vimeo password

Because a lot of the videos I am uploading to my Vimeo account are wips and reference, I have decided to have them password protected. This isn't because I'm paranoid of it being traced back to me from the fbi for whatever reason, but it seems like the best way to keep it closed from the public so that it's not open to anyone and everyone who stumbles across it.

The password for all of the videos in this blog is simply


"creativecharacter"


without the speechmarks.

final line test and ed hooks feedback

Here is the completed line test save for a few inbetweens here and there. I have changed the ending somewhat radically after receiving feedback from Ed Hooks the other week, who was here to critique our work. The major character change is that instead of uttering the last lines of dialogue, Mr Bronson puts the box down next to him and then has a moment where he eyes up the pie and goes to have a taste. Whilst I intend to extend the sequence slightly to have him react well to the actually rather tasty pie, I was slightly over the time limit as it was. However this is all with the intended effect to show a slightly warmer side to the character, as this was Ed's major gripe with the piece.

His opinion was that I was making it very hard for the audience to like this character, as he was being somewhat of a characature for anger and bitterness. He certainly had a point, even though the story I had may have made more sense in a larger context. In relation to Up, for example, there are 20 second examples of Carl being a grumpy old git without evidence of a lighter side to his character. The problem I have put myself in, however, is that because there is no screen time available at each end of those 20 seconds for my piece, there is no reason why the audience won't decide that this guy is a nasty swine 100% of the time.

I have left the dialogue intact for now (I may rerecord some of it later on), but I have attempted with this changed ending to show just a little bit of leeway for a good guy, or at least the capacity for a good guy.

As far as the mechanics of the animation, I decided early on that he would be a very stiff character as far as his movement is concerned. However, to avoid the risk of him looking like a robot, I have attempted to add some subtle overlap and secondary animation where necessary. I also tried to get the arcs right so that nothing was too jerky, and I added subtle anticipation squash and stretch when he delivers the line "Here, I made you something".

There still needs to be more inbetweens in the middle section on the way back to the chair, and a more varying use in places, but overall I am pleased with the poses and general movement of the character.

final line test from Philip Askins on Vimeo.

character reference - me acting like a twirp

character reference from Philip Askins on Vimeo.

line test update

Here is an updated iteration of the line test. I have made changes to issues that were brought up in the meetings and made some slight facial tweaks. The character now appears to be better balanced when he is interrupted by the door knock. In the early test it doesn't seem believable that his arm is supporting his body as he is about to sit down. To solve this I have raised him up just a little bit to give a more convincing sense of balance. I have also altered the main facial expressions when delivering the mock voice line ("Here, I made you something"). The combinations of the facial expressions didn't seem to be as appealing as they could be, so I've somewhat exaggerated them for good measure.

cca_line_test_5 from Philip Askins on Vimeo.

early line test

Here is an early line test that I have produced to show for the recent presentation. There were a few issues that were picked up, but the main problem evident in this version is his weight distribution when he is interrupted by the door knock. He also looks towards the door and back far too fast, and there are inconsistencies with the size of his head towards the end, but this can be easily changed.

There are a fair few differences between the animatic and this first pass, most noticeably the fact that he changes the direction he intends to throw the box at the end. This was just so I could get a better anticipation with the arm movement. Also worth mentioning is the way he puts the box down when saying "ah forget it". In the animatic he raises the box up before putting it down when delivering the line; in the line test he puts it down a bit more gently as he seemed a little too angry in the animatic.

cca line test 1 from Philip Askins on Vimeo.

animatic first showing

Not feeling happy with the dialogue I had set up for my initial scene, I decided to rewrite it so that I would have a more appealing scene to animate. I quickly cobbled up an audio file with the voice and makeshift sound effects,  and then proceeded to produce an early animatic for the piece. This was mainly to help me decide on a good composition for the piece, as well as rough in early acting poses to get a feeling for the piece.


cc animatic 1 from Philip Askins on Vimeo.

Reference footage

This is the initial video reference footage we recorded in the studio last week. This was just to give a flavour of what the acting and posing would be like in the finished piece. However, I don't feel too certain about my line of dialogue at the moment so when I come to record the sound the circumstances in the scene may change.


creative character reference from Philip Askins on Vimeo.