Doink!

...because I've run out of witty titles.


Crosshares 5th October.

Watch it a few times, let me know if there's anything that stands out. Music will change, let me know if there's anything else I should add. Below are my notes I wrote to myself this morning...

Drums good...
Opening strings ok
Needs more punch on orchestral hits
Mixing of themes is nice though
Watch trombones on fade out
Bass thump needs to be pulled back

Middle battle theme ok?

Remove high trumpets and high trombones
Yeah, definitely lose the heavy thump of the thinking music.
...and the slow bits

Last battle theme has too many high bits. Something not quite right.
Steel guitar too high on velocity. Push back a bit.
Make quiet bits quiet - contrast.

Make sure there's plenty of falloff when bouncing...
ALSO! Higher sample rate when re-bouncing for next draft.

Oooh, and fyi: I love Logic. It is awesome. That is all.

Animation round 1!

Here be the first animated animatic! Marvel, comment and critique!!


Crosshares Previs 14th September.

And here's a newer one with better shots, nicer animation and better cutting. Albeit, no soundtrack...


Crosshares 15th September.

Music, timing, fur and militant rodents.

So! More music!

This is getting closer to what I was hoping for I think. I've re-arranged everything to sound better and work together sounding similar, but hopefully not the same and too repetitive. It's only midi, so it's not perfect. Still, I'd like to think it's pretty damn close.

I've taken our first previs and stretched it around with AE to match our music timing to our key actions and cuts. It looks pretty nice to me, but I'll wait for your OK's before I go around saying it's perfect. I've added the timecode thing too so we know EXACTLY how long the shots are supposed to be, rather than just taking a good guess like we did last time. We'll still have the extra frames added in for the sake of editing and tweaking, but it'll be a lot cleaner work than last time.

Watch, listen and comment!

Music, timing and furry military rodents.

Shot 10 - Gross Close up

Rough speed paint so we get a bit more meat into the next previz. The current aspect ratio is 2048x1152. Twice the size of our film's. This shall test if I need to go up any further. Next is sky which will be 4096x2304 so we enough playing room with it when we shove it in.

More Animusimatic

Some re-tweaks on the animatic. This is the animatic we're using for the pre-vis. There's some potential for some short in between shots here and there, but this is the definitive shot list from this point.

There were too many shot additions and changes to justify just using the old animatic and adding later. So! Here's the animatic with some tweaked music:

External link.

And this is our shot list to date.
Details will change, such as adding skies and background elements, but this is the nuts and bolts of it.

shot_01 zoom out from photo
· orange_model
· photo
· ground_plane

shot_02 top view of orange
· orange_model
· photo
· ground_plane
· rifle

shot_03 explosion off screen
· orange_model
· photo
· ground_plane
· rifle
· comrade_leg

shot_04 jump out trench then trip
· orange_model
· ground_plane
· rifle
· comrade_leg x2?

shot_05 look up. Explosion off screen
· orange_model
· ground_plane

shot_06 everyone is dead
· orange_model
· ground_plane
· rifle

shot_07 looking around
· orange_model
· rifle

shot_08 blue standing
· orange_model
· blue_model
· ground_plane
· shotgun
· rifle?

shot_09 close up on blue's face
· orange_model
· blue_model
· ground_plane
· rifle

shot_10 gross up close up

shot_11 orange sneezes
· orange_model
· blue_model
· ground_plane
· shotgun
· rifle

shot_12 silhouette, shotgun fires
· orange_model
· blue_model
· ground_plane
· shotgun
· rifle

shot_13 orange angry, runs
· orange_model
· ground_plane
· rifle

shot_14 blue cowers
· blue_model
· shotgun

Shot_15 action shot orange
· orange_model
· rifle
· ground_plane

Shot_16 action shot blue
· blue_model
· shotgun
· ground_plane

Shot_17 action shot orange
· orange_model
· rifle
· ground_plane

Shot_18 action shot blue
· blue_model
· shotgun
· ground_plane

shot_19 action shot orange
· orange_model
· rifle
· ground_plane

shot_20 action shot blue and orange
· orange_model
· blue_model
· ground_plane
· shotgun
· rifle

