Redux

After further discusion and feedback, we tried to rework our current western idea. An issue that kept cropping up was that it wasn't clear weather our actors were acting as a nervous/clumsy/cocky character, or actually were clumsy. The characters true personality and their acted personality were in constant conflict, and consequently keept canceling each other out. HOWEVER, all is not lost. After a 45 minute brain storming session after class, we've decided to go down a whole new route, with hopefully some genuinely funny results. I'll leave our rough mind map from the session here for now, but more will follow shortly...

Western it is!

After today's feedback, it's decided we'll run with the western idea. Siobhan commented on how it was the easiest to read from our initial animatic. Class mates only commented on how it looked the most fun. Things to be going on with:

- We need to make sure it is completely apparent that all mimes are auditioning for the same role, but bringing each of their personalities to the role, so all the acts will be different somehow. We don't want to just portray a western character with these guys, but a struggling mime artists with his own personality, trying to portray a western character.

- Siobhan liked the idea of the Mimes walking straight on stage in character, not introducing themselves first. She also suggested having the mimes fall back into their normal personalities to hear the directors feedback, and react accordingly

.- We need to starry inking about how this film will work as a whole piece, not just 3 segments stuck together. One idea we have floating around is to present the three auditions as audition tapes, from the point of view of a camera the director is holding. The auditions can then cut between each other, or run seamlessly, depending on the scenario. (eg, the clumsy actor could knock the camera, having it fall on it's side, the black out. The camera will the turn back on and refocus on the next mime. I think this will give us some really fun opportunity to play with editing and continuity.)

- Perhaps the best way to time this film out is to physically act it out. I think a visit to the sound stage is required in the very near future.

- Voice work! Siobhan thinks it would be. Good idea to record our sound with the voice actor earlier rather than later. I think we'll just build a bare bones script, and ask the actor to add lib around it. Apparently he's good at that. This way we'll be able to add a lot of little reactions to our animation, which will hopefully make the acting a lot more natural and add libbed, rather than completely staged.

- Character profiles. A much more in depth profile for each character is required. Only then can we truly understand how each character will react in each scenario. I'll get on to that immediately.

See you next time.

Background studies

Regardless of which narrative path we end up taking, the group decided the auditions would take place in an old, draughty theatre. I started exploring.


I started by exploring a number of ideas, Kristian suggested an office, so that was my first pot of call. I then moved on to a front room, like a really low key, slightly dodgy audition, perhaps for a mate. Then I moved on to the stage idea. It just seemed to work better. After all, actors, stage, makes sense.


I moved on to exploring various angles and prop layouts for the scene. More work is needed, but I think I've got a sense of where to take the stage now. Kristian is also working on the stage design. Tomorrow we'll compare and decide to where to go from here.

