Peg to the Rescue

[gazzamataz]

Well after a little bit here, a little bit there and over four months later I have more or less finished my latest flick from the Bella Bear Project I have been working on...

 

It still needs some refinement and I have banged my head against the wall a fair few times, especially with particles and volumetric lights but this is as far as I have got - please be kind

 

I couldn't resist showing you what I have been up too...

 

Peg to the rescue

 

Be warned it is 10.6mb big - broadband connection recommended!

[Dagooos]

awesome job, loved the story book look and feel of that!

[MMZ_TimeLord]

That's cool... can't wait to see what happens next!

 

Good job Gazzamataz!

[martin]

Good direction. I could tell what was going on, (meaning you didn't need to tell me with superfluous dialog). The foley noises are unconventionally loud, but if that's how you're doing all the episodes, then their loudness may be a trademark.

 

Good work! (I'm going to show my wife, Gwynne).

[TeresaNord]

Very cool stuff, I really enjoyed that. I can't wait to see more!!!

[Dark_Jedi]

very nice great job

[steve392]

Graet stuff ,very well made and a good story ,looking forward to seing more

[Stuart Rogers]

I agree with Martin - there's some good direction here. The one thing that didn't quite work for me was when you cut from looking down on the green guy (Alfie?) to what I guess is his point of view (to watch Peggy sliding down the pole). I would put the green guy in that second shot to confirm that this is indeed the case. Why? Because when he comes running, he doesn't end up in the same room in which the bell was rung, so it makes me wonder why he's stopped in the room he's in.

 

I did like the shadows in the telescope room - that long agony you suffered over them has paid off.

 

I liked the broomstick launch, although I wonder if a lot of squash and stretch would give it more impact.

[Paul Forwood]

Well done, Gary!

I like that very much. On first viewing it was a little confusing what door Witchy had kicked open. Maybe you could cut to a closer shot of her silhouetted in the doorway with a clear view of the outdoors or repeat the shot of her tower from outside but with her standing in the open doorway. Show her turn away, to do something inside, and then cut to Alfie lighting the fuse. At the moment it seems that she is still standing at a door to somewhere unknown, when Alfie lights the fuse, and there is no time for her to have gone to her broomstick. It just needs a couple of seconds to establish those two details.

 

Thats just my take on it though. Your persistence is paying off.

Keep up the good work! :-)

[Dhar]

Job well done Gary

 

Keep up the good work.

[Rodney]

Doing great things Gaz. Very impressive combination of character animation, backgrounds, special FX, sound... the works!

 

There are a few moments that my mind wonders what is going on but that may be explained better in context with the entire story. I'm not suggesting you change these necessarily but pinpointing where those moments are. It could be that a quicker cut away or an inserted image or two in those locations might improve the flow. Not necessarily new footage but current imagery cropped or otherwise manipulated.

 

Camera movement to Peg's house and to the window

The camera movement seems to suggest the viewer (or a character?) is driving up to Peg's house.

This doesn't seem to be the case as the camera then elevates and flies and eventually enters the Tower window. It has a first person player game feel to it. If the storyline calls for some creature to in fact drive up to Peg's place and fly up to the window that would work perfectly.

 

Peg recognizes the UFO

I'm curious. Does Peg know that this is Bella Bear and Hannah Banna? Are they in trouble and her alarm is a recognition of that?

 

At first look it seems like she is reacting to an invasion.

If she does recognize them I'd recommend the telescope spotlight a closeup of Bella and Hanna with distressed looks on their faces.

 

Peg kicks in the Door

Its not clear to me why she kicks down the door. Is she looking for something?

I'm not sure so won't comment more on that.

 

I love where you are going with this... take any commentary for what its worth and press on!

I really want to find out what happens next!

[Stuart Rogers]

Peg kicks in the Door

Its not clear to me why she kicks down the door.

Because she's seen Shaggy having difficulty in "The Door's Stuck" and doesn't want to get caught out like that.

[gazzamataz]

Well I am flattered and very pleased by the responses - thank you all. I will indeed continue the work to produce the next bit, but I don't think it will be Peg actually rescuing Bannah and Bella - I have got another section in mind which hopefully won't take quite so long...

 

I have taken some of the points people have made and thought them over and I might get around to incorporating them but at the moment I have had enough of this little flick and want to move on to the next one. Although I will add, Rodney, that Peg doesn't actually kick the door off it's hinges - she just kicks it open.

 

The main thing in all the suggestions was me animating Peg getting onto her broomstick but my patience was running out and I cheated and decided to skip it.

 

Lazy bugger eh?

 

 

P.S. Please note the file size has been drastically reduced using the Apple H263 codec (QuickTime 6.5 required), so instead of being 23mb it is now just over 10mb.

 

P.P.S.

The foley noises are unconventionally loud, but if that's how you're doing all the episodes, then their loudness may be a trademark.

On the nose! That will indeed be a trademark of the series - along with a few other points of style generated mostly by my inability to animate really smoothly