Meredith Randazzo Thread/Gallery

[Dave]

This is a place holder for Meredith's Content.

[Phrogger]

Here are some sketches I did of Bartok. They are straight from the model sheets- no original poses (yet).

The last page below has my diagram of the dialogue. I'm going to use the shortened clip of Bartok saying, "And we're back to the crushing." I wanted to take it out of the context of the movie, so I'm thinking of having him talking about crushing a walnut or something.

I've bought and downloaded Flipbook Lite. If I like it I might upgrade to studio. So far I've only had problems though. I can't even play my sound file in it. Very frustrating.

Also, I will do my best to participate in the forum and make a few comments- but I'm taking another class and it makes my schedule kinda tight. I apologize in advance!


http://www.donbluthanimation.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=263&pictureid=1225

http://www.donbluthanimation.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=263&pictureid=1226

http://www.donbluthanimation.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=263&pictureid=1227

[Richard Willimot]

I think it's great to put your own spin on the dialogue Meredith,I'm doing that as well. Really nice studies. If you want I can try and give you some help with flipbook,I'm no pro but have been using it a while.

[zanekohler]

It's great to see your sketches. Looking great! Been chiseling away at them as well so it is neat to get another take on them.

[feliceworkshop]

hey Merdith!...love your sketches, brilliant work as usual!....
R U using Bartok's dialogue? ("..and we're back to the crushing...sir I'm begging you..") if so you can take a look in the X-sheet in my gallery.... as far as for the beats you can still figure out that by yourself but at least you have an idea in what frame the letters are supposed to be... I used Maya to scrub through the dialogue and figure out the letter position on the X-sheet.
Also if it is a matter of putting together the dialogue with your animation ....if you'll e-mail me the quicktime or the jpg. images I will put together the animation with the sound for you.

[Rodney]

You've captured the character. :)

His ability to fly (or defy gravity) really adds to the possibilities.
Those wings really help to get some variety of straights versus curves in there as well. That aspect alone makes me (almost) wish I'd picked him versus Winnie. I've got a thing for Winnie though...

Looking forward to your next posting!

[jeremyhopkins]

Bartok is tough and did pretty darn good structure drawings of him. Before diving in head on, I'll need to do that as well. Again good head & structural analysis. Great to see!

[NateHorsfall]

Those are crazy accurate drawings, Meredith. So all I can say is great job! Looking forward to more!

[Phrogger]

A few original poses and my thumbnails.

I wanted to do something out of context so I didn't accidentally copy the original scene...so Bartok is trying to crack a nut. He started with a nutcracker and then went with a propane torch...since that failed to make a dent it's "back to the crushing."

I have some doubts about this interpretation. The sound snippet seems too short. I added some pantomime/action at the beginning to make the scene a little longer...since I'm not sure about getting that whole part done I figured I'd start with the dialogue and then do the action preceding it afterwards.

What do you think of this idea? How about the pantomime with the dialogue? It seems rather simplistic- he moves his hand and turns his head. And maybe the action, short as it is, is too ambitious? He'll need to lift the goggles, turn off the torch and stand. Any suggestions to make this better are appreciated.


http://www.donbluthanimation.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=263&pictureid=1233

http://www.donbluthanimation.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=244&pictureid=1234

[Rodney]

hehe. Great fun Meredith.
That drawing of Bartok with the propan torch made me laugh out loud.
Very expressive!

[Phrogger]

Alright, big upload. Here's the thumbnails now numbered with a frame number, along with my X-sheets. After seeing that all of this takes up 6 x-sheets and is about 10 seconds long (at least), it's clear I won't be able to do all of this during the workshop. So what I'm going to do is focus on the dialogue starting at frame 192 and animate all of it out to the end at frame 235. That seems manageable. I can work out the timing on the other frames with the extremes, and go back and animate those after the workshop. But I really want to get the dialogue down.

