Wednesday, June 25, 2008

I was thinking today about 2D and 3D in student films thanks to a recent post on Michael Sporn's blog. I feel like 2D, 3D, hand drawn and after effects--there's no reason why it all can't come together in an efficient and effective way.

Here's an example of my workflow for a shot in Chicken Cowboy. I sketched out these keys first according to the storyboards. If I like the pose in the board enough, I can just use that as my key.


From here I can make vectorized shapes in after effects, or use the pre-made illustrator rigs if the poses are similar enough. But getting the right pose is always more important than using the premade rig.

Here it is in AE:





above is a pan BG I painted for CC.  This spring I left it on a school computer overnight, and the next day when I opened up the file--there was oprah!

I found out later that Harry was behind this.  Mos def the best banner ad I've ever seen.


4 comments:

R.R. said...

Dude, I love those drawings.

And you are right. There is no reason they can't all come together. 3d helped in my film.

The digital tools don't work, when the users are being lazy, and accepting what the computer is giving them.

You are right. "Never take 'no,' from a rig!"

Leetal said...

Public computers ftw.

Tim Rauch said...

WOW I love those storyboard drawings. All of the shots in your film had such dynamic composition. What's even better, that composition sprang from every element of the image in nearly every case: the beak, the eyes, the wings, the hands all contribute to the effect. That shot where the Chicken runs past the camera and ducks behind a pile of boxes while shots go off around him is just amazing.

You have taken control of your whole approach, there's not shot you couldn't execute BECAUSE you have made so many films and been so ambitious about how you execute them. I love drawing, I've always drawn, so that's why I draw my films. But now I'm realizing how much more is possible by involving the computer once you have that initial drawing. You can layer effects, tweak colors in every area, compose the BG precisely in each shot. The computer is going to allow for a new wave of independent filmmakers who take advantage of its incredible capabilities.

In the end, technique isn't important. What's really important is whether you have respect, discipline, and creativity about process and you clearly do. I am in awe of what you did in Chicken Cowboy, what you describe here and what you had said to me before about being less concerned about the rigs this time and more concerned about making each shot work on its own compositional terms. That really paid off and the results are inspiring to me.

Keep going!

stephen said...

thanks guys. i took me awhile to get to this point, and I'm still learning every day.

the way I work isn't for everyone. But I know I'll never draw like milt, and I've always seen this as a compromise that works when other things don't. I've got to use what I have for starters, study, and then try to take that to another level.