The next milestone is reached !
I have completed the animation (albeit some left out polishing) for the first ~ 3min, which I have decided to show publicly here on my blog and the internet during the production phase.
This preview consists of a total of 17 shots. The time invested into the animation accounts to ~ 90hrs.
One remark though on the last shot where Ara sings. This is still a kind of placeholder, as I am waiting for Leeran to provide me with the recorded real song, so that I can match the mouth movements to the actual song. But first I have to finish all shots during which Ara sings, so Leeran has an idea how long the songs actually lasts and he can start with his composing work.
Animation for the remaining 26 shots will continue but will not be shown in full during production. I may choose selected shots (especially those including the dragon) to be shown here, but I do not want to give away the remaining storyline.
So let me celebrate a bit and show you the full animation of the first part:
The timing of the editing is not final and will have some cuts here and there but nothing dramatic The few remarks so far have confirmed me in handling the animation issues as I intended to do: keep on going to get the short finished.
I hope this preview has piqued your interest to see more and I appreciate any comments about your view on the current state of Ara’s Tale.
I like the animation but i think that some camera movement are distracting the spectator and take off the focus from the girl.
Thanks for your input, Germano !
Could you be so kind to point to the camera movements you find distracting, so that I can have a closer look at them.
Thanks
Martin
OK.
shot04. The girl is so little for so much camera move. Solution1: Slower camera.
Solution 2: The same camera but with the girl outsite the shot but appearing with a slow down camera after she appears.
shot05. The camera must slow/stop after the girl stop. What the girl feel, the camera feel.
End of shot05 the camera seems that will show us something interesting at the end but after finishing the translation we see nothing. Peraps it will show us a beautiful sky? but not sure.
Shot06: The camera comes from lower position and must stop when arriving at the girl. Continuing seems than the girl is not the important think we want to show but only passing by her. Passing by her to sudenly comming back like you have changed your mind about her.
shot08 The so great rotatin is a made with no clear reason for the spactator. The movement of the camera must have some intention like show the place, pass from an action to another. Revealing something, give suspense, etc…
But i must say that you several shot that i like very much. The sequence is very interesting too.
Good job. You should continue with it.
Now that is some very valuable feedback. Thanks a lot. As I am doing this all by intuition and with no formal training, I am very glad for any input I can get. Your comments sound, as if you have some experience with camera directing.
@shot04: interesting point. I will experiment with your suggestions.
@shot05: again, point well taken about the correlation between camera and emotional state of the girl. My intention for the end sequence of this shot was to show the imposing and menacing huge dark walls of the canyon into which Ara just walked into, as if the canyon had just swallowed her up.
@shot06: My initial attempt here was indeed to show the arena into which Ara has just entered, with the girl being secondary, with the following shot coming back to Ara again. I will certainly consider your input here.
@shot08: Again, my idea here was to show the surroundings in which Ara is now. But I have to admit, that it didn’t work out as I have intended. I may skip the explicit introduction of the environment altogether, as this will be shown and revealed in the following shots (not shown in the public reel).
Do you have any training/experience in this area ? I am tempted to ask you if you would be interested in giving feedback to the other shots (which I will not show publicly) as well.
Thanks again, for taking your time to comment here.
Yes i have made some courses about directing and edited some short films.
I will certainly give you my feedback.
I would love to have some courses too, but unfortunately there are no real offerings in my vicinity and my private life (time,money,family) prohibits longer stays abroad, so I have to settle to self studying through books, internet resources and watching countless movies 🙂
Regarding the feedback, I have sent you an email.