1996 to 1997 - Traditional 2D animation with CGI backgrounds This was an exercise set by my tutors (at the GCADT Animation course) to make a piece of animation set to music. The tunes were pulled out of a hat and there was no opportunity to back out. I guess this was my first experience of working to a brief, I wasn't a fan of the tune at all at first but I made the best of the situation. This was the first project I storyboarded, animated in full 2D and fully coloured. I used 3D Studio 4 to make the backgrounds move in 3D and I composited the hand drawn animation on top. The backgrounds even dance in time to the music. The character designs weren't that great and I was still feeling my way around as far as comic timing was concerned (it's way off the mark), but it's still a highlight of my back catalogue. I just remember many solid arduous days and nights of manual colouring frame by frame. It wasn't that long a project, so looking back now I'm surprised how much I got done, but I guess the preliminary work was rushed so it balances out. I think it got me a reputation as a "finisher", which helped when I was looking for help on other films. I made it to the screening room on deadline but only just in time, believe me! |
