Disaster Averted

Hi folks!

This week, thanks to my trusty roommates, I narrowly avoided what could have been a waste of an entire week. My laptop charger gave up and died on Saturday, leaving me stranded. I rushed to RadioShack and bought a new one, but it proved incompatible. Luckily, one of my roommates found me a new, compatible charger online, and while that's shipping, my other roommate is letting me use his computer for animation. This isn't the first time my roommates have bailed me out, and I owe them a big thanks in the credits.

Thus, this week I've been productive. Song 2 has run into a slight hitch (needs re-recording) so I've begun Song 3. Below you'll find the puppets for Tap-Dance Doofus and Classy Sword, as well as several backgrounds. Many of the backgrounds have animated components which I'll show next week, along with any new animation.

New Animation & More Updates

Hi folks!

Here is a link to the latest animation progress!

Hope you had a great break. Mine was mixed. At first it was relaxing and productive and family-filled, but then I got sick for a week, which was neither relaxing nor productive nor family-filled.

However, I got a lot done before then, including the Dragon puppet, several backgrounds for Song 2 (including FX animation), and most of Song 1.

I also found a way to write Song 4, Elixir at Wixor, out of the script. This is a sad farewell, but we all saw it coming, and story-wise and schedule-wise, I think it's for the best. I will try to work one of the Wizard's lines in as an owl at the end of Song 3.

Also over the break I upgraded the RAM in my computer, which has sped up the animation process.

Here is the Dragon's puppet sheet. He's now ready for animation!

These BGs transition from the bright blues & greens of Song 1 to the sinister purples (and later yellows) of Song 2...

Shot 13 has a lot of FX animation in it which, luckily, can be reused in almost every shot of the song.

6 New Shots & Puppet Pondering

Hi folks!

Since the grad screening, I've finished 6 more shots, and 2 more are on the way! It's my goal to have as much of Song 1 done as possible for the faculty review, if not all of Song 1, so I've been animating like crazy.

Here's a link to the latest Song 1 animation on Youtube. As you can see, it's rapidly nearing completion!! (Please excuse the partially-animated shots, as usual.)

 Below are some reflections on the animation process so far...

I'm learning to grapple with the complexity of animating Sir Knightly and the Princess, the two most difficult characters to animate. Aside from reusing as much animation as possible (which isn't much), I've learned that certain body parts, such as the head and torso, can be tweened by the computer, but other body parts, including the neck and, surprisingly, the arms, are better inbetweened by hand.



If Sir Knightly looks simple, he isn't. Here's a list of the layers inside his symbol in my Flash timeline:
Sir Knightly's Body
-Head
-Neck
-Leg1
-Boot1
-Waist
-Shoulder1
-Forearm1
-Arm1
-Body
-Shoulder2
-Forearm2
-Arm2
-Leg2
-Boot2
Sir Knightly's Head
-Eyebrows
-Ear
-Glass1
-Nose
-Glass2
-Mouth
-Chin
-Visor
-Dome
-Feather

That's a combined total of 24 separate body parts to animate individually. You may wonder why I don't just switch to 100% traditional frame replacement animation, but in my experience that takes even longer, plus I'd risk going off-model.

By contrast, here are the layers in the Singing Sword's symbol:
-Arms
-Pupils
-Eyes
-Mouth
-Sword Lines
-Rim
-Pattern
-Handle

That's only 8 layers, including facial expressions, for full-body shots. I've decided my next movie will be exclusively about swords.

Thanksgiving Update

Hi folks!

Hope yall had a great Thanksgiving! I had a lot of fun hanging out with the family.

Luckily, I got a few chances to animate. I finished the character animation for shot 12 and got halfway through shot 14.  I don't have time for an export since I'm about to get on the plane back to LA, but I have something even better to share.

Below is the rough orchestration for "She's Not Into You" (which Ryan just sent me) and I can't resist sharing it. The tap-dance sounds and many of the instruments are placeholders, but it gives you an excellent preview of what the final recording will sound like. I do not plan to shorten it. With music like this, I think the number is going to be a blast to animate and a blast to watch. (As long as audiences can endure my singing, which will be pitch-corrected, reverbed, etc. etc. to make it tolerable.)

New BGs & 100 points

Hi folks,

This week I finished the backgrounds for song 1! I also finally passed the 100-point mark on my shot list! (Only 1,505 points to go!)

Here's the new backgrounds:

I was really encouraged by the Grad Screening this week. The audience gave Ladies Knight 13 solid laughs plus assorted chuckles. (I took notes.) Even in 90% animatic form, the story and characters seemed to read well with the audience. (But we shall see what they said on their comment cards.) I was relieved that both "She's Not Into You" and "Kissin' Spree" were well received -- in fact, the two songs with the most laughs. They are my favorites too.

I wish I could have stayed for the rest of the screenings. I heard they went really well!

This afternoon I'll be meeting with my composer, who is hard at work on orchestration. So far, everything is sounding amazing, and when I put the orchestration into the animatic, even in rough form, it's magic.

Have a happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

More Animation (some polished, some not)

Hi folks!

This week, I've animated 1 new shot (shot 20), and I'm partway through several others. Here's the youtube link -- keep in mind that the in-progress shots look kinda strange for now.

The rest of the evening will be devoted to preparing my animatic for Wednesday's grad screening.

In other news, my composer has started the rough orchestration for 2 more songs: the Dragon's Song and Kissin' Spree. They sound fantastic!! I'll post those as soon as I get a chance.

More good news: I finally wrapped up my last sailing trip this weekend. No more animation days lost to sailing! (Though for non-thesis students I highly recommend the course!)

Enjoy the animatic! Let me know what you think!

Song 1 Update

Hi folks,

Here's a link to the latest animation in Song 1. Only shots 5 and 9 are new. Though both shots were high-ranked on my shot list, they took even longer than anticipated to finish. (Particularly shot 5, even though it's only 2 seconds long.) At this rate, I'll certainly have to cut the film, starting with Elixir at Wixor and, if needed, shortening She's Not Into You. I'd hate to make either of these cuts, but I'll go ahead and plan to, and if I miraculously have extra time next semester, I'll add them back in.

My biggest concern for Song 1 so far is whether or not all the action reads. This song in particular tries to cram a whole lot of exposition in a very short period of time. Even more will be crammed when I add the remaining 4 shots.

Thoughts/comments on Song 1 so far? Suggestions for the animation? How is it playing so far? What isn't working?