"It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves."

Monday, March 30, 2009

Animation Tests - Full Body Jump

Continuing on similar lines as my previous Animation Tests, I thought of doing some more body physicality anim tests. 




Feedback is always appreciated !


@|b

Sunday, March 29, 2009

#1 - In Conversation With AM Student Prashanth Cavale On His Short Film, Animation and Life In General

As mentioned in one of my previous post, I have been thinking of adding some new and interesting sections on my BLOG.


Well this is one the section which I was thinking since quiet sometime, but didn't really get to make it happen for some reason or another. Well all that is past and its finally happened !

Just to give a brief about it, here I will be showcasing Short Films from my schoolmates at Animation Mentor(AM) and then follow it up with a very interesting conversation on their Short Films, Animation or just life in general !

It feels so good to start this section with a very dear friend of mine Prashanth Cavale, whom I met at AM. He was one batch senior to me but that was hardly a deterrent for starting a long lasting friendship as the only thing that matters is the passion we share about Animation.

So without much further ado, lets get this thing started.




Wrong Answer!! from Prashanth Cavale on Vimeo.


Anirudh Bhalotia (@b) - Hello Prashanth, thanks for your time and getting this conversation started. Tell us a bit of yourself, like how do get into animation, how did you hear about Animation Mentor and what you been doing/working on currently?

Prashanth Cavale (PC) - Hey Anirudh!..My pleasure man!

I come from an Engineering background and I found my way rather late. The final year project while pursuing Mechanical Engineering got me interested onto Computer Graphics and my mind was drawn more towards animation. The interest got stronger on watching animated movies like Lion King, Ice Age, Shrek, Toy Story and it compelled me to take up animation seriously.

During 2007, I was on the lookout of joining a school/Uni to study animation when I came across the show reel of AnimationMentor.com and my search ended there. The very next batch/term I enrolled for the program and the 18 months I spent during the program were the most memorable and satisfying learning experience I’ve had so far!

Having graduated out of AM last December, I got to animate on the Ice Age 3 game which will be released along with the movie later this year. I’m now in the process of supervising the animation of a CG short film at my current workplace and it’s a lot of fun!


@b - Congrats for your short film – Wrong Answer. It has come out very nicely. How much time did it take for you to get this done right from getting the story and to the stage shown above?

PC - Thanks! I had loads of fun working on it! The film was done as a part of the curriculum at AM so it took me around 3 months to conceptualize, plan and come up with an animatic.and a little more than 3 months to animate and reach the stage I have at the moment.


@b - As someone who is into the process of making his own short, I had quite a tough time brainstorming ideas and then finally get onto some idea which can be used for story telling in an interesting way. What was your process for getting the basic story outline nailed down? Or rather from where did you get this idea from, was it your own experience or remembering someone else’s or something like that? What advice in this context would you like to give to aspiring animators who would like to get started with their own short films at some point of time?

PC - I had a tough time too as it was my first attempt at making a short film. The original idea was inspired by a real life incident that happened (not to me!!: P) while I was in high school. But when I pitched it to my mentor (Mike Gasaway), he felt that a lot about it could be simplified into a more generally consumable form. It was about taking that special moment from the original idea, trying to centralize things around it and adding value to it through animation.

Once I got a hang of his insights, I went ahead and changed/modified bits of my short film and tried to make the plot more entertaining which I couldn't have if I had blindly followed my original idea. These were some of the things I took care of while finalizing the story. And I guess these insights would be of some help to animators who want to create their own short film.


@b - What was the biggest challenge you came across during making this short film and how did you overcome it? Were there some problems which kept cropping up time and again during the pursuit of getting your short done?

PC - The biggest challenge to me was timing the storyline and adding a rhythm to it. I learnt that it’s important to get a texture in your story structure so that there are a few "not so funny" moments that actually contribute to magnifying the funny moments in your short. These were hard to plan and I watched out for these ingredients in movies and cartoons and even in comics on how the story is paced and how to have different beats and have it flow. I’m not sure how successful I was at implementing them, but they helped me to a great extent.

