’m still amazed I’ve managed to keep it under one minute and only one character. Many of you around AM know my reputation for pushing beyond those limits. Ha!

Goal this week is to finish the set (since those shots with the bus behind him don’t have anything behind the bus!), finish those last two shots, and refine the whole thing. I’m also still looking for music. Hmmm. It’ll be a bit busier week — my brother has been living in Peru for the last two years and he comes home on Wednesday. Weird! I’ve also been adjusting to my new schedule. We’ve decided to call is a sabbatical — and man I love it. I slept in a bit this morning, spent the morning/afternoon outside doing yard work (it’s finally warming up at 55 degrees!), and did some stuff around AM. Gotta love it.

So here’s my first third of my film in layout and then the rest on there as the animatic. It is really, really cool to see this translating into Maya. I’m enjoying it a lot — it’s starting to come to life by seeing it in there. It’s rough but that’s cause it’s only layout!

This week I’ll get a lot more done for sure. Last week was just crazy. Thank you to all of you who sent such incredibly kind messages after last week — I really, really appreciate it and it means so much. Animation people are amazing!

As an ending note, I thought I’d pass on a lil’ quote. Every week at Animation Mentor we have video news with a bunch of people at AM offices. This week Bobby started it off and after mentioning a few things school wise he said something I absolutely love:

This is Animation Mentor — the place where your dreams become reality. And the only way that happens is by pursuing and pushing yourself forward and working super hard.

We’re in week 9 and things always tend to get a bit hectic and it’s that final push for the term. And amazingly enough everyone of us struggles at one point or another questioning if we’re really cut out for animation — it’s just part of it all. So it was great to hear him say this. This morning I was talking with a friend that’s about to get a great job in the industry. Talking about his excitement (as I was bouncing in my seat in excitement) he noted how he hasn’t been this excited before. Then we said how it’s because it’s a dream coming true. That doesn’t happen every day — and I absolutely love seeing it all happen for my friends. It’s an incredible feeling when I hear about another person having that dream come true. Awesome.

Eight weeks into class 5 and you finally get an update complete with video. It’s been two months of exploring different stories, simplifying, pitching, simplifying, storyboarding, and even a bit more simplifying. So here’s my animatic for my film tentatively titled “Frozen”. This week shows why I do 3D animation and not 2D! Woo!

I have to say, it’s been a rough process. I’ve found class 5 to be the toughest class so far at AM. I of course came in with big ideas, most of which were just too big for this project. I always push my assignments beyond the limit and it’s been a lot of fun to do that as it’s pushed me to learn a lot and work really hard. So this is a change to actually only be doing 1 character like they recommend. It has a great setup to really push what I can do and to develop my animation skills farther. So this week I start layout on the film. Now is when things start to get busy again. So excited.