Updates

I've been cracking on with the animation recently and have been pretty excited to get a shot out ready for render. Below is some of the stuff I've produced over a couple of days:

Shot 0011

So thi shot is more or less final now. My first shot was purposefully simpler than all the rest of the aniamtion so I could dive right into it in an attempt to churn out the first shot. It's far from glamorous but it does the job it needs to so I can't really complain. Ideally I'd have liked to go into a lot more depth with the fingers and the contact with buttons, and well as getting some really nice movement in the wrists for the typing, but at the end of the day he does look like he's typing which for now is all he needs to be. It might sound like a somewhat careless attitude to be bringing to the process that I've been itching to start, but with deadlines already on the mind there's not a lot of time to be investing into a shot of this calibur when there's a lot more difficult stuff to be getting on with.

Shot 0014

This shot is the real introduction to our intern character, so it's important that I make the right impression with him straight away so that audiences will understand who he is and how he is feeling about bthe situation he is currently in. The diea is that he is struggling to stay awake at his desk after being stuck there for hours and hours after his colleagues have left, because he is the intern and therefore steerotypically swamped with work. He immediately rises from a split second sleep at the beginning of the shot, before look around him and remembering where he is, as he's still thoroughly in 'work mode'. Once he realises that he is alone, he has a moment of self indulgence with a big inhalation slumps forward in his chair with a subtle smile, as if he has almost accepted that he's going to fall asleep again. Well that's the plan at least!

It's still in the early stages yet obviously, as I've just blocked the main keys in as a guideline for working into it further. The timing also needs a bit of refining but it's more or less what I'm planning to do. I'm going to try to work some nice arcs into his head movements, especially on the big inhale/exhale. I think that, providing that bit is nice and smooth, the shot will work quite well.

I think it's going to be a strong way to instroduce the character. Coupled with the eastblishing shots prior to this one, the elements will all hopefully come together to convey to the audience that he is tired and over worked, but still a likeable and relatable character. The shot after this is really the first gag of the film inwhch he falls asleep at his chair and hits his head on the keyboard, which also a shot I am doing so I want to make sure that I set that up well enought so that there is no confusion over what is going on.