shot_21 orange trips
· orange_model
· ground_plane
· shotgun
· rifle

shot_22 rifle bounces away
· ground_plane
· rifle

shot_23 orange backs away from blue’s gun
· orange_model
· ground_plane
· shotgun

shot_24 blue hesitating with gun
· blue_model
· ground_plane
· shotgun

shot_25 orange flinching away
· orange_model
· ground_plane

shot_26 blue looking away, misfires, realizes gun’s not workin’
· blue_model
· ground_plane
· shotgun

shot_27 orange looks up, confused.
· Orange_model
· Ground_plane

shot_28 blue fiddling with gun, orange’s hand pops up, blue gives gun, orange fixes gun os
· orange_model
· blue_model
· shotgun

shot_29 orange offering gun back
· orange_model
· shotgun
· ground_plane

shot_30 blue receiving gun from orange, shaking hands, sudden realization, jump back
· orange_model
· blue_model
· ground_plane
· shotgun

shot_31 over shoulder of blue looking at orange, photo falls out.
· orange_model
· blue_model
· shotgun
· ground_plane
· photograph

shot_32 close up blue reaction to photo
· blue_model

shot_33 zoom to photo on the ground
· ground_plane
· photo

shot_34 blue pulls out wallet & flicks down
· blue_model
· wallet

shot_35 orange watching wallet cascading
· orange_model
· ground_plane

shot_36 blue is still looking at wallet cascading
· blue_model
· wallet

shot_37 blue POV of wallet photos, compares with orange
· blue_model
· wallet
· orange_model
· ground_plane

shot_38 blue recognizes orange, quick zoom to blue happily throwing gun & wallet
· blue_model
· orange_model
· ground_plane
· shotgun
· wallet
· photograph

shot_39 blue picks up orange in a hug
· blue_model
· orange_model
· ground_plane

shot_40 orange bewildered, looks down
· orange_model
· blue_model

shot_41 photos from orange’s pov
· photo
· wallet
· ground_plane

shot_42 close ups of photos
· photo
· wallet
· ground_plane

shot_43 orange’s realization
· orange_model
· blue_model

I've gotten feedback the hug is still weird. But the hug is also the best way to convey the emotions I think. Compromise: Blue still hugs Orange, but the first photograph at the end should be them shaking hands, not hugging.

I feel like lemonade.

More Musicianshippleness

So here's a new music iteration. I've edited the animatic slightly as we discussed, but nothing major has changed. I doubled the action sequence to make space for any fancy animation we may want the space for.

Which is all sort of redundant... the codec compression screwed the visual timing somewhat. But the music is still good, so shuddup and listen!

(This is the external link...)

Previs Shots

shot_01 zoom out from photo

• orange_model
• photo
• ground_plane

shot_02 top view of orange

• orange_model
• photo
• ground_plane
• rifle
  

shot_03 explosion off screen

• orange_model
• photo
• ground_plane
• rifle
• comrade_leg
  

shot_04 jump out trench then trip

• orange_model
• ground_plane
• rifle
• comrade_leg x2?
  

shot_05 look up. Explosion off screen

• orange_model
• ground_plane
  

shot_06 everyone is dead

• orange_model
• ground_plane
• rifle
  

shot_07 looking around

• orange_model
• rifle

shot_08 blue standing

• orange_model
• blue_model
• ground_plane
• shotgun
• rifle?

shot_09 close up on blue's face

• orange_model
• blue_model
• ground_plane
• rifle
  

shot_10 gross up close up

shot_11 orange sneezes

• orange_model
• blue_model
• ground_plane
• shotgun
• rifle
  

shot_12 silhouette, shotgun fires

• orange_model
• blue_model
• ground_plane
• shotgun
• rifle
  

shot_13 orange angry, runs

• orange_model
• ground_plane
• rifle

shot_14 blue cowers

• blue_model
• shotgun
  

shot_15 orange running

• orange_model
• ground_plane
• rifle

shot_16 blue turns head

• blue_model
• shotgun
  

shot_17 silhouette running shooting

• orange_model
• blue_model
• ground_plane
• shotgun
• rifle
  

shot_18 orange trips

• orange_model
• ground_plane
• shotgun
• rifle
  

shot_19 blue aims, fires, gives gun over, gets fixed and hands gun back (we need a reaction shot from orange somewhere in there)

