Revised shot sequence for shots 00 & 01; now combined. Going Live!

More practice with Premiere and inserting some opening titles (png text files,  roughed out in Photoshop); to give us an idea of the pacing of the opening sequence.

The final graphics are in the process of being created, but this will give us a good indication in the meantime, of placing, size, timing etc....

The idea of revisiting the Previs file, was to see if the opening frame, showing the toys in a heap, would still work well as a static shot. The original drawn story boards showed two shots; one wide and one close up. This new idea incorporated both shots and could be edited into one static shot that lasts a couple of seconds.

The advantage being, that we only need to render out one frame and can then repeat this for the remainder of the sequence; saving us a lot of time with the render for his particular shot.

I then played around with moving the audio and associated images closer together, to snap up the timing...

Original establishing shot (00), on the drawn storyboards.

 Original shot 01

New sequence, showing the bew static rendered frame 00, which incorporates both shots

Robot 'LIAR' - Photoshop graphics

Last year I played around in Photoshop creating 'Neon' effects...and this came in handy this weekend, for creation of the graphics on the Robot's chest...
The text flashes 'LIAR' on the robot...as Jeremy Kyle (He-Man) says "Test Says You're a Liar!"

TIFF file for upload onto the Robot

Mock ups in Photoshop to compare different fonts

Shots 07 & 8 - avoiding a 'jump cut' - Going Live

GoingLive - Toys

I had another look at shots 7 & 8 this weekend and reworked the camera positions and animation, to avoid the jump cut (as seen in the original frames below)
As He-Man was 'referenced' in, rather than imported for shot 8, I simply borrowed the model from shot 7 - so I could position the angles, ready for the correct He-Man to be inserted in...

New shots 7 & 8

                                   

Original frames with 'jump cut'

Force of Nature by Jamie Janover - Reflective Practice

                   
Interesting reference link 'The Force of Nature' by Jamie Janover...
Inspiration ideas for the closing frames of my final film....will work on how I can collectively put similar images into an idea for the final sequence...


                         

Creating face controllers to drive blend shapes!

Great lesson today creating face controllers, in the perspective model space, using Nurbs Curves (rectangles, circles and text) to control each facial expression or lip sync phoneme shape...

The controllers  then act as 'drivers' to the 'driven' blend shapes.

This gives two advantages.

One: The controllers are clearly visible in the viewport and are a simple representation of the blend shape command interface.

Two: The controllers are clearly visible in the graph editor, and that, in turn, the animation of the blend shapes is far easier to amend in the graph editor; as each one can be selected individually in the graph and editing accordingly.

I am finding rigging to be very logical, and enjoyable in equal measure to animating!!

Above:

Nurbs Curves used to create the 'rectangular' controller box and 'circle' controller. The circle was then limited in it's translation Y axis, which meant that it's position would extend either above or below the box, plus it's values were restricted and locked. '0' being the lowest position and '1' being it's top most position.

The pink circled areas indicated the controller, corresponding blend shape values, and the 'Set Driven Key' option box.

Above:

Constraining and parenting the controller to the head joint (highlighted in green)

Above:
Tear off copy of camera viewport, shown on the right. This was not a 'standard' camera view. We created a 'facial camera' and then constrained the camera (in the perspective viewport) to the controller, meaning that when the head was rotated, that the camera view of the head appeared to remain static and in line with the head....only the body appeared to move. This would be utilised if creating an animated scene and a close up of the face was desired simultaneously...

In Her Shoes - critical review

So movie number 2 on a Trans-Atlantic flight...

'In Her Shoes'...

I think these two images, from a colour script point of view, sum up the emotional journey that the two sisters go on. Darkness and separation, to light and connection.

There's some great moments of personal and sibling frustration throughout, and I particularly like the straightforward yet slightly cynical nature of the grandmother, played by Shirley Maclaine.

I found this film to be hopeful and to carry some depth and weight, when dealing with a storyline of personal growth...

It's visually very pleasing too...particularly the alfresco informal wedding scene at the end!

Royal Scottish National Orchestra - Prokofiev critical review

Critical Review...

Last night we had the treat of seeing and hearing the Royal Scottish National Orchestra play at the Perth Concert halls...

The movements played were:

                Rachmaninov: Caprice bohémienProkofiev: Piano Concerto No.4 (for the Left Hand) Prokofiev: Suite from ‘Cinderella

Surprisingly, given  that there was a deliberate absence of set design, I found the entire evening very interesting from a visual perspective!

The blonde wood of the concert hall was bright and warm against the gloss black of the evening dresses, coats and tails and grand piano's.

The finishes of the instruments, wood, chrome plate, brass were stunning and the whole look and feel of the room was completely classic and timeless....

The music quality was breathtaking....and not a microphone in sight....

Even the cacophonous screaming tension of the violins, as the 'clock' (tubular bell and percussion) struck Cinderella's midnight, was spectacular to listen to....

I was also struck by how much an orchestra is a team. It reminded me of how we are currently working on our Going Live animation...and that each of us has taken an element of lip sync or animation and it's all coming together as a complete piece...

I like the image of the empty concert hall. The orchestra and the audience came together for a moment in time last night and created something that could only be captured exactly that way once.

And then we all disappeared.....

Magic.