First Animation - Right Prism

Preface

I always had problems with the animations most of us amateurs create. I guess, you know, what I am talking about, the animations, where a camera is flying endlessly around some object. Yes, I admit, I also created those. But I started to think about it some time ago.

If you want to do animations, watch the pros. Ever seen something like that in a commercial movie? There are those things, but very seldom and often to emphasis exactly that "CGI"-looks. If you watch the movies made by Pixar or DreamWorks you won't find them. I found the "Making of" on the Shrek DVD very revealing, they basically tried to do traditional camera work, like done on a normal feature film.

The problem they had is, that their move already said CGI all over, so they didn't need to emphasis it in the camera movement, it would even have destroyed the movie. So the lesson to be learnt is, that you should aim for a "natural" camera. That means, use more than one camera, use cuts and please don't use those effect transitions that are in every movie cutting application. The cut is the normal way, interspersed with fades, cross fades and perhaps black/white fades.

Planning and Script

A very important lesson I learnt is, that you don't start with the modelling. I know, that is the fun part and I also did it first. But in my case I had a very precise model to create, so I luckily didn't have to pay for it. But I don't think it would work with a more complicated animation.

I found this, when I started actually writing the script. Yes, I did write a script, think you could do without? You will have no chance. I learnt that the audio recordings are hard enough to get right if you have no experience with it, if you have to think about the text at the same time, I don't think I would have made it. So I created a script with the text and the things I needed to show.

Doing so I found out, that the images I had rendered were mostly useless. Some of the parts I needed to be visible weren't and I didn't know that, when I created them. So I basically had to move each and every camera in the scene and added, I think, three times as much as I already had. Additionally I had to draw a lot of overlays. For them to fit meant, that I had to make the object and camera positions fix or redo them. I can tell you, creating them was not a lot of fun, so I tried to do them right the first time.

What surprised me was, that there seem to be no good tools out there to write a script. I had expected tons of them, but a short search uncovered either very expensive tools or simple templates for MS Word. What I did was to create a simple HTML-file with a table. The table contains three columns, the first is the rendered image I use as base, the second contains the names of the overlays and texts I used and the third the text to be spoken. It worked quite well for this simple thing.

I have to admit I got a lot of respect for the creative writers, that create scripts for movies and TV series. I now can understand, that even the most primitive sitcom takes a lot of creativity to create. It is in no way easy to do it. A lot of work is needed and you are the most invisible guy in the process. And I really came to the conclusion, that I will have to create tools for it. More about that in a later entry.

Artistic Value

Don't aim too high. Do your best. I know, that sounds like straight out of some book. But it is true, you will not be able to compete with Hollywood, believe me. But I hope, we, the amatures can at least create interesting things. I think my animation is a nice, little piece. Not the best in the world by a far stetch, but creative nonetheless. At least I created something and I can tell you, it feels great to have finished it.

I missed the ability to use short animated sequences, something my program still can't do, but was surprised, how little I am really missing them in the finished animation. It seems, they are not that important after all. Perhaps it was even better, I didn't have them, as it made the production faster. It is not easy to create an animation of the right length to match the words. And that is very important I think. I fear, it is far to easy to overdo it and create animations, that don't do anything for the "story".

Perhaps another lesson learnt. Don't use something because it looks cool, but because it is necessary for the story. I think, making a short movie is much harder than you think, because it is not easy to throw away stuff you created. That is probably the hardest part. After all you probably put a lot of effort into it. I guess, I can understand a tiny bit, how it must feel, if the director throws away a part you especially liked. And I guess, it must be hard, to cut down a movie you directed, because you are told to by the producer.

Ending Notes

I have to say, I was very surprised, how much work I had to put into this tiny little animation and my respect for real movie makers grew. And I am a bit surprised how proud I am about it. I can tell you, it really feels good. Even if nobody should see it, I got my reward already.

Additionally I learnt many things, some I have tried to write into this text. It is very valuable to know that before I started implementing animation features, because I think I now have a better view of what is necessary and what can be left aside. I totaly underestimated the value of text creation and management tools. I think, most of the animation packages are lacking in this respect. I thought so before, but that feeling has proven right. And I saw, that it is even more important. I think, that writing and scetching tools may be much more important than you think. Only with them you can create a consise, focused movie that does not fall apart.