Following last week’s shot list creation, I have indicated all of the shots I plan and intend to work on for this week. The shots I will be focusing on are shot 3, 4 and 10, as it will be important to finish and plan both the introductory and final scene of the film so I can get a key understanding of staging, placement and lighting.
Style
As used in my previous test animations, I feel that using a style reminiscent of pix-elation will help add stylized and comedic value to my work and suits the overall theme of my film. This also will help me set attainable goals and reduce the amount of time spent in the animation process, making the minute-long film more achievable. A big stylistic inspiration for this is neighbours, as it uses elements of stop motion animation in a different context that adds blunt humour that live-action cannot inherently produce with the same effect. As stated in Norman McLaren: Between the Frames Neighbours led to the creation of “his pioneering stop-motion live-action technique” which is called ‘Pixilation’ to utilise this (Yang, 2020,pp. 167).
I think the ‘staccato’ style to it works really well in creating a particularly visual identity to the piece that does not blend into the world of live-action, drawing attention to itself as a performance due to its inherent abandonment of real-world physics. I wish to create a similar effect that dramatises and differentiates movement in a different way from what is typically expected from CGI animation. I also think a key part of this is due to the control McLaren has over the timing and relationship with the music, and I feel this will be effective in the creation of my own work going forward.
In the video Experimental Film Artist: Norman McLaren (1970), McLaren discusses when working on the film Neighbours, that his use of sound he created animated frames of soundwaves which create different pitches, which are controlled per frame and matched with the film exactly (1970). I think this accentuates that the use of sound with this animated technique is imperative for stylistic endurance.
Another recent piece of animation I noticed takes a similar style is the animated documentary ‘Flee’ which largely seems to have a more limited animation despite its more detailed drawn 2D appearance. There are fewer animated frames that create pauses in movement and facial expressions that minimise movement but do not sacrifice emotional conveyance.
Scene Set-Ups
An important part of the 3D animation pipeline is setting up all of the scenes so that the staging, placement and render settings etc, are consistent between each scene. So my initial starting point was creating a base Maya file for every shot on the shotlist. Going forward, I am aware that doing this process can cause breaks and inconsistencies in a scene where the animation relies on the previous files’ last position, so with that mindset I will ensure that there are different cameras, and files that are saved from the previous shot’s and keyed at the last position.
The key element required for every scene is a central, locked camera with the staging measurements in the centre so that everything is in consistent line with each other. The main prop or asset that is required is the ‘trap door’ or black hole in the floor. The key placement of this ‘door’ in shots 3 and shot 10 will be important going forward as they are the start and end frames of movement and points of reference.
Render Set Up
Across all of these scene files, I also tried to make sure the render settings were the same and placed all of the different assets onto different layers that could be combined and manipulated at the end of the post-production compositing stage.
Shots 3 and 5
An idea I have conceptualised is using my N cloth simulation tests to create a curtain opening sequence that adds a further ‘theatrical’ aspect to my project and makes more direct reference to the theatrical setting as well as helping me apply and develop my simulation abilities. By having the curtains drawn open at the camera it introduces the scene in a way that forces its performative status on viewers immediately and slightly breaks the fourth wall by using a curtain to introduce a stage.
Due to the nature of the scene, a Key aspect that I needed to take into account was animating the area lights that acted as spotlights alongside the character. This initially proved difficult as even in IRP render viewports It look a lot of time to understand where it was at each point. In order to attempt to try and match the timing of the animation as much as possible, I keyframed in a stepped stylisation the movement of the lights in the same beat as the skeletal figure to try and ensure it is always illuminated.
Below shows a playblast of the finished shot. My main aim with this shot was to understand and adapt how the skeleton’s rig will fall apart and come together under the applications of gravity. For this, I intend to always be aware going forward of the character performance ‘jumps’ as a certain section of the limbs will fall apart and come together. I wish to do this to pay homage to The Skeleton Dance, and also the historic comedic effect of reanimated skeletons that do not have the muscle to hold them together. I also experimented with the idea of varying animated keyframes when I wish to draw the audience’s attention to a certain character. When the character is animated on 1s and 2s, there is normally weight conveyance needed to sell the shots plausibility, and also to draw viewers to the movement. This is why, when skeleton B is dancing in the below shot, Skeleton A is almost stagnant. I think this reflects the work of McLaren on Neighbours, as a similar variation of frame rate is used for different actions.
Shot 4
Shot 4 deals with the only extreme close-ups within my film, therefore requiring the most emotional expression. Due to the fact, that the main characterizing difference between my characters is eyebrow emotional conveyance, I wanted to use this time to stress the difference between the two personalities. Skeleton A is shy and concerned about the upcoming ‘battle’, while Skeleton B is determined and ready to ‘fight’.
An editing style I wish to use for this section is derived from old western movies, In which the camera uses extreme close-ups to garner characters facial expressions when they are about to duel. An example of this is from the movie The Quick and The Dead (Raimi, 1995). A key point of reference here is the 180-degree rule within the film which underlines the importance of staging and direction, as the position of the skeletons on stage needs to be dictated by the direction they face. I want to accentuate this effect by creating a split-screen, that will exit the screen on the corresponding side of each character. I could potentially use this opportunity to create an “elliptical Cut” which is a “culturally conditioned film convention ” that allows a large jump in action between shots that still works with screen continuity (Brown, 2011, pp.77).
Shot 10
This shot is the last shot of the film and contains the largest camera move in the whole film. Due to this, I had to ensure that the underground environment was fully modelled. An early issue I had was considering the way I was going to model and build an environmental depth without making the scene too mesh-heavy, making my computer and rendering process crash.
What I found worked for this process was getting the different ‘piles’ of bodies, and duplicating them within a specific viewport so they gave the appearance of being far away from each other, expanding the environment and accentuating the scale of failed ‘dance battle’ attempts.
Below is the play-blasted, unrendered shot which I will begin rendering tonight, which will provide me with key points in lighting, render time and camera movements, as I have considerations of adding post-production motion blur to my piece.
Next week’s focus will be predominantly on Shot 8, as it involves a lot more intensive movement and animation than these previous shots.
Reference
. Experimental Film Artist. (1970). Mclaren, N and Sloan, W. Footscray, Victoria, Australia: Contemporary Arts Media.
.Brown, B. (2011). Cinematography: Theory and Practice: Image-making for Cinematographers and Directors. Oxford: Focal press.
.YANG, D. Norman McLaren: Between the Frames. Canadian Journal of Film Studies, Fall2020, vol. 29 issue 2. Pp. 165-168. DOI: 10.3138/cjfs-2020-0027