MYSTERY BOX - MAYA SESSION #1

Today we started actually animating our Mystery Box project.

Before the animation started, we had to choose which discipline we wanted to use for it; CGI or Stop Motion. I chose CGI, mostly because it was the only one of the main 3 disciplines where I didn't know how to animate characters, and wanted to get as broad experience with character animation as possible.

Speaking of which, the character rig we're using is from the website 11 Second Club, a site where animators are challenged every month to create animations around a certain idea. Aside from that, they also provide character rigs, one of which being called Max. Max is a simple human rig, resembling the wooden figures used to work on posing.

(A screenshot from MAX-verse expedition, an animation created as a part of one of the 11 Second Club's monthly competitions - credit: Paul Jun-Ho Chang)

Max has lots of controls for every joint in his body, from big joints like the hips and shoulders all the way down to individual finger controls. These can all be edited using Maya's rotate tool (or in some cases, like the shoulders, can also use the normal directional controls). Modification of one part can also influence other body parts to move too; for example, rotating the hips also rotates everything above the hips, instead of just the one joint.

Using Max, we used this session to mostly play around with the rig and get to grips with it. We had a light brief of making Max perform poses. Our first prompt was "waiting for the bus", followed by the emotions happy and sad, and we also got the chance to put our own pose in as well.

I found this pretty easy, and actually fun to do! It was a lot easier to make the character pull poses than I thought it'd be, and having accessible ways to make the character move around with the different handles was definitely a factor into making it a much more pleasant experience than it could've been.

(Waiting for the Bus)

(Happy)

(Sad)

("You Know I Had To Do It To 'Em" with reference)

To finish off the session, we very briefly started looking into how to make a walk cycle. We were recommended to use a different camera angle for it, specifically one that's fixed. Maya has two preset angles perfect for this; left and right cameras. They let you see from the chosen angles, without the ability to scrub across the Z axis, leaving you with essentially a 2D plain.

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Overall, I enjoyed this first session of Mystery Box animation! It was a lot easier and much more interesting to figure out how character rigs work than I initially thought! I don't know exactly what I was expecting, since the only time I've seen CG character animation behind the scenes was from old Toy Story featurettes, but given they're from 1995 and it's been nearly 25 years since then, the techniques are probably easier than back then. Looking forward to more!

ANIMATION PRINCIPLES - SCENE ANALYSIS #10

For my final scene analysis, I'm going to look at a scene from the Buzz Lightyear of Star Command TV series.

[DISCLAIMER: High quality footage of this clip is not available]

(Buzz Lightyear of Star Command remains as Pixar's only venture into television series - credit: Pixar Animation Studios)

EXAGGERATION
We mostly see exaggeration from Buzz in this clip, especially after getting knocked back by Zurg. He hits his back against a wall, causing him to fall forwards, hit the ground, and bounce back up only to fall down a pit. In the brief moments between bouncing back up and falling down the pit, we see Buzz's face is pushed to an extreme, making a silly expression to show how disoriented the hits made him. This exaggerated look also works on the basis that this isn't a face Buzz would normally make; he's fairly stoic, and only smiles when genuinely proud or when smug.

EASE IN / EASE OUT
Ease in and out can be seen during the fight between Buzz and Zurg, as they strike each other's weapons. The weapons, meant to homage Star Wars' lightsabers, require the characters to swing them about like a sword. The effort the characters have to put into each swing can be seen by how they draw it slightly outwards before making the major movements, and then slowing down again. The tail-ends of each swing aren't too slow, suggesting the beams they're fighting with aren't too heavy; about as heavy as a plastic pipe.

SQUASH AND STRETCH + SECONDARY ACTION
When Buzz hits the floor, we see his body squash and stretch from the impact. When hitting the ground, he becomes flatter, with his body stretching outwards and pushing downwards. He only squashes this one way, and doesn't have the inverse (inwards stretch, upwards pull) happen to oppose to this. A secondary action can also be seen with his arms, as they flop around in response to his body's hitting the ground. Unlike Buzz's body, the arms do go upwards towards the end of the squash and stretch.

ANIMATION PRINCIPLES - SCENE ANALYSIS #9

For this analysis, I'm going to look at the Robot Chicken sketch We Drink Hot Chocolate.

(The sketch parodies the characters Batman and Two-Face from DC Comics - credit: adult swim)

ANTICIPATION
As Two-Face explains the rules of his new three-sided die to Batman, he prepares to roll it. Just as he finishes up saying "Three: we drink hot chocolate together", he backs up the hand holding the die, and swings it forward, releasing it mid-swing to make the die's distance travelled further.

STAGING
There are two great examples of staging in this sketch; first is the very first establishing shot, showcasing Batman, Two-Face and the vat of hot chocolate. It gives the audience everything they need to understand everything that is going to happen in the beginning, and acts more functionally than it looks pretty. But functional shots will always have a purpose; films, shorts, and even sketches like this can't be all style and no substance.