Apart from this, there were lots of hurdles during the animation process. My short had around 24 shots and initially it looked like an impossible task...so obviously getting things done without delays was a big challenge but I’m a kind of guy who believes that unless your mind is in a challenged state there is no motivation. So it ended up being one fun filled ride for me and my mentor loved it equally.


@b - How important was the pre-production process on getting your short done and looking back what is that one thing which you wished you had done more of ?

PC - To me, preproduction is very crucial stage as you would be defining the path your short would be taking. It’s the phase where you ensure the workability factor before getting into 3D. In putting my ideas on paper I parallel had to think about the camera framing, character placements and hook-ups. In my case I had 3 characters of which 2 students were facing the teacher so I had to be that much more careful about the camera angles and establishing the placements of characters. I found that working out these things on paper was a lot helpful which otherwise would have been time consuming had I tried it out in 3D.

Looking back, I wish I had spent more time detailing out the character traits that would have helped me to push the performance even more.


@b - Different animators have their own ways of reference and planning. Some prefer doing a lot of thumbnailing, some just can’t get by without doing video reference or some do a bit of both. What’s your way of reference, something to keep you in check and avoid taking a detour from the main essence of the shot/scene you working on?

PC - I do a bit of both but it ideally depends on the shot you are working on. Filming a reference of yourself enacting the shot out is a starting point usually; I would do a few different takes of the shot just to explore the acting choices. Then it’s about deciding what to take and what to leave. I explore these during the thumbnailing where I try to exaggerate the interesting bits and poses in my video reference and and finalize on a sequence of poses that serve the shot best. I keep putting these thumbnails on the timeline to ensure that the shot I’m working on plays well with respect to the whole short


@b - For any beginner in animation, there is always the temptation of making an epic right from your first independent short. What’s the ideal duration a first time should strive for so that he doesn’t eat more than he can chew and also enjoy the entire process of actually seeing the short from story to screen?

PC - Yeah I can totally relate to that temptation but I feel that as a beginner one needs to try out simpler and shorter ideas to get a hold of the process and analyze the area one needs to improve. Its preferred that we work on our weak points before attempting things on a bigger scale...So, for a beginner, I would recommend keeping the short film anywhere under a minute.


@b - What keeps you inspired as an artist as I am sure there would be times when no matter what you do or how work you hard, things just don’t go your way. What keeps you inspired and motivated and are there any other creative endeavors you pursue to keep your creative juices flowing and keep things in perspective? As I understand it’s very important to take a break often rather than struggling with something for extended period of time and not getting anywhere. Your thoughts on this?

PC - True. I have faced such situations. I remember while animating on Wrong Answer, there was a particular shot that had a very simple hand gesture that I struggled with. It was a very simple move to animate, but I worked for over 3 hours and was still not happy with the way it was...I took a break from it and made a conscious attempt not to think of the shot and that helped me fix it when I sat on it next. But there are times when I zipped through challenging portions in my short and I kept wondering how it happened. It’s funny sometimes!!

I think it’s very necessary to take frequent breaks while animating and unwind so that you have a fresh pair of eyes every time you get back. I also feel that it is important to have a parallel creative activity which you can fall back upon when stressed up. I usually play the keyboard while I’m on a break.


@b - What’s the best advice you ever got and something which you want to pass on to your fellow animators?

PC - Most of our mentors say: "Don’t get too obsessed with your shot or a portion of your shot as you sometimes might have to fore go that bit to facilitate the other bits falling into place to solve the jigsaw puzzle." That I think is a golden piece of advice to any animator.


@b - On a concluding note, any words to students who are waiting to get their first job in the industry?

PC - I think we need to focus on making strong original reels that display proper weight, timing and acting choices.

Working in the industry may or may not be as rosy as we might have thought but one needs to be open and ready to adapt to the situation. Keep working hard and most importantly.. have fun! :)


@b -
Thanks once again Prashanth, it was wonderful talking to you !


You can reach Prashanth thru his BLOG or email.


Saturday, March 28, 2009

AM Class 5 : Short Film 3D Layout

Here is the final Layout for my Short Film. The composition/framing is more or less finalised. The titles and the credits are rough as of now. Seeing my idea from story on paper to the stage below was so very satisfying !

