I started production at the start of June. The first task was to build the Set.
SET
it was all trial and error to get it right as I have never done anything quite as big. Some of the problems I had were with the placement and size of the trees to give a false depth to the scene. I decided to break the set into for six areas. In each area the trees where at deferent scales. Area 1 is where the clown is standing so all props and trees are relative to him. Area 2- 1/2 scale Area 3 - 1/3 Area 4 - 1/4 Areas 5 and 6 are background hills so the colour of the grass is lighter the closer you get to the horizon. The set is built with two directions of perspective. One pushes back toward the sky and the other tapers off in area 3. I did this because I wanted to have a shot that went down the path. Characters the clown’s armature is pretty standard; the only things I had to decide were what I wanted to be animated. I chose to sculpt the clowns pants, hands and head in sculpy because I didn’t need to move, his mid section is plasticine and can be animated, the problems I ran into where the sculpt it self, trying to give weight to is baggy pants and shirt. The Boy was more complex as he needed to be fully animatable and also to be able to be connected to a rig so he can run. His armature is fully repairable it any of the wire snaps. One problem I had was finding the right thickness of wire to use. The boy is so top heavy because of how large his head is. Now im a animating I have made a good choice with the wire, but I haven’t done the run scene yet so only time will tell.
Another choice had to make was what the boys head will be made out of. Plasticine or sculpy?
Plasticine I would have full control of the characters face and be able to sculpt extreme facial expressions. The down side to that is that when animating I would have to re sculpt his head every time it was pushed in the wrong way and the boy might have an inconsistent look.
I chose to make the head from sculpy and have a plasticine jaw, and then match paint so it’s hard to see the transition. Matching the paint was a painstaking process but in the end it is a really close match.
Lighting
Lights have been an issue from the get go. Due to the size of my set I needed a light a light larger then a single desk lamp. I was unable to borrow lights from Holmesglen so I was left to my own devices. First option was to build my own lights, with halogen globes. This ended up not being an option because I couldn’t build a housing that wasn’t dangerous, and going to melt after being on for long periods of time.
Next option was lights from a shop. I found a set of soft boxes for under $400.00 I couldn’t really afford it but I scratched up some money to buy them, thought if they worked to would be a great thing to have.
There was only one issue, the globes were flouresant lights, the guy I bought them off said they wouldn’t flicker.
So I got them and low and behold flicker central! I managed to get my money back thank god..
Back to square one...
I had done some animation test with the lights coming from the roof of my room. Ha! Real silly but I works, and as I was running out of time to animate so I just had to go with it..
so my final lighting set up is one key light and two background lights to light the sky.
down side is im still having problems with flicker!!! but cant do anything about it now, the flicker problems are more to do with the flow of power to my apartment rather then the light globe.
to fix this problem there is a Plugin for after effects called GBDeflicker that edits the lumanace of each frame, its not ideal but im happy with where im at at the moment.
Animation
i started animating 2 weeks ago. and i currently have 5 shorts animated. im shooting on 12 frames a second, so i can animate around 7 to 10 seconds a night if i push it.
im happy with how the animation is coming along, my only problem now is time, and the fact i can only animate at night, i am slowly but surely becoming a Vampire.
In weeks to come
more animation and hope to have majority of shots done in the next 2 weeks.
i have to build characters for my flash back witch will take some time but because the flash back is only still shots it shouldnt take much time.
Composting out wires and eliminating flicker.
Editing and sound.
I have someone looking after the sound and im meeting with them next week so that should be on track.
Fingers crossed for it all, it’s a lot of work but if I live to see the end it will all be worth it
Smiley faces all round.
Seamus out
Another choice had to make was what the boys head will be made out of. Plasticine or sculpy?
Plasticine I would have full control of the characters face and be able to sculpt extreme facial expressions. The down side to that is that when animating I would have to re sculpt his head every time it was pushed in the wrong way and the boy might have an inconsistent look.
I chose to make the head from sculpy and have a plasticine jaw, and then match paint so it’s hard to see the transition. Matching the paint was a painstaking process but in the end it is a really close match.
Lighting
Lights have been an issue from the get go. Due to the size of my set I needed a light a light larger then a single desk lamp. I was unable to borrow lights from Holmesglen so I was left to my own devices. First option was to build my own lights, with halogen globes. This ended up not being an option because I couldn’t build a housing that wasn’t dangerous, and going to melt after being on for long periods of time.
Next option was lights from a shop. I found a set of soft boxes for under $400.00 I couldn’t really afford it but I scratched up some money to buy them, thought if they worked to would be a great thing to have.
There was only one issue, the globes were flouresant lights, the guy I bought them off said they wouldn’t flicker.
So I got them and low and behold flicker central! I managed to get my money back thank god..
Back to square one...
I had done some animation test with the lights coming from the roof of my room. Ha! Real silly but I works, and as I was running out of time to animate so I just had to go with it..
so my final lighting set up is one key light and two background lights to light the sky.
down side is im still having problems with flicker!!! but cant do anything about it now, the flicker problems are more to do with the flow of power to my apartment rather then the light globe.
to fix this problem there is a Plugin for after effects called GBDeflicker that edits the lumanace of each frame, its not ideal but im happy with where im at at the moment.
Animation
i started animating 2 weeks ago. and i currently have 5 shorts animated. im shooting on 12 frames a second, so i can animate around 7 to 10 seconds a night if i push it.
im happy with how the animation is coming along, my only problem now is time, and the fact i can only animate at night, i am slowly but surely becoming a Vampire.
In weeks to come
more animation and hope to have majority of shots done in the next 2 weeks.
i have to build characters for my flash back witch will take some time but because the flash back is only still shots it shouldnt take much time.
Composting out wires and eliminating flicker.
Editing and sound.
I have someone looking after the sound and im meeting with them next week so that should be on track.
Fingers crossed for it all, it’s a lot of work but if I live to see the end it will all be worth it
Smiley faces all round.
Seamus out
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