I copied the dialogue timing off of the x-sheet that Dave provided. If I did not have those, I guess I would just listen through the dialogue on Flipbook and mark which syllables fell on which frame. Is that the right way to do it? How was it done before the days of the home computer, back at Disney or Bluth Studios?

http://www.donbluthanimation.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=272&pictureid=1239

http://www.donbluthanimation.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=272&pictureid=1240

http://www.donbluthanimation.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=272&pictureid=1241

http://www.donbluthanimation.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=272&pictureid=1242

[Phrogger]

(continued from previous post)

http://www.donbluthanimation.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=272&pictureid=1243

http://www.donbluthanimation.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=273&pictureid=1244

http://www.donbluthanimation.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=273&pictureid=1245

[feliceworkshop]

Hey Meredith!.. I dig the goggles on Bartok and the whole idea of him trying to force open a nut with a torch-blower is pretty hilarious. I like that you actually marked down on your X-sheet how many feet of footage you are going to animate... I've totally forgot to do that on mine....
I don't have much to say except that the ending your animation it's a bit light... it just a falls a bit short compared with what you have going on at the beginning..... perhaps if you look for stronger poses when he goes: "..and we're back to the crushing..", that would help?

[Phrogger]

Here's my revised pass at it. The acting is going to be hard enough, so I'm keeping it much shorter than my original plan- just 65 frames. I might or might not add the goggles. Please let me know what needs improvement!


http://donbluthanimation.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=273&pictureid=1253

http://donbluthanimation.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=273&pictureid=1251

http://donbluthanimation.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=273&pictureid=1252

[jeremyhopkins]

Very nicely drawn and how you simplified your golden poses and it feels to me like you've hit the right extremes. Only tiny suggestion I can offer is maybe to think about switching drawing 33 and drawing 16. When I act it out, I raise on And and sink down on back. Actually it's more like a pendulum action where there's several small back and forth rocking motions. The dialogue is very contained but I think if 33 is switched with 16, it can be pushed a bit more so you can get a nice subtle reverse curve in the spine. Excellent work by the way!

[Rodney]

Only tiny suggestion I can offer is maybe to think about switching drawing 33 and drawing 16. When I act it out, I raise on And and sink down on back. Actually it's more like a pendulum action where there's several small back and forth rocking motions. The dialogue is very contained but I think if 33 is switched with 16, it can be pushed a bit more so you can get a nice subtle reverse curve in the spine.

If I'm interpreting the suggested change here correctly I'd say reversing those two drawings would make the current 33 (new frame 16) an anticipation pose for the current 16 (new frame 33). There is something problematic about that suggested change but I can't quite put my finger on it.

I can see this working both ways but it may be the wide open mouth on 33 that makes me think it works well with the emphasis on the A in 'Back'.

In Meredith's drawings I see frames 1, 33 and 66 as the (current) golden poses with frame 16 as only an anticipation of 33.

Not sure of my interpretation here...

[Phrogger]

Thanks for the suggestions, guys. I was in the seminar today and it looks like Don's not going to look at these until Saturday, so we'll see how that goes. I hope more people will post their art though, I like seeing what other people are doing!

[jeremyhopkins]

In Meredith's drawings I see frames 1, 33 and 66 as the (current) golden poses with frame 16 as only an anticipation of 33.


Yeah I should've been more clear. I would recommend keeping the anticipation on f16 and it would mean altering it so that it would be an antic up then down to a pose closer to 53 but working it with smaller poses. I have no idea if that made any sense at all :P and I would agree it's best to get Don's feedback in this case.

[OwenWelsh]

Meredith thanks for your suggestions on my thumbs I'm thinking of making those changes. I really like your new ones by the way. You always make excellent drawings.

[feliceworkshop]

Hey Meredith!.... I really like these new poses! definitely there is a lot of feelings in those facial expressions!... I like what you did with his arms too!... I believe this is a definite improvement over the previous attempt. :)
If you really want me to split hair I would say that his spine in his body looks a bit the same in all four poses, I would add a reverse curve in the spine when Bartok raises up on frame 33 ....just to spice things up!

[Phrogger]

Hey guys. Here's my pencil test on fours.

http://www.donbluthanimation.com/videos.php?showvideo=539

I didn't detail the face because I wanted to get the timing right in the body and ears. Suggestions please?

[NateHorsfall]

Heh, I think your test has the opposite problem than mine. Mine is too much, too fast. yours seems like too slow.. But not too little.

This might be the deal with the 4's, but it all just feels very even at the moment. I frame-by-framed it though, and it actually all looks pretty good. So my suggestion would be to hold his arms inward a bit longer before he goes "back.." which would give it more of a pop and more emphasis for that sound.

And likewise, on the way down.. hold the pose up longer before he goes down on "crushing" with will give it more of a slumped type feel.

