frosteternal Posted November 3, 2010 Posted November 3, 2010 So, I am now in my last two quarters, and for my Senior Project (a 2 quarter course) I have been given the green light to re-make a very old animation I did years ago. The original piece (keep in mind, I was working on borrowed computers and living on a friend's couch at the time) is posted below: garrett.mov My original poem will remain the same, but I was never happy with the way this one turned out. My instructor is very excited about the piece. I'll be doing all the character work in A:M and building sets in Photoshop to composite in AE. My major is Visual Effects & Motion Graphics, so I do want to keep the animation somewhat stylized, but not quite so...um...crappy. Yay. The first order of business was to re-model the main character. Pic below... I also drew all new storyboards, which have more interesting actions and expressions on the part of the main character. Hooray for progress. Quote
NancyGormezano Posted November 3, 2010 Posted November 3, 2010 Will be watching with great interest. Quote
frosteternal Posted November 18, 2010 Author Posted November 18, 2010 Been busy working on this and my portfolio for school, so I haven't had a terrible amount of extra time to post. Here's Garret in his library, just finished the chair and library set. Most sets are 2.5-D with Photoshop and AE but the library/fireplace shot requires a drastically rotating camera and thus needs a full 3D set. Quote
NancyGormezano Posted November 18, 2010 Posted November 18, 2010 Great little character, terrific chair. I am intrigued. (Your poem, character reminds me of Harold in the movie "Harold and Maude", one of my all time favorites) Quote
frosteternal Posted November 23, 2010 Author Posted November 23, 2010 Great little character, terrific chair. I am intrigued. (Your poem, character reminds me of Harold in the movie "Harold and Maude", one of my all time favorites) Thanks! I'll have to check out your film suggestion, never saw that one. Quote
frosteternal Posted December 6, 2010 Author Posted December 6, 2010 This is the first rough cut. For class, by um...one week ago, I had to piece together a rough version of the film for review. The sound is 80% there, the timing is 75% and the narration is going to be re-recorded. The backgrounds aren't all done, and the animation is obviously at like 10%. (I have about 4 months to have it done and polished and beautiful. I LOVE deadlines.) roughcut1.mov Enjoy. Quote
Fuchur Posted December 6, 2010 Posted December 6, 2010 This is the first rough cut. For class, by um...one week ago, I had to piece together a rough version of the film for review. The sound is 80% there, the timing is 75% and the narration is going to be re-recorded. The backgrounds aren't all done, and the animation is obviously at like 10%. (I have about 4 months to have it done and polished and beautiful. I LOVE deadlines.) roughcut1.mov Enjoy. I like that one very much... nice looking character, nice storyline and even in this pre-finished state it is looking great. Polish it a little bit up and it will be extremly well received. Keep on rocking! See you *Fuchur* Quote
frosteternal Posted December 7, 2010 Author Posted December 7, 2010 This is the first rough cut. For class, by um...one week ago, I had to piece together a rough version of the film for review. The sound is 80% there, the timing is 75% and the narration is going to be re-recorded. The backgrounds aren't all done, and the animation is obviously at like 10%. (I have about 4 months to have it done and polished and beautiful. I LOVE deadlines.) roughcut1.mov Enjoy. I like that one very much... nice looking character, nice storyline and even in this pre-finished state it is looking great. Polish it a little bit up and it will be extremly well received. Keep on rocking! See you *Fuchur* Thanks! My instructor described it as "taking this really morbid subject and making it cute...which makes it even more creepy" I take that as a compliment. =) Thanks for your encouraging words! Quote
mouseman Posted December 7, 2010 Posted December 7, 2010 Wow, this is a really good blocking pass! Way to go! It really captures the timing, mood, and placement! And now for the hard part ... the second 90%! Go get 'em! Quote
