Animation

The animation within Once Upon a Time in Leningrad will be undertaken mostly by myself; with James Ensor, and Peter taking over on some of the shots. Out of the 100 plus shots within the film, about 15 will be animated by James and Peter, and the rest by myself. 

I have broken the film up into 8 sequences. Each of these 8 sequences contain a number of shots, and are broken up by what I see as convenient points within the narrative. Each section will be a new scene within Maya, and I will animate each sequence all the way through, with only a few shots being animated separately when it doesn't make sense to include it within the same scene. For example, sequence 3 contains shots 17 to 33, and the majority of these shots will exist within the same Maya scene. However, within this sequence, shot 31 is animated separately, as it contains an abstract view of the Orphan character's imagination, and wouldn't make sense to be animated within this section. 

The animation process has been the most time consuming part of the creation of the film, but is also arguably the most important. Without the animation, I would have no film, so a lot of care has gone into it. I admit that the animation process itself is not one of key strengths, however I have been able to work with the skills I have learnt through my time at university, and create pieces of animation that I am very happy about. 

The Old Man - Walk Cycle 

The Old Man maintains the same walk throughout the whole film, without missing a beat, except when disturbed by the orphan towards the end of the piece. This is a key part of the Old Man's personality; showing he is a sturdy force of nature, who is hard to sway from his desired path. As the walk would remain constant throughout the whole film, I animated it separately, then imported it into the shots it was required. I did this as a way to save time within the animation process, meaning that I did not have to redo the same piece of animation over and over again.

The Crack in the Ice

During the middle, action heavy, section of the film, The Orphan lands onto a frozen fountain, causing a crack in the ice. This crack was created by Thaxnay Kapdee, and similar to the Old Man's walk cycle, was created outside of it's desired sequence. I was then able to import it into it's correct scene, and animate it as desired. The ice within the fountain was circular, but the crack could only be made on a rectangle plain. This at first caused a logistical problem, but I was able to overcome this through the camera work used within the scene, never allowing the rectangle shape to appear within the frame. 

Examples of Character Animation

Rather then putting every shot that I have animated within this blog, I have included just a few examples above. As I have animated all but about 15 of the 100 plus shots within the film, it would be more practical to see the extent of my animation work within the context of the finished film. The examples I have included show a different range of the animation I undertook within the creation of the film, including both character and vehicle animation. All the examples shown are taken from Playblasts within Maya, and do not reflect the overall finish of what the completed film will resemble.

The animation process has brought up new challenges that I have had to face, and is certainly the most animation I have ever had to undertake. I feel that I have been to meet this challenge, and create pieces of animation to be proud of.