Week 8: Further Secondary Blocking

This further pass was tightening up the animation making sure that the character flowed smoothly from one pose to another without an glitches. As can be seen in the graph editor I added some easing in and out of poses and quicken some of the movements.

The next stage will be to create more overlap with the arms and head movement and some anticipation of movement. To help me understand this I looked at Gleen Keane's tutorial on how to anticipate movement. his style was very exaggerate, such as stretching the characters neck. I decided not to go that far with my mine as I want to keep my animation subtle. The reason why I want to keep a subtle realistic look is due to the content of the dialogue, it doesn't lend itself to comical exaggerated animation.

Gleen Keane: 

Pass 3: Further Secondary Blocking

Week 8: Secondary Blocking

I decided to use Al Pacino's performance as a reference for my animation as it is far better material to copy than my own performance.  Pacino's performance was a good reference for the overall body movement as well as the facial expression and lip movement.

In terms of body movement for this part of the dialogue, he moves slowly shifting his weight from one side of his body to the other when he changes positions slightly. He also moves towards camera slightly as he starts to talk which i have also incorporated into my animation.

When Pacino speaks he doesn't always look at the other characters. He looks down when saying 'if it will feed nothing else...' and look back saying ' it will feed my revenge'. This I felt was really powerful as it exaggerated the words said as he looked up. Also the way Pacino speaks he exposes his bottom teeth, moving his chin/ jaw and bottom lip when speaking. This really influenced how i moved my character and felt it gave some individual characteristics to my character.

In this part of the animation I changed the animation form stepped to spine (although I know know that I should have gone to liner first but i found the process i used worked well for me). here my main concern was holding the key poses and getting the timing with the words. the reference of Pacino helped as i could see when he moved in relation to when he spoke.

Pass 2: Secondary Blocking

Week 7: Blocking

To show the process I went through i'm going to focus on test and the developmental stages of just one part of the animation.

Shylock: To bait fish withal. If it will feed nothing else; it will feed my revenge.

Internal Pace and Rhythm:

Shylock has just turned around to face the man who has just spoken. He rises out of a resting position and moves slowly towards the other character, the camera and audience. His movements are slow and purposeful. He has many pauses as he thinks things through. Unlike the rest of the dialogue he doesn't always look at the character. He looks down at the floor as he collects his thoughts at the start of sentences.

Emotional Need:

He's justifying his need for a pound of human flesh and even though his words are dark he is not yet angry. He is filling his emotional need to express his views and shows the audience that his anger come form somewhere deeper. However looking at Al Pacino's interpretation he doesn't appear sad- more deep pondering, a calm before the storm.

Posing:

These are the key poses for this piece of dialogue. Working in some feed back from my formative I have kept his body language opens the character is trying to express himself as a posed to closed body language which is more linked with a shy nature. The red lines show the flow lines of  the body and the yellow show how the lines of the body, particular the arms lead the eye up to the characters face and eyes.

The first stage of the animation is done on stepped animations as this helps establish posing and initial timing. I decided to create my key poses on operative words in the dialogue where the character would place the greatest emphasis. For example the movement of the head upwards was done to emphasis the words 'my revenge'.
Animating to Camera:

I decide the best way to create strong poses was by animating to camera. I set up the camera I was going to render out of at the right aspect ration and placed a render gate so I could see what would appear in shot. Using this two window set up I could navigate in perspective and change my poses in there but be able to see how that looked to the camera. This allows me more flexibility as some poses might cause some pinching but it that didn't appear on camera and created a strong pose then I don't have to worry about it.

Pass 1: Blocking

Week 6: Formative Feedback

I received some good feedback form the formative and also some alterations and some suggestions.
I look at a number of interpretations of this part of Shakespeare play, two which I posted but decided to stay close to the version my dialogue was taken form.

I particular like the way the camera framed Shylock as he moved around. Dan suggested that as the character builds up a crescendo that he could move closer to camera. I like this suggestion as it fits the dialogue and his movements will emphasis the rise in voice tone.

I will also make changes to the timing of one of my cut aways. the last shot was originally going to show Shylock lunge forward invading Salarino's personal space after say his last line. I have now decided to change that so he moves forward as Shylock says his last line 'I am  a Jew'.

I also decided to remove the extra character from the second shot as he doesn't say anything nor appear further on in the animation or add to the overall narrative or performance. Without having an extra character to animate I can focus more on the key characters in the performance.

Animation Schedule: 

With the confirmed deadline extension this is now my schedule for the animation. the blocking and secondary animation (which will involve facial expression and lip sync). the last part will be a clean up process, removing extra keys, phasing, micro movements and eye and lip movements.

Week 5: Animatics

2D Animatic using film stills as reference:

3D Animatic: blocking out animation in Maya.

Week 4: The Merchant of Venice [Act III][Scene I]

My dialogue is taken from the film adaptation of Shakespeare's 'The Merchant of Venice' (2004) directed by Michael Radford, with Al Pacino taking on the role of Shylock. The extract I have chosen is form Act 3 Scene 1 and is a duration of 36 seconds. The video clip below shows the two minute speech but I will only be animating the first 36 seconds.

The Transcript:

SALARINO: 


I'm sure if he forfeit, you will not take
his flesh,- what's that good for?

SHYLOCK:
 


To bait fish withal-if it will feed nothing else,it will feed my revenge; he hath disgraced me, and
 hindered me half a million, laughed at my losses,
 mocked at my gains, scorned at my nation, thwarted my 
bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine 
enemies; -and what's his reason? I am a Jew!

