CRAZY RACE

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Diana Kennedy
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CRAZY RACE

Post by Diana Kennedy »

Hi everybody!

I am currently working on a movie called "Crazy Race." It is about a horse race that takes place in the alternate Universe of my comics, Americania, the empire ruled by JFK.
I will post some new bits from time to time.
The movie is done with Anime Studio pro 11. The backgrounds are hand-painted by me.
There are some 3Dmodels incorporated, done by a friend who does them in Carrara.

I am still learning. Any critique is apreciated.

I am also looking for people who are willing to join the adventure by collaborating.

DarthFurby
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Re: CRAZY RACE

Post by DarthFurby »

The alternate reality american empire setting seems like a really fun choice, great potential for satire. John and Jackie are both recognizable, and I loved the indian horse jockey. Nice background art too. I might add a few more sound effects, like crowd cheering and music to pump up the scene, maybe like those classic bugs bunny warner brothers cartoons. Liked it overall!
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Diana Kennedy
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Re: CRAZY RACE

Post by Diana Kennedy »

Thank you darth Furby,

indeed Music has yet to come. I have a composer who is willing to do it, he just waits to have the entire film. Yes, there should be crowd Cheering. will ad that.
chucky
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Re: CRAZY RACE

Post by chucky »

HI Diana.
Could I suggest something to consider that will help the flow of your beautiful looking piece a great deal?
Have a look at your screen direction from shot to shot.
Also look at the eye line.
Your edit will benefit greatly from some attention in that area.

All your art and animation is so carefully done and it would be very simple to put the direction right.
It may mean flipping a couple of shots.

What I mean is that if the horses are travelling from screen left to screen right, then if it followed that way for all the shots where the horses are moving (apart from directly front or rear) then the action would be more compelling and clear. Of course if later in the race they change direction then that is fine as long as the shot's ' hook up' with each other.

The same goes for the Kennedys if John is looking at the horses then try to make the layout clarify that , but most of all it is better to have consistency with his eye line.
If his eyes need to go screen left to see the horse , then make that the rule wherever possible.

Maybe google these topics and look into it, these little rules are the golden rules and should be broken at peril or for good reason.
I hope that wasn't patronising Diana. You are clearly an experience artist and have a good feel for what your are doing, these storyboard/layout tricks however are invaluable so please at least try it out to see what I mean.

Love how it is looking so far though. :D
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Diana Kennedy
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Re: CRAZY RACE

Post by Diana Kennedy »

Thank you very much Chucky, no you are not patronising. I welcome help like this.

I am not sure I understand exactly what you mean - altough I am convinced that you raised a very important topic and I want to adress this issue absolutely. With "shot" you mean a scene?

You may mean that the horse race is from left to right screen but the scene where "Lazy Rocket" (the grey slow horse) comes out of the start box was from right to left what may have created confusion?

John in the first scene wasn't looking at the horses, but you mean, when he does it should be at the eyline (which means ...?)
Yes, I will google your keywords. If there are such all over rules, I have to know them.

I should calrify that the first scene on thois bit is not the real first scene of the movie, there are a couple of scenes prior, where the participating horses are introduced.
chucky
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Re: CRAZY RACE

Post by chucky »

Shots, scenes yes the language has gotten a bit mixed up since many animation companies call what live action established as a shot... a scene.
I prefer 'shot ' as scene has a another meaning traditionally so it really is clearer, no matter what Disney says.
Anyhoo.
I encourage you to pick any decent movie or tv show and watch it with an eye to which direction a character is travelling or looking ( eyes importantly) both through a sequence of shots or indeed the entire movie.
First lets picture a railway track with trains travelling towards each other. It is clear no matter how each train is framed , that they are going toward each other as long as the cameras are always on the same side of the track.
If you go across the train line then shot the second trains shots from the other side then they will look like they are going in the same direction when edited together. One version is a collision, the other a race.
Think of something very involved like the lord of the rings, when you have groups of people travelling to places both over a short time or the length of the movie. It would be very easy to get confused about where they are going or who they are firing arrows at if the screen directions weren't clearly established ( it's confusing enough as it is) first and then loyally adhered to.

