Trial and Error

6/1/07
Today I've been truly experiencing the idea of iterative development! Whilst it is always good to try things yourself, it can also be a tad frustrating. After spending 3 or 4 days trying to work out how to cut different takes together, I got it to a reasonable point today. However, Antics is still a bit messy and often overlaps certain actions in each take. So I end up moving these around with the inherent problems that causes (think about moving the action of somebody walking to which you have already added 6 sounds of footsteps. They are not connected and now you have to move all of them separately.)

I also find that Antics is inconsistent in where it wants to place objects and people once you start pasting different takes together. In my mind I see blocking as the answer to this. IE have a specific starting position for everybody and everything saved as a pose which you can "snap to" at the start of that part of the take.

With all the to-ing and fro-ing I decided that although it is possible to create a third take from 2 existing takes I would just start from scratch. So now my process looks like:

- Create all the separate script sets in one Antics set - so imagine multiple rooms in a large studio and you get the picture
- At this stage I am using basic dressing
- I then intend to add props (incl cameras), and play around with non-recorded animation to ensure I have the right dimensions, etc
- Once happy, create all the poses necessary
- Then move to animation recording the action in one massive take
- The beginning of each section will require "snap to blocking" which should move characters from one room to another instantaneously!

This is my plan! However, I've only just created the hallway and so have a lot of set building to do before I get to placing people in each scene. I'm sure there will be more learning as this moves on. Hopefully, I can apply what I have learned so far and make it quick.

This bears out already as building the hallway the third time around was quicker! Second time around left Miles with so many options of what doors to go through that he ended up walking through walls!

To get more immediate feedback, I could build a set and then animate, build the next, animate. However, I am worried about what Antics starts to do when you move back and forward between set construction and the timeline. They recommend doing it in blocks so I am going to follow that. It just prolongs the fun bit! I realise what my directing book was saying when Hitchcock is quoted as saying he would keep directors away from a camera for 2 years!

So back to where I started: the frustration comes in feeling your way though things. It's the best learning, I know, but to have a better starting point (based on other people's knowledge) just might help speed up the process. Fortunately, the Shot by Shot book arrived today so this will form a formal part of my learning. I'm thinking 10-20 pages a day combined with animation, but we'll see. In a way, what I am doing now will be me before that learning but if I read it alongside, it will be a combo. In the intro, he talks about making a film hands on as the best learning. So hopefully I am getting the best of both worlds.

I guess ultimately (but time will show) I would just create separate scenes and takes, export separate avi's and then edit them together in Adobe making a lot of my fiddling around irrelevant. BUT, there is still the learning and fiddling with Adobe which I can avoid for now.

Wow, I never expected it to be so in depth, but this is the challenge I was after. Keep having to remind myself that I am in the conscious incompetence stage so my motivation will be low (struggling to get more than a few hours a day proves this). As always, let's see how this progresses.

AFTER THE EVENT
Reviewing this entry today is very interesting! A lot of what I was trying here came to pass and has also been recognised in the new release of Antics, 2.5. Once I get tot the end of the "making of" story of blogs I will return to these key entries and comment on them. That will also facilitate my learning for the next time!