Shot 5 Progress

As you know Shot 5 takes up nearly 50% of the run time of our film.
While the valiant efforts of Alisia, Katherine, and Batia should not be forgotten on shots 4 and 6,
this mother needs it's own chart:

Wednesday Noon

Thursday Noon

Thursday 11 pm

Final Schedule

Hey Crew,
        Here's what we're looking at for the next week:

Saturday:
                 Rough Animation Done

Sunday 5/11:
                All rough animation Scanned and into Flash files by Midnight
                Begin Assignment of remaining Shot 5 for Clean up

Monday 5/12:
                Shot 2 Debra Done
                Shot 3 Clean up/Color Done
                Shot 4 Clean up/Color Done
                Shot 6 Clean up/Color Done
             
Tuesday 5/13:
                Entire Shot 5 Assigned and in Clean Up

Wednesday 5/14 (Dead Day):
                Crew meeting @ 1pm in 243

Thursday 5/15:
                Continue to Kick Ass

Friday 5/16:  
                Shot 5 Done
                Final Composite and Editing

Saturday 5/17:
                First screening of Film @ BFA Gallery, Industry Night

Font Change

Hey everybody. So Keith and I talked to Chai about the credits and he said to change the font because it didn't feel futuristic. Also, he did not want us to use Lauren's painted titles because there are too many inconsistencies (letters going different directions and what not). He said it works in the title where you only see a few letters, but no so much for a credits situation. He recommended that we choose a font similar to the ones below, and for the titles just do all caps and/or bold. Let me know which ones you guys would like to use!

2 Weeks. The Home Stretch.

Okay Crew,
         We have 12 days to finish this film. It's time to put all the pieces together.

           In these last two weeks, it's important to work together, be in the building at the same time as much as possible, and communicate effectively with one another. Many of you are working on the same shots so it will be very important to keep connected so we can avoid fixing things later.

There will be late nights ahead, but what else is new.

       Today I saw Kayla and Amit helping Flavia. Tomorrow Samia said she's helping Melanie with Flash. Eric is helping Samia with color. Aldo is helping everyone.
Kevin is always going around offering help and an eye to the clean up artists.

       This is the kind of thing that will get this film not only finished, but will really make it shine.

       The last people doing rough animation: Kevin, Lauren, Aldo, and Batia,
should be finished by the Weekend (the 10th), which will mean a huge push for clean up from Saturday to Wednesday.
           It'll be very tight. But we need those last few days for editing and compositing and I know Nick will want any completed shots as soon as possible (read: BEFORE Thursday the 15th) to composite into the film.

       This is going to be the best Adobe film produced this year, and we are going to make it happen.
Thanks for being the best crew in 118B.
Keep it up!

-Keith

Film Status 4/21

Hey All,
        Thanks to everyone who made it to the workday on Saturday.
Besides myself we had 3 people on Clean Up, 2 on Viz Dev, and 2 Animators
hunched over churning this film out.
        It was a huge success. Bunny and Courtney came in and were very happy (whew)
and impressed with our progress and it looked SUPER good to have so much of the BFA lab filled with our crew (90%!).

Working together at the same time really does make a difference.

Moving on to this week, Nick Maksim and I are planning to spend the day compositing and compiling as much as we can into the animatic.

THIS MEANS: We need as much progress as you can give us on your part of the film as you can by Thursday midday, preferably Wednesday night.

PLEASE DON'T WAIT TILL THURSDAY NIGHT TO POST PROGRESS

Compositing and Editing takes time, and in order to avoid the scolding we got on Friday, we need to be able to make what we present shine.

This does not mean you can't continue to work on the film Thursday evening, just that we have enough time to get it in to the animatic.

If we can get shots 1, 2, and 7 completely finished and in the film by this Friday, there's a good chance we can have the whole thing finished by the 2nd of May (IF we work together).

So let's keep going!

Final Jessica Look

Hey Guys,
An update for those who haven't heard, Bunny, Courtney, and Dave all got a chance to look at the different treatment for Jessica when cleaned up and with a little help from everyone (including Amit) we came to the agreement of this

As you can see the top line of the eyes are thicker and then taper to a thinner line, which will make clean up a bit more annoying but nothing that we can't handle. Also the hair, eyebrows, nose, and inside of the mouth are lighter.

The color guide has been updated on the server and here on the blog. Also the color guide here is under tutorial to make it easier to find in the future.

Thanks yall and peace out

Adobe is Coming!

As most of you know: Adobe is coming to see progress tomorrow.
Let's wow them.

I want to get as much of our hard work into the animatic as possible.
Leave as little room for questions as we can, and really make it shine.

I'll be contacting people personally today to discuss what all can be done.

Our hard deadline is May 1st. The BFA Gallery opens May 2nd, so the film has to be ready to show at the Gallery.

I think this is more than possible. You all have been doing great work.

The backgrounds are nearly done. Clean up is well on it's way. Animation is finishing and looking really great.

Let's do it!

