Making The Visit - Animation

Last night I posted the background image of the snowy landscape for the next shot in the animated movie, The Visit. If you're interested, what I've done this evening is to take my background landscape and cut it in two pieces along the line of the little hill with the path on it. The line goes more or less horizontally across the middle of the image. That makes two images - one with the far away hills, sky and large trees on it, the other with the near ground and path on it. In Adobe Flash, I place the two pictures on different layers. The near ground image goes on the top layer so it stays in front of the background hills. So it looks like a single image again, but now I have my little foreground hill on a different layer than my distant background hills. Then I place an empty layer in my Flash program right between those two image layers. This is where I animate the father walking with little Oksana. So, when I'm finished, it looks as if they are coming up from just behind the little hill close to the viewer. Click the play button above to watch them.

On top of everything I add a few layers of snow. To give the illusion of depth, I make the top or near layers of snow move larger dots at higher speed than the lower layers which should look like snow that's farther away. I also drew a few pine branches and layered them in just behind some of the snow. So there's a quick little shot for our little movie. I'll go in and add some shading and light effects tomorrow so that it all looks just a little bit better.

We're making a fairy tale. What could be better than that?

Making The Visit - Backgrounds

After quite a long break for coffee and ice-cream that's lasted since November 2007, I am picking up the film right where I left off and this is my image for the evening. It's a background for a shot of Oksana's father leading her from home and into the forest. I'll start working on the two characters tomorrow. They will come up over the little knoll and walk toward us.

Here is the latest version of the animation done so far:

Making The Visit - Animation Test

I have added several new shots of Oksana in her room listening to her parents through the door. This is the scene where she realizes all is not well in the household. The first image below is the background painting of Oksana's room. Next is the shot as rendered out of Flash with some darkness added.

The movie has been going slowly for a while now. I simply have not been able to concentrate on it. I'll try a little harder to get through to the finish.





Click the play button below to see these shots added to animation test.

Making The Visit - Animation Test

Slow work isn't it? But here's another shot added to the pile. Oksana closeup looking into her bowl at the dinner table.



Click the play button below to see these shots added to animation test.

Making The Visit - Animation Test

The father has come home and now we fade into a shot of the family at the dinner table. This is a difficult shot because all three people are moving and must work together to convey something. It's a quick shot but it's the first time we see the family together.



Click the play button below to see these shots added to animation test.

Making The Visit - Storyboards

Here are four new shots for the storyboard. Oksana has entered the cabin and moves toward the fireplace. She opens her sack and finds the bread, cheese and matches her father packed for her. She starts a fire and boils a small pot of soup that she makes with bread and water.

I am now using YouTube to host the storyboard as a video file. This should prevent any loading problems for slower connections.






Click the play button below to see these shots added to the storyboard movie.

Making The Visit - Character Animation

Oksana's father comes home and watches her scrub the floor. I am gaining a better feel for how to animate these characters. Notice the little touches of movement I am trying to put in for the father as he takes off his hat and stands there. The body looks alive by adding subtle hand and head movements. The character must always be expressing something. My next task is to add facial expressions to the father for this shot.

Making The Visit - Character Animation

Oksana's mother watches her scrub the floor while eating candy from a bowl. Here is an image from the animation. The shot is composed of multiple layers. The main components of the shot are a background painting of the wall and cupboard, the animated character sitting in the chair, and the table in the foreground.



Here is the background painting.


Here is the initial guide sketch drawn directly in Flash to provide a basic map of the image.


Click the button below to see this shot added to the animation.