Blocking No Mans Land
No mans land is described in war as the area between two trenches. I always find that when I don’t do the planning, I get lost in blocking no mans land, the area between layout and good blocking. The ideas are not that clean and I am basically just searching for something. Lately in dailies I find that most animators seem to work in the step key method of blocking. I am more of an old school blocking guy. I find the good pose once I flesh out the acting and timing. Sometimes this is difficult becasue its more like sculpting. One of these days I do want to try the step key method…. So, what then are the best ways to get out of that no mans land? Here are a few things I tried when I was having issues on a shot recently.
1) The Acting Buddy – Everyone should always have his 5 goto people. The animators, or other people you just trust to give it too you straight and help you make the shot better. Whenever my lovely wife comes to visit, I show her one of my shots and she always has something to say which lets me know that I need to step up the game a bit. As a dancer, she understands physicality and I guess from hanging around me all these years, she can spot lame acting. The point is, get someone who can make you really think about what you are doing.
2) Go back and do the planning you didnt do in the beginning – This is an obvious thing but not many people will take the time to really think about things. Think about the point of the scene, the subtext of the lines and so forth. Do the video and drawing reference. Grab those clips that inspire you.
3) Work on an aspect of the shot which is meditative – Sometimes I will work on an aspect of the shot which I think is working and polish it up a bit, like a head turn, or some facial work. That at least lets me clear things up a bit. It also gives me time to think about the choices I am making for the characters I animate. (acting choices that is)
4) Wipe the slate clean – If the shot is in a state of disrepair, sometimes its just best to start fresh. I always find that I work so much faster when I do it this way. I wont usually start fresh, but the times that I do, I find to be more productive and have a sense of urgency which pushes me.
-Andrew
Andy Leeke
its like you read my mind. im sat here, struggling with some blocking, on a really tight shedule and its all going wrong, and everyone one of those tips is something im either not doing or not doing enough.
thanks for the digital wake up call!
Shiva
I’m curious to know how many animators at pixar actually work on the animation first and fix the poses later, instead of the people who block in step key method, where they pose the character first and work on the animation later.
the problem i usually face when i animate first is that, though i’m pretty sure what i’m going after, it’s usually not clear enough for others to understand whatz going on when in dailies.
Jonathan
I’m glad this post came up. My question is similar to Shivas. When you present a layered animation in dailies, since whole poses usually aren’t there, how does a director give you feedback? Is it very different than feedback on stepped blocking? How does a director decipher the movement if all you have is the root animated (or only a few other controls) while the rest of the body is static?
Bruno
Nice post, thanks doc Andrew. It´s very good to know that the pros go through the same thing, and it´s specially good to know how they go about it. I have realized more then I wanted how important planning is, really get up and video reference then do a few pages of thumbs, dont just settle for the first page, get a few more going, push the poses, by the time you get to maya, things will feel a bit better in animation land.
thanks for the post
Corey
These are great tips.
We need a condensed version for TV animation. Sometimes you don’t have time to do all of this, which is sad :[
Sruli Broocker
Thanks Andrew. I’m always grateful to hear from the pros who don’t necessarily block in stepped mode. I find it a)boring, and b)my timing is always messed up when I go to spline. I would love to see more examples of people blocking in copied pairs . . .but I digress. Great pointers, as I’ve often found myself in the blocking no-mans land.
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