-Keith

Course Correction

Hey Crew,
        This week is going to be key.
After yesterday's faculty critique on our progress, we need to make a slight course correction
The objective is not to be done by this Friday, but to be done as soon as possible keeping quality in mind.

A big assignment in BFA was due yesterday so more of my attention will on the film this week.
You can expect e-mails from me and more frequent updates on our progress.

I want to get our progress in front of Dave multiple times next week. We'll need his eye to make things
run as smoothly as possible, or else we're in for more frustration next Friday.

Which means:
           Get progress to me often. Send me your progress as soon as you have it and I will get feedback on it. This is the end, so the film has to sing!

ANIMATION:
           You heard em', we need more life in shots 1- 4 and 6. Keep in mind, now that Purse film is done, we have more access to clean up artists. Get your shots working and give them life, don't worry about getting them cleaned up as you most likely will have help with that.

VIZ DEV:
          We have Backgrounds that need painting. So far only 2 of 7 are in progress. I'll be contacting some of you individually to get going on this.

Above all: Be in constant contact with other crew members. Ask for help. Work together and actually work together (physically). Share feedback. We will only finish as a team.

Get excited, this film is going to be great!

-Keith

Update! The Final Days!

Hey Crew!
       It's about time I posted an overall update for "Hello Debra"!

Overall, we are keeping up a really good pace.
Yes, we are behind schedule, but which Adobe film isn't?

The DEADLINE is April 4th. TWO DAYS! (ha!)

Realistically, I do believe we can begin compositing by April 4th. About half the film's animation is in the clean up stage more than half will be in clean up by Friday.

The Color Script is done! And style guides are being worked on as I type.

Here's what's being done:

Shots in Animation:
        - Shot 3
        - Shot 4
        - Shot 5 (Jessica part 3, Debra All)

Shots in Clean Up:
        - Shot 1
        - Shot 2
        - Shot 5 (Jessica parts 1, 2, 4)
        - Shot 6
        - Shot 7

- Style Guides / Backgrounds
- Car design
- House design

Here's what still needs to be done:

- Final exact decisions for Deb's hair and Make up choices based on choices we narrowed down.
- Finished clean up on all shots
- Coloring in of all shots.
- Backgrounds
- Final pass of sound
- Compositing
- Final Edit

We are nearing the end! And let me tell you, from talking to the other groups, this crew is in THE best shape. We might even finish first! You guys are putting forth the effort.
I greatly appreciate your continued enthusiasm.
I'm really proud of all the work that's being put into this film, let's make it shine!

-Keith

Clean Up Has Begun!

The first rough shot finished by Batia has been scanned! Thanks Batia and Kayla!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNxiWo8gRRI

Flash Clean Up Process / Daichi's Response

Yesterday Aldo sent this Clean Up plan to Daichi at Adobe..

Response sent yesterday

Keith,

I think it's a decent approach and doable.  but a Flash animation tends to be very flat and static.  It is nothing wrong with that if the style fits.  but I think your story can be more alive if you avoid the flatness.  I recommend to paint the background in Photoshop.  Also, if you guys can, make some form-shadow on the characters.  It would take more time, but it would be worth, in my opinion.

Response sent this morning

I'll take it back about the shadow suggestion I made yesterday.  In general, I think it is a good idea, but if your animators are using shape tween to make the animation very dynamic, it might be better not to put the shadow.  so, your choice.

by the way, here you can watch free Flash tutorial videos.

http://tv.adobe.com/show/learn-flash-professional-cs4/

I will see you guys next week.

Daichi

Bunny and Courtney's response to Color Scripts

Hi Keith,

Please pass on my congratulations to Lauren, Michelle, Melanie, and Flavia. All four artists have done an excellent job, and should put the "Hello Debra" color scripts in their portfolios.

As to what you should go with…

We like the fact that Lauren has created a palette that makes sense and can be easily used my the whole team. And…we like Flavia's creative use of color.

So…we think the best plan would be to have Lauren and Flavia work together to create a color script that blends Falvia's bold color with Lauren's ability to organize a clear palette.

Sound like a plan?

B&C

Intro/Credits Music

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/sgrsroy624msmn6/nN05Ad2R5W

These are little ditties that my good buddy Aadith came up with. Please give them a listen and comment (let us know if you think they fit and/or what could be better). Also, he has access to plenty of royalty free music if you guys just want him to send us a variation of prerecorded stuff.

DEADLINES

Hey Crew,
          I've updated the schedule and we have new Deadlines! Yay!

Style Test Deadline Monday Feb 24th 
      - We want to have up to date style tests to show Adobe when they come on Tuesday morning (the 25th) so have your tests posted to the server by 9pm on Monday night. We'll then have a chance to look them over and pick the most appropriate to show Adobe.

Backgrounds Deadline: March 7th
      - We can start backgrounds this week. Typically 2 weeks for backgrounds would be too little time, but I think with the minimalist backgrounds we are going with shouldn't take too long to produce.

