View this page "HO Rain - Editing"

[ferguso...@gmail.com]

Hi TC,

Rain is next on the list.

This was the first animation we made last summer and has a few
problems to solve. At that point in time, we were experimenting with
animation and collaboration. We started with brainstorming and left
the story fairly open as we wanted to get to making things and
shooting. The story went something like this:

Cloud is traveling sadly, maybe a bit bored. Cloud sees lush pond and
has a flash of thought. Cloud picks up pond, carries it to desert,
desert blooms.

Easy, right? The story seems pretty logical…. but we didn’t do any
storyboarding (drawing the various scenes to shoot) and so we were
somewhat scattered about what to make and how to shoot it (also
logical, since it was our first animation).



Storyboarding?

Watch this video:
http://www.eatpes.com/roofsex.html

…then watch this – lots of storyboard and planning images:
http://www.eatpes.com/makingofroofsex.html

then watch the rest, they are great! Plus, you can use your right
and left cursor keys while you are watching the films to see the
timing of the individual moves. The artist shot at 15 moves per
second (we were shooting at about 6 moves last summer).



In retrospect, the animations we made that have a clear sense of
“what, why, and how” came together more easily. In this case, I don’t
think we talked about how to personify the cloud with feelings and how
to show that the cloud sees and wants to solve the desert problem.
The main difficulty for me is that we don’t know about the desert
until we actually see it getting rained on. It seems like we need to
have that already in mind when we see the cloud pick up the pond.

So! There are a couple options linked at the top of the page – first,
the original take, which is maybe fine, just needs editing and I am
overthinking this. Then… another edit I made to be simpler (in my
mind it goes like: here is the desert, here is the jungle-pond, cloud
takes water from pond to the desert to make it bloom. Rain.) A third
option: words. I’m not tied to any particular solution, just trying
things out.

Thoughts about this? I need a push down one of these paths... click
below to watch the versions.

Click on http://groups.google.com/group/tinycircustalk/web/ho-rain---editing
- or copy & paste it into your browser's address bar if that doesn't
work.

[Ann Ferguson]

Having never worked on an animation, this suggestion may be way out
there. I see small rain drops coming down on the whole desert (not so
small and congested) and then flowers popping up all over the entire
desert. I can also see the cloud getting brighter when it gets the
idea.
Ann

> Click onhttp://groups.google.com/group/tinycircustalk/web/ho-rain---editing

[Carlos Ferguson]

Ann,

The problem at this stage is that all the sets and props are gone, so we have to work with only footage that we shot this summer (the longer version has everything we have available).  It's just a matter of re-configuring these shots to tell the story, if it's possible.  It IS possible to do things like make the cloud brighter using programs on the computer to a limited extent.  Zooming in on a scene, speeding up, and slowing down are also possible. 

Thanks!

Carlos

--
www.carlosferguson.com
www.currentlocation.blogspot.com

[ferguso...@gmail.com]

From Travis:

I think the shorter version made it much more clear what was actually
happening...the desert in the beginning is in my mind really essential
to tying it all together. Is there any way to make the stretch out
the rain parts by showing it raining zooming way in on the drops,
showing it raining the way it is, zooming in on certain plants that
are growing...that way you can use the same footage 2-3 times but
making it look different?
Also, if you want the opening shot of the dessert to just sit there
for a while, there can be some musical vamping or something, so that
there is something taking place (the music), even though the actual
scene isn't changing.
These are just the ideas I had of how to make the short version seem
more substantial.

travis

[ferguso...@gmail.com]

All those things are possible Travis, and make sense I think. They
also go along with what Ann was saying...

I'll work on getting a rough version with those different elements
together and post it, then maybe if you have some rough music ideas we
can paste them in and see how it feels...

[ferguso...@gmail.com]

There is a new partly done version of HO Rain linked on the discussion
page... any thoughts appreciated...

The part I have edited ends after showing how lush and lovely the pond
is - and I am trying to decide if we should now go directly to the
part where the cloud enters the scene to pick up the pond water... or
to the section where the cloud is traveling as seen from above.


Click on http://groups.google.com/group/tinycircustalk/web/ho-rain---editing

[Jenn]

I think this is a good start. It seems logical to me that first we're
introduced to the 2 extremes...the dry of the desert and the lushness
of the pond. I think from here we need introduced to the cloud, not
just have it suddenly picking up water. As the character that creates
change in the story I feel like there should be as much development of
that character as you can do with the footage available with music
helping to fill in the mood/emotions involved.

I don't remember from the original footage shot if there's enough to
piece something like this together: we're introduced to the cloud
traveling along, it sees the pond, it then sees the dessert, it pauses
at the dessert and gets an idea and returns to the pond, picks up the
water and takes it to the desert...bloomage. There may not be enough
shots to do this without it starting to feel redundant, but just a
thought.

I definitely think you should use the shots of the cloud traveling
from above at some point because I think the change in view adds some
visual interest and depth.

Carlos, I want you to know I haven't been able to look at any
animation the same way since you started this project...I find myself
analyzing and questioning how things are done. I'm blaming that on
you :)

Jenn

[Carlos Ferguson]

Jenn: It's true, putting these together one frame at a time makes one aware of all the decision making that must go into any film process - how long to pause on an actor's face, when to go fast, when slow...  And the animation process makes all of us both actors and editors... I think we didn't know much about this last summer!

I don't have any footage of cloud + desert, which is a bit of a shame, as I think what you are saying is true, it would be great to show the cloud looking at the desert before it shows up at the pond.  I'll plug in the travel bit and see what it looks like, I can't think of any way to digitally make the cloud work with the desert scene.  Maybe the cloud could "think" about the desert?  It might look to tricky digital though...

Aleah: every time I've edited one of these, it feels long until the music is added, then I have to make it longer... so I do think it feels a bit long now because I am trying to anticipate the music, but once we get it together with sound it will probably feel different.

--
www.carlosferguson.com
www.currentlocation.blogspot.com