Thursday, December 3, 2009

Blew a fuse!

A few quick shots finished before I blew a mini-fuse in my lighting kit:


Fortunately I was able to pick up a new fuse in the city, but it took out my mini-light string and a bit of my momentum with it. I've got it back up and running now, replacement mini-lights are slightly different, hopefully it'll still flow! This weekend should finish up the burnt out bulb sequence, which is exciting, fun, and sad too - I really enjoyed playing with such a limited light source. Also a bit intimidating - the first shot up with the normal lighting setup is one of the most complicated ones in the film. Many elements to keep track of, as well as a moving camera.

Should be fun though - strangely my process has really changed during this film. During Judder I was OBSESSED with X-sheets - had to use them to keep track of the kids moving at different framerates - but I was trying to mark out everything, when I thought a leg should land, when an arm would stop moving... it got pretty obsessive. This film it's all much more intuitive, and Dragon is a huge help with the different playback options! It's really about thinking how I want elements to move, checking where they are in their arc, and trying to force myself to do longer holds then I ever think is necessary (4 frames seems like a long time until it's playing back!) But I'm finding the intuitive way much more enjoyable and better results - should be interesting to see how it plays out with the complicated stuff!

8 comments:

Shelley Noble said...

Art imitates life! Watching what you make with great interest!

Anonymous said...

Looking good!

4 frames might not be enough for a hold, though. As a general rule, shoot for 5 frames, at the very least. This is one of the principles covered in The Art Of Stop Motion Animation. 4 is only 1/6 of a second, so if you have a lot of movement up till then, it can be visually confusing. Not nitpicking, just hopefully being helpful.

Good luck on your next shots.

Emily said...

Thanks Don! I was going for that in the post, but am always unclear - my impulse is to do a hold that's max 4 frames, cos I feel like such a slacker shooting holds! But I'm really pushing myself to do longer ones because it reads better.

Will said...

first clip looks ace emmymme, nice to see it's moving along at a decent pace. how long do you plan on making the finished film?

Dan Metalmadcat said...

m_) I wasn't sure what I was looking at, a hand I think, either way it certainly called my attention.

m_) So nice to see how things go slowly working well.

jriggity said...

you are moving right along!

jriggity

Anonymous said...

Just seeing this now (sorry!)

If not 5 frames, then how about 6? Especially easy to keep track of when you're on twos.

I try to do 6 as a general rule, or 12, or 18- all are quarters of 24.

2/5 is somewhere in there (10 frames) so that works well too. When in doubt, go by fourths. You'll never not have enough frames that way, and you can easily get double and triple the amount of time for the hold.

Emily said...

Good advice! I'm making an effort not to go primarily by counting frames on this film - using them as a guideline yes (like forcing a longer hold) but overall not worried about shooting on 1's vs 2's, or how long the move is - really focusing on what reads on the screen and learning from that. Interesting if nothing else!