First "proper" animation post in a while!
I wanted to relate my experiences when working on a big acting shot shot a couple of weeks ago. I spent a lot time planning, as many people do - drawing and acting my way to a very definite idea of what I wanted. Sitting down at my computer with my bits of paper, all that preparation worked out and the blocking looked not only like my imagined version, but pretty good to boot, if I do say so myself! Feeling all chuffed, (it was a big acting shot), I showed my work to the directors and was most encouraged to receive only minor notes and a "Keep going".
That was just about the best news I could have received at that point in the shot, and with the hard brain stuff done I could simply go in and polish things up, job done. At least that's what I thought was supposed to happen. After working on it for the rest of the day, I came in the next morning and looked at the clip. To my dismay, I had lost some of the spark that made the blocking work so well for me, (in the head and hands in this case). Luckily I was able to nip back in to my initial pass and retrieve the two parts I liked so I didn't lose too much in going back.
What had gone wrong? Well, apart from my usual idiocy, I think I may have worked curves a little too much making some of the acting mushy, drifting away from my original intent. I was very careful about polishing up those particular parts of the character on the new/old version, I can tell you!
Hmmm... Perhaps I shouldn't be setting the precedent of being one of the few "professionals" who blogs about messing everything up! OK, revised version - everything went super well and it was so easy and I animated it all whilst juggling flaming torches and eight feral cats at the same time.
Or something. : )
I guess this is also another example of why spending time away from a shot is important. I mean, I could have tinkered away all night and not had the perspective to spot the subtle shift away from what I wanted. It's seems counter-productive but it really does help!
I wanted to relate my experiences when working on a big acting shot shot a couple of weeks ago. I spent a lot time planning, as many people do - drawing and acting my way to a very definite idea of what I wanted. Sitting down at my computer with my bits of paper, all that preparation worked out and the blocking looked not only like my imagined version, but pretty good to boot, if I do say so myself! Feeling all chuffed, (it was a big acting shot), I showed my work to the directors and was most encouraged to receive only minor notes and a "Keep going".
That was just about the best news I could have received at that point in the shot, and with the hard brain stuff done I could simply go in and polish things up, job done. At least that's what I thought was supposed to happen. After working on it for the rest of the day, I came in the next morning and looked at the clip. To my dismay, I had lost some of the spark that made the blocking work so well for me, (in the head and hands in this case). Luckily I was able to nip back in to my initial pass and retrieve the two parts I liked so I didn't lose too much in going back.
What had gone wrong? Well, apart from my usual idiocy, I think I may have worked curves a little too much making some of the acting mushy, drifting away from my original intent. I was very careful about polishing up those particular parts of the character on the new/old version, I can tell you!
Hmmm... Perhaps I shouldn't be setting the precedent of being one of the few "professionals" who blogs about messing everything up! OK, revised version - everything went super well and it was so easy and I animated it all whilst juggling flaming torches and eight feral cats at the same time.
Or something. : )
I guess this is also another example of why spending time away from a shot is important. I mean, I could have tinkered away all night and not had the perspective to spot the subtle shift away from what I wanted. It's seems counter-productive but it really does help!
4 comments:
I hear ya Kevan! I suffer from the same problem. Going from blocking to splined always presents a bunch of issues even though the shot looked really nice in stepped. I guess that's all a part of the process. XD
Hey yeah! I can completely relate to this story, its kind of like saying or writing the same word over and over and over again until it looks like nothing and seems foreign. I almost always have to step away and not look at it for a while.
As for as acting goes, I find that the longer I work on a shot, keeping the acting feeling spontaneous is always battle for me.
I heard the term somewhere "putting it in the fridge" and letting it cool off for the night!
Great, relatable post!
Cheers guys! Glad I'm not the only one!
: D
I've had the same thing happen to me a number of times! I'd be happily working away, only to realise that i've messed up the shot. Luckily I like saving versions of my shot, so could easily reload the previous version to go back to what I had.
I kick myself everytime I have to do that.
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