As Anthony Robbins says -

"Its not about what you get that makes us happy; Its what you become in the process"


Any feedback of any kind is more than welcome.

Short Film 3D Layout from Anirudh Bhalotia on Vimeo.

Friday, March 27, 2009

AM Class 5 - Short Film 2D Animatic

As mentioned in my last "Catch Up Time" post, here is the fruit of my Class 5 work at Animation Mentor.

I was totally petrified by this Class 5, as we had to make an entire animatic on paper on our own ! The very thought thought of drawing kind of gives me the scares and to draw a full animatic and to convey my story and to make sense from it was a huge uphill task for me. But as I started and progressed I was getting quite comfortable. The main thing of this assignment was to have a sense of clarity and vision of your entire story and actions(to an extent) before we even opened our 3D application, which is a very prudent thing to do. Also storyboard is a very fast and efficient to test your ideas by not wasting too much as would happen if we directly go to our 3D application without any idea at all.

You can try framing/composition/angles/poses which wont take more than 60 seconds for one panel (say idea, beat, action) and incase you not satisfied you can chuck it off in the trash and move on. In 3D it will take a lot of time and since we have would have already spent so much time, making corrections or discarding it altogether can be that much more difficult(its a mind thing actually).

Ok enough of my rant. Lets get to the animatic right away.


Short Film 2D Animatic from Anirudh Bhalotia on Vimeo.



P.S. - Due to some reason I am unable to upload my 3D Layout. I will try posting it in my next post. May be it was just my connection playing spoilsport or may be it was the size of the video. I don't know the exact reason as yet.


New Trailer - Ice Age 3

This one is looking better with each trailer.

And considering that many of my friends(some just graduated!) and mentors from Animation Mentor have worked on this I am all the more excited !


Trailer - Where The Wild Things Are

This one looks so cool, the music is so very uplifting and I love the thought of "Inside all of us is HOPE" !

Thursday, March 26, 2009

New Trailer - Astro Boy

Monday, March 23, 2009

Catch Up Time



Its been quite a while since I posted what I have been upto in life in general. My last post was when I was wrapping up my Class 4 - Advanced Acting here at Animation Mentor(AM) and getting ready to begin Class 5 - Short Film Pre Production.

Well now I am wrapping up my Class 5 and getting ready to start my last lap here at AM and finishing (hopefully!) my own independent 3D Animated short film by June 2009. Its amazing how fast these last 3 months have passed. This class was definitely a huge learning for me and I enjoyed every bit of it. Being an Animator doesn't mean restricting ourselves to a mechanical way of working, where we just get our scenes, storyboards, direction from Animation Supervisors/Directors and just get on with it in order to meet our deadlines ! Its an extremely lame of working as an Animator and to be frank I am myself guilty of indulging in it for a long time not so long time ago.

As an Animator its extremely imperative to see the scene as one of the pieces/building block of the entire movie and not see it in isolation. Yes we have to meet deadlines and do justice to the scene given to us, but having knowledge of the entire process till the time it comes to us for Animation can be so much more helpful and venture us into new unexplored but extremely enjoyable territories.

Class 5 - Short Film Pre Production was exactly one such territory for me, where we had to brainstorm ideas, make it into a interesting and entertaining story which doesn't exceed 30 seconds, then do a video pitch, make storyboards, then 2D Animatic from the story boards and finally 3D Layouts translating all our visions from storyboard into 3D and in my case in MAYA. Whew! On thinking back I still wonder how I managed all this (and I would like to believe not too bad at that.)! 

On looking back my biggest fear was making the storyboards and the 2D Animatic since my drawing skills are worst than probably a new born baby ! But thanks to my wonderful mentor Cal Brunker, my wonderful classmates and the awesome community at AM, I was able to sail thru and to get the idea that its not the draftmanship that matters, its how easily the main essense of the story is getting communicated. By no necessarily means I would say its the best 2D Animatic, but I am quite satisfied considering I was so apprehensive when drawing for the first time. Thank you Cal

All these times during Class 5, my entire approach to Animation has seen a new and positive change where now I am not only concerned by the scene I am working on but the story on a broader level because thats what the audience is concerned about. Learning how to develop a story, what all aspects to keep in mind, whats the main essence we are trying to convey, what are the elements absolutely necessary to move the story forward, keeping the audience glued to what you are trying to show them, directing them to specific points on the screen, camera angles, framing, composition, so as to present the story in the most interesting way...I can just go on and on ! In short it was just awesome ! 