Sequence Break Down:

I've decided to only have three different camera angles throughout the sequence closely mimicking the shots used in the film. I have decided to do this as much of the audiences focus will be on Shylock and the way Al Pacino moves around in the space on screen is very effective and adding more shots might cloud the performance.

I have decided to add on extra shot at the end of the speech to finnish the sequence. It will be a medium long shot showing the top half of Shylock and Salarino showing Shylock invading Salarino's personal space. The bright red line shows the midway point of the shot and the darker line shows how far Shylock has gone over that divide. The reason I have decided to compose the shot like this is to show the intercharacter dynamics between Shylock and Salarino.

Shylock Character Analysis:

To understand Shylock's character, his motives and his reasoning I have decided to employ the Stanislavsky method 'Inside- Out'. This method means that the actor (or animator) understands the characters internally to understand their motives to then bring a more realistic performance. 

Given Circumstances:

Venice 1596 where intolerance of the Jews was a fact of life. By law the Jews were forced to live in the old walled foundry/ 'Geto' which was locked and guarded by Christians at night. If a man wanted to leave the Geto during the day he had to wear a red hat to mark him. Unfortunately the Jews were not allowed to own property so they lent money at interest which was against Christian law. This illustrates the political and religious climate of the time which creates tension between various characters. 

Research:

Before this point in the play/ film Shylock lent a Christian, Antonio, a sum of money on behalf of another character. But instead of charging interest Shylock asked for one pound of Antonio's flesh if he comes doesn't fulfil the 'bond' at the appointed time. At this point it is unclear of Shylock's feelings towards Antonio. In his first soliloquy, Shylock says he hates Antonio because he is a Christian but it he might also hate because Antonio's active opposition to money lending (which would make Antonio hypocritical as he ask for a loan- making Shylock despise him even more).

Shylock's character is very hateful at this point in the play because his daughter runs away to marry a Christian boy, who Shylock considers to be an enemy. This might also contributes to his heart hardening against Antonio (who is in finical trouble and can not fulfil the bond) and why he is demanding that Antonio give him his pound of flesh.

In the introduction the 'The Merchant of Venice' by John Russell Brown ( reprinted version 1961) Shylock is described as:

'... an old miserly father he is a comic, as a Jew he is savage and ruthless, as a usurer (money lender) he seeks to ensnare the needy and Antonio, their protector...He is also a man who suffers and triumphs, speaks at times with great nobility and has a 'kind of wild justice' in his cry for revenge.' pg.xlv

Objective:

Shylock's objective in this part of the play/film is to justify his need of revenge, which he might perceive as justice. He wants to communicate that the Jews are the same as Christians and that in this same way a Jew has a right to revenge the same way a Christian does.

'...and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example? Why, revenge. The villany you teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction.' 

Super objectives:

Shylock's constant objective is to seek revenge (or justice) on the Christians for the injustice he feels for himself and his people.

Obstacles:

In the short extract I have chosen Shylock doesn't have any apparent obstacles except his inability to convince the other characters present, and audience, of his right to revenge and that his motives are just. 

Beats:

- 1st beat: Shylock turns around to face Salarino as he is asked a question about Antonio

- 2nd beat: he answers the question quietly saying: 'to bait fish withal, if nothing else it shall feed my revenge.'

- 3rd beat: Shylock expands on this last statement becoming loader and surer in his tone. 

- 4th beat: come to the climax of the pice and become forceful in his delivery of the words and moves towards camera ' ...and what's his reason? I am a Jew?'

Subtext:

The inner dialogue of Shylock is that he is describing the general behaviour Christians hold towards the Jews but focusses it all on Antonio. it feels as if Shylock is expressing much suppressed anger and frustration of what it is to be a Jew in those times but is focussing it onto one man.  

Other Interpretations:

Bellow shows Shylocks Speech being performed by Anthony Ring in Avril Duck's production of the Merchant of Venice (performed at the Tanks Art Centre, Cairns, October 2009). this performance shows an elderly man hobbling around the stage full of frustration but not as angry as Al Pancino's depiction of the character. I thought this was an interesting alternate way of depicting Shylock as it gives him a vulnerability and doesn't make his a typical 'stage villain' 

               

My Morpheus Character:

I decided for the character design to make the character look old but not go completely white. I also used the texture I made before for the old man (week 1 post) to add some interesting coloration around his eyes and lips. To complete the character look I'm going to module a cap and texture it red. I feel it's important that Shylock's character have this garment as it symbolises the segregation of his people and i feel it will add the character's detail and back story.

Week 3: Facial Modelling

Sculptris Modelling:

This basic head mesh was created in Maya with basic topology. To create the extra topology we used the extrude tool which created quad topology easily and efficiently. This mesh was then taken into Sculptris where it could easily be manipulated into any find of face.  I decided to model a face based on Julius Caesar from the Asterix cartoons due to the character's exaggerated facial features.

Still using the base mesh at low topology I used mainly the grab tool to pull the face into the basic proportions of the Caesar's face. Only once this was done could I increase the mesh topology and start to model in more detail. As you can see in the final model the mesh is more complex allowing for crease and overlapping flesh.

Finished model:

Face Expressions Exercise:

Using a similar simple mesh and method I modelled using this image as a reference. Then without altering adding to the mesh we had to create different face expressions for the neutral face expression. This was an interesting exercise as it made one think heavily as to what part of the face had to be manipulated to create expressions while still keeping the volume constant. 

Face in Neutal Pose:

Face with expressions: