All language subtitles for 03-23 Preproduction and staging

- [Instructor] Before we
learn all the technique

to create the different shots
from the first course teaser,

I would like to talk a bit about how

to plan this kind of production.

Gives you a couple of tricks

that are important regarding staging.

You generally start this kind

of production with a
script, a story to tell.

The script will include
the story and description

of the character and what
happens or you tell this story.

And while a part of the team will work

on the concept art to define
the art style of the film,

you as an animator

will generally be provided
with a storyboard.

I'll teach you how create a storyboard

because this isn't something I usually do.

But depending on the scale of
the studio you're working in

whether you're working
alone or in the big team

you will find the storyboard artists

or you'll be in charge

of doing the storyboard yourself.

The storyboard shows how the
picture has to be framed.

The key moment or beats of the animation,

and information about
the character movement

and the camera movement.

Just imagine it as being a comic,

all the different picture of the same size

that chooses the size of the camera

and that explain what will happen

in your movie or in your shot.

By reading the script
and seeing the storyboard

anyone should be able to
figure what's going to happen

and what the movie will look like.

The storyboard is validated.

You can switch to creating an animatic

it's a shot with music and sