Hello everyone, last week I took a bit of a break after in progress screenings because I had left several other classes behind. It also gave me a chance to reflect on where I was with the film and what needed to be done still, based on both feedback and my personal feelings about what I can feasibly complete.
Improved Lighting
One of the critiques I received was that it was just too dark in the rendered shots. While I'm not sure I fully agreed with that, I think once the girl has textures on her she will stand out fine, it did raise concerns for the wolf. So I brightened the scene up, and one of my favorite additions was the glow to the painted rocks. This both helps make the scene more interesting from a lighting perspective, as well as pushes the idea she has some form of magic.
An additional thing you'll notice here, there are now bushes. I had the bush asset made a while back but it only appeared at the cliff scene. They were added here to accommodate the new shots which I will talk about.... now.
Crow Gone
So the crow is officially removed from the story. As much as I liked it, it was another character which I would have had to made and animate. To accommodate its removal, the wolf is now stalking the girl from the very beginning.
Updated Shotlist
With the crow being gone, it made it possible to shorten the shotlist by merging and removing the shots it was in with others. The shots are designed to maintain the mood of the other shot, meaning no changes need to be made to the music, while at the same time reducing the amount of animation I need to do.
Some shots, i.e. the aerial view of the cliff, benefited simply by just removing the crow, meaning basically just some atmospheric animation.
Calendar
This is the most current version of the schedule. I made some changes and moved some rendering into the Week 15 wiggle room slot, mostly as a precaution for if I want to push it back so I can have more time for rendering. Spring break is going to be a week of nothing but focusing on my film, so I will be able to crush out a ton of work.
Feedback From Screenings
Aside from the feedback I worked on above, much of it was performance based. Music was very well received but some felt that the shots themselves need to be improved to match the gravity of the music. As the existing animation is early, and the animatic is mid cause I'm not incredible with getting the angles I want, that will definitely be worked on.
Bringing an Animator on the Team
A last note, I want to welcome Cielo onto the team as an animator! She will be animating the shots of the girl running through the forest, as well as the fall from the cliff.
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