Final Animation Before Crit + Reflection On The Animation Process
Below is the final animation of "When Not To....Go Outside"
I found the animation process to be a very interesting experience. As a group we all focused on different parts of the animation in order to get it done, Emily and Marta focused on 2D and 3D, while I animated in 3D. In order to make sure the whole animation was completed on time, I started it immediately after finishing the pre-viz (this was roughly 3 weeks). While Emily was in the process of completing the final models, I began animating the scenes in order, using the Pre-viz as a guide.
At first I struggled to get the timing of the character right. Every time I attempted to animate the scene, it would look unnatural and too quick. This was due to the lack of anticipation, which I learnt helped make the animation look a lot more fluid. I tried to include this as much as I could throughout the animation, however their are still parts which would benefit from this. I found it hard to visualize the scenes, even with the pre-viz as a guide. This was what motivated me into changing the introduction of the animation, as I needed a clearer vision of what was going on in order to then create it. I was then motivated by the concept I came up with into finishing most of the first scene in order to see what it looked like. While animating the scenes I still felt as thought they looked a bit off, however all doubt left my mind when I put the clips into Premier Pro. I found that with context of what is going on, the animation is able to flow and tell its story the way you are trying to describe. Its a lot harder to see when you are animating one scene at a time. From then on I became a lot more confident with my animation and constantly checked Premier to see the results.
After blocking out a rough guide for the animation as whole, I then went through and listed the changes which needed to be made why producing the final animation. This helped to keep me on track and ensured that the animation would be made to the quality I was going for. It was then a long process of importing all of the new models and going through each scene to ensure that the animation looked consistent.
I really tried to use my research on the importance of camera movement in order to influence how the final animation came together. As it was a fixed camera, It really made me think about how I could present the animation in an interesting way to the audience. I played around with different ideas within the scenes in order to establish the best shot to show off the events. In some instanced the camera moves, however this represents the camera zooming in, as it is still at a fixed angle. During the gravity scene, the camera itself is effected by the events which are happening. Although it appears to be moving around, the camera is still in a fixed position and I used the elements in the scene, along with camera shake, in order to make it appear as if its floating.
With the final models imported into the scene, I was then able to complete some of the bigger scenes, such as when the gravity disappears, a scene that I left until last to complete. It seemed like a daunting task to have everything on the map fly up in a convincing way as if gravity had been unplugged. I had already done this in the pre-viz, however that appeared odd and I wanted to step up the panic in the scene, so the audience could feel the characters emotions. The new idea was that I wanted Moom to be getting up after falling down chasing the ball. As he is pushing himself up he begins to float and slowly falls of the screen. The camera slowly follows his action, having also been effected by the gravity itself. This allowed me to capture how other objects in the environment were effected by the sudden removal of gravity. Instead of having each object float up at the same time, I tried to add variation so that it looked more visually interesting and natural. This is one of the more exciting scenes and so I wanted to translate that into the final design. I am really happy with the results and feel like the scene turned out exactly how I pictured it in my mind. My favourite part in particular is when Moom himself flies past the camera. In an attempt to stabilise himself, he grabs the camera. However the force pulling him is too strong, which causes him to quickly fly away. I like the way Moom interacts with the audience as it pulls them into the joke itself.