frosteternal Posted January 20, 2011 Author Posted January 20, 2011 Back to class, LAST QUARTER EVER!!! I'm on a tight schedule for wrapping up this project. =) This is good, I thrive under pressure. Each Thursday I show a work-in-progress to my class/instructor. This is this weeks'...a combo of week 1 and week 2. Except some rough sound, this is pretty much final render stuff, visually. I've decided to render piecemeal to help keep on schedule, so no long week of rendering at the end of it all. Note: for some reason Quicktime ignores my pixel aspect ratio settings, so it may be squished horizontally. edit: fixed the aspect ratio problem roughWeek2.mov Quote
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted January 20, 2011 Hash Fellow Posted January 20, 2011 I hadn't caught this one. Good looking character! Quote
thefreshestever Posted January 21, 2011 Posted January 21, 2011 that looks great! very nice mood... his hands look a bit odd to me, though... Quote
kwhitaker Posted January 21, 2011 Posted January 21, 2011 Bravo, i really enjoyed your film, the colors are out standing, the movie tells the story wonderfully. Quote
paradymx Posted January 26, 2011 Posted January 26, 2011 That is looking good thus far! I really like the establishing shot of the house. Can't wait to see your third pass animation. Quote
frosteternal Posted January 26, 2011 Author Posted January 26, 2011 Okay, Week Three is done, I'll probably work ahead of schedule rather than fall behind. I've included the Week 1& 2 parts as well. Thanks for all the encouraging compliments, I'm under a ton of pressure with this project. =) roughWeek3.mov Quote
HomeSlice Posted January 26, 2011 Posted January 26, 2011 Looks great! Could use a "Vincent Price" audio filter Quote
frosteternal Posted January 26, 2011 Author Posted January 26, 2011 Looks great! Could use a "Vincent Price" audio filter That reminds me, I have to re-record the narration. It's from ten years ago and I used kinda crappy equipment. =P Thanks! Quote
NancyGormezano Posted January 26, 2011 Posted January 26, 2011 Looks great! Could use a "Vincent Price" audio filter That reminds me, I have to re-record the narration. It's from ten years ago and I used kinda crappy equipment. =P Thanks! Definitely. The voice doesn't fit as well as it could. Needs ominous officiousnessity ramped up. Looks terrific. Quote
frosteternal Posted February 8, 2011 Author Posted February 8, 2011 I came down with my once-a-year cold last week, and was unable to work. Boo. This put me lightly behind, so last week's scene (the noose attempt) will be posted as soon as the renders are done. (SSS runs sllllloooooowwww on extreme close-ups but looks soooo good!) Then on to the next suicide attempt. So ideally, they'll be two updates this week. In other news - my little sister gets married this Saturday!! I'm excited but working like a madman on my classes to get ahead so the out of town festivities don't put me further behind! This is week 5 of classes, out of only 11 weeks. Almost graduated... Quote
Admin Rodney Posted February 8, 2011 Admin Posted February 8, 2011 I came down with my once-a-year cold last week, and was unable to work. Boo. Gah! You should have re-recorded with that voice! Slacker!!! That would have added a whole other layer to the short. Keep up the great work! Added: (I know you have an artistic vision for this thing so I wasn't going to make suggestions... but this one I thought I should post) Would the poem reverberate more thoroughly if read by Garrett from the first person? Of course that wouldn't necessarily be fully revealed until the very end. Nah... that would probably break the spell of the poem. Quote
frosteternal Posted February 10, 2011 Author Posted February 10, 2011 Okie-dokie, this is the Week 4 addition... tonight I'm finishing up the shots for week 5. Almost caught up (although I did build some padding into my schedule anyhow.) Week4.mov Quote
nino banano Posted February 10, 2011 Posted February 10, 2011 very well done, it's getting better Quote
frosteternal Posted February 10, 2011 Author Posted February 10, 2011 ...and Week 5, just finished rendering last night. =) Off to class today for weekly critiques. Week5.mov Quote
HomeSlice Posted February 10, 2011 Posted February 10, 2011 Lovely piece. So cheery and optimistic I would have loved to have heard it read with your "I'm feeling sick and miserable" voice. Quote
frosteternal Posted February 17, 2011 Author Posted February 17, 2011 The optimism and cheer continues! Week 6 saw the wrap up of the gun sequence, and the next attempt : bleach. This project should have all the main shots completed over the next two weeks, and then it's just audio, edit, and some re-render & cleanup tweaks. Hooray for tight production schedules. =/ week6.mov Quote
