Thursday, September 27, 2012

Overview - From Audio to Paper...

I kind of overlooked something on my last shot. It was that very first step that we should all do before we start our shot; getting to know our character. I did not put a lot of details about my character, not until i found the advanced planning packet video training. Long story short, i regret that i did not invest a lot of my time for this at that stage. I made sure that i did not repeat the same mistake this time around. Below is a snapshot of my planning :


My mentor told me that i probably did not have to go this extreme for this dialogue shot, but i'm glad i did it. This really helped me out to understand the characters. I did not do a lot of thumbnailing for this shot. I'm still wondering if this is all right or not. I felt that I should approach the shot in more storyboard or comic panel way. All right, as I type this I realise that I probably played it safe because I avoided my biggest fear, which is Drawing a Face! -A note to myself, try this out next time- Here are my early planning for the layout, they are quite similar :

Layout 1 + Playblast



Layout 2 + Playblast



Another thing that i should look out next time is I should treat layout pass just like first pass blocking. This pass can be said as the step where we set up the shot; the framing, the set, etc. As we can see here, I just put my character in an unknown space, that has window on its wall :| .. I have to admit that I had a quite a hard time on my first pass blocking because i did not plan this very well. I had to change the camera angles for a couple times until finally my mentor agree with it, but it's all good cause I learn something from this. :)

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Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Overview - About The Audio...

I kept thinking about how to write an entry differently at the beginning of class 5. Well, this kind of caught me off guard cause I ended up did not write anything at all for last term! I had always felt that this shot would be really important for me. We were going to work on this one shot for the whole term and i could feel the pressure since the beginning.

Researching The Audio File


I often hear advices about try to find an audio file that inspires us. I, like most folks in class 5 am obviously still a baby in this field. This is our second dialogue shot and it's going to have two people talking in it. It surely sounds very exciting and as Barney Stinson said, "Challenge accepted!" .. [yes, i'm a fan of HIMYM ;) ].

Back in class 4, i spent my times browsing audio clips on the internet. I focused on other factors such as the timing, contrast, beats, and many other things that we should consider when we're browsing audio clips. One thing that i tried not to do is I avoided to watch the original source of the audio clip. I was scared that this would effect my thoughts and ideas as this would make me keep thinking of the original actors.

A question that came up to my mind was; how am i supposed to get inspired if i don't know the characters who speaks the line? To be honest, it would be quite stressful for me if i had to do the same audio browsing process. So, i decided to do it differently this time. I watched some of my favourite old school movies, couple of new ones and watch a movie that has my favourite actor in it. A simple tips, always have notebook, pencil or your mobile phone nearby to write down some notes, this will come in handy. I find this method is more fun, i really love the rush of taking notes when we hear the good line on the screen. :) However, i did not mean that browsing an audio file on the internet is not effective. I do believe that each of this method has its own pros and cons.

Before I continue, i forgot to introduce my class 5 mentor, his name is Malcon Pierce ! He's really awesome btw! :D 

There is one great advice regarding audio clip that i got from my mentor. I will try my best to paraphrase his advice. We may encounter two types of audio clips during our audio hunting. The first type would be an audio clip that kind of mentions some stuff or reflect some actions, which may driven us to try to match our animation to that one particular action. The second one would be an audio clip that will draw us into the character's psychology and would potentially give us a room to develop our own scenarios for it. This is really an eye opening advice for me! It became much easier for me to choose the audio clips after hearing this advice. I believe that both of this audio types are great, but in my humble opinion, i honestly feel that the second audio type is stronger.

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stay tuned . . . . . . o_o;!



hello everyone! no i am not abandoning my blog .. please stay tuned for class 5 overview post!
o_o major delay is happening..

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