Rough Animation Soft Deadline: March 14th
                           Hard Deadline: March 21st
      - You should be DONE with your rough animation by the 14th, the deadline for the 21st is for those last few fixes and shots that are 90% there but need those last tweaks.
March 21st is the last day before SPRING BREAK, so we need to be done with rough animation before then.

Animation Clean Up
       - Clean up will be starting on March 8th (the day after our original wrap date) for those shots that are done by that time. Clean up will carry through to March 31st however as people finish up their shots and transfer to the clean up stage.

Finished Film Deadline:  April 4th
      - Compositing will roll with the deadlines as shots are finished and cleaned up. Final Edit will start on March 24th and go until the final Deadline. Clean up should be completely finished by March 31st to allow time for the final edit.

Let's do it!!!

-Keith

UI LAYOUTS FOR SHOTS!!!

UPDATE: Blogger shrinks big images, so if you download these images from here, they will be 1600X900 (not 1920X1080). So, I added red strokes around these images so that you can line them up to your frame easier. If you match the outside of the red line to your frame it should be exact. 

Unless there is an issue, these will be the final UI layouts for the animation. The buttons on the left are menu buttons, and the empty container on the right is where lists are displayed (hairstyles, eyes, etc.), so MOST OF THE TIME, Deborah will be scrolling and picking from the list.

SHOT 2 AND 6

SHOT 3

SHOT 4

SHOT 7

Please reference these! They are also on the server under PROJECTS_DO NOT DELETE/Adobe_Debra/UILayouts. Thanks guys!

How To Hover

Hey guys, so we should probably all agree how we want Jessica's hover boots to work, just so that how she moves when she uses them is consistent in every scene. I was thinking that it might be appropriate if there was just a little bit of overshoot and then settle after each boost/use of boot. Nothing too crazy, just a little subtle kind of thing.

Or, we could have her feet at an angle as she activates them, and then have her feet return to a sort of "neutral" position when she is no longer asking them to move.
Kind of like in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDkTXeS7TLY

Let me know what you guys think or how you've been imagining Jessica's boots!
 -Batia

For Tomorrow 2-21

Hey Guys,
        I'm not sure I'll have time to put all the progress into the animatic tonight.
It also occurred to me that people may want to work later (than 8pm) on their shots and therefore
the progress won't match with what is in the animatic.

        So be sure to post progress individually to this week's folder on the server (in 118B_Production)
Let me know if you have any questions

-Keith

Progress for Friday the 21st

Hey Crew!
   
        For this Friday I'd like to put together any progress that we've done into the animatic.
Things such as:
               - A more finalized title
               - Michelle's establishing shot drawing/painting
               - Any rough character animation or keys that have been timed out and shot (at any level)
               - Rough vanity animation
               - music
               - new SFX
               - etc.

Let me know if you can get me any material by 8ish pm on Thursday,
That way I have some time to splice it in to the animatic.

We'll also be including individual progress to the folder on the server in case the faculty want to see it (which they will).

 Thanks guys!!


 

Flash Master File

Hey guys, here is the master file to use for Flash when starting clean-up or if you're going to start with rough animation in Flash. If you started animation in Flash already fear not, just make sure on your file the dimensions are 1920x1080 and that you have separate layers for the rough animation, line drawing, and color fills.

If you ever have any questions about Flash please don't hesitate to ask! Text, msg, email, shout, or call!

Let me know if the link doesn't work
Flash Master File

Quick Overview 2/15

Hey Guys!

We had a great day yesterday! Story approved! Oh yeah!

We went over our game plan, here's a quick reminder on what we should be focusing on and  to update those of you who couldn't make it yesterday.

Some notes on what Bunny and Courtney said:
The timing on the animatic needs adjusting

Debs face in the vanity needs to read clearer that its an avatar and not a reflection. We need a graphic symbol of her face, and at a lower opacity. When the vanity scans her face, have it gradually come up like it would with a scan.

In the ending it was suggested by Daichi that Bobby should just scream and not have dialogue

Animation:

We are now cleaning up in Flash!
        This is a really great opportunity to learn a program that has become vital i getting into the industry. I think it will benefit the whole team (not just animators) to learn. Below (previous post) are links to the online tutorials. Please have watched them TODAY, take notes, and understand them as best you can, and come up with questions if you have any.
        Animators will be meeting on Saturday or Sunday in the early evening. This meeting is mandatory for all animators unless you have work or you're sick! Aldo will be going over the animation process for the film and helping us with Flash.

Viz Dev:

This is going to be a fun week for you guys!
      You will be exploring styles within the following guidelines. Simple, graphic, limited color, light back ground, and make the characters really pop. Look to the the style tests I posted, Bunny and the team like the direction those were going in. Look at Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends and Coles Phillips (examples below) Keep in mind this takes place in the future and design accordingly!
      We also need to see some really imaginative make up and hair explorations for Deb. these are TOP PRIORITY since the animators will need to know how to draw her. Get crazy! Think, what can't we do with hair today? And do that. We need to decide on her looks as soon as possible.