So in coming days I am quite keen to post my Class 5 work and to give you an idea in stages as to what all goes from story to storyboards and to the final 3D Layout before entering the Animation aspect which I will be doing in Class 6 - Short Film Production in around 2 weeks from now. 

I am also in the process of starting some new sections on my BLOG, a quick list of what I have in mind - 

  • Book recommendations, to start with Animation related and in particular the bigger picture : film-making, composition and story development
  • Showcasing AM Student Short Films and also having a conversation with that Student and getting some insights on their process of making their Short Film, Animation or life in general. 

So loads of interesting stuff coming out here, so make sure you feed my blog to your RSS/follow my blog/subscribe to updates thru email. 

Ciao!

@|b 

Friday, March 20, 2009

Weekly Movie Recommendations : 21st March 2009 - 27th March 2009

Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid (1969)




Genre - Adventure/Crime/Drama/Western

Directed By - George Roy Hill

Cast - Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Katherine Ross

Whats It About - Two Western bank/train robbers flee to Bolivia when the law gets too close.




Saturday, March 14, 2009

Weekly Movie Recommendations : 14th March 2009 - 20th March 2009

Breakfast At Tiffany's (1961)




Genre - Comedy/Drama/Romance

Directed By - Blake Edwards

Cast - Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard

Whats It About - Struggling writer Paul Varjak moves into a New York apartment building and becomes intrigued by his pretty, quirky neighbor Holly Golightly. Holly's lifestyle confuses and fascinates Paul; in public she flits through parties with a sexy, sophisticated air, but when they're alone she changes into a sweetly vulnerable bundle of neuroses.



Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Animation Tests - Football Kick : Final Version

Based on the feedback I got(offline and online) on my last post of this Animation Test, here is my final version of it.  I am sure there is still scope for improvement, but as some said "Animation is never finished, just abandoned". 

So I will have to wrap it up and move on to a new one. Although I may try some lighting on this and then put another version, but animation wise I think i am done on this one. 




@|b

Monday, March 9, 2009

Weekly Movie Recommendations : 7th March 2009 - 13th March 2009

Kung Fu Panda (2008)



Genre -
Action/Comedy/Medium

Directed By - Mark Osborne, John Stevenson

Cast (Voice Over) - Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Ian McShane, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen

Whats It About - "Kung Fu Panda" features Jack Black as Po the Panda, a lowly waiter in a noodle restaurant, who is a kung fu fanatic but whose shape doesn't exactly lend itself to kung fu fighting.

In fact, Po's defining characteristic appears to be that he is the laziest of all the animals in ancient China. That's a problem because powerful enemies are at the gates, and all hopes have been pinned on a prophesy naming Po as the "Chosen One" to save the day.

A group of martial arts masters are going to need a black belt in patience if they are going to turn this slacker panda into a kung fu fighter before it's too late



Sunday, March 8, 2009

Short Film - World Builder


World Builder from Bruce Branit on Vimeo.


Brilliant might be an understatement to describe this one. See for yourself and call it what you may seem prudent !

@|b

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Pixar's Up : New Theatrical Trailer



Pixar has released its Theatrical Trailer for its much anticipated animated feature UP.

Catch the trailer and more feature on Pixar.


@|b

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Interview with Glen Keane




A very recent, insightful and interesting interview with one of the living legends in Animation : Glen Keane.

Read it here.


@|b

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Do Animator Enthusiasts Need to Attend Animation School?



There is a very nice and relevant post on Animation Mentor BLOG on whether Animator enthusiasts need to attend animation schools, what are the benefits and so on.

Check it out here !


@|b

Monday, March 2, 2009

Crisis Of Credit Visualized

Awesome video on what caused the global financial meltdown with very easy to understand explanations.



The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.