Graduate Animation Film WIP (A year long project)

[Bendragon]

I posted this a while back in the CC section but now that theres a specific forum created here it is again!
This is the initial animatic for my grad film that I will be working on next term after Summer. It'll be fully animated (pencil on paper) and coloured using ToonBoom. Hopefully this time next year you'll be able to see the finished thing. We're at the pre-production stage at the moment.
Crits and comments are welcomed. Im reworking this at the moment to find more dynamic angles instead of some of the straight-on shots and centred compositions. Also trying to find a better ending if I can...
Cheers!

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[CosmoChimp]

Very cool short I can't wait to see it when it's finished. Good luck to you, and work hard. So far the shots seem to tell the story well. Some of the music choice though might be a bit too upbeat on slower scenes, and vice versa. Perhaps too many choices of music in such a short film.

[Mike Frank]

Hah, yeah man.. good work. Reminds me of one of Jackie Chan's movies.

I thought the ending was pretty good, have them walking in while the guy gets back to mopping, crawling zoom out..

I think the pacing of some of the cuts may end up too quick once you get things animated. I kind of agree with CosmoChimp on the music.. its mostly pretty suitable but it could use better transitions between songs, but then again if you are adding foley, the sound FX could make up for that.

[Maestro Andres]

After seeing it, it looks very charming and interesting. It is being narrated very well. From the looks of it, it will take a lot of hard work to finish it but it has a lot of potential, as long as you can get a nice animation of movement in it. About the music, like the tunes in it, not so sure about the timing but I know that's going to change a lot from the animatic to the actual animation since most of the time the animation is longer than the animatic, but it is a good thing to keep in mind for the editing. Good luck to you on this and hopefully we can see the final sometime.

[Jason Manley]

you should pick up an art book called Shot by Shot.

also, some studies of compositional layout, camera work, and general staging principles would be helpful.


jason

[Bendragon]

CosmoChimp - Thanks, the music in the animatic wont be final. I'll need to get a composer to work something together. I'll keep your advice in mind. Cheers.
Mike Frank - Do you remember the name of the film? I might be interested to check it out. Yeah, the animation is sure to add more time in places. But I hope to keep the tempo from slowing too much.
Maestro Andres - Thanks. I should probably have mentioned this earlier, but the short will be worked on by a team of five students. Still its gonna be challenging. Good advice there. I'll need to get an editor (who will be a student from the film course in the same university) onboard at an early stage so we can go through these problems. I hope to show you all the final production next year!
Jason Manley - Thanks for dropping by! Ive tried a few searches for that book but couldnt find any artbooks. Do you have the author's name? How woud you recommend me study those areas?

Cheers guys! :)

[Mike Frank]

It was an older movie, I don't remember if there was a love interest or not, but Jackie starts out as a janitor for a karate school. When no one is around - he tries to practice some martial arts on his own but he doesn't end up making any progress until he meets this old man.. I'll try and find the name out of it.

I think this is the book Jason might be talking about.

http://www.amazon.com/Film-Directing-Visualizing-Concept-Productions/dp/0941188108/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1211519615&sr=8-1

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41QRZN4FCML._SL500_BO2,204,203,200_PIlitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg

[HunterKiller_]

Music from Okami? Are you allowed to use that?

Pretty good work.
As some people have already mentioned, experiment with some different camera angles.
There are a lot of medium-waist up shots. Think about using high and low angles to establish character status.

[Bendragon]

Mike Frank - Sounds good! That books the closest one I found too.
HunterKiller - Well.... no! But that is used for the initial animatic just to give an idea of what directin its going down. For the finished thing it will have to be an original piece. Yeah, I'll need to mix the angles up a bit. Cheers!

[Bendragon]

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Heres a new version with some angles changed.

[egerie]

Not sure about the music. I wonder if it influences your timing actually. The first time I watched it, it was without any sound and some cuts and scenes seemed sluggish or some other times too fast. Try to avoid any kind of music before doing your timing, even if it’s for an animatic. I can’t wait to see this evolve though :)

[Bendragon]

Egerie - Cheers man. Yeah the music was crudely cut together just to give an idea of the general direction Id like to go for. Yeah, a lot of the cuts are probably too fast. When it comes to the actual animation it'll end up slower, but I'd like to get a good referance for the timing so I might just redo the animatic again!