Initial Animatics

The first rough Animatics. Tomorrow, only one scenario will be picked and carried forward. Western Acting cool, he enters with an exaggerated cowboy strut, pushing both doors violently aside. As he steps over the threshold, he glances around from under his hat, chewing on a toothpick, only to have the swinging doors swing back and push him off balance, he tumbles forward, and saves himself by hanging onto the bar. Dusting himself down after his dramatic entrance, he plays it cool again, gesturing to the barman with a pointed finger, he tips his hat. He places his arm on the bar, palm open as he waits for his drink to slide into it. He misses. A smash can be heard, and after a second or two delay, he looks about confused, to the other end of the bar, as if the glass has just shot off the end. He tries to order another drink, but is distracted by the woman’s entrance. He lifts off his hat, licks his palm and smooths down his hair. He then leans nonchalantly against the bar, attempting to look cool, only to slip off as his gaze follows her. He hastily pulls himself up against the bar. As he puts his hat back on, he stops suddenly, she's looking right at him! He leans carefully against the bar, winks and gestures a hello with his hand at her. He spots the approaching man, with a start, he jumps back, and begins fumbling with his belt looking for his pistol. He pulls the pistol sharply from its holster, and begins to spin it on his trigger finger, only to drop it. He fumbles to try and save it from falling, only to have it go off. He crouches and hides his face, as a bullet ricochets about the bar. He finally looks up, only to see quite a mess, and some angry patrons. He sidles to the left, and quickly runs off screen. SuperHero He 'action rolls' onto the screen, and lands in a crouched pose, his face hidden behind his forearm, as if he were holding his cape. He scans the scene, with darting, shifty eyes, before settling slightly. A baby is falling from a bypass above our hero. In one swift, over dramatic motion, the hero scoops up the baby just in the nick of time. He bundles the baby safely into his cape. His head snaps up suddenly from looking at the baby in his arms, he darts on his toes a little as he scans from left to right, then he looks up, and strikes an over the top pose of realization. Never one to play the coward, our hero braces himself, and looks directly at the meteor with a steely gaze. Without taking his eyes of the approaching meteor, he gently sets the baby down, and slides it out of the way with his toe. The hero once again, braces himself for impact, gaze fixed on the meteor, arms raised in anticipation, he widens his stance slightly, to give himself more purchase on the ground. As the meteor impacts with our hero, he immediately buckles under its weight. But he grits his teeth, breaths, and slowly begins to push up against it. As he reaches his full height, still pushing against the meteor, he pauses, breaths, and suddenly, whoosh! He swings the meteor round, once, twice, three times, and sends it flying off screen. He immediately crouches. Takes a few breaths, the hides behind his cape once more. He scans the area, and whoosh, he leaves in a dramatic flurry. As stated, these are only rough. I mean really rough. But hopefully get the basic ideas across, enough to make a final decision tomorrow.

Character Development - Mime

Here's a brief run-through of what my chosen Mime characters are to go through in each of the proposed scenes. Western v Superhero Western Character – Clumsy New guy in town enters a saloon and heads to the bar to order a drink. How does he enter through the swinging doors? Acting cool, he enters with an exaggerated cowboy strut, pushing both doors violently aside. As he steps over the threshold, he glances around from under his hat, chewing on a toothpick, only to have the swinging doors swing back and push him off balance, he tumbles forward, and saves himself by hanging onto the bar. How does he order a drink? Dusting himself down after his dramatic entrance, he plays it cool again, gesturing to the barman with a pointed finger, he tips his hat. He places his arm on the bar, palm open as he waits for his drink to slide into it. He misses. A smash can be heard, and after a second or two delay, he looks about confused, to the other end of the bar, as if the glass has just shot off the end. A pretty girl! But she's with another man... Does he notice her? He tries to order another drink, but is distracted by the woman’s entrance. He lifts off his hat, licks his palm and smooths down his hair. He then leans nonchalantly against the bar, attempting to look cool, only to slip off as his gaze follows her. Does he grab her attention? He hastily pulls himself up against the bar. As he puts his hat back on, he stops suddenly, she's looking right at him! He leans carefully against the bar, winks and gestures a hello with his hand at her. Her boyfriend has spotted you! Draw your pistol! What does he do? He spots the approaching man, with a start, he jumps back, and begins fumbling with his belt looking for his pistol. How does he draw his gun? He pulls the pistol sharply from its holster, and begins to spin it on his trigger finger, only to drop it. He fumbles to try and save it from falling, only to have it go off. He crouches and hides his face, as a bullet ricochets about the bar. He finally looks up, only to see quite a mess, and some angry patrons. He sidles to the left, and quickly runs off screen. Superhero Character – Theatrical The superhero enters How does he enter? He 'action rolls' onto the screen, and lands in a crouched pose, his face hidden behind his forearm, as if he were holding his cape. He scans the scene, with darting, shifty eyes, before settling slightly. A baby is in trouble! Where is the baby? The baby is falling from a bypass above our hero. Does our hero catch the baby? In one swift, over dramatic motion, the hero scoops up the baby just in the nick of time. He bundles the baby safely into his cape. Danger! Danger senses tingling! His head snaps up suddenly from looking at the baby in his arms, he darts on his toes a little as he scans from left to right, then he looks up, and strikes an over the top pose of realization. A Meteor! How does he react? Never one to play the coward, our hero braces himself, and looks directly at the meteor with a steely gaze. What about the baby?! Without taking his eyes of the approaching meteor, he gently sets the baby down, and slides it out of the way with his toe. Is he ready? The hero once again, braces himself for impact, gaze fixed on the meteor, arms raised in anticipation, he widens his stance slightly, to give himself more purchase on the ground. Hurray! He saved us from the meteor! Can his body handle it? As the meteor impacts with our hero, he immediately buckles under its weight. But he grits his teeth, breaths, and slowly begins to push up against it. What dies he do with the meteor? As he reaches his full height, still pushing against the meteor, he pauses, breaths, and suddenly, whoosh! He swings the meteor round, once, twice, three times, and sends it flying off screen. He did it! How does he react? He immediately crouches. Takes a few breaths, the hides behind his cape once more. He scans the area, and whoosh, he leaves in a dramatic flurry. More development is needed to find out who the characters really are, what makes them tick etc. But this is just something to go on to build two initial rough animatics on, so we can pick a final idea to run with.

