Art: More Animal Sketches

Art: Sketches from my Film

My main Character Arnia and here father. (not too in character though)



And her friend at school, Yan.

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Art: More Sketches

Golden Japanese Spaniels

Art: Wall Scroll Commission 1

So I'm not sure I'm going to take many more commissions involving people as subject matter. It's always hard for me. That is if it has to look like the person. And this took way too long. But heck I figured aout alot with it so that's a plus.

Art:: Finished a Commission

So here it is a commission I've been poking at all summer. It's almost poster sized to give you an Idea. I did it for an up and comming clothing company called Love Nail Tree.


And here is some color tampering:

Notes:: Cinematography as it relates to Animation

So the following is notes from a lecture today. As of now it is only words but I might add drawings to illustrate further. Good stuff.

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Cinematography as it relates to animation
Notes from Jeremy Laskey Presentation

It IS

ALL About Making CHOICES -Everything is a choice

ALL ABOUT DELIVERING INFO - to progress the story just as it is needs to progress


The RuLe

The audience MUST look exactly where you need them to


All to be considered in ShOt DeSign =

COMPOSITION
CAMERA LENSES
SCREEN DIRECTION
EYELINE
CAMERA MOTION
EYE FIX
PACING


ComPoSitioN =

You don’t always need to justify why it looks that way – if it looks cool use it
THinGs to KeeP in MIND =
Think of unusual ways to shoot the subject
Everything need be on PURPOSE
Always consider the foreground and background elements
Light as a composition element
You can dramatically change the composition in a single shot
Low angle vs. high angle vs. normal
Light and Dark
Graphic Quality
Dividing the Frame


CaMeRA LENses =

WIDE Angle =

Increases the apparent distance between foreground and background
Some distortion – bending – barrel distortion
Greater depth of field
Vertical and horizontal lines are bent
Main Object many be distorted


Narrow LENses [telephoto lens]=

Compression of the focused space
Blur out of unfocused planes
Focus as composition tool
The Sharpest point becomes the focal point

ScrEEn DIrectION =

Tricky to learn but necessary
All to not screw with the head of the audience

Eye contact:
Eye direction/contact causes stage line for the 180 boundary
When switching to a new stage line Previous eye-lines don’t matter anymore
In cuts the characters still have to be looking same direction
When introducing a new stage line:
Have to start with previous line before changing to another
All tied together
If done right you don’t get lost

But crossing the line can be useful for an effect
Crossing the line will demand attention
Causes Unsettling feeling
Makes you reset and focus harder
But can be Confusing

Camera moves can really help layout the geography and the directions
You can use a camera move to cross the line instead of cutting

Don’t want the audience to get out of the story
It will waist your animation time and
Could make them miss a point
Draw set on a down shot and figure out angles etc

Eye-line:

Have to be looking at the same place in the screen
Same place in frame relative to staging line
Also applies to objects



CAMERA MoTION =
Not used as much but powerful
Dynamically changes composition
Movement as the story calls for it
Hard in 2d- can be a great discipline
Can really make it feel like real

Use to:

Explore the Environment and have the audience take in the spatial relations clearly
The camera move can show that the moment is important
It holds on the moment instead of cutting
Cool change of composition
Can give you a style feel and mood feel
Dictate a move that makes you feel like the camera is you as a character and the way it moves dictates how you are in this scene
Can make feel unplanned not mechanical


Must:

There always needs to be motivation for movement
Camera movement motivated by character movement
Quality of camera move
The camera is affected by environment moving around obstacles and moving in a way that reflect what is going on and were it is in
Turn of camera move/ presence needs to uphold the story

Just because you can doesn’t mean you should do it!

Story FIrST

Pacing
Staging/ time
Setup w/o talking



CHARACTER STaginG =

Consider:
How characters are staged in relation in a frame
More creative ways to show who has the edge
You can All of a sudden show character
Carefully reveal characters
Figure out the best way to present it the actions that need to be shown
Think as if you were a live action camera crew,
Chose angles in a set
Storyboard artists are concerned with what the character is doing
In some cases the set may need to be changed for the character
Keep in mind how the blocking needs to happen
If in needs to be seen show it!

EYE FIX =

Easy but very important
Basically it is a good idea to hook shots to gather by having the ending focus in the same area as where you need to be looking in the next shot.
Especially important with close ups to wide shots or vise versa
Always remember how big it will end up in the theater

PACing =
When you have everything to put together

Consider:

Figure out you visual queues
Establish the mood
Drawing you into the scene
Progression
ALL based on MOOD and TONE of the scene


And


QUESTIONS to KEeP in MInD =

What shots do I need?
How can I make this interesting?
What is the most important thing?
What looks cool vs. what fortifies the story
Have you explored more creative options?
HOW do I Make it Work

Is the Story GREAT?



Featured Movies:
Point blank
Rushmore
All the presidents Men
Touch of evil – Orson wells
Armageddon for cinematography
How to kill a mocking bird

And directors:
Martin Scorsese
PT Anderson