3D Storyboard shots

I made a rough 3D model of my pet shop with a sandwich and a computer. Below are shots of it almost like my new beginning of my storyboard. I have added some comments so you can imagine what Remus and the camera would be doing as Remus is obviously missing.
I am thinking of just getting a stock image of a cat and blocking the animation, to give a better idea of whats going to happen.
There is also an animatic version of the shots. Of course missing Remus again.


Remus walks past and goes off screen behind one of the shelving units. He suddenly does a double take, shooting back with a slight skid. His mouth just drops open with his tounge hanging out.

The camera changes to look at the sandwich on the desk and quickly zooms in on it.

In the distance you see Remus licking his lips and stand up like a Meerkat to get a better view. As its zooming back in on him you see him drop and get into a stalking pose, moving his legs slightly to give the wiggling bum about to pounce move.




There are two mistakes in the video above, one being the zooming back in on Remus being too quick as he couldn't do what I discribed in that time and the second being that the first shot is missing.



WHAT HAPPENS BEFORE THIS SCENE

Before this bit I have added a new bit which is showing who Remus is. He is basically proudly and cooly walking past the fish tanks with either 1.the fish scared and hiding 2.following him in the tanks sticking their tounges out or 3.just winking at him.
He then goes past a snake tank and the snake slowly opens one eye until he notices it's Remus and opens both eyes while lifting his head slowly. Remus grins and nods his head slightly as a greeting and then they hi five each other with their tails (obviously with the tank inbetween). (Remus could lift his back half slightly off the ground during this like some people jump when hi fiving).
He then walks past the shelving units and it is the bit above.

The reason I have added this is because when I asked the guy from Pixar about how I can make the audience like my characters more and feel empathy for them he said that a background story or a brief feeling of what and who the character is, is the best way of doing it and how I do when creating stories for Pixar.
The bit with doing the Hi-5 with the tails was actually from a suggestion from Derek who said to get the tail involved as if its a hand. I saw this idea as being anthropomorphic, give the tail something to do, be comical and different.


Here are some reference images of animals Hi fiving. Obviously no snakes but some cats to get an idea how I could do it.

Cat Meow Test

I've been doing tests from reference footage recently and below is one of Remus meowing. Its still in rough shapes at the moment. My next step is to draw my character using the shapes as reference.

Advice for Humans

I forgot to post this up a while ago but its another page from Frostymoon's website but this time its Advice for Humans done in a cats point of view.

Its funny and definitely rules that Remus would give me. Just possibly include claws. Although, he is learning not to use claws... finally!


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Advice for Humans

We all Know that Cats are the kings & Queens of the house, here are some Rules that they wrote for us humans to abide by.

1. If I like it, or dont like it, it's mine.

2. If it's in my mouth/paw/body/next to me, it's mine.

3. If I can take it from you, it's mine.

4. If I had it a little while ago, it's mine.

5. If it's mine, it must never appear to be yours in any way.

6. If I am chewing something up, all the pieces are mine.

7. If it looks like it's mine, or yours it's mine.

8. If I saw it first or last, it's mine.

9. If you are playing/touching/eating/looking at something and you put it down, it automatically becomes mine.

10. If it's broken or tastes yukky, it's yours.


http://www.frostymoon.co.uk/18.html

Thumbnail Animatic Part 1

I have made my thumbnail storyboard into an animatic. Below is the first part of it. For some reason Flash is being awkward with me in any way it can think of. I was planning on finishing the second half in Uni but for some reason it won't open. GRRRR! Any way here is the first half. Bit rubbish as it is just made from thumbnail drawings and I haven't added sound.

Flash also decided to squash it when I exported it too. No idea what is going on with my Flash but at the moment its not happy doing anything I want.

3D or Flash

At the moment I am considering swapping from Flash to 3D Max. This is mainly because I'm not very good at drawing people (hence why I want to be a creature animator). It is also because I think it might be a step up from my inspiration 'Simon's Cat' and possibly quicker.

I discussed this with Tracy and she thought that I should stick with Flash as that's what I've been using and the deadline is getting closer. She did suggest that I talk to some of the other lecturers to see what they think. I still think I will do some tests using it to see if it looks better and makes me feel more confident about my work.

Stalk Test Animation in Flash

Below is a stalk test I did in Flash. If I flip it to go the other way and fix the glitches then I could possibly use it in my animation.

One thing I noticed is that I curved his ears the wrong way to how a cat would actually do it as I did it all off memory and didn't look at my reference images until after. I've learned from my mistake and will make sure I have reference images when I next to a test.

I also didn't finish his stripes so its not a mistake that they vanish from his face half way through. I also didn't get round to doing his spots.

Thumbnail Storyboard

Below is my first thumbnail storyboard for my story.

Road Runner Running Off

As in my story Remus runs off the screen leaving a cloud. In the picture below of Road Runner it shows a few frames of Road Runner running off screen and leaving a cloud as I describe Remus does.