Timing For Animation – Project 2 – Animated Scene Project – Joe Cloughley

For this project we have been asked to animate 2 characters interacting with each other and a prop in the scene. The scene is to be 10 – 15 seconds long, and we can choose whatever subject matter we like as long as it meets the aforementioned criteria.

I first wanted to get an idea of what scenes I wanted to use, so looked at what media I have been watching recently, like this scene from Dandadan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_SvdE9V_Z8&ab_channel=ONEBROSKI (starts at 0:36)I really like how they argue between each other and How each of their personalities are distinctively different. I thought that it would be fun to animate this argument and try out lip syncing.

I was also captivated by this scene in particular from LaLaLand. I thought the way he lifts her into the air was very magical, and thought that this is the sort of thing which can only really be done in Animation or with FX. It also would be a follow on of what we have been learning over the past couple weeks, dealing with weight and body mechanics. Sarah said this kind of movement would be quite difficult, as once they are weightless in the air, everything else must be perfect, however I want to give it a try anyway. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNFbbWOM5FU(starts at 1.12)

Before I plough ahead though I should do more research, into the scene itself and maybe into people dancing. Sarah also suggested synchronised swimming as that also conveys a sense of weightlessness.

There’s also this scene from Mary Poppins https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BHoDW9f7vY (starts 1:19) where not only all the other old women start getting blown around by the wind quite dramatically and comically, but also mary poppins comes down in stark contrast to this, able to ride the wind down. The way she glides down is very interesting too as there is no resistance from the wind or gravity at all. This adds to the magical nature of how she is doing it, again in stark contrast to how the other old women were getting completely thrashed around by these forces.

I also remembered this scene from Entergalactic where Jabari and Meadow are floating in space which is again something that has captivated me quite greatly. Could potentially use a bike as a prop? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRtpdP6zZX4(starts at 0:30) I think the inclusion of music will have to be quite essential as well. Will need to do some searching…

I like the idea of maybe the bike starts floating away and they do too? Could be an interesting scene. It only needs to be 10 – 15 seconds long too… Maybe some story boards would be helpful here.

I really like this scene from Spiderverse too, not for characters floating, but for the action and use of props. Gwen and Miles swing in and grab a hot dog off this street vendor. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPHxyyubleg&t=224s (starts at 3:40) It happens very quickly but we are able to gleam so much action and personality from it still. Not only from both Gwen and Miles, but from the street vendor too. The street vendor is happy to give them both hot dogs, but when they both seemingly swing off without paying, he turns around to them with a concerned look. One of them shoots a web with money in it for him however. There’s also effective use of smear frames with Miles here, something I would really like to try and utilize myself.

 

I think I’m going to go with the spiderman idea, I found this really cool rig so just figured I should definitely give it a shot. There’s tons of reference online for spiderman too. I’m a spiderman nerd so it’ll be really fun for me too to figure these things out. Only things I’m thinking about at the minute that will be difficult is making sure the movement through the air looks correct.

There’s this scene I really like from into the spiderverse also where spider gwen is first introduced. She swings in and kicks dr octavia in the face and it looks great. The action is very snappy and punchy. You can really feel the weight and speed of the kick as it connects.

Here’s some more videos I’ve been looking at for reference, all spiderman related and mostly looking at him swinging:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNPy_CO4zqA&t=65s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIwDYhGcrL4&t=144s

Here are my storyboards for the scene. I figured this would be the best way to get a feel for what i want to do. I want to use the rule of thirds effectively, framing both characters, but having ther focus be on the character with the gun. I want the character with the gun to be looking around for Spiderman, cautiously aiming and looking around, then have Spiderman swing in and kick him in the face, before they both have a final confrontation at the end.

This is roughly my opening shot, I want the character on the right looking around for spiderman, before spiderman swings around just as he is peeking from the wall and smacks him in the face with a kick. Firstly he jumps in, grabs the wall, has a little gander around for the other character, sees him, leaps off, swings round and smacks him, landing gracefully. Ib like the staging of this shot as your eyes naturally gravitate towards the character with the gun, but you can always just subtly notice spiderman in the background which is really fun and adds anticipation and comedy for the audience as the audience knows spiderman is stalking him, and while the other character is looking for him, he doesn’t have a clue what’s going to happen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I got the rough poses down and am quite pleased with how it’s looking. I was able to get some really dynamic poses so excited to get stuck in and animate it.

I really like this pose Miles has from into the spiderverse where he slides into it. I want my final pose to be like this. In the shot he’s upside down, so I’ll need to flip mine around. Also the feet and hands are mirrored as my spiderman swings in from the other angle leading with his other foot so I’ll need to change that.

This is the pose I decided to go for, I really like how it looks from the side, and a very pleased with the exaggeration I’m able to get. I think I will need to do an FK IK switch here though however, as his arm follows his body as it moves, so it breaks the immersion of his hand planted firmly on the ground.

There’s a moment I decided to swap the IK and FK of the foot when Miles is hanging off the side of the building. I wanted his foot to dangle in the air for a moment or two before he spots the other character and leaps off. I feel this gives him more personality and lets his leg do something interesting rather than just dangle there. The IK movements really help with this as it more easily allows me to move his leg in a curling motion, helping with the arc of the movement.

