2012/04/19

AM - Class 3 / Week 2 - Lecture

Blocking To Final.

Another blocking to final lecture by Dave Burgess... The Legend!! Check his movie credits to know why!!

AM - Class 3 / Week 1 - Lecture


Intro To Staging And Composition.

Lots of things are involved in the staging process, Characters, Props, Set.. etc, Camera Angle/lenses, & the action that will take place in the shot.

The most important thing about staging is clarity, you should make sure that the idea & the point of the shot is very clear to the audience while staging.
Keep it simple, and keep your full concentration on the message that you're telling the audience; Staging (with its simplicity) should help conveying that message.. not confuse it!

One of the most important things in staging is 'The Camera', its actually the seat of your audience, and you have to place it in the most interesting, entertaining, yet clear position. 

Here are some of the main famous type of shots known in cinema:
Establishing shot (usually used at the opening of the scene), Long shot, Medium shot, Close-Up shot, High Angle shot, Low Angle shot, Over the Shoulder shot (used when having two characters in the scene), Point of View shot 
(to show what the character is looking at), there are plenty more but these are the most commonly used..

Camera Movement: 
Before animating the camera you should ask your self.. Why I'm moving my camera?  I personally see some great animations that gets messed up by un-necessary camera movement.. the camera should move only for a purpose.
A good reasons for animating the camera would be: following a character, emphasizing on a character's reaction, revealing an important element in the scene, or maybe creating a sense of action.. but avoid camera moves that are pointless, or will distract your audience from the main subject.

Type of camera moves: Pan, Track In/Out, Dolly, Crane, Boom, Tilt Up/Down.
Type of camera lenses: Long Lens 100-200mm, Normal lens 35-50 mm, Short lens 10-20mm, Normal lens are the most appealing to the human eyes.

There is another question that you should ask yourself while staging your shots; What I'm trying to tell the audience with this camera angle? when you get used to asking your self these kind of questions your whole animation will 
start making more sense.

Quick tips:
When framing characters, remember to leave some head / feet room. 
Drive the viewer's eyes to the direction you want them to look at through your composition. 
Do not forget the important Rule Of Thirds.

Ciao :)

2012/04/18

Class Three Begins!


This class I was assigned to be mentored by Jason Martinsen who is known as 'The Traveling Mentor'

At first, I wanted to swap class with other student because my work timing conflicts with Jason's timing & it will be hard for me to attend the Q&As, but when I saw his work!! I was like.. I'm swapping with No Body!!  Jason's work is 
so Awesome!! he has a very strong cell animation background which makes his 3d animation so smooth & appealing.
Here, Check out his reel on his website.. Amazing!!

2012/04/14

AM - End of Class Two!!


After long sleepless nights; class two is finally over!! It was an Awesome learning experience with John Nguyen.
As the habit goes, at the end of each term the mentor will wright a personal assessment for each student, and I'm always eager to know what my mentor thinks of my work, & what advice he can give me for further improvement.  Here is what John had to say:

Areas of strength: Manar is a very good animator and has a solid grasp of animation principles. His understanding of body mechanics is excellent. This allows him to focus some of this time to adding a story and personality to his work. His shots are fun and entertaining. Its has been a pleasure to have him in class. His enthusiasm and open mindedness has made it easy to teach.
Areas of improvement: Manar could work on his timing as far as it relates to the pace of the shot. Using timing and exaggerating to give energy and emotion to the shot, are a couple thing I think he can experiment with.

I wish John all the best in his career & I hope our path will cross again in the near future.

2012/04/09

AM - Class 2 / Week12 - Assignment

Same as the previous term, our last assignment is to collect all the shots we've animated this term in a single progress
reel.   Hope you like it!


AM - Class 2 / Week 12 - Lecture

Summery!

This lecture was a very quick wrap up for everything learned in this term, weight & balance, Blocking, strong appealing posing, hips animation, external & internal force, arcs, timing & spacing.

AM - Class 2 / Week 11 - Lecture

Adding The Final 10%

In this lecture Kenny Roy took a shot that a student animated & labelled as final, and he pushed it further by 
adding an extra polish pass here & there, subtle anticipation, smooth arks.. etc

Here is some quick tips I got from the lecture:

- Step away from the shot for a while then come back with a fresh eye, write your notes, be critical to your work.
- Always observe the center of gravity in your characters.
- Hide the legs & work on the body/waist first, then go back to the legs.
- Twinning of feet or arms (in timing & posing) is a bad thing to have in animation, avoid it as much as possible!

Check out Kenny's website for some amazing tips and videos on animation.