The second great staging here is as Batman apologises to "Three-Face" for the hospital incident. The audience and Batman are both in the same boat of not knowing the true extent of what happened to Three-Face at the hospital, so we see him with his back turned. It creates a sense of mystery, leaving the audience to wonder what actually happened. Granted, it could be easily figured out what happened by following the trend earlier in the sketch, but the reveal is more comedically effective because of the mystery.

SECONDARY ACTION
The main secondary action going on in this sketch is from Batman's cape. It's nothing too complex, it just flows around as he runs, usually with a delayed reaction to whatever Batman himself is doing. 

SKETCHBOOK PROJECT - COMICS AND COMIC INFLUENCES

For over 50% of my sketchbook, I've added mini-comics about things happening in my life!

Making comics is nothing new to me; I've been making them since I was 12, albeit with varying levels of quality. My main inspirations for my comics was the Big Nate series by Lincoln Pierce. They've been running in newspapers since 1991, and feature four panel comics every day (apart from Sundays, which warranted a longer, full colour comic).

(An example of a standard Big Nate comic - credit: Lincoln Pierce)

I started making comics in 2012, with a character named Nerdy. I used the character for comics all the way up until 2014, making them both on paper and in a digital medium. I took cues from comics like Big Nate, trying to tell a full story or deliver a joke in just four panels.

(A Nerdy comic from 2013)

That's my general experience with comics. I looked back at both these sources when I started my comics for the sketchbook projects, discovering there was a rhythm that most four panel comics use:

1. Set up joke, slight tease
2. Elaboration
3. Joke payoff (recompense / explaination)
4. Reaction

I subconsciously included this format in every Nerdy comic I'd done, so much so that it kind of became second nature. This formula also carried over to the comics I did in my sketchbook, although I tried to stray from the formula throughout.

Another thing I tried to do with my sketchbook comics was to try and use more unconventional panel structures, relating them to the theme or joke being pulled off. For example, one of the comics involves music as a theme, so I tried to make the panels out of a music note divided into four pieces.

And here are the comics I created!

ANIMATION PRINCIPLES - SCENE ANALYSIS #8

For this scene analysis, I'm going to look at a scene from Alice in Wonderland, released in 1951.

(Alice re-encounters the Cheshire Cat - credit: Walt Disney Animation)

SOLID DRAWING
There are sequences that involve the Cheshire Cat morphing and transforming, that require the character's drawings to be solid. They should remain consistent in terms of volume, and seem somewhat plausible, even for a character like the Cheshire Cat. We can see very clearly where any transformations happen, and nothing feels like it's out of nowhere. We see the cause and effect, and they get paired up with the drawings themselves very effectively.

EXAGGERATION
When the Cheshire Cat gets happy or excited, we see physical signals of his emotions. When hearing that Alice hasn't met the Queen of Hearts, he seems shocked at first. But he very quickly becomes very excited at the prospect, and shows it in his body. As he exclaims "YOU HAVE-N'T!", his head splits off from his body, and his ears even split from his head, showing how extreme the excitement is.

STAGING / MISE-EN-SCENE
Mise-en-scene works hand in hand with the staging in this scene. The whole location is dark and gloomy, with no bright colours, apart from the two characters. In the film, Alice is upset and afraid, saying she wants to go home. This is meant to be a sad place, and the lighting shows that. But as she talks to the Cat, he offers her a shortcut to the Queen's castle; a door opens from the tree he's sitting on, revealing a colourful, bright castle grounds! The contrast between the two speaks to the theme of the scene; going from a dark, gloomy place to somewhere that promises to be brighter (evidenced by Cheshire Cat saying how "delighted" the Queen would be to see Alice).

ANIMATION PRINCIPLES - SCENE ANALYSIS #7

For this scene analysis, I'm going to look at a clip from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, directed by Peter Ramsey and released in 2018.

(Peter Parker and Miles Morales making an escape from Oscorp - credit: Sony Pictures Animation)

STAGING
Spider-Verse has really effective staging and camera angles across the entire film; an example that stands out to me in this particular clip is right at the beginning. There's nothing fancy or flashy going on, it's just the two Spider-Men surrounded by unknowing Oscorp scientists. The camera pans out, revealing just how many there are. The employees of Oscorp have been antagonised up until this point, so they are, essentially, the "bad guys". Revealing just how many there are, compared to how small the Spider-Men feel in comparison, tells the audience that they're about to see the two either successfully evade every single scientist... or preparing them for a grand fight scene.

TIMING
When Miles and Peter are both running away from the scientists, they're animated in a fairly unconventional way. They're both animated on twos, as are most characters in the film when there's no giant action set-piece. But the interesting thing is that they're both animated with an offset to each other. Every frame has a new position, but only for one of them. Miles will change one frame, but not the next; but when Miles doesn't change poses, Peter does. 

SECONDARY ACTION + ANTICIPATION
One action Miles performs in the same shot is throwing the bagel at a scientist. This can be seen as a secondary action; his primary action is his running, which is a constant during this shot. However, the bagel throw is something he does on top of the throwing. We can also see anticipation in this action, as he winds up the throw, bringing his arm in, only to swing it back out with a twist of the body.