Week 4 (For Real) - Alex Nelson - The Next Step
This week has been a good one for refining our ideas and preparing ourselves for the weeks and months of work to come. Working on 3D backgrounds, I was tasked with reworking and enhancing some of the previous environments I had built to help better conform them to the visual mold the film is going for.
This shot of the hallway is just one example:
Some of the walls and pipes are slightly tilted or misshapen to help give the environment a more dynamic and loose feel while still maintaining overall geometric integrity. I also altered the door so it’s more of a closet.
The vending machine environment also has a few alterations:
There are now two dispensers side by side, with little light signs added to the top of each. The other environment assets were shifted to the walls next to them. The angle of the camera is also lower. This is done in trying to capture and evoke as much visual similarity as possible to the scene it’s referencing - the elevator from The Shining. At the very least, I hope it can be put to use as a good tool for reference for background line art.
Next up is a brand new environment, the Box Office:
This one was referenced from the storyboard, and built from the ground up to showcase more eccentric angles and evoke a slightly more “Tim Burton” feel. Notice there aren’t many precisely vertical lines.
In addition to these, I worked on a “globe” or “roundabout” looping environment for the hallway sequence. Here are two camera angles with motion for reference:
It’s simple, but it’ll be a useful tool to have for creating the animated environment. I did have an earlier version which moved a bit faster, and had three doors per loop on either side rather than one. I slowed it down a bit and removed the other doors since I figured it would ultimately achieve the desired effect. But I may need to go back and alter the speed and shot angles in the future. Nevertheless, the assets are all there.
The last thing I contributed this week was a reworking/modification of the storyboard audio for the second pass animatic. This session was much faster, as most of the sounds were already picked and just needed to be realigned with the modified pacing of the film. Accommodating changes to the storyboard, some new sounds also needed to be recorded and/or inserted. A few things were taken out as well upon request - most noticeably Angel’s “stand-in” voice/reaction clips. This is to free our star actor Justin Bendo to have more liberty with the role. So he doesn’t feel confined to trying to emulate the obviously goofy, slapstick stand-in reaction sounds I chose for the first pass animatic.
Speaking of which, Gavin, myself, and most of the rest of the group got to meet up with and talk to our star, Justin Bendo himself! We outlined our script and project, and exhibited our current animatic to him. He was very positive about the role, and gave great insight into the story as well. I’m super stoked to be working with him, as one former actor (myself) to a another (current one.) The production schedule is in order, and we look forward to having the recording completed very soon. Background line-art and is next on the agenda, followed by some rough animation I believe starting as early as this week.
Super proud of our group! I think we’ve collectively done a terrific job so far. Keep it up team, we got this! Until next time, this is the Undercover Animator signing off.
