Gerry Posted September 14, 2009 Posted September 14, 2009 Not technically a WIP just yet, but I wanted to start a placeholder thread. I'm going to have to put my "Nightcallers" work aside as it's the time of year when I have to start thinking about the company Christmas animation. I need to sketch out some ideas (I like to show three) and pitch them to my boss. Then it's off to the races. As long as it's creative and catchy, she's pretty flexible (see: the Christmas Snail) and likes me to have fun with it. This year I'm determined to center it on actual CHARACTER ANIMATION, yes I said it. So that's what I'll be pitching. Now I just need to come up with some ideas! Quote
largento Posted September 14, 2009 Posted September 14, 2009 Awesome, Gerry! Look forward to these each year! Maybe I should give thought to starting mine this early, too! :-) Still love the idea of us doing a bunch of Christmas animations and having a virtual fireplace with all of the animations as Christmas cards... Maybe we could do it this year? Quote
Darkwing Posted September 17, 2009 Posted September 17, 2009 i was thinking of this the other day, this has become somewhat of a tradition for me to watch the progress of this. and you want to go for char animation, perhaps you should go for an 1800s london feel? that's always very christmasy. and with Jim Carrey's Christmas Carol coming out in november, perhaps something of that time period would be appropriate? Quote
Gerry Posted September 17, 2009 Author Posted September 17, 2009 That's an interesting idea! I've been jotting down notes and I've got three ideas I want to sketch storybds for, but to be honest none of them are really grabbing me and it's making it difficult to get enthused. I may just try that! Quote
Darkwing Posted September 17, 2009 Posted September 17, 2009 I love Christmas with a passion so if you needs ideas I can scrounge around my brain and find what pops up! Quote
Gerry Posted September 25, 2009 Author Posted September 25, 2009 Here's the rough, unvarnished storyboard and a character sketch. A little girl falls asleep in front of the TV waiting for Santa to arrive. We think it needs a better payoff, and my boss wanted to know if I could do this in time for Christmas as we're getting busy again. Of course I said yes! Quote
Darkwing Posted September 25, 2009 Posted September 25, 2009 hmmm, you're right about the payoff, that seems a little too....cheesy? it doesn't fit, hmmmm..... i'll have to think on that a little, i'll post if i get any ideas! Quote
jimd Posted September 25, 2009 Posted September 25, 2009 Here's the rough, unvarnished storyboard and a character sketch. A little girl falls asleep in front of the TV waiting for Santa to arrive. We think it needs a better payoff, and my boss wanted to know if I could do this in time for Christmas as we're getting busy again. Of course I said yes! love the look just a thought why not have santa come out of the tv Butt first the kids in shock santa take the cookies leaves a gift ( kids still in shock ) santa pops back into tv waves with logo Quote
Darkwing Posted September 25, 2009 Posted September 25, 2009 course he already did santa once, not to say you can't use him again, Quote
Gerry Posted September 25, 2009 Author Posted September 25, 2009 Thanks for the comments! I agree the payoff needs work. I'm not opposed to using Santa but given my time constraints I'm trying to keep it to one character as far as animating goes. Doing the dancing cookies will be somewhat of a cheat since there's no hands or face to animate, and it's "only" a kickline with a looping, reusable action. My wife had a similar suggestion for Santa coming out of the screen, not butt-first, but that's pretty funny! Definitely open to suggestions! I'll be using as many props and models from the extras cd and library as possible. Quote
Gerry Posted September 25, 2009 Author Posted September 25, 2009 What I need to do is turn the "cookies for Santa" cliche upside down or inside out somehow. Quote
largento Posted September 25, 2009 Posted September 25, 2009 How about this, Gerry. Have the mother come in and see the empty plate and say "did you eat all of these cookies? they were for santa!" and while she tries to "but, mom...", mom turns off the TV. Quote
