Ticking Away

[Sewie]

Dear TVP friends,

For some time now I've been working on a short animated film: "Ticking Away". The whole thing was made with TVP as the main software hub. The animation was all done with TVP. (Paul Schwarz (Furushil on this forum) helped me out immensely at the end and did some high quality animation for the project)
In a couple of months (god willing) this project will be finished and then hopefully it will enter the festival circuit. And after that, who knows...

To start generating some interest I've set up a blog and a Facebook page where I will be sharing rough animation, making of's and news about the project.
I think it would be nice if I could offer a look behind the scenes and show some production work, demonstrating how such a project is made.

I would be very grateful if you could head over and 'like' and or 'share' the FB-page if you can because we can really use the interest.

Here is the Blog: http://ticking-away-film.blogspot.nl/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
And the Facebook page.

Here are some samples from the blog. Much more is on the way.

[Paul Fierlinger]

Hi Michael,

I see a problem with the running cycle because the legs appear to be scissoring. This seems to be partially caused by the position of the shoes in their utmost backward thrust positions. They both end in exactly the same quadrant of the screen; the upper right corner. To lose the scissoring effect you should position the left shoe closer to the center of the screen so that his entire leg would end up viewed from a different angle compared to the right one (directly in the face of the lens) so that the distortion of the length of the leg would become shortened by perspective and not mirror match so much the shape and positioning of the right leg.

Then I see a problem with the way his torso bounces up and down because it drops precisely at the point where it should rise (when either foot is directly under the torso thus lifting the weight it has to carry). I think it would be helpful to suggest the existence of the floor by a little shadow. Once you draw that (it should be on a straight and flat plane) and this will force you to better synchronize the man's torso with his feet.

Lastly, I believe the knees should be tracing an oval track ( somewhat like in pedaling). The way you drew them, each pumps almost like a locomotive's arm; back and forth inside a piston. Again, this contributes to the scissoring effect.

Nice lines though that exude tension within, showing strength and functionality like rods inside reinforced concrete.

Paul

[Sewie]

Thanks for the feedback, Paul.

You are right about the scissoring, I checked the finished animation with cleanups and inbetweens and it bothers me less there (the rough above is sometime timed on 4's, I believe). I moved one foot higher in the finished thing, moving one foot more towards the camera would make the run look lopsided in the perspective of the background.

The 'out of sync-ness' of the torso is intended to make the run look somewhat uncontrolled because that is what this scene asks for.

We'll see if it'll work as I intend in the finished film.

[Fabrice]

It's always nice to put an animation and a face on a forum name.
one question : is it a commissioned film or self-funded film ?

[Paul Fierlinger]

Yes, I had intended to include a caveat that I couldn't find enough control over my frame by frame scrubbing - but forgot.

[Sewie]

It's always nice to put an animation and a face on a forum name.
one question : is it a commissioned film or self-funded film ?

It is initiated by me, I wrote it. After that I put it in for funding at the Dutch Filmfund and a few other subsidized funds here, and they accepted. (But even then you always end up putting in your own money since these subsidies never fully cover 100% of the costs.)

[furushil]

I had the pleasure to work on a small part of this film and I hope that you all get the chance to see it. I cannot wait to see the finished film myself. Michael's work is very elaborate and elegant.

I don't quite understand what the "scissoring" fuss is all about. It looks like he is running and it is believable. In the finished scene it is totally fine with the background. Besides, nobody will look at his shoes anyways but at his head/face.

[2dbert]

That's a lovely look, beautiful drawings and colours. The elegant design is also very much up my street. I'm very much looking forward to seeing the finished thing in motion. Congratulations and good luck!

[Sewie]

Thank you for your kind words, Paul (S).
And you too, 2dbert.

[schwarzgrau]

The few screens already looks great to me. I really like your drawing style. I guess it will take some time to see the finished film, if you just starting to send it to the circle right?

[Sewie]

We are aiming to have it finished by august. So it'll be offered to the festival this summer, I believe.
I'd have to check that with the producer to be sure.

But I'l keep you posted, most likely through the Blog and the FB-page.

[Paul Fierlinger]

I don't quite understand what the "scissoring" fuss is all about. It looks like he is running and it is believable. In the finished scene it is totally fine with the background. Besides, nobody will look at his shoes anyways but at his head/face.

If you are making a film to enter into festivals such things will matter to judges who are usually recruited from the ranks of accomplished professionals. It's a question of personal choice as well and where you want to set your own bar; is it enough to be satisfied with what you can get away with, or do you want to keep raising your bar with each new film as you reach for new heights?

[Sewie]

Still working hard on our project. So please keep checking our blog and facebook page.

And for the final phase we have started a crowdfunding at Cinecrowd.
So check it out, and please donate if you can, and help us finish this project. We offer very nice rewards in return!

[schwarzgrau]

I really like the look of the animation and the theme sounds interesting too, but it would be nice if the video could have english subs, even if I imagine I understand some dutch sentences.

[Sewie]

I understand they are working on the subtitles at the moment.