Thursday, August 26, 2010

Scott Pilgrim

Scott Pilgrim vs the World was actually an awesome movie!! I had an interest to see it but definitely not enough to get me to the theater. I watched an HBO first look special on the film this morning and heard everyone talking about it and they seemed pretty pump for it. Plus the character, Ramona, looked cute in the previews. So I figured, I'd catch the very first showing and save some money to go check it out. With pretty low expectations, I was engaged into the story because it relates to any nerd/geek out there. *RIGHT HERE!!* It has lots of action and pretty badass music to go with the scenes. Plus Mae Whitman who voiced Katara from Avatar: The Last Airbender was in it! Every time she spoke, all I heard was Katara. So it was a good mix of comedy, action and romance. Which I am a sucker for all of those genres. It isn't my new favorite movie by any shot, but I enjoyed it. I'm happy that I decided to see it in theaters and not wait until the DVD release. Well worth it, especially compared to the other movies that are playing..... eeshh.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Star Wars Pre-production/Planning

I am currently in route to develope a very brief Star Wars related battle/story. It will probably not be my final short that I do. Fellow AM student, Nick St. Clair, was kind enough to tag along with me and talk about something we can do together. I have begun doing a few tests of the battle scenes that will be most important to this short. This first test is under way....

So I started blocking in a two character fighting sequence that is only roughly 4-5 seconds long. And.... it is taking a while. I am taking video reference from a Fan Film titled "Final Reunion". I can say it is running smoothly only because about 90% or so of the mechanics and swings are directly from a small section of the video.

I tried a few attempts at where the saber is located compared to where it is most comfortably felt in my hand and I think I got a solution. I have to give a shout out to ZV Parent Master though, I don't know where I would be without that thing. If you haven't got it yet, or don't know what it is, google it and get it. You will be more than pleased by how much time it will save you with props. Although I am having some abnormal bending in the wrists, it is a minor set back that I think will be solved in the polishing stages or when I have more time to perfect each pose with Bishop's giant hands and head.

Actual sword fighting seems to require a lot of letting go and repositioning of your hands as your twirl or make a fancy maneuver. I will try to do it in a few spots but won't get too fancy as I am focusing more on the main mechanics of the body and just as my first real two person shot.

I will upload a playblast of the rough blocking when I am finished. Hopefully it won't take too long.

Starting off.

I have decided to use this as my main animation blog and just to keep track of everything. I probably should have done this a long time ago.

Animations, progress shots, random rants, frustrations, inspirations, humorous clips, funny cats and many other topics will be covered by me throughout this page I suppose. I don't know how much I will use it.

We will see. Better to ask this guy....