Class 5: That's a wrap!

Stick a fork in Class 5... it's Done! Surprisingly quick too. I want to say Thank you to my Mentor, Morgan Kelly, for showing us some awesome tips on acting and subtlety. That class was a great learning experience.

As for my shot, I still have a some polishing here and there, but it's just about done. I think the one major thing I've learned from this class is the importance of micro-expressions and the little subtle acting choices that make your shot stand out from the crowd. I see it as the icing on the cake, the cherry on top or the olive oil on the hummus... it just makes it so much more tastier then the average shot.

Anyway, this is a double header of a post since I've been falling behind. First, my class 4 progress reel:



And! the class 5 progress reel:



I can't tell you how much I've learned in the past two classes. And I can't wait to find out what next on the horizon for class 6. So very excited!!!

Second Splining Pass

Note to self... Acting is HARD! Here is the second pass of my monologue shot. If you can tell, I've changed up the beginning a bit. I've also made a more refined pass of the eye's and hands, which surprisingly are fun to animate. I still have a good amount to work on and... some pretty big changes. "So much time and so little to do."



Also, the final hand pose for the term.

Surprised:

First Spline Pass... uuuuugh

Here is the first spline pass of my monologue shot. As you can see, I know how to make mashed potatoes! because this looks like mush :) Granted, I only had about three days to push this out since I was having an AWESOME time in San Francisco, but no excuses. Hopefully next week I will have a tighter pass... let's hope.



And just for the heck of it, Hand poses. (Along side our animation, we need to do hand poses demonstrating certain emotions.)

Anger:


Relaxed:

ReBlock

Next pass at my monologue shot. I changed up the camera a bit to frame the bug a little better. Also added a few more breakdowns and tweaked some poses. Next pass... I'm hoping... is going to be splined out. We will see.

You aren't Privy... Blocking

Well, it wasn't easy, but I made my decision on what dialog clip I'm going to animate to. I should of known which one I was going to go with since it was the funnest clip to shoot reference for. So much fun, I'm posting it on my blog.... how embarrassing.

Warning: If your offended by foul language... then go away!



It was a blast and it was the last dialog clip I shot reference for... go figure.

Translating it to animation was just as fun. This is my first blocking pass.



I still have a long ways to go, but it's getting there.

Final! For Now!

Well, here is the final for "It's Alive!!!" I've learned a tone from this one assignment and I feel that I've jumped leaps and bounds from my last shot. The whole goal was to explore more subtle and naturalistic acting and I feel I'm moving in the right direction. It's not perfect and there is plenty for me to work on, (which I will probably be doing on and off) but it's approved by Mentor, for now. Time for Dialog!

It's Alive!!! from Chris Silva on Vimeo.

Side Note: Got to give props to my buddy James O'Neill for hooking me up with this sweet render. Thanks Dude!

Almost there!

Here is the next pass of my shot. I would call it refining/polishing. I still have a lot of work to do (tracking my arcs, cleaning up the keys, tweaking the timing, adding all the nuances until I can't take it anymore.) But, I'm almost there...I think.

Pantomime Assignment: Blocking

Hey Guys,

Here is my blocking pass. Basically a rough pass at timing and posing with breakdowns and a few inbetweens. Next week, I will have a re-blocking pass, moving into refining. Thanks for stopping by.

ACTING!!!

Hey Everyone,

I'm going to make this a work in progress blog again. So, first off, My mentor is Melanie Cordan and she is..... AWESOME! I feel very fortunate to have a mentor that has a wide variety of experience. Also, she has to be one of the most enthusiastic mentor's I've had at AM and it's terrific. Her energy is threw the roof and it really feels like she want's to push our stuff to the next level. So Excited!

Second, Here is my planning for my first assignment, "It's ALIVE!" The whole point of this exercise is to develop two distinctive emotional beats in a shot. Also, keep it simple and focus on the acting. I had gone threw a range of idea's and came up with these two. After a lot of help from my mentors and my peers I decided to go with the first idea on the video. I felt it had the best contrast in emotions and it would allow me to play with subtle animation, something I haven't explored yet.



Next week, Blocking!