Below is my previously-posted vampire shot from last term at Animation Mentor - it still lies unfinished. I will be tackling it this term and attempting to fix the problems that exist with the current animation.
But I think the problem with the shot may lie deeper than how it's animated.
For a start, it's nowhere NEAR as creepy as I initially intended. Whilst I learned a lot in the last term, I found myself almost defaulting back to - as someone pointed out - the "Animation Mentor house style". And the point of having this shot, and a character as unique as Nosferatu (voiced by Christopher Walken) in it, was to do something radically different. Not just a little bit different, as it is now.
Second, there's the helicopter sound effects in the background. The movie is from the 90s, set in the 90s, and that is a helicopter. I thought I could disguise it by having a lot of bats flying out at the start of the scene, and that's still a possibility, though I worry it will be distracting.
Third there's the timing. This is a major issue. The way I've laid this scene out, Jon (the mortal one) arrives behind Nos and almost surprises him by saying "he's dead?" In the source movie, Walken's character is having a discussion with the other character, so is anticipating a response and delivers his next line quickly. I found there wasn't enough time for Nos to process the question, which I'd have liked.
Timing problems exist later in the piece too. It's not overly clear that Nos was bleeding the dead guy's blood into a goblet, intending to drink it. Then, in solving the riddle, Jon quickly picks up the goblet, confirms his suspicions that blood is in there, and then mutters "'Cause you killed him."
Now I am in Class 6 I am free of the limitations imposed upon me timing- and frame-wise. I can make this piece longer and I can add pauses where necessary. Except it's gonna sound bad, especially with that infernal helicopter in the background.
Original version on Youtube.
Then this idea occurred to me after playing with the 8mm app on my iPhone - do it like the original movie. Almost like it's a lost scene from the original 1922 "Nosferatu". So this is a very first test - done by speeding up the animation 33% (to reflect that Nosferatu was shot at 16fps), inserting the title cards into the shot, and filming the shot as it plays on my iPhone. As it's a first test it's problematic - you can see me reflected in the screen as the title cards come up, and because they're so dark when the animation returns it whites out quite drastically.
Click here to view on Youtube.
I really like this effect, and I'm looking into ways of getting it done properly (without the whiteout, monitor reflections and getting the title cards completely in shot). It solves the issues above too. It adds creepiness, it solves the background noise problem and the timing problem.
There's still quite a lot of animation adjustments to be done, though. I want Nos to offer Jon the goblet, urging him to figure out the riddle, and Jon remains completely stupid and aloof to what's going on until he says "because you killed him" at which point he gets completely terrified.
I'll refine this idea and run it by my mentor before I start work on this shot later this term, as if I use it it will affect my acting choices for the areas I re-do. I'd also like to get Nos closer to Max Schreck's original portrayal of him - I think I watered it down too much.
I wonder how this kind of thing would play out on a showreel?
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