Darkwing Posted September 25, 2009 Posted September 25, 2009 and then as she goes to bed, she glances out the window, in which there is a twinkle as perhaps santa's sleigh flies by way way far in the distance Quote
Paul Forwood Posted September 25, 2009 Posted September 25, 2009 How about this, Gerry. Have the mother come in and see the empty plate and say "did you eat all of these cookies? they were for santa!" and while she tries to "but, mom...", mom turns off the TV. Ha ha! I like it! Quote
Gerry Posted September 26, 2009 Author Posted September 26, 2009 Here's her T-pose. I think she's gotta be a hardcore Santa groupie, the cookies will be Santa-shaped, her note will be on Santa stationery, etc. and the "punchline" needs to be more sassy than heartwarming. I'm still trying to tease out a joke but I think I'm getting closer. Quote
steve392 Posted September 26, 2009 Posted September 26, 2009 A real nice charector Gerry,wish I could draw like that Quote
Gerry Posted September 27, 2009 Author Posted September 27, 2009 Okay, I think I've got the hook I need. The cookies are gingerbread men. She dives into the TV and dances with them, when their heads, arms, legs start disappearing with a crunch. She watches in shock as they're being eaten while they're dancing! We return to the view of her on couch, fast asleep, and pan over to a closeup of the plate of cookies. Only one remains, and we see Santa's hand come in and take the last one. The end. Quote
Darkwing Posted September 27, 2009 Posted September 27, 2009 heh heh, i think you got something there Quote
NancyGormezano Posted September 30, 2009 Posted September 30, 2009 Yeah! I like that ending - just enough edgy... AND, I meant to comment earlier - the storyboards are terrific ! Quote
Gerry Posted October 1, 2009 Author Posted October 1, 2009 Thanks Nancy! here's the finished geometry and I'm going to do the rigging before I do the texturing, just to fine-tune my work procedures. The hair is obviously modeled because I didn't want to spend a lot of time working with hair. I'm going to give a few of the front and side bits a dynamic constraint so they bounce when she moves her head. Before I do the rigging though I'm doing a complete set of storyboards in color. I found last year that doing this made the animating steps easier because color decisions are already made. I'll post these but I may do it on my ftp space and just have a link here. maybe I'll build them into a Flash slideshow. Quote
largento Posted October 1, 2009 Posted October 1, 2009 She looks great, Gerry! This year's is going to be epic! Quote
Gerry Posted October 1, 2009 Author Posted October 1, 2009 Thanks Mark! Here's the rough schedule I've laid out for myself, though there's a lot of wiggle room. As of today I've got ten and a half weeks and I've broken it down like this: Storyboards - 1 week Modeling and rigging - 3 weeks Texturing - 1 week Choreographies (shots) - 3-1/2 weeks Rendering - 2 weeks Like I said, this is rough. I just noticed I haven't put any time in there for sound or post, but on the other hand the storyboards and modeling are close to being done, or at least I've got a solid start on them. I may start a checklist to keep track of work as it's completed as well. Quote
steve392 Posted October 1, 2009 Posted October 1, 2009 Thats very much like the drawrings ,nice going Gerry Quote
Paul Forwood Posted October 1, 2009 Posted October 1, 2009 She's cute, Gerry. Good luck with the short. Quote
Gerry Posted October 1, 2009 Author Posted October 1, 2009 Thanks guys. I'm most concerned with the face looking nice and working nice since so much of this depends on closeup reaction shots. Quote
Paul Forwood Posted October 1, 2009 Posted October 1, 2009 You might consider running another spline around her mouth but that depends on how you visualise her mouth moving. You'll know if it's neccesary once you start animating her. Quote
Gerry Posted October 1, 2009 Author Posted October 1, 2009 Paul, could you show me what you mean? and any other comments are welcome. Also, the eyeballs are just placeholder for now. Quote
Paul Forwood Posted October 1, 2009 Posted October 1, 2009 Don't worry, Gerry. I think you have enough splines around the mouth after all, I just couldn't see them in the smaller image. Quote