frosteternal Posted February 25, 2011 Author Posted February 25, 2011 DONE! Well, mostly. The main stuff is complete, just some extra finesse and sound work left to be completed. The animation, however is 99% complete. Altering the too-drastic focus pull at the end, it is too abrupt, also changing the lighting on that end shot to be more yellowy. Also re-rendering a high-quality opening shot (I've been using a proxy video file to save time) week7.mov Quote
mouseman Posted February 27, 2011 Posted February 27, 2011 Way to go! Lots of fun for the dark-humored among us (such as myself)! Quite an accomplishment, too! Quote
frosteternal Posted February 27, 2011 Author Posted February 27, 2011 Way to go! Lots of fun for the dark-humored among us (such as myself)! Quite an accomplishment, too! Thanks! I'm very proud of this one. Just wait until you all see the final cut with sound fixes and everything! I can't release it just yet but it is much, much better than this rough cut =) Thanks for the feedback! Quote
frosteternal Posted March 8, 2011 Author Posted March 8, 2011 Okay, my Senior Project is done! I developed this story over 8 years ago, and then went back into preproduction ~6 months ago. I'm finally proud of how the project has turned out! =) You can view the final version on my vimeo account... http://www.vimeo.com/20595638 Quote
John Bigboote Posted March 8, 2011 Posted March 8, 2011 Be very proud of that! Just having seen it thru to finished shows incredible resolve, and it is very very good! I hope it gets plenty of views. Quote
NancyGormezano Posted March 8, 2011 Posted March 8, 2011 Wonderful - looks terrific, love the pace, camera work, render style - Congrats! Quote
kwhitaker Posted March 8, 2011 Posted March 8, 2011 That was awesome, funny, in a morose way, great camera, you told the story wonderfully. Well done congratulation! Quote
HomeSlice Posted March 8, 2011 Posted March 8, 2011 That was fascinating. So... your preferred method of death is being buried alive? Quote
John Bigboote Posted March 8, 2011 Posted March 8, 2011 Y'know--- I've heard that in the middle ages it was quite common for someone to be buried alive. Frequently, people who were merely unconscious or had low vital signs were pronounced dead and buried- only to revive later in a underground coffin. It was so common an occurrence that they would place a bell in the coffin with the deceased, to ring if needed. Ghastly. Quote
frosteternal Posted March 8, 2011 Author Posted March 8, 2011 Y'know--- I've heard that in the middle ages it was quite common for someone to be buried alive. Frequently, people who were merely unconscious or had low vital signs were pronounced dead and buried- only to revive later in a underground coffin. It was so common an occurrence that they would place a bell in the coffin with the deceased, to ring if needed. Ghastly. Yep. One town had a better solution.. They put a spike in the coffin lids...once the casket closed, there was no chance of being buried alive. That is efficiency - it gets right to the heart of the problem. =) Quote
frosteternal Posted March 8, 2011 Author Posted March 8, 2011 That was fascinating. So... your preferred method of death is being buried alive? Not my preference, but if one happens to be a depressed and suicidal cartoon boy, cursed by a cruel writer to be indestructible, one must find a compromise. Quote
Animus Posted March 8, 2011 Posted March 8, 2011 Wow! I really enjoyed. Nice artistic choices. Dark and delicious. Bravo! Michel Quote
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted March 9, 2011 Hash Fellow Posted March 9, 2011 that looks wonderful, Jesse! Congratulations on getting that done! Quote
Admin Rodney Posted March 9, 2011 Admin Posted March 9, 2011 Nicely done Jesse! I'm a little late to the wrap party. We really must find a better way of announcing these online releases in the community! I like your stylistic choices and the timing of your cuts. Cinemagical stuff. Just when I was getting into the story, it was over. But narratively the length felt perfect. Revel in the moment... then get on back to work! Quote
frosteternal Posted March 10, 2011 Author Posted March 10, 2011 Thanks everyone, I'm so glad you all enjoyed my dark little film. I'm graduating this quarter, March 25th actually, so then from here I'm hoping to land a motion graphics job out here in Chicago...to help fund my next personal project, of course =) Now I have to prepare for my portfolio show =) yay! Quote
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