Tutorial 3: Rotoscoping.

Hi again!

Unfortunately, rotoscoping and other classes' work have gotten in the way of the Character Design Follow Up post, but still, here's something fun: Rotoscoping animations.

The first one was based on Mr. Muybridge's images (3000 b.C. (kiddin'!)). Down here, you can see Plátano Man (Plantain Man) on his usual stroll to work. I made a total amount of 12 frames, then copy and pasted them to match the steps and get him across the screen. From Muybridge, I got 10 steps, but since some images were missing, I inbetweened 2 frames. It moved so fast on ones, so I shot it on twos (2 frames of the same picture). Still, I feel it slips a little in some parts... but hey! The reference almost emulated Michael Jackson's MoonWalk, so don't expect Christmas! Besides, he's Plantain Man... Have you ever tried walking with plantain feet?




The next one is supposed to be me, using a reference video of myself walking around. This one was a tough one... 160 frames... The reasons it is so wobbly: 1. It's shot on ones. 2. I drew it using my Wacom tablet, instead of the Cintiq 21UX. Yes, I could have shot it on twos to make it less wobbly... yet I enjoy watching how energetic I look this way, so I kept it. :-D



Alright, bye!

-Jose

Character Design, Part 1...

Here are the 4 characters from "Drama Bowl". I'm still missing the facial expressions and the character poses. I'll be working on that next, to then follow up with the storyboard.



Reporting,

-Jose

Tutorial 2: Digital Puppet or JUMP!

The following animations were created by using Motion Tween.



The next one, I did by scanning my own drawing of this guy I named Trook. This one was animated by combining frame by frame with Motion Tween, since Motion Tween didn't work too well when flipping pieces and "just cause" in some others (probably it had to do with the amount of pieces of Trook.




And now, to work on the character design...

Tutorial 1: Bouncing Balls

As I said on the previous post, I've changed my idea/premise to one that can fit better into the class requirements. (Kind of sad, because I already had the character design almost done for the first one, but hey... it's practice then!) I wrote a rough version of the script last night, and I'll be working on my character design as soon as I can.

And to honor the title of this post, here are the Bouncing Balls:

Tutorial 1: Bouncing Ball with Ease In/Out



Tutorial 1: Bouncing Ball with Custom Ease In/Out



That's it for now!

-Jose

The Script

Ok, guys. Here's the script for "Drama Bowl"

I'm leaving some additional details outside, in case I don't have time to include them in the final product. The story still works without them. They're just some other visual gags.

SPEAKER	SOUND EFFECT	ACTION
	Indistinctive fighting between man and woman.	Title screen with words: DRAMA BOWL appear on screen. Then:  A short story by José G. Landrón.
DILLY:  It’s always the same!  Always the same with you! ROY:  Well, everything was well until you showed up! DILLY:  What?  It was not my decision to come live with a loser! ROY:  A loser, huh? DILLY:  Yes, the most pathetic loser I’ve ever met!		C/U of  two fish arguing furiously.
ROY:  That’s it!  I’m leaving!		C/U of Roy’s face, angry.
ROY:  I hope you die!		C/U of Dilly’s face, surprised and hurt.
	Roy mumbling to himself, complaining.  Dilly making exaggerated dying sounds.	Middle shot:  Roy puts a hat, grabs a suitcase and starts swimming around the fishbowl, meanwhile, in the center, Dilly is having a stroke and dies.
ROY:  What?  I’m still here?  Stupid fishbowl! (Worried)  Oh no!  Dilly!  Dilly?  Are you ok?  Dilly!!!!!!!	Small thud on glass.	Roy stops and kicks the fishbowl, then he sees Dilly’s floating dead body. Roy holds Dilly’s body, and screams.
ROY:  DILLYYYYY!!!!	Small bubble pop.	Wide shot: of table with the bowl, and only one little bubble pops.
ROY:  Oh, Dilly!  I’m so sorry!  Please, forgive me!	Sad music	Roy crying, still holding Dilly’s body.
ROY:  Why do I have to be so stupid?!?!  I can’t take it anymore…	Body thud of hitting floor.	Roy is angry at himself, and becomes suicidal.  Climbs to the top of the bowl, looks down and jumps.
ROY:  (Dying)  F-for-give me, Di…		C/U of Roy dying on the floor.
WHISKIE:  Don’t worry, Roy!  I’ll save you!	Water splash.	Whiskie enters scene, picks up Roy and throws him inside the bowl.
ROY:  (Crying) Arrrghhh!!!		C/U of Roy watching Dilly’s corpse again.
		Text shows on screen:  “On the next day”.
ROY:  (Sobbing) Goodbye, my sweet love!	Water plops.  Things shaking inside a can.	Human hand removes Dilly’s body from the bowl with a net.  Hand throws food to Roy, who doesn’t eat.
		Text shows on screen:  “A few days later”.
ROY:  Oh, Dilly…		Middle shot of Roy almost down to his bones, due to malnutrition, barely swimming.  A lot of food still floating around.
WHISKIE:  Don’t worry, Roy.  You’ll be ok!	Chewing sounds.	Wide Shot:  Whiskie notices, so grabs Roy, puts a funnel inside his mouth and makes him eat.
		Text appears on screen:  “A few days after”.
ROY: Hello, Hello, Miss Golden Yellow!	Sensual music.	Hand empties plastic bag with sexy female fish.  Roy gets lovestruck.
WHISKIE:  It was about time!  Finally, Roy has forgotten Dilly!  What a relief!	Dying sounds.	Medium shot:  While Whiskie speaks to the camera, Roy dies.