NancyGormezano Posted October 1, 2009 Posted October 1, 2009 Paul, could you show me what you mean? and any other comments are welcome. Also, the eyeballs are just placeholder for now. She's very cute - you'll probably need some eyebrows if you want her to be expressive. I like your economy of splines Quote
Gerry Posted October 1, 2009 Author Posted October 1, 2009 Thanks and thanks. Yep, she'll have eyebrows! Quote
Darkwing Posted October 2, 2009 Posted October 2, 2009 hm, those are some nice looking and smooth pics. If I can ever model characters I'll be very, very happy! I can't wait to see how this one turns out, so far the snail one is my fav I think, though i only vaguely rememer last years Quote
Gerry Posted October 2, 2009 Author Posted October 2, 2009 Yeah, I have to work the snail in for a guest appearance somewhere! Oh yeah, and here's last year's! http://www.visualexllc.com/vlexholiday2008/2008Holiday.html Quote
pixelplucker Posted October 2, 2009 Posted October 2, 2009 Looks really good, you may want to flatten the nose up near the eyes to create a brow. I love the features. Great work. Quote
Gerry Posted October 2, 2009 Author Posted October 2, 2009 I see what you mean. I'll look at that. Thanks! Quote
Darkwing Posted October 2, 2009 Posted October 2, 2009 ah right, yeah, snail's been in all of them since his invention, work him in somep lace lever this year, make us find him Quote
Gerry Posted October 2, 2009 Author Posted October 2, 2009 Here's my shot list: 1) Close up of plate of gingerbread men and note for Santa 2) Long shot of room, slow zoom in as Annie, clicking remote, tries to stay awake, then nods off 3) Profile shot of Annie jerking awake 4) Over shoulder shot as she looks at the candy cane remote, then pull back to include TV in shot 5) Head-on shot of TV as she clicks, then zoom in as gingerbread men jump up from plate 6) Jazzy shot of gingerbread men in kickline 7) Annie reaction shot, then she hops off the couch out of frame 8) Profile shot of TV, she dives into the screen in slo-mo, in a crackling plasma cloud 9) Head-on shot of TV as plasma cloud dissipates, and we see Annie dancing in the kickline 10) Two-shot of Annie and GBM, then his head snaps off 11) Two-shot of 2 GBM’s as they lose heads and arms 12) Annie reaction shot, which dissolves to- 13) Annie asleep on couch. Slow pan to cookie dish, then camera rises for different vantage point as Santa’s hand comes in from off camera and takes the last cookie. Quote
Darkwing Posted October 2, 2009 Posted October 2, 2009 aw man, and when the gingerbread men are dancing, you need like some sort of spotlight/glowy tupe of effect, where everything else is dark, ro maybe this sort of rotating colour spectrum of light or something, again in spotlight fashion. I don't know, maybe that's too over the top.... Quote
Gerry Posted October 2, 2009 Author Posted October 2, 2009 Well I've got a whole set of full color storyboards I've done so I think I've got that covered. the dance sequence will be quite jazzy! I'm using shots of the Rockettes for reference. I would post the color sketches but I thought I'd put them in a slideshow somehow. Maybe over the weekend. Quote
Darkwing Posted October 2, 2009 Posted October 2, 2009 Time for a Flash project!!!!! Sorry, I sometimes get eager when flash projects are needed, course you don't necessarily need to use flash Quote
Gerry Posted October 2, 2009 Author Posted October 2, 2009 Here's the color storyboard in a slideshow. Visualex2009storyboard.mov Quote
Darkwing Posted October 2, 2009 Posted October 2, 2009 aw man, I have the jitters now! i'm so excited, though i don't know about the last frame, just having santa take the cookie and it say visualex might be enough, the last bit might seem out of place, but i suppose that's what the editing floor is for Quote
Gerry Posted October 3, 2009 Author Posted October 3, 2009 Oops, there's one frame out of order there. I'lll fix it shortly. Quote
Darkwing Posted October 3, 2009 Posted October 3, 2009 ah, ok, that makes things all the better. it's funny, some of those shots are exactly 100% how I imagined them too. i really look forward to this! Quote
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