Over the Line

A. I'm looking at adding a shot at the end to give the audience the 'best seat in the house' . Specifically, to ensure that the camera perspective shows off the right silhouette of the characters, an angle that matches the body position of Ace.

B. I'm also concerned that after Ace crosses in front of Yogi in shot 12, ( f 815), it MOVES the 180 line. I should position the camera to show Ace shushing and leaning to the right, instead of the left (f 990), and on shot 15 (f 1050) have the camera shot more from the right so that Yogi is looking more to the left side of the screen. That way, when the leap comes (f 1150 ) it will look more natural moving to the left.

Contiguous Sequences in Time

So I read In the Blink of an Eye by Murch, On Directing Film by David Mamet, and I'm in the middle of Story, by McKee. So that should cover my 'M' authors. I'm laying out the final third of my Angry Yoga 'thesis'. My production experience in TV, storyboarding, and game Cinematics finds me with a most satisfying semester. That and training handed to me by the best animation professionals in the world.
There are 5 characters in The Angry Yoga animation which is pretty freakin intimidating. However, and these may be my last words, I have a plan. All of the characters are doing the exact same thing, so I could transfer animation from one character to another. Additionally, only one character will be moving at a time.
I hope the rigs are similar enough for me to do this. Otherwise this will suck. I'm already working crazy hours on this thing. The poses are pretty simple, but it would be nice to be able to transfer a set of polished animations rather than having to spend all that time on each one. On the flip side, since each character in the yoga class is in the same position, I'll be 'working the poses' smoothing movements that by their design will only occupy contigous time sequences. The order of each subsequent movement will guide the eye of the audience. Specifically in the final pose. This seemingly ambient movement is carried across a cut AND it will be the first singular movement preceding the other ambient movements. Perhaps I can take the same approach with head turns. During animation 'resting' times the characters could qickly steal glances towards the yogi(and always in the same sequence, like Rook, Ace, Bishop, Otto, guiding the eye in a clockwise circle around the sceen and alwys ending on yogi for his response and authority. This way, when the aniation gets to the punchline, the audience will be looking for the visual cues they inadvertatly learned in the first 19 shots.
That is tomorrow. I have til Sunday to pose 5 characters in 2 shots and 2 characters in 2. That's 12.
If I had a great story with just one character I would have rather done that. Thats right! But I guess the Story is King. I ain't gonna learn nuthin being an animation wuss anyway. The story needed a full class for the joke to work.

Labor Day BBQ

I got a good jump on building the yoga studio setpiece. I still need to light it. The GI Joe is a good jumping off place. I can use some dramatic lighting in a couple of spots and the rooms filled with can lights. No windows though. But the night is young. The first 2/3rds of the animatic are rendered. The final third is still drawings. All 5 characters and the set and props exist in the scene as references so there's a major victory right there. Murdock's eye controls stopped working, but I ran a script by Taylor Mahoney from the AM Forum. Painless.

lighting
costumes
final audio-- String Theory
rendering--sequential uncompressed targas
compositing-- After Effects.


Animation is my work , my schooling and my hobby. I turned in my Animation Mentor assignment 2 days early so I could focus on my passion. Working on my animation final. My wife asked if there was another woman and I yes, her name is Rook and we're in love. But seriously, I have to go to an engagement party on Sunday. I would rather be animating. And when Mark and Kelly come over on Labor Day to BBQ I hope they don't mind me pounding away on my keyboards. But i'm not addicted to animation. I can quit anytime.

I never dreamed that I would find myself feeling so engaged by my short film. AM has given me more than a handful of tecniques on the computer. I feel confident about contributing something substantial to a feature length project. I feel good about putting my reel together and presenting myself as a part of team.

My whole family makes sacrifices to accomodate this animation program. They tell me that I've never been more alive and empassioned about anything. They tell me it's worth it and that they're proud. It's astounding that semester 5 is half over.