But please only take these with a grain of salt, as Don might be perfectly fine with this.. and maybe you can get rid of all the even feel when you move to 2's. Not sure, myself!

[Phrogger]

Great suggestions, Nate! Thank you! Don't think I'll have time to make those corrections by tomorrow, but I really appreciate it!

[OwenWelsh]

Your poses are working Meredith! I think you just need to adjust your timing a little bit on the inbetweens to emphasize your extremes (put more drawings bunched up around your extremes).

[Phrogger]

Hey guys! Very helpful suggestions on that last pass. Here's my revision.

http://www.donbluthanimation.com/videos.php?showvideo=555

-I tried to add more "snap" to his hand going up.
-Had his head go down a bit on "crush."
-Added facial details and mouth movements.
-Added an eye roll
-Added walnut to give a place to focus the eyes.

To finish before Saturday:

-Traceback feet to stabilize them
-Add details (warts, hairs, wing membranes)
-Clean up somewhat and get "on-model"

I think I may need another frame or two at the end to make it taper off better. Other suggestions?

This has been a very intimidating project. But very rewarding! I can't wait to do the in-betweens (after the workshop) to see the final product!

[Richard Willimot]

Heya Meredith,thats looking great. It looks like maybe the open mouth pose on "back" might be one or two frames slow,at least to me. You're brave to tackle lipsync, not sure if I'm going to this round.

[NateHorsfall]

you're gonna really blow Don's mind on saturday when he sees this. I guarantee it :)

It's really, really coming together with all that facial expression. eye rolls and everything are great! Like you said about mine, this is getting hard to nitpick, but here we go!

CR-ushing, since it's an extreme, you could probably bend down and squash more. If you look at his body shape between 45 and 49 it's pretty much exactly the same. This probably will look a bit snappy on 4s, but with 2s, that could give it a nice bounce. And since that line is so heavy.. like, he sounds just annoyed saying it, as much of a hard slump you could get in there, would help i think.

Also, you're doing some nice stuff with his left arm(our left), but the right one feels kind of stiff. It's good that it doesn't move around that much, but it sort of gets stuck in the 90 degree bent position and stays there for most of it. When he is about to say his "CRUSHING.." line, I'd start to raise that arm up (mostly from the shoulder) and then as he says the ending line, hit it down on his hips. When ever you do that type of indignant move, your hands always raise up, then land on the hips. Right now they are pretty much sitting where they need to be the whole time, and move over on that final line.

Carry on! :)

[NateHorsfall]

by the way. found this clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72U-m7qAz0s&feature=related

a good reference video pretty much showing everything you'd need to know about bartok in motion..

Jump over to keepvid.com and convert it to a quicktime movie that you can frame by frame :)

[Phrogger]

Hey guys, thanks so much for all your input. Really helped me to see errors and iron things out. This is my final pass on Bartok as I'll be traveling this week and won't be able to scan again before Saturday.. I can see that there are still things to fix, but this has still come a long way in just a few revisions, I think! I will definitely get this down to twos sometime after the class. :D

http://www.donbluthanimation.com/videos.php?showvideo=559

[NateHorsfall]

Great job Meredith! What I think you nailed the best, was getting him on model, with great poses and expressions. nothing over powers anything else. it all works really well together.

Keep on making this look easy :)

[jeremyhopkins]

I see why Don is so impressed with your work. I've seen other people who work in a similar manner and they end up being the most valuable people in production. You listen, learn fast, start with something reasonable & build on it with each test and never make excuses for a mistake. You have an excellent, solid test, and put the polish where it counts this week. Congratulations, you deserve a pat on the back for great work! I'm taking notes :)

[Richard Willimot]

Great Job as always Meredith.

[zanekohler]

Very cool. You can see the difference in the work. Way to push it the extra mile.

[NateHorsfall]

I thought you should know that i was sharing your animation with some guys at work and they really liked it :)

Instant smiles!

[Richard Willimot]

Outstanding as always Meredith.

[Phrogger]

You guys are so nice! Thank you! :) Don't be afraid to throw out more critiques too, I know I can do better!

[feliceworkshop]

You guys are so nice! Thank you! Don't be afraid to throw out more critiques too, I know I can do better!

...there is always room for improvement Meredith, but for the time being allow me to pat you on the shoulder and join the rest of the fellas here on the forum in complimenting you for the great result! Really whimsical animation!..and in the end, isn't entertainment what is all about in this medium?