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It is amazing how many times i have said to myself – ” this is just like the bouncing ball.” Such a simple exercise and so easy to forget.
Anytime something doesn’t look right. I try to see if there is any basic principles like bouncing ball that i can apply to it. 9 times out of 10 this makes it work. Its always the basics.
The weekend saw Sharktale put up some very good numbers. I spoke to some friends who dont know that there are 24 frames per second in feature animation and the reviews were really positive. What do you know inspite of all the geek hate and critic disdain for the film, the audience seems to eat it up with a 120 million dollar spoon. And lets remember that 120 million dollars is very big number in these post Finding Nemo Shrek2 days.
Cant stop thinking about it. Brad bird hovers over my imagination like a giant thundering through a landscape. Cant wait to see it. Till then look at these. Got to say I wasnt very exicted when I saw the still images but the trailers most of all the japanese trailer got me exicted.
Why is that we are so afraid to push stuff to their extreme in animation? It is so easy to forget that the thing that is seen in animation is CHANGE. Change from one to another. A friend who works at pixar agrees, in 3D it is so easy to focus on transitions and making them look smooth that sometimes the pose is forgotten. If Milt Kahl was a CG animator, I bet if you opened up his shot and looked at his curves they would have some serious peaks and dips for overshoots and quick antic’s. The things that these guys do for one frame! ( without losing the whole ) Worth thinking about. It is always easier to go too far and then comeback than it is to try and push it after not having gone not far enough. The comments I hear from directors at diales are Bigger, Push it further.
I dont think they mean make eveything move all over the place. They mean take the idea and push that. For example if a charecter is still for any reason. Take the idea of stillness and push it as far as you can, and then push it further. ( somebody else said that, I cant remember who) I need to do a whole post on keeping it simple.
Rex gave me this cool lip sync tip. Errors can be very easily seen if you play your animation at 12 fps. Awesome.
The new Madagascar website is up. Go check it out at http://www.madagascar-themovie.com/ Keep checking it to drive up the traffic and to see new trailers as and when they come out.
Bit by bit my website is getting built. get it Bit by bit? Oh well. Just scored a huge huge collection of notes. These include Don Graham lectures, Ken harris interviews, Milt Kahl notes. Just need to get over the shock of having these all at once! Right now I am just admiring the pile of amassed knowledge just waiting to be read and assimilated. Its going to take me a while to scan it all and put it out in the resources section. But should have something up by this weekend.
