THE FILM

Ta da!

Villain Auditions

Yes, the sounds are not here yet. They inexplicably got very off-sync in Flash, and I couldn't, for the life of me, figure out how to force the program back into making sense. To make up for it I added some Rachmaninoff. I shall need more time before I can get the audio working with the video. Oh well...

Well, I tried to keep my process on this project simple, I started with the simple and built on it... I built a thin skeleton for the film, sketching out movement, characters and layouts in Flash. I then animated on top of that. Occasionally I used motion tweening, and sometimes I used frame by frame animation.. I tried to use either where it was appropriate, and only in that case.

Meanwhile, here are links to other key posts:

Storyboards and Premise
Script and Schedule

Manic Monday

So... must get the animation done today. Sound and production and everything goes tomorrow. Will post later in the day....

edit - Animation is finished! Er, almost. One scene (the villain gesturing to go ahead) has been removed for time reasons, but otherwise we're good. And tired.

Ack!

Quarter closing in! Can't breathe!

Film going fine, really. I have lots of work to do though. I'll post a more descriptive WIP this weekend. I'm just still in the cleaning up and coloring stages.

(edit)

Here's a WIP of the first bit of the movie -

Yup... it's going

Just running along with this thing. Cleaning and coloring bits as they come up, so soon I'll post a WIP with some finished scenes.

In Color!

A sample of some of the animation with line and color. Again, not all of it will be frame by frame, but a few scenes will be animated in this way.

Roughin It 2

This is the first, extremely sketchy version of the film. For some reason, it's not playing back correctly... it's skipping through frames and not playing any of the animation. Anyway, some will be executed with puppets, some with frame by frame, depending on what I think I can get away with.

Roughin' it

I'm beginning my film by blocking out every visual element out in a very fast, very rough manner. This should be finished by Monday I can begin to clean things up, which ought to take the bulk of my time.

Model Sheet

Guh. Finally. Onward and upward, now. There's films to be made.

Storyboards

Updated the story so it's (hopefully) more appropriate for the time frame I have to do this thing, and more entertaining too, etc. The updated script will be up shortly to accompany it.

Here is the updated premise -

Scuba Boy is a dopey, wannabe villain with too big a heart and an attachment to his pet goldfish, on whom he attempts to demonstrate his powers. The villain audition goes badly when his powers seem to kill his own fish. The villain judges would no doubt have enjoyed this if Scuba Boy had not broken down into tears. One judge throws him out of the theater, where Scuba Boy is delighted to find that his fish is still alive.

More Scuba Boy

I imagine I'll do him for my model sheet... I was originally going to do Villain...

Drawing using the Cintiq is coming much more easily to me now, thank goodness.

Walk Cycle

Finally! Tutorials finished.




I thought I would do this frame by frame if the tweening didn't work out... but as it turns out tweening was quite a nice time-saver. I used a shape tween for the water in the bowl.

I plan to shorten my script, so the storyboards, script, etc. should be updated soon.

Lip Sync

I want to animate the eyes later, but as far as the mouth only goes, I'm rather proud. The .mov version is harder to understand than the flash version, I think the audio is a little out of sync.

Villain Concept

The design is not quite there yet but there are things I like.

No, he's not supposed to look stereotypically evil at all, why do you ask? Actually, it is necessary that he look both as old and evil as possible, for different reasons.

Script (Updated) and Schedule

SPEAKER	SOUND EFFECTS	ACTION
		Sign in a hallway reads: “Villain Auditions. Looking for Super-Powered Fiends.”
	Intake of breath, footsteps	Backstage, Scuba Boy breathes in and starts walking towards the stage, holding his goldfish.
	Floodlight turns on	A spotlight is turned on at Scuba Boy, and he is startled.
	Dramatic chords	The three villain judges are shown, one at a time, in dramatic close up.
		The main villain gestures for Scuba Boy to go ahead.
	mind wave sound	Scuba Boy holds up his goldfish bowl and stares at his fish intently. Mind waves move from his head to the fish.
	mind wave sound	Scuba Boy sends the mind waves again.
	underwater bubbles	The fish flips over and rises to the top, apparently dead. Scuba Boy looks shocked.
		Villains looks shocked and unnerved.
	Whimpering/blubbering	Scuba Boy struggles to keep from crying, still holding the bowl.
	Creaky chair	Villain stands out of his chair.
	Doors burst open	Villain throws Scuba Boy out of the theater.
	Impact with ground, fishbowl being caught	Scuba Boy hits the ground and slides, then catches the fishbowl as it is thrown at him.
	Doors shut	The villain glares at Scuba Boy and slams the door shut.
	splash	Fish is shown floating, apparently dead, then he splashes back to life.
	Mouth hits glass	Scuba Boy is delighted. He kisses the fishbowl.