While completing the animation I ran into several problems. One of the more major problems which effected my workflow, was Maya crashing when I would watch back the animation. I found that this was due to the cache playback. I didn't really find a solution apart from just saving regularly. I quickly learnt how frustrating it was to animate a section of the scene, only for it to be deleted. Another problem occurred with the Moom character itself. I found that sometime the model would just randomly break and either stretch across the scene or simply stop allowing me to use the controllers. This again proved to be annoying, however did not occur as often. Normally restarting Maya would fix the issue, however sometime it would carry across to other scenes. When it came to play blasting the scenes upon completion, I also ran into trouble with the final few scenes. When trying to import the zero gravity scenes, Premier kept on saying "file is the wrong format or corrupt". I play blasted the scene multiple times, thinking that the scene itself was corrupt. When this did nothing I became frustrated, with it being the final scene I needed in order to complete the animation. What I ended up doing was screen record the shot and upload it that way. This worked however the gravity scenes seem a bit laggy due to this, which does not occur in the actual play blast. This was annoying as its the best scene in my opinion and I wanted it to look the best it could. When the file worked, I looked back on the original and found that it was 2.9gb. I think the reason for Premiere not allowing the import was due to the size of the file, however I still don't know. I have put the play blasted version below so that it can be seen without the lag.
Once all of the scenes were in Premier and I was happy, I then imported it into Adobe Audition to complete the sounds. I really took the time to find the right sounds to fit within the animation and feel as though this really paid off in the end. I found that the sounds add a lot more coherency to a scene, explaining certain actions more clearly which occur in a scene. I really tried to focus on the music within the animation, in order to translate the feeling of each scene to the audience. This helped describe how they should feel when watching back the animation. I was then able to use these feelings as a form of comedy, by contrasting scenes such as Moom falling to his death (intense music), with God plugging gravity back in (classical music). As well as this I also included different music to symbolize the beginning or each new skit. This subliminally tells the audience that the events which are taking place on the screen are different to those seen previously. I felt this was a more creative way to transition between the skits, as apposed to doing something obvious such as title cards.
I also ran into problems in the actual course itself. The handed out brief mentioned that the project was due on the 19th, however this is the wrong date. As a group we were working towards the wrong deadline for the majority of the project. This didn't seem to effect the overall workflow too much, as I was planning on completing the animation ahead of time. This resulted in me having to work longer hours in order to assure the completion of the animation. There were also multiple deadlines set on the same week that the animation was due. I found this to actually be a benefit to my workflow as it meant I had to be on top of everything. I was able to complete elements of the other two projects when waiting for the models to be completed. However the date issued for on of the projects (character design) was also wrong, with it being due in January rather than in December. This was of course a benefit, however I feel I would have been able to relax on the amount of work done on that project had I know and focused on completing the main project itself.
By working in the group it motivated me to make sure I was producing work on time, as I did not let my teammates down. We assigned each other job roles which needed to be completed in order to complete the animation as a group on time. Although this was a bit rough at first, I feel we managed to come together and complete and animation of good quality. I felt that communication at times felt one sided, with me having to reach out in order to get an understanding about where people were with their tasks. I liked being able to focus purely on the animation when it came down to it, knowing I could rely on the others to send me pieces to add to the scene. This boosted the amount of work I could complete. I also liked how I was able to bounce ideas off of the other members of the group and I tried to include everyone's ideas in the final version. This was hard to do as everyone had a slightly different vision for the animation, however we were able to come together for the final thing.
Overall I am proud of the animation I completed and feel as though we as a group have successfully come together in order to meet the brief. The only part it does not meet is being within the 2 minute parameter. I purposely paced the pre-viz so that it would be 2 minutes long, however when animating the real animation, I wanted to add more character to how Moom interacted with the world. This was due to the pre-viz feeling too brief, making the events which unfold seem less interesting and important. As I was the one in charge of the animation process, I wanted the effort put in to be reflected into the final idea. This meant scene had more detail than explained in the pre-viz, which resulted in the animation lasting longer. After discussing with my team, we opted for a better quality animation, which provides context to Mooms action, rather than a rushed story. I could have probably made it fit within the 2 minutes, however the animation would appear to be dysfunctional and lose most of its comedic timing. In my opinion it would have been worse to produce a 'comedy' animation which isn't funny. I would rather allow the time for the audience to understand what is going on, than rush through in order to meet the parameter.
If the video above does not work, please try the link below. If this does not work then all videos have been uploaded to the group Basecamp in the folder "Animation Process"
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