Pre-Vis: 00:01:30 W.I.P.
Hopefully there’s a nice sync between some of the cuts. Fine tuning may be needed, however let's start animation and monitor the pacing. The montage cuts which will take place in the third portion of the trailer will involve two running scenes; Vincent runs and falls into a metallic web, and Linda runs and trips to the floor in a corridor (glimpse). We will come up with a plan to see how we can place the spider confronting camera scene tomorrow. Overall, the aim is to balance a nice selection of animation shots; upper, lower, full body, face.
@Group: Let's talk tomorrow afternoon/ evening and animate. It's really important the files uploaded / attached to the Facebook message are working and are fully stable. Let me know how they are fairing before midday - if you can! - and notify me if there are any abnormalities relating to the scenes. We'll condense time this way.
Edit: Instead of spider dropping from vent, spider needs to be more visible and menancing. Maybe it should already be on the ground. Scaling the size of it up.
@Group: Let's talk tomorrow afternoon/ evening and animate. It's really important the files uploaded / attached to the Facebook message are working and are fully stable. Let me know how they are fairing before midday - if you can! - and notify me if there are any abnormalities relating to the scenes. We'll condense time this way.
Edit: Instead of spider dropping from vent, spider needs to be more visible and menancing. Maybe it should already be on the ground. Scaling the size of it up.
Pre-Vis: First Minute W.I.P.
Attack of the Robot Spiders: The haunted boom mic and the red will-o'-the wisp. Also featuring a few crude animations.
Rigging: Vincent | Legs and Feet ->-> Tounge
@Adam and Sean: Expect to see all three characters completed by tomorrow. I'll quickly guide you through the controls of the rig, then we can begin our animation. If you can get a good nights sleep tonight, can we aim to be early birds tomorrow, 8:30 sharpish?
@Adam: The playblast animation of the desk looks fine. Will go over this tomorrow. I noticed you hesitated to texture the pieces of the paper/ blueprints on the desk while the desk itself was textured; were you thinking of using the textures I created of the blueprint in the animatic? Even if you didn't, that'd probably be a good idea instead of gallivanting for new textures. I have a high res PSD file saved somewhere of the blueprint. I'll make sure to bring it in tomorrow, then you can sort that out?
@Sean: Do your best to complete the environment by tomorrow. Incidentally, while typical laboratories are decorated in a bland, white coat/ have no particular colour scheme, I think we can avoid UVing unnecessary geometry. Walls and flooring we'll avoid, seeing as we can make heavy duty adjustments in After Effects. We will go through and find specific textures for plot objects in the lab, i.e. Blueprints, vault door, one or two corrugated/ destroyed corridors. These objects which help direct the mood of the trailer. Depending on how we progress into the animation; if we can aim to complete a raw series of animation cuts, it may then be better to find suitable shaders that will operate as the textures on the walls and flooring. We'll worry about major textures after we have blocked out and completed a raw animation; due to time.
Rigging: Rick | Throat ->-> Eye look controls
Despite some technical issues, I feel I’m back on track.
(@Sean and Adam) Voice Over for Linda
Hey guys, Sarah has kindly recorded each of the lines four times for us. Pretty cool, huh! I think it'll work great, have a listen:
Rigging: Linda | Mouth
@Adam: Can you update me on your progress. Let me know if you are having problems with your tasks. How much farther until the spider rig is complete? (Any rudimentary leg movement is fine, just so long as it resembles a spiders movement from a front on view. We’ll have the spiders approaching frontal confrontation in the trailer if you'd prefer, etc.) We’ll make good use of the spider’s red light to blur out anything you fear is not working, in post-production, so, let me know.
Rigging: Linda | Head, Final Grouping, Controls
@Alan: One control vertex on the spine_curve is playing up. My guess it’s related to the ordering of the groups. I might have forgotten to select this vertex in the neck cluster? What do you think?
Rigging: Linda | Arms
Apart from the mess in the outliner progress is coming along. Upon rigging the character’s spine and arms I noticed that maybe she should have been modelled (especially round the waist and hips) more like a 40-50’s voluptuous female. Linda's 'imaginary' thighs just don't quite somehow connect up with the hips. The coat should have more spread.
Rigging: Linda | Feet & Legs
The foot roll FW is not satisfying as the foot (while it raises) ball point pivot digs into the ground. It should act as a pivot of rotation and the geometry shouldn't penetrate the floor. Skinning/ joint issue on my part. Generally speaking, it's nice to identify errors earlier on that can be corrected, however, time is a constraint and these errors must be ignored. Incidentally, these developmental posts will act as a reminder of the nuts and bolts I have to install into my future projects. At any rate, this is fun and I’m enjoying this. :)
Development - Script for Linda
I hope you had a fantastic Christmas guys! Eager to resume where I left off, please glance over this script for Linda with time counter checkmarks to represent moments in the animatic (appropriate edits will be made in final animation to partner with VO dialogue files). Ready to be sent off ASAP. Scripts of three other characters (one O.S.) for upload some time today.
A quick overview of Linda - The female presenter of the news crew:
•Introducing our own “Daphne Blake” from Scooby Doo.
•Blonde.
•Smoking hot.
•Vivacious.
•Over-enthusiastic.
•Optimism is boundless.
•Damsel in distress.
Roughly 00:00:00-
00:16:00 (will replace current audio sample on radio at start)
CUT TO:
“Welcome and good evening, this is Linda V’Del. Tonight on ‘while you’re sleeping’ we’re going underground and your invited to come along on our special night tour of the Chauvenet Elwood lab. Gawd, this time I’m going to take on a surprising challenge!”
(P.O.V.) VINCENT picks up blueprint/duplicate of blueprint (much larger than first at beginning of teaser trailer) Roughly 00:45:00-
00:50:00
(Two shot)
LINDA
“Gives me the jeepers just looking at that thing!”
* shivers *
Roughly 01:06:00-
01:10:00
CUT TO:
(Wide shot of cast)
Sudden power failure.
LINDA RICK AND JOE
Simultaneously scream
* Squeals * * gasps *
“What was that?”
Roughly 01:36:00-
01:40:00
CUT TO:
LINDA
(Over shoulder shot of LINDA and dark intersection of corridors)
Trying not to alert the mechanical things that are lingering in the shadows nearby, LINDA covers her mouth trying not to squeal. She pushes her back to the wall, standing there and panicking quietly. Takes a cheeky peak round the corner. Nice and slow-
...Eyes of spiders focus in her direction. Shit.
LINDA
Wheezes/oral shape
“O’ Shit!”
Roughly 01:41:00-
01:48:00
CUT TO:
(Medium Close Up)
LINDA
(Panic)
EXASPERATED
“We’re trapped and they’re herding us like cattle!”
UV Layout: Characters - UV Layout Overview
While these UV’s are a tad messy, they’ll do the job fine. It may not have been necessary to label the elements of geometry yet seeing as we cannot meet up in person (I'm not sure if you guys have started the character tutorials) this way you can easily identify what is going on. Aiming to drill through UV layout, skinning, rigging etc, so I can focus on character animation with you. Let’s aim to stay on top of things fellas, less than four weeks to go.
UV Layout: Linda - Torso area and legs
As I work on remaining UV's this will lead to gradual and minor correction of geometry. I've decided to UV all elements on the three characters. Whilst block colours are 'okay', I'd much prefer small and meticulous patches of texture i.e. Linda: on surrounding areas such as the material behind the coat buttons. This effectively makes each character stand out.