Schedule -


Class 11: Feb. 9 M: Storyboards

Class 12: Feb. 11 W: Character Design

Class 13: Feb. 16 M: Character Design

Class 14: Feb. 18 W: Begin Rough Animation

Class 15: Feb. 23 M: Finish Rough Animation

Class 16: Feb. 25 W: Begin Cleanup

Class 17: Mar. 2 M: Continue Cleanup

Class 18: Mar. 4 W: Continue Cleanup, Layouts

Class 19: Mar. 9 M: Animation Cleanup and Color Finished

Class 20: Mar. 11 W: Final Film (Sound, Editing)

Rotoscopes

Aaand here they are. Of course, they're pretty self-explanatory. There's only one person to go to for video reference, and that's my roommate Nate. I'm afraid he's considerably more exciting than Muybridge's subject.

Argh server!

My rotoscope is finished, but the dropbox is currently down... Hopefully it'll be back up later today. Meanwhile, I'm working on my script and storyboard. It's a rather conceptual idea, so I'm trying to tone down the expository and play up the visual. Hope it comes together nicely. Just so I can post something, here's a character concept from the film, Scuba Boy:

Leaping Lizards

Second Digital Puppet -

For this animation I created a few different heads, bodies, and legs, and replaced them as necessary. I tried to make the setup as simple as possible, but it may have been more effective to create even more parts for more flexibility.

Premise

An aging super-villain mastermind holds villain auditions for his world domination attempt next Monday. The tryouts are held in a stark and uncomfortable basement room. Many hopefuls show up, each with more useless powers than the last, and the auditions descend into absurdity. There's Scuba Boy, who can telepathically communicate with (and accidentally murder) his goldfish. There's Rogaina, who can grow her hair out at will. There's The Virus, a man adept at passing on the common cold. And of course, there's Mentallo, who can read his own mind and see into the present. Furious at this turnout, the super-villain folds up the sign and gives up his plans.

Flashy

First assignment being done, I'm also using flash for a frame by frame animation a la carte. This helps me get a good idea straight off of the strengths and weaknesses of Flash regarding more traditional animation. The software makes it easy to follow the audio track and to work on any particular element or group of elements of an animation at one time, so your mistakes are easier to fix than on paper. Removes some challenges and introduces others, so I'm learning a lot with that process.

Here is part 1 of the second assignment:

Bouncing Ball

First Try!



Second Try! This one was made using the Custom Ease In/Ease Out Slider.

Illustrations

Dan Hay's caricature drawings at his blog "Blubber Lubber" convey unique character through his exaggeration of the head and body into a unified design. His drawings are wildly pushed and pulled but his subjects clearly began as real people.

Philip Burke creatively uses color and shape in his own style. Burke locates cool colors, such as a greenish tint in the flesh, and heightens them to make his images vibrant and captivating.

At arm's length, Gerald Scarfe attacks the page with ink and wit. There is a combination of animation-friendly flow and clever harshness to his illustrations.

Favorite Animation

Many of the films Chuck Jones have directed crack me up, but this is a lesser known and earlier work of his that puts his smart timing and sharp sense of parody to hilarious use. His draughtsmanship and design sense improved in later years, of course, but the designs are still simplistically funny.

Of course you'd have to have lived under a rock not to know about:


Ratatouille, among its many virtues, introduces a dripping ham of a villain with wonderful presence and delivery and turns him into an ally in a clever and unexpected way. Many Disney films teach that there are "bad people" who must be thrown off a cliff in order for there to be peace. Ratatouille wisely indulges in cartoony performances but plays out a more human conflict than many animated movies. The character design is creative, unique, but still animation-friendly and extremely appealing. Not to mention, this is the first computer generated movie where I blissfully forgot that I was watching something generated on a computer.

I'm here

My name is Sagan Lacy, and I like Hawaiian shirts. This may possibly be how I discovered my interest in animation. I live alternately in Virginia, where my home is, and in Savannah, as a low-life college student. I enjoy acting and singing, although I no longer do either with any frequency. More than these, I enjoy drawing and have a love of animation and caricature art. I also enjoy talking at great length about stuff in something emulating philosophical discussion. Entertainment is important to me, and I become irked when it is ineptly delivered or used for evil, so I try to keep a critical eye and learn how to do my job right.

Sebastian Kruger is probably my single favorite artist; he is a hero to anyone who develops a passion for caricature. I also adore the works of directors Chuck Jones and Brad Bird, of character designers like Stephen Silver and Ben Balistreri, of caricature artists like Joe Bluhm and Jason Seiler, and many many more. Really, great designers of any kind inspire me to get off my bony bottom and improve my work. My favorite movies include Ratatouille and Aladdin, Spirited Away, The Emperor's New Groove, and The Birdcage. I like the TV best when it's off, but I do like watching Scrubs, House, and Lost. Fortunately, these are all available online.