Animation nation

The film is officially under way! Hurray!

I started animating the first dream sequence. The shot is very very long, about 40 seconds, and very complex as well - it involves two characters and the teddy bear, as well as keeping everything in sync with the toy train revolving at a constant speed. Today was quite boring - I always hate the begining part of an animation sequence - it feels like staring at a blank page. Once the key poses are sketched in I can begin refining them and then finally start animating. So I've completed Lucy's main poses. They're very rough at the moment - nothing to write home about.

Tomorrow I'll refine the poses and begin thinking about the motion. This weekend is all about breaking the scene to about 5 or 6 main parts, and then moving from one to the next, creating keys and breakdowns. I want to finish a rough rough stepped version by next wednesday - only Lucy at the moment. Next week I want to further break down her movement and add homie's subtle acting, as well as fitting her hands to the dolly so it wouldn't have any wierd penetrations. I want to begin participating in the film department's thesis sessions (the only place I can still find animators in Pratt), and see what Pat Smith has to say about the scene. From there it's straight to Gavin, while I start smoothing the tangents out. Completed scene by 20th of next month. Then I'll begin working on the second dream sequence, hopefully crack up the pace and finish it in another four weeks. My goal for the last two weeks is rest a bit and finish a short dialogue scene, including rough lighting (as long as I still have Rob, it's good to tackle all the technical issues). If I can do this I'll be in quite a good place. I also want to rerecord the dialogue, as well as sampling real subway background noise. Winter break is a huge stretch, and I plan many things for it, but let's just cross that bridge when we get there.

Later!