Song 1 Animation Update

Hi folks!

Here's a link to Song 1's latest animation progress! (Featuring a new MIDI mockup of the orchestral score!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xddSL2AhqnY

Many of the shots are still in progress and don't have characters (or have stationary characters).

As you know, Song 1 is supposed to be finished by tomorrow, and I'm currently just about at the two-thirds mark. I'll see what I can get done tonight, but this may put me up to a week behind schedule. Hopefully I can wrangle this midweek. Once the first song is finished I will compare my schedule to harsh reality and make adjustments.

Also this week, I filmed reference video of the music director, Ryan, performing Doofus' tap dance routine. (Yes, Ryan's also a choreographer and tap dancer. And an expert whistler.) The routine looks incredible, and I can't wait to animate it!

So, what do you think of the animation so far? Comments, thoughts, suggestions? Interjections?

BGs and Points

Hi folks,

So far, I've completed 26 points of animation and 17 more are in progress. By tonight I expect to have at least 50 points completed. That's a lot of points, but not enough to meet my quota of 100 per week. Losing 3 days to a sailing voyage this weekend didn't help. I'll have to play catchup over the next few days.

That said, a lot has happened this week. For example, on Thursday, I recorded my lines as the Singing Sword, marking the completion of all the vocal recording.

Here's a sampling of backgrounds I worked on this week. Many of the camera moves and effects are already animated, such as the book opening and the birds in flight. I've also started character animation; I'll upload an export of Song 1 this evening.

 Shot 1-1a

 Shot 1-1b

 Shot 1-2

 Shot 1-3 (just a closeup)

 

Shot 1-4 (in progress)

So far, I've worked pretty much chronologically. I'll upload more tonight.

I also finished the Princess' model sheet, used in many of the shots in this song. Her face is so abstract she's difficult to turn. I'll try to show her from the quarter-angle as much as possible.

My goal is to finish Song 1 and its surrounding material (200 points total) by November 1st. I'd better get back to work!

Recording Session Video

Hi folks,

Yesterday's recording session went incredibly well! With Bethany's expert sound engineering, Ryan's spot-on music direction, and unbelievable performances from all our voice talent, the whole day was a blast. The cast, including Matt Tyler (Sir Knightly), Afton Quast (Princess), Malcolm Devine (Dragon), Whit Spurgeon (Wizard), Adam Williams (Doofus), and Jade Johnson (chorus), seemed to gel immediately, and I couldn't be happier with the results.

But just describing the day doesn't do it justice...below is a video I composited from the footage we took for animation reference. These were some of my favorite moments. Enjoy!

The only parts left to record are some whistling and the Singing Sword (but I'm him, so that should be an easy wrangling job).

COMING SOON: An updated animatic with the real voices.

P.S. My shot list is now complete!

Ladies Knight First Complete Animatic!

Hi folks,

Here's a youtube link to the complete animatic from start to finish. (The file was too large for Blogger.) It seems to fly by much faster than I'd imagined! That's better than dragging on, though, so I'll take it!

What do yall think?

Finished Animatic!

Hi folks,

Here's the animatic for song 6, "I'm Not Into You!" This is the final animatic!! Hooray! I'll upload a continuous animatic of the whole film shortly. Enjoy, and let me know what you think!

I've finally finished the shot list. I'll rate and schedule the shots this weekend. The official shot count is 191, not including credits or the possible Leonard Maltin intro.

This means I have to finish a minimum of 10 shots per week, which, as Careen has pointed out to me, is a lot. My backup plan is to cut Elixir at Wixor, which I really don't want to do, so I'll see how the first week of animation goes and adjust my schedule accordingly. If I can get 10 shots done next week -- and not just little ones -- I'll be off on the right foot.

(There are 42 B-priority shots, which means I can cobble together a film with only 149 shots plus 1 or 2 bridging shots if time runs out.)

Voice recording is on Saturday! I hope we get what we need! Wish us luck!

Song 6 Animatic

Hi folks,

Here's the animatic for Song 6, Kissin' Spree. Only one more song to go!

Some parts are still a bit confusing, but I'm on it...enjoy!

My latest update to the shot list leads me to believe there will be roughly 200 shots in Ladies Knight. With an estimated 20 weeks of animation, and about 5 days for animation per week, I need to animate 2 shots every day on average. That means: try for 3 shots every day just to be safe.

1st Animation!

Hi folks,

I'm proud to post the first animated shot of Ladies Knight!! It goes by quick, so keep your eyes peeled:

What do ya think? I'm really, really excited, because it took less than three hours to animate, and I had a lot of fun. Up until now, I didn't have a true test of Ladies Knight's "puppet" system of animation, and now I'm relieved to know that it works! I believe that even the full 8 1/2 minute film might be possible under this system.

What do you think?? Am I being overly optimistic here?

(See the previous post for my new animatics!)

Rehearsals, Recordings, and Animatics

Hi folks,

This past week I've been working on the animatic and scheduling rehearsals & recording sessions. Recording will take place on Saturday, and rehearsing is already underway!

Today we had our first rehearsals! Ryan and I rehearsed with Afton (the Princess) and Whit (the Wizard), and we had a blast. We are evolving the characters' voices and everyone is sounding phenomenal.

Below are the animatics for Songs 1-4. I'm working like a madman to finish the final two, Songs 5 & 6, by classtime tomorrow, but it might take me until Tuesday night or Wednesday at the latest so we'll see. Regardless, I'll start animation this week!

Here are the animatics! Note: some timing will be shifted; some parts play too fast and others too slow. But enjoy nevertheless and let me know what you think!

I've started my shot list using Google Docs. Here's a link to the spreadsheet so far. I've started naming & prioritizing shots, but I haven't rated for difficulty yet...that's coming soon. So far there are 130 shots in the first 4 songs, and an estimated 60-80 shots in the last 2 songs, bringing the total shot # to an estimated 200. Whew! And as noted in class, I will animate the "A" priority shots first in case I'm in a crisis next March and I need to make cuts. (I hope this doesn't happen, I want to keep everything!)

The length of the film is currently an estimated 8 minutes 30 seconds, a bit longer than desired. I'll look for places to trim once I grunt out the last two animatics.

Song #3 Animatic

Here's the animatic for song #3, "She's Not Into You!" See the previous post for more details about last week. More animatics coming soon, so stay tuned!

Song #3 will be by far the longest and most complicated song of "Ladies Knight." Enjoy!

Casting, Story Sketches & Animatic

Hi folks!

It's been a productive week.

First of all, we've secured the cast! We got all our top picks:
Sir Knightly - Matthew Tyler
Princess - Afton Quast
Dragon - Malcolm Devine
Wizard - Whit Spurgeon
Singing Sword - Joe Rothenberg (I worried we wouldn't get him...)

I'll schedule recording sessions this week, and I hope to finish all major voice recording by the end of next week. The script is locked, so we're ready to record!

Another big milestone is that I've drawn a story sketch for every moment in the film. Total number of sketchbook pages filled: 130. I'm currently converting these to an animatic.

I am almost finished with the animatic for the longest song, "She's Not Into You." I'll post that this evening. The next few days will be devoted to finishing the animatic one song at a time, and I'll keep this blog updated with each song completed.

By the end of this week, the animatic will be finished and I'll prepare my shot breakdown & schedule (including point ratings for each shot and # of points I have to do per day). I will start animating next week, 2 weeks ahead of schedule.

Stay tuned..."She's Not Into You" animatic coming tonight!