Even sport is done similarly ( baring the slow-motion clos ups- but forget about that for now) . The cameras are put down one side of the pitch, otherwise people watching at home would start screaming at the tv' you're running the wrong way!' whenever the edit switched to a camera on the opposite side of the pitch.
In film language this invisible barrier is called 'the line', and if the camera crossed to the wrong side then things start going bad.

Think of your piece a little bit like stage and the front of the stage is an invisible line which the camera doesn't cross ( later on you can get trickier with this rule but just start at this understanding before getting into the loopholes and workarounds.

Screen direction is a simple idea that get complicated quickly when you mess around with it so it is best to keep simple, clarity is more important than fancy footwork.
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Diana Kennedy
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Re: CRAZY RACE

Post by Diana Kennedy »

Well, this helps!
And be sure I will now watch the evening movie today with different eyes! ;)
Ok, let's talk about shots, rather than scenes.

Me bad, I really intended to switch the view, from left to right, once from the view of the spectators and once from the view of someone standing in the middle of the racing field. Now I will just keep the latter, seeing the horses race from left to right.

But of course I can make shots from the front and rear view I guess (you said so ;)

I wasn' really aware of these rules, tough it all sounds logic.

8)
chucky
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Re: CRAZY RACE

Post by chucky »

Great Diana.
I see , the point of view/ POV of the spectators. Yes there's a thing too , when you watch your next film , check that out too.
To convey a POV ( unless you want to hide the identity of the viewer - like in a slasher horror) the observer is generally pictured first, looking , followed by what they are looking at. That establishes a link. In your case you would show a section of the crowd cheering and or pointing towards the horses, before showing their point of view- which doesn't have to be exactly from their eyes but have that relationship. If you go back later to the POV it is not so important as that first time, but still worth considering if it seems to work better. Always try and watch your piece as though you have never seeen it before and try to forget how you want it to feel when you plan the shots/scenes.
Best practice is to thumbnail a rough storyboard and edit that first before you do all the painstaking illustration and animation.
YOu can always ad ' pick up ' shots to clear up after animation but it is fundamental to have at least the basic plan coming together as a coherent and compelling edit before animation, you can then be confident that your idea will work as you intended.
And don't worry, an edit will rarely be perfect first go, that is exactly why studios spend so much time editing storyboards into animatics before the massive task of animating is started.
:D
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Diana Kennedy
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Re: CRAZY RACE

Post by Diana Kennedy »

Ok, I start to getting a deeper insight and make reflections. maybe, the shot where JFK throws the flowers should be also seen from the other side. It would better connect with the previous shot, when we see the presediential lounge from far.
I will change that. should't be too hard to flip the whole elments horizontaly and just rearrange John's hair. I wanted to re-work on the arm-movements , either. It's a bit stiff.

Again, big thanks! It gave me great motivation.
chucky
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Re: CRAZY RACE

Post by chucky »

No worries Diana
Sounds like you already have a good strategy to move forward with , Yay!
Last edited by chucky on Mon Nov 07, 2016 1:51 am, edited 1 time in total.
DarthFurby
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Re: CRAZY RACE

Post by DarthFurby »

Damn those were some good pointers. If I knew half as much as Chucky, I could give half as good feedback!
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Diana Kennedy
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Re: CRAZY RACE

Post by Diana Kennedy »

But your feedback was apreciated, Darth Furby!
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GoChris1
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Re: CRAZY RACE

Post by GoChris1 »

The art directions and overall feel of the project is terrific. Looks very professional, and looks like a crew of people worked on it. Great job!
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Diana Kennedy
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Re: CRAZY RACE

Post by Diana Kennedy »

Thank you very much, Chris.
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Re: CRAZY RACE

Post by kitzeldikatz »

The drawing style is very nice.
The horses coming towards the camera at the start makes it quite dramatic.
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