survivor

Background stitch for the second-last shot of my film. I have it printed out, now tracing it onto watercolour paper, then I'll stretch the paper and paint, then scan. Then photoshop shadows onto it in the appropriate places, then render in 3D animation software so it matches the camera move.

I'm a bit embarrassed that I haven't finished the film yet. I stopped (with two shots to go) in early September when a bunch of other work came up. I'm working on it now, should be done in a couple weeks except for the final sound which will happen in January.

It's really hard to work on this film now, especially because I'm dying to start working on my new ideas, and because I have other collaborative projects that I need to get moving on. Not to mention that this shot, the second-last one, is the longest and most time-consuming shot in the whole film, with 9-10 characters and a 1200 frame pan.

I'm going to miss the work, though. I'm pretty sure I'll need to dig into another personal project quickly to keep myself feeling right. Painting will be good.

But there's something about animation that just tickles. I love the technical challenge, the variety of ways that you can approach a shot. I love that I've been animating for a long time, and that I could do it for the rest of my life and still be learning. I think I want to keep learning.

The next time I animate, I'm going to concentrate on motion and movement. Keep things simple, and tell the story with the basic elements of animation - timing and posing, weight, all those things that are easy to forget when you do 3D animation.

I'm going to stay completely open about shot choice and choice of mediums. I don't want to be restricted by all my past work experience and training. No more traditional cutting patterns.. at least not for the next film.