Animatic for Final Review (Kind of)

OK, I'm done animating for the semester. I have a final at 7, and my animation review is tomorrow at 2:30, so there's really nothing more I can do unless I pull an all-nighter...which I won't. I'm saving those for next semester. Animation has gotten slow, and I think it's because I've come to expect more out of myself, so when I produce something I think is sub-par, I get really discouraged and everything falls apart for the day. There are a bunch of shots I've done recently that I want to redo (the fall...), but oh well. The Damsel does need to move in the Alien 3 shot, but I'm going to work some After Effects magic on that one instead of actually animating it, so she's still for now.

I thought I had edited out all the shots I was cutting, but there are still some extraneous ones in the end, so I'll have to get rid of those tomorrow before my review. After the cowboy gets up, there will be no montage of him shooting zombies and their bodies hitting the ground. Stuff like that just takes up too much time, even if it is the most fun.

Edit: Oh, crap. I also forgot to put in the shot of the cowboy's boots backing up. That one is also done.

Anyway, here:

Final Review Animatic from Carder Scholin on Vimeo.

"You can't fight city hall." - Cliff Barnes.

Blurg

Hi, World.

This is me admitting to you that I won't be totally on schedule for my final review. Snags are happening everywhere. I think all I'm going to get done by the end of today is the zombie damsel's drool for the Alien 3 shot. That's 36 frames of drool. I just spent the first half of today trying to plan out a movement for her in this shot, but it all fell apart and she is now static.

Other snags: those stupid shots of the hand reaching for the hat. What on Earth was I thinking when I storyboarded shots that were just hands flailing around? Do I hate myself? I must, right? Those shots ruined like two or three days of animation for me, and I only ended up getting one of them done...kind of. I think it looks awful, but I have to keep it, anyway.

A lot of my shots seem to be terrible, lately. Like the one where the cowboy falls and hits the wall. I'm not proud of that one, at all, but I just have to keep telling myself that not all of these shots will be reel-worthy, and that it's more important to just bust through the story than have the animation look like a Disney film (none of it does, I'm just saying).

I've cut another shot, but it was just a still, so that really doesn't get me anywhere. I regret even getting myself excited about it. If I could go back and reboard this thing (which I won't, please don't have a heart-attack, Sheila), I would have done it so differently. More dramatic angles, different movements, no close-ups of hands...It would be wonderful.

Anyway, here's what I have left to do that I said I'd have done by the review:

Alien 3
the successful attempt at grabbing the hat
putting it on
shooting the damsel
her falling
him standing up

That's six shots. Putting on the hat through the end are all like...half-second to one-second shots, so hopefully those can fly by. I'll avoid that hand shot like the plague until I have to do it, I think. I'm doing Alien 3 now, and it will be done for sure by Wednesday. I should have at least half of those knocked out. Hopefully 5 of them, but I hesitate to get anyone's hopes up about that.

If I didn't have that final for Casper on Tuesday, I would feel more confident about what I can get done, but right now, I think tomorrow is really my last day of animating that I can afford, plus whatever I can do before 2:20 on Wednesday. I may have just lied about having 3 shots done. Maybe it'll be 2...1? No, 2...Oh man.

Worst case scenario: I just get Alien 3 done. That would leave...14 shots for next semester, not including stills or like 3-drawing cycles. Victor said he'd help me out on two of those shots (crowd scenes), so there's something. Nose to the grindstone next semester. At least 401B is my only serious class.

Hey, seniors, how are those animation hands feeling?!

Second pass at color keys

Okay guys. Here's my second (and third?) attempt at these color things. I warmed everything up, and (I think) made the difference more drastic in terms of just color alone. The second picture has a red overlay over the second and third panels. Is that even better, or is it too much? You have to tell me because I don't really trust myself to know. Is that sad? I think I'm leaning towards it being too much because it minimizes the contrast, but I could easily just up the transparency in the overlays if they do end up adding an additional oomph to everything.





Now, back to animating this beast. I just want to thank one Caitlin Craggs for saving everyone and bringing speakers down here. What a trooper.

Another color thing

Here's sort of what I want for color progression throughout the movie. I guess it's the four major parts of the film: the beginning, the zombie attack, the damsel confrontation, and the end. Keep in mind that I'm slightly red/green color blind, so don't be too mean if the reds look ridiculous. Why am I doing a movie in red if I'm colorblind to it? I've got no idea. I'm not sure the change in the color is drastic enough for me yet. Also, I'm still really wonky with background colors. I had to rush this in the end because I have class in 15 minutes, and I still haven't even had dinner. Whoops.

Looking at it now (a few hours later on my laptop, which admittedly washes out color like crazy), it seems a little bland. I need to warm it up a lot, and make sure the red really comes through in the middle. I'll try and revise it tomorrow. Maybe I'll darken the character lines so I can make some background designs and really get the colors down. It'd be nice to be able to (mostly) use the dropper tool on this thing when I'm actually coloring in my film. It'd save time.

Anyway, here goes:

11/25 Animation

Ok, here's the stuff I got done for class tomorrow. The part that's storyboard is stuff that I should have had done, but didn't get to. That's alright though, because those two shots are fast and easy. I think my animation has gotten a lot better, but I'm also a whole lot slower. Them's the breaks, though.

You can't really see the damsel during part of the lunge sequence (the third shot) because they're all muddled together and her lines are so light, but trust me, she's there and she's pissed.

Also, the video seems to have gone insane and uploaded sound from the rest of the movie. It's supposed to stop after the cowboy looks up, so don't bother with the rest of it.

11/25 Segment from Carder Scholin on Vimeo.
The part where there's a zoom to the damsel's face is supposed to shake as if the cowboy is skidding to a halt. I'll either do that or cut it. I could also just have the cowboy jerk forward and back in the next shot to show him stopping in front of her. Whatever.

The Zombie Damsel's first appearance

OK so I did this shot today. It's right after the cowboy has run through the group of zombies after his hat, which has floated away because he fell down. I think the cowboy's animation is pretty good, but that the Damsel's needs some major cleanup and more frames later on.

Damsel Reappears from Carder Scholin on Vimeo.
After this shot, there's going to be a view of just the zombie damsel, and the camera is going to shake and zoom in as if the cowboy is still skidding to a halt in front of her.

Then she'll lunge, he'll fall, and things go from there.

Look at me! I updated without having to!

Some Color Keys

Ok, I'm doing this like six seconds before I have to go present my film to the grad students. Here are some color keys for the first and last portions of the film. I'll have the red (middle) portions up later, I guess. I'm just asking whether they like the film to be sepia or regular. What do you like? Tell me. The sepia is just a quickie Photoshop filter, and I think it could definitely use less shades of color. I'll see if I can whip something like that up later. Holy crap I'm late.