After 8 months of development and hard work… it’s finally… completed. I’m very proud of what I’ve achieved this year.
Thanks to Interpol for the awesome song to which I now know every single beat and vocal of. Thanks to Lisa Millar who created the sound for my project, her job was to subtlely enhance the theatrics of the video, she did a great job. Thanks to Chris Barker, who as my teacher helped me out with those technical problems and kept me optimistic about a goo solution. Thanks for all the feedback as well!
Finally to my parents. Thanks Mum for keeping me fed and alive during crazy work hours and Dad for setting up all those computers for me to render on.
Leif Erikson would not have been possible without the support of these people.
Totally missed Chris in class today because I was hungry and went to get food. Then when I came back, he’d gone. I sent him an email with my revised playblast and luckily he sent me some feedback. Quite a lot of it:
I think the long shot up her body shouldn’t get interrupted by the dude at the door.
I think that she should “break out” of her stasis by him SLOWLY arriving and SLOWLY reaching up to the door, just before the “she says” and then quickly shutting it (like you have it, but with him glancing toward her ALL the time as if to say “I won’t get caught, I won’t get caught in his head” The arrival of the voice should seem as if it’s shocked him to close the door before he meant to, and in a manner which he didn’t mean to, and this should “shock her awake”, as if she’s hit by a little ripple… and then she settles very slowly…as if he’s the dream, but she can’t remember it on waking.
Her head motion right now looks as if she’s saying “no no”, in a kind of disbelief, but really, she should be not moving side to side, but more slumping up and down, as if she has a very heavy head. This will make her seem as if she’s having an interior experience, rather than reacting to her environment, and judging it as silly.
You have a jump cut when she puts her hand to her head, which reads bady. I suggest that you keep the shot close, and then go long when she puts her hand down. You can lengthen this shot, and shorten the shot of the hand afterward.
Have her look at her hand before it moves away - she looks too vacant when it comes afterward.
Try and mix up the smoothness of the animation, to make it a bit more rickety and sharp at this point. Just get to the keys quicker - see if this works. I think some more erratic motion will help build the sense of anxiety.
When she trips/stumbles, on her left foot, cup her toes if you can, quickly, like a spasm, when the right foot goes back.
When she reaches out to the mirror, move the head a little to the side, in a kind of “huh?” BUT JUST A BIT - we don’t want it to look like lassie.
AT 1.00, when we are over her shoulder, and above her head, the camera feels very rushed. Take the time before we concentrate on the frame, and cut the time on the frame.
When the hand reaches out of the dark - make her more jumpy - her head turns quicker. Shoulder reaction is just right.
When she walks out the door, give her more hip motion, and some moments of hesitation, and have her look up the hall as she comes out (just a glance as if to say “what’s up there” , then at the doll “wow this doll is amazing” then us..have her look for much longer (and have her shoulders turn a little more toward us.
Before her attack - don’t move the camera around to it - make the camera catch her up after she has walked out of frame, and then when she has her first second of attack, then CUT TO the next shot. The camera move looks bad.
After that, it’s ALL GOOD.
In fact, I think you got on a roll. It’s very moving.
Animation has slowed to a crawl.. because well animating a crawl is the most tedious thing. Spent the whole day trying to time it correctly and making sure she’s not crawling too fast or too slow. Had to act many of the parts out, which was funny because my mother didn’t know what the hell I was doing.
more disorientation when she wakes from her stupor
blink out of sync, by a frame
at mirror, anticipate head turn
camera stops when she grabs mirror
ease into zoom
maybe she should stare directly at the camera when she walks by the paintings, as if we the audience is one of the paintings watching her
cuts on the second drip
some motion when she hears the goo erupting
Chris liked the animation when she gets attacked by the goo, which was awesome. Got to animate the last hallways next. I would have the bulk of the character animation completed then.
