Updog - Part 02 (Block Party All Up In Here)
Fancy meeting you here.
The next bit of progress on this piece has been sort of a blur for me. After jumping around in front of my webcam like a siezure monkey, I got a few poses that I liked. I hopped on my sketchpad and tried to get them all down. Then in accordance with the Victor Navarone method, I really tried to figure out the sequence that would give me the best reversals, contrast and clarity. I also wanted to really focus on the tempo of the main character. There is so much great energy in the dialogue piece.
The other character doesn’t have much role in the whole piece other than to get angry and possibly threatening. I will have to brain storm and see if I can’t spice it up a bit.
Also, in general, I wanted to push the poses to a “cartoony” level that I haven’t messed around with. I keep trying to remind myself that I’m not animating a piece that will decide my future fate as to whether I will be able to break into the animation industry and realize my dreams before I’m old and die, but more that I’m having fun and experimenting with different techniques. So fun, right? Ha ha heee ho, crap.
I was particularly concerned that many of my poses were too cliché. But I lost confidence that I know what cliché is. It is quite a challenge to come up with poses that instantly read to 99% of the population on the planet but don’t read as cliché or something that anyone has seen before. But something just felt right to me about the pacing and the movement, so cliché poses be damned; I’m going to give these a try.
I do always wonder if the different studios look for different styles of animators. Is a cartoony style a sure fire way not to get into Pixar or is that good, what would dreamworks do, would Blue Sky love it? How much does subtlety of emotion and movement count? I don’t know. I’m not sure if it is thought of in this way when people review a reel or maybe it’s exactly how they think of it.. From what I’ve heard, some people get a reputation for being an “actor” animator and others get a rep for having good “weighty” animation. I’d be happy to be in either class as long as I’m animating professionally. Too much neurotic worrying, I’m sure. I should just shut up and have fun. Ha hee ho hee fun.
I should stop writing now.
posted by todd elliott at 11:13 PM
1 Comments:
Hey!! I think this blocking is coming out really great so far. You are definetely getting that snappy cartoony movement on the main guy. I also really like the pose after he says his first line and is eagerly waiting to hear the other guys response so he can make his punch line. The only part that is feeling a little off to me pose wise is when the excited character puts his hand on the mad character's shoulder, the way he puts his right hand on the other guys right shoulder feels awkward. The fact that he is touching him is awkward enough, I don't think you need this extra contortion to sell it. When you put your hand on someones shoulder you usually go for the shoulder nearest, have that moment be more about the overstepping bounds that he has done, and when you have him reach in a more natual way that might make it even funnier when we see his reaction.
I think for sure you have a definite distinction in characters which is super important. Have you ever seen "After you" It's a great piece by my friend Chris, you might want to take a look for reference.
http://www.cordingley.com/TH_AfterYou_QT_Lg.html
Also I found what you mentioned about different styles and different studios interesting. I have heard that Pixar isn't as into the super cartoony stuff, but if your reel shows great acting, which yours is sure too, I think any studio would be interested. And if you mix it up by having some sublte sincere acting and some cartoony zany stuff it shows your flexible and would be able to train for different types of movies. It does make sense to not submit a crazy cartoony reel to ILM and vise versa. Also if you are only interested in doing cartoony stuff for a career then focus on learning that as best you can. Try to get a well rounded reel acting wise, and from the different kinds of characters you're choosing to animate I'd say you're on the right track.
7:21 PM
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