And We're Back!

After a short hiatus once AP2 was handed in, an over Animex, we're back in full working order. Straight in with the Acting for Animation module, and the group Mime assignment. I'm working with the great Scott Ramsay and Kristian Egge. When not communicating face to face, we have our own Facebook group, set up by Scott to dumb ideas and generally keep each other informed of each others progress away from class. The assignment requires us to create a roughly 2 minute piece with three Mime characters, all auditioning to a director of sorts.














We kicked things off with a group brainstorming session. We decided to have a sort of audition for a film/show situation for our mimes, but needed to decide on a film genre. We eventually ended up with a SuperHero or Western idea. As of this moment, we are still unsure as which to go with, but hopefully tomorrow's feedback session will finalise the decision. Anyway, next we came up with three character types for each scenario Western Cocky Clumsy Scared Superhero Cocky Theatrical Nervous Using the tried and trusted method of picking names out of hat, we each were given a character from each scenario to go away and develop. I picked Clumsy for the Western scene, and Theatrical for the SuperHero scene. More to follow.

AP2 Final Submissions

Here they are: Lip Synch I was surprised how quickly this piece came together. It's not as exaggerated as my usual animation style, and that's why I like it. Looking back at it now, especially after working on the other two pieces for this assignment, I think I could have pushed the facial animation a little more, added more definition to the lip shapes, but perhaps that might have ruined the subdued, contained mood of the piece. Presenter This piece falls back into my usual, exaggerated style. I think it works to a degree. One of the main points of criticism during progress, was that too many poses were too big, that it looked 'overcrowded'. I honestly tried to tone it down, but it always seemed like some of the energy was lost in doing so. Looking back at the piece now, I think it still looks a little too busy, but maybe that adds to it's charm. This is an overconfident character, very sure of himself, perhaps a little egotistical, and the loud poses match his loud personality. Song and Dance I think this is the weakest of my three pieces. With rig issues, and mismanagement of time on my part, I think it looks the most unfinished. I'm still a little rough when it comes to polishing my walk cycles, which is definitely something I need to work on in the next module. Nevertheless, this was a really fun piece to work on, and working to a set rhythm is something I really enjoyed, it both restricts, and creates opportunities to play and experiment, more so than a standard lip synch piece. I feel I have improved this module, especially looking back at AP1's efforts, but I also understand more than ever that I have a long way to go. Polishing is still my biggest weakness. I need to find a proper routine and workflow, something like Keitn Lango demonstrates in his tutorial videos. I could work another month on these pieces, just polishing them. I think they need it. But I feel I can enter the next module better prepared to do so having made these mistakes here in this one. I'd like to think I'm on the right track. I do feel more confident about beginning a new animation now, I used to find it very daunting, but having to produce so many in a short space of time has pretty much beaten the fear out of me. I can only look on to the next module, and hope I improve even more.