 

I added some stretch here to spiderman’s leg as he is coming to kick the other character. I feel this exaggerates the speed and action far more, making the kick seem far more impactful.

Miles jumping off the building is something I really want to  get right. I was looking at spiderverse again for when Miles takes his leap of faith. He’s definitely not in the same pose at all but it’s good inspiration to se how the mechanics work. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxbYjZc7CwM (around 0:45)

As I was getting the pose right for the swing, I felt that there was something not right about it when you look at how he swings in to kick the other character. So i decided to make miles pull on his web to give him some forward and upward momentum. This really adds to the weight of the kick and makes the action feel more real and make more sense. Here’s a motion path so you can see what I mean. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuhQzTSEM_k This clip from across the spiderverse has a bunch of moments where miles does this exact movement, pulling on his web to move himself forward. The arcs of his movement were very important to get right for the whole motion here as falling through the air and swinging naturally create some really interesting and satisfying motions.

My other character I want to have cautiously looking around for spiderman, checking his corners, raising his gun and then getting hit in the face. His movements are a lot more realistic and less bombastic so I want to try and get all the subtler movements perfected. You can see in these examples The sorts of movements I mean. I want there to be some nice anticipation for him raising the gun, like him looking at the thing he’s pointing at before pointing his gun just a second before. As spiderman is falling also, I wanted to add some nice secondary actions with the legs and arms, rather than just have them flail aimlessly around. They curl and flow with the movement, arcing up or down with how he is moving. I feel this makes him falling and pulling himself forward with his web far more realistic. there’s also a nice bit of exaggeration i have been able to achieve too as spiderman is quite flashy with how he swings around.

Another issue I’m having is that for some reason my frames are getting tanked in this project, I’m not really sure if that’s because my models are too detailed or something, but either way it’s hard to get a feel for how the animation is actually playing out, as my playback is very laggy, even on viewport shading. I’ll need to render it out a few times I think so I can really get a sense for how the scene is doing timing wise.

I used the “render viewport” option in the view tab to see how my animation was looking as I feel I’m very close to the end. Here’s a google drive link to the video:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1FD6zH_MEU496oXoZT16-DxZOm3A81tZZ

Seeing how the animation actually looks is extremely useful. I can see now exactly what I need to change or tweak:

  • Spiderman moves too quickly when he is on the wall looking around.
  • Jitteriness of limbs with Spiderman when he is jumping from the building
  • Weird hand jankiness when he is flying in for the kick.
  • Strange arm movements at the start with the character with the gun.
  • His head should thwip round before he rotates his body to point his gun to the right.
  • Try and get arm to move a bit more dramatically when he begins to look around.
  • Sometimes his right arm looks a bit too far forward.
  • jitteriness when he pulls his hand back after pointing the gun to the right.

I was able to fix a good few of the problems so I’m happy enough for today, there’s a strange thing that happens where Spiderman’s arm kinda just spins around a lot for some reason

There were a few poses I needed to fix, like spiderman’s feet not being in the correct position when his feet are on the building, I didn’t really like how his arm was kind of floating in mid-air when he was falling, so added some more exaggeration to his thwip motion by moving his whole arm an dshoulder back. Which i feel has been very effective. I also tweaked his pose after he has thwipped himself forward, leading to a more dynamic and realistic pose.

After tweaking the animation some more, I feel as though I’m at a stage where I am happy with the result. I really like how the animation is turning out, both with spiderman and the character with the gun. I was able to get some really nice and creative poses with spiderman, exaggerating his flashy movements, and adding anticipation to his web swinging to make it feel more real. With the character with the gun I feel like I’ve been able to achieve a lot, even with his movements being so subtle. My personal favourite is when he sees that there might be something in front of him, and swings his whole body round quickly to point his gun at what could be there. I added some anticipation where he looks over for a brief second before pointing his gun round.

 

Here’s the link to the finished animation and Blender file:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1DxK2j7r_FVYMs3N3V4YdYXfwUFq-Lg75

 

To conclude, I feel as though I have achieved a great deal with this animation, and have seen my progress from my previous animations, which is a really nice feeling. It was very fun to work on something that I wanted to make, trying to problem solve and see what works and what doesn’t. It’s really made me see the value of the core animation principles, and how important they are at every stage of the animation. I also like how I deviated from my original storyboards, leading to as more cohesive animation overall I feel like. The original with a final confrontation would’ve left the viewer feeling confused I think, but with the way thew events go in this version, there is a great sense of satisfaction in that there is tension, anticipation, and pay off. Which I feel ahs been done very effectively. If I was to do this project again, I would try to find  a way to make my viewport less laggy, as I felt like I was hindered greatly by this and constantly had to render my viewport out rather than fixing the problem in my timeline. I felt that my laggy file really hindered my ability to see the correct timing of the project in general, leading to the animation feeling quite fast paced, in the future, i really want to fix this problem so I can get a clearer vision and have the best timing possible. I really like spiderman’s movements, and while they aren’t perfect, I’m really glad I pushed myself to try something new and difficult. It was really fun animating him and studying references to see  how to make his body move in a flashy and exaggerated fashion.

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