• orange_model
• blue_model
• ground_plane
• shotgun
  

shot_20 orange offering gun

• orange_model
• ground_plane
• shotgun
  

shot_21 blue takes gun

• orange_model
• blue_model
• ground_plane
• shotgun
  

shot_22 handshake, realisation, jump back

• orange_model
• blue_model
• ground_plane
• shotgun
  

shot_23 photo falls out

• orange_model
• blue_model
• ground_plane
• shotgun
• photo
  

shot_24 blue pulls out wallet

• blue_model
• wallet
  

shot_25 close up wallet photos, reveal orange

• orange_model
• blue_model
• ground_plane
• wallet
  

shot_26 blue happy

• blue_model
• wallet
  

shot_27 blue throws gun and wallet

• orange_model
• blue_model
• ground_plane
• shotgun
• wallet
  

shot_28 hug

• orange_model
• blue_model
  

shot_29 close up orange

• orange_model
• blue_model
  

shot_30 wallet and photo on ground

• ground_plane
• photo
• wallet

shot_31 close up realisation

• orange_model
• blue_model

Anmimatronic Notation

Notes for changes to our animatic as follows:


Shot 2: reframe for continuity (move to right?)


Shot 3: ideas for making it more obvious why they're jumping out into an explosion ("CHAAAARGE!!" & vox effects?)
>>Hold shot longer, add more sfx.

Shot 4.5: Add close ups for tripping?
>>Trips over his own feet - close up

Shot 7ish: Frame for OS explosion to reveal of desolation (reframe better?)
>>Knock orange off to the left a little, then quick zip out to reveal desolation.

(remember to cut on action from this to next MCU shot)

Shot 9: Reconsider reveal of Blue guy (pan? POV?)
>>Look at pixar examples

Shot 10: Get more oppinion on slow pull to CU of blue

Fighting sequence: Do some awesome camera work
>>Blue's first shot cuts on action to... Many camera angles, fast moving shots, adding items getting hit, etc. etc.

Add tripping close up again (maybe?)
>>experiment with this.

Remember what was potentially wrong with the bird thing...
>>Maybe unneccessary? Add later.

Long shot of bird getting shot (frank) - falling into frame in later sequence (tune for comic timing)


>>Change 2nd tripping framing
-add quick shot of orange's gun bouncing away
-gun falls to place, cut on action to
-strong perspective shot of gun barrel
-slow pan around gun to reveal blue shaking holding gun
-cut to orange, closer, flinching away (bracing for impact)
-cut to CU of Blue hesitating, looking away
-emphasise gun misfiring animation
-click a few times while looking
-THEN turn gun around.
-orange tenatively looks up a little. (reaction shot)
-Blue still fiddling with gun.

Jumpy camera cuts when giving gun back. Reduce to 1 or 2.

Reconsider jumping back somehow. Flat framing is lame. WATCH KUNG FU AWESOMENESS WITH CAPS LOCK OF EPIC

Show photo flying out in long shot
-cut to CU of photo

Re-arrange reactions (blue react - photo CU - Blue re-react)

Flipping photo album (use cut on action as blue rotates photos [cut from external shot to pov])

Photos framed awesomely together at end.



And all that jazz.

Had a little time to slap down some colour...

Your thoughts on the stages of colour through the film?? Just did a quick colour layout before bed. God damn im tired!

Musicianshippleness

Some quick themes and ideas. I listen to it sometimes and it's a bit funny, but then I listen to it 5 minutes later and it fits really well.

Need sleep.

Watch movie.

Watch it on Vimeo here.

Nuff said.

Sketchy sketchy sketchy

So. Here's the world's roughest animatic. I knew there'd be a good reason behind doing this, and a lot has to do with the sort of music we'll have at certain points. Needless to say I'll be watching plenty of action comedies for inspiration...

My version of the storyboard trims down to 2:20 without any soundtrack reference, just going by what feels good. On and off I was listening to some of our inspirational songs (which I have more of btw), but there's no real continuity in listening reference.

I think this gives my idea across better than my disjointed storyboard did, so I'm really interested to hear what you guys have to say now that I at least think it's coherent.