Spring 2023 Senior Project Animatic Version 2
Working Title: Stabbing
This week was focused on creating the second version of my animatic, as well as building the shot list, setting up my weekly schedule for the rest of the semester, and choosing the rigs that I will be using.
Animatic Version 2
For this second version of the animatic I mostly focused on changing the beginning and the ending of the story, since those were the most impactful parts to the story with the most to adjust based on the feedback I got (including clarifying that the current title is indeed the working title).
Rig Decisions
As I've been working on my animatic, I've been figuring out what rigs I will be using and what modifications I'll need to be making to them. The rigs will definitely be one of my biggest challenges, I have several rigs to manage all with unique modifications, and if I don't manage to complete them according to my weekly schedule they'll become my biggest bottleneck. However, they are essential to the story because well they're the focus of the story, but also because their modifications will indicate the passage of time since this story takes place over several years.
Henry
These are the two main rigs I'm planning on using for the main character Henry. The rig on the left will be the adult version of Henry, which is Sam by Gabriel Salas, however I am having issues obtaining this rig so I might end up going with a different rig. The rig on the right is the Kyle mod of the Kayla rig by fRigging Awesome Studios. This rig will be used as the child version of Henry in the first few scenes of my film, and he has an age slider that makes him taller that I will most likely utilize. I will be changing his hair and eye color, removing his glasses, and changing his clothing to fencing whites.
For the adult version of Henry, depending on how I use Kyle's age slider and how effectively it comes across in the film, I might use the default Sam and a modified older Sam. If Kyle's age slider works well I'll used the aged Kyle for the intermediate age, and the default Sam for the older age.
If I use both Sam's they have fencing whites, but the older version will also have casual clothes with his coaches jacket for the final shot. I'll add some gray hairs and very subtle eye bags to the aged version as well. I am currently experimenting whether or not those will be added through geometry or through textures, but adding them through textures seems to be the safest route at the moment.
Stevie
I technically need three ages of the coach Stevie, but I can make use of just one rig. This rig is Mark by Long Winter Studios. The three ages I need are young adult, middle aged, and older. For young adult I won't need to make any modifications to the rig beyond changing the clothing to fencing whites. The only time I'll use the young adult version is to pose Mark for pictures that are resting against the trophies in shot 6. If I end up running out of time for these pictures I'll just draw them instead since they're going to be fairly small, so as long as the person holding the trophies in the pictures are clearly Stevie then those will be good enough.
As he appears in the story, he'll be middle aged. So he's got some gray hairs, some bags under his eyes, some subtle crows feet; just enough to indicate age but not enough to be seen as old. Later in the film as both he and Henry have aged, Stevie will have a full head of gray hair and more prominent wrinkles. The only clothing he'll need for both of these ages is his casual outfit with his signature jacket, adorned with patches from tournaments he fenced in years ago.
What's Next
I have a lot planned for this upcoming week, which will be a challenge because, rather thematically, I have a fencing tournament I am both running and competing in this upcoming weekend. Even though that will take a lot of my time I can't let that make me fall behind at such a crucial point for ensuring I start this project in a timely manner.
For this next week I plan on completing my 3rd version of my animatic, which I doubt will be the final version. My goal is for the 4th or 5th version to be locked in.
The basic modifications to my rigs will be made, specifically the wrinkles and recolorings. I will either find or create the models and rigs of a fencing mask and sword.
Reference footage for specific shots that I outlined in my weekly schedule will be filmed, and I will begin blocking together the fencing club and the first tournament environments, focusing on on composition rather than assets first.