Anyway, school hasnt restarted yet so we're still waiting to begin animating. A lot of the team members arent back yet so progress has been a bit slow lately. But with the new term about to begin Im hoping to pick things up again. So here are some colourkeys!!!

[Bendragon]

Some more of the colour keys...

[airman]

great post
i'd like to see more now!^^

[Metalclay]

woah! gorgeous color keys I really like them. As for the animatic itself- I can't wait to see the finished project, really ambitious I would say especially if you go in and fix up the cinematography.

Really like it though, the music; appropriate. For more ideas as to Japanese music with that rustic traditional sound I would say try and give a listen the Yoshida Brothers. (http://www.last.fm/music/Yoshida+Brothers) and artists of the ilk (as in they use similar instruments; shamisen, taiko, shakuhaci, etc).

[Bendragon]

Airman - Thanks man! Im very glad you like them so far. I hope to be updating this as much as possible during the production. I'd like to show some of the character designs my mates did but I'll need to get their permission first ;)
Metalclay - Wow! Those musicians are REALLY good! Thanks a lot for those, would be useful referance for music and general listening too :P Though Ive been told the music sounds too Japanese orientated for the film (which is set in China).

I just realised something... You'll have to wait 2 years before you can see the finished film! The production will take a year, but then the school will be shipping it around to a few festivals that doesnt allow for the film to be on the internet.

Anyway, heres a layout Ive just drawn up. Theres another 40 left and 41 to paint...

[Bendragon]

Heres the painted version.

EDIT: Repainted...

[WickedEdges]

Are you digitally painting them? Just curious. Good work so far!

[Bendragon]

I am indeed

[Bendragon]

Sorry we havent got any actual animations yet. For now its just the layouts.
The character here is drawn by a talented animator Im working with. Enjoy!
Oh, and sorry about the lens flare... just had to do it :P I tried to make it less digital looking by er.... overlaying another lens flare on there!

[Bendragon]

Heres the layout for part of the opening shot of the film.

[JonathanS]

Fantastic layout, Bendragon. I like the fish on the rooftop. Great choice of perspective too.

[Bendragon]

Heres part of the opening shot painted.

[TMG]

that was awesome! i could easily follow the animatic. that last enviro reminds me of the naruto game concept art.

[Bendragon]

TMG - Thanks for the feedback. Good to know the animatic communicated alright. The big worry is that it didnt. Yeah, Ive been inspired by that fantastic post a while back.

I haven't really mentioned the story of the film yet. I was hoping that it would be clear from the animatic alone. I guess a few people are able to piece something out of it but I'll talk about my idea anyway so let me know where part of the story didnt come across.
The idea is that the boy is lagging behind in class because he has a lack of concentration. But then when the girl of his dreams is watching he becomes more energized and inspired. In his pursuit of the girl he must overcome himself and rise to her level and prove his worth to her.
One of my tutors said he hated the end because he thought it was sexist. Though I really would like to end it on equal terms I cant find a satisfactory way of closing the film that way. I had an idea where the boy rejects the master's invitation to go back inside and takes up a mop to join her in detention but I thought it disrupted the pacing of the film. Im wondering if anyone has any problems with the current ending?

Progress: We finished most of the character designs. The girl is proving hard to draw consistently. We will be working on model sheets for them for 2 weeks and then its getting all the animators to practice drawing them the same way and posing them and producing expression sheets. Ive rejigged the animatic, the timing is close to what I think it should be but I'll need to pass this through my tutors and editor for a check. Animation still a couple of week away. Layouts is going ahead though.

[Earendil]

Ben, I think a few questions that might help you with the ending is; What is the girl's status in this world? What does she want? Is she just a cleaning wench who's secretly practicing awesome skills to get into the school? Is she a more advanced student? (IIRC senpais do have the honor of cleaning the dojo). IS the school sexist, and no female students allowed? I think the "joining in detention" could work if it's established that they're both students, and the master reigns supreme. "The peg that stands up the most, gets the hammer" kind of thing. That would keep both genders on equal ground. Maybe? :P Just some thoughts. :)

Really looking forward to seeing the finished piece! :)

[TMG]

You are the master of tasteful lens flare.

