I changed the number and sequence of shots recently - after adjusting Shot08, Shot10 had to be removed, shots 09 and 11 were merged, and a new shot was introduced after shot 12. Presently my numbering system is a little skewed because of it. The edited playblast I uploaded in my last post has incorporated the new changes but it’s caused a propagation down the rest of the line and now I have to decide if I should continue with my original numbering or rename all my scene files and playblasts/renders. For the sake of organization the answer is clear it’s just such a hassle renaming files. Another major change to the short film is going from PAL 4:3 to 16:9 letterbox format. I’ve been toying with the idea since the beginning, but I wasn’t too concerned about it since I had much more pressing tasks to settle then. Now that I’ve gotten the set and characters sorted and in the midst of animating, I’ve decided that - given the way the shots are designed and the mostly-straight-lines look - the story would look better in a wider, more film-like format. Here’s a sample of what I’m talking about:

In most cases its an improvement over the original 4:3 format but at times it’s not so ideal because of the challenge of directing the audience’s eyes to the intended focus point within the wider but ’shorter’ shot. The pros outweigh the cons though so I’m sticking with the new format:

On a more positive note, I’m quite pleased to report that my animation momentum is still going strong. I’ve managed to complete shots 11 - 18 this week (1st pass only of course). At this rate I should be able to finish up the full set of shots by the end of next week and thereafter focus my attention on refining and implementing the more important changes/improvements. I should have something decent to show at the next mid-term critique session scheduled on 10/08/06.

I’ve also handed the improved block test to my sound designer on Thursday for him to draft out some basic sound effects. We’ll be doing some recording of Kid and Mr. Knox at the studio hopefully this Wednesday if all goes as planned. Another recent development concerns the music for my film. I received an e-mail a couple of weeks back from a composer who has worked on (and is working on) a couple of impressive animated short films expressing an interest in creating music for “Wait, Mister!”. I must admit it does feel like such an honour to have my humble WIP attract such interest! After discussing with my sound designer and ironing out a few concerns, I’m officially going to get the composer on board. It looks like all my audio needs are now set!

I’m still wrestling with the idea of showing you all my playblasts (which means you’ll then know what the full story is and ruin what little surprise it contains) or keeping a portion of it under wraps until the film is fully completed. Until I make up my mind I’ll hold off from uploading the last few shots. I’ll still be working on improving the first half of the film and working on the renders so I hope you still give me feedback on them (or start giving feedback!). Sorry about the secrecy. I hope you understand my reservations. In the meanwhile here are a couple more basic render tests:

This entry was posted on Monday, July 31st, 2006 at 2:22 am and is filed under "Wait Mister!" 3D Film Plog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.