 

New Premise: Drama Bowl

I've changed my story. I was advised I should either shorten my previous story, or just make a brand new shorter one. So, I present to you, fresh from the oven:

"Drama Bowl"
By José G. Landrón, 09/23/2008

A couple of fish (Roy and Dilly) start fighting about how unbearable is to keep living together. Dilly insults Roy, and that really angers him, so he yells at her: “That’s it, I’m leaving! I hope you die!”. Roy puts a hat on and grabs a suitcase, and swims around the bowl. While he’s “going away”, Dilly dies from stroke.

When Roy realizes he’s been going in circles, he finds Dilly dead. He repents about all the mean things he said, but it’s too late now… Unable to carry the burden, Roy decides to kill himself.

Of course, it won’t be that easy, specially when you have Whiskie around, a very caring cat that will do all he can to avoid Roy’s death. What will happen at the end? Stay tuned!

The Premise for "The Forgotten"

Ok, so this is what I came up with... I had this incomplete idea a long time ago, so I decided to finally make something out of it. Having made some other Flash animations before, I know doing this the way I want, will consume me months, so I'll either sacrifice quality and aesthetic value to get it all done, or just get a nice chunk of the story and animate it.

Having said that, here it is:

“The Forgotten”
By Joz (José G. Landrón) - 09/20/2008

Ted Stem is a little robot that lives inside a light bulb from a nightlight stuck in the wall of a house, which is at the same time, his spaceship.

One night, he unplugs his spaceship from the wall, and flies around. Noticing that one of the humans had the refrigerator open, he decides to go inside, looking for a new adventure.

The human doesn’t notice Ted’s entry to the fridge, and closes it, leaving him trapped inside.

Inside, he gets out of his ship to explore around, thus encountering “The Forgotten”, creatures that developed and mutated from old remnants of food and candy at the back of the refrigerator.

“The Forgotten” trap him, and bring him to their king, King Pop… a lollipop stuck to the surface. King Pop asks him for the purpose of his visit, which looked really suspicious to “The Forgotten”.

Once jailed… Ted tells Pop that he might be able to free him from being stuck, so KingPop accepts and frees him. Ted can produce light and energy with his arms, so he starts to cut through the attached area. While he’s almost done, Ted is about to pass out, running out of energy, and that very same moment, some Forgotten arrive to the scene, misinterpreting everything, thinking Ted is attempting to kill their king. They take Ted away before the king can say a word, and while they’re carrying, Ted finally shuts down. Taking him for dead, the Forgotten decide to throw Ted into “The Pit”, a small gap between the shelves and the back wall of the fridge. When they are about to do so, King Pop shows up (he was able to detach himself after Ted’s effort), and stops them.

After seeing he’s out of battery, he orders The Forgotten to put him inside the bulb, and replace the one from the fridge, with his’. They do so, and after a while, Ted is back to life again. He thanks the king and the Forgotten, who help him put his ship together. Ted opens a hole in the refrigerator’s door, big enough so his spaceship can go through… and after he finishes the hole, the human opens the fridge. Ted says: “Well, that was pointless!”, but still he escapes through the hole. He then returns to the wall and re-attaches his spaceship to it.

THE END.

After the credits, the human closes the refrigerator’s door, sees the hole for the first time and says “What the….”