[WickedEdges]

For real, I agree. Great lens flare. What digital painting software are you using?

[Bendragon]

Earendil - Cheers man. Yeah, I have thought about their backgrounds. Up till now Ive been sticking to this ending but quite recently my tutors have expressed an issue with it and they persist that I find something better. So that will be explored.
TMG - Hahaha, Im not sure if that should be a compliment ;) Thanks!
WickedEdges - I draw in pencil and then paint it in Photoshop.

OK, Some major news for ya. It was my original plan to document the process and progress me and my class mates make in creating this animated short film. I hoped something like this would eventually be useful for other animation students working on a grad film of their own but now I cant continue sharing this project.
Today my tutors pulled me in their office and sat me infront of a computer with my animatic showing on youtube and told me that was a serious problem. The main issue they had was copyright protection, the potential that festivals wont accept a film thats already on the internet and that its the school who owns the right for the film atm. Soooooo.... they theatened to cut the film.... but that was just to scare me.
Sooo... Im a bit sad that I can no longer share with you how this project is developing anymore and have been ordered to remove the videos off the internet. You will have to wait 2 years before you can see the finished film now.

[foreverartfan]

aww thats too bad! I have been really enjoying your progress post!
I am very new to animation and this site and am really inspired by you and your classmates. good luck on the rest of your project looking forward to seeing the finshed product.

[Nubian_Greene]

Earendil - Cheers man. Yeah, I have thought about their backgrounds. Up till now Ive been sticking to this ending but quite recently my tutors have expressed an issue with it and they persist that I find something better. So that will be explored.
TMG - Hahaha, Im not sure if that should be a compliment ;) Thanks!
WickedEdges - I draw in pencil and then paint it in Photoshop.

OK, Some major news for ya. It was my original plan to document the process and progress me and my class mates make in creating this animated short film. I hoped something like this would eventually be useful for other animation students working on a grad film of their own but now I cant continue sharing this project.
Today my tutors pulled me in their office and sat me infront of a computer with my animatic showing on youtube and told me that was a serious problem. The main issue they had was copyright protection, the potential that festivals wont accept a film thats already on the internet and that its the school who owns the right for the film atm. Soooooo.... they theatened to cut the film.... but that was just to scare me.
Sooo... Im a bit sad that I can no longer share with you how this project is developing anymore and have been ordered to remove the videos off the internet. You will have to wait 2 years before you can see the finished film now.

oh,so thats what happend to your blog,hehe.Well I thought you just couldn't show the final film online...guess i'll see ur stuff in january then.

gud luck!

[Bendragon]

foreverartfan - Thanks a lot man. We start animating soon and I was planning on showing the different stages of that but I guess I'll save them for a while.
Nubian - Hey! Yeah I thought so too. A few of the films from the past put their animatics on youtube. So I thought this was perfectly ok. Yeah, you'll have to wait a bit to see it. The blog is still there. Its just private now.

[Danuh]

The video isn't working for me D: But the bgs you posted look wonderful! Good luck with the project :D

[Evil_Sloth]

Benny Dawg, I see you have become a man with more testicals than a mutant dog with 5 testicals (in the animation sense of course) your future is so bright I need sunnies dude.

[Bendragon]

Danuh - Thanks man, the videos are taken off for reasons Ive explained in a previous post.
Super_Sloth_Bro - Thank you evil one! Though Im a bit scared how you knew so much details about me!?!?! Cheers man.

Soooo, I cant really show much still. But I thought I might treat you guys with one more thing. Its a production still. We have started animating and all is looking pretty exciting. Cheers guys!!!!

[ashess]

hey Bendragon. that looks pretty awesome what you've got there. here's a little tip tough; after getting a few scenes done, count the work hours that were involved. calculate how many manhours you're gonna need for the whole of it to be done. then see if you make the deadline, giving everyone 40hour workweeks max. and leave yourself at least a month for postpro as well. something this smooth is bound to get you into time issues. its better to know about it before hand. then you can still make cuts.

oh, and don't tell yourself it'l be fine, you'll all just make 60 hours a week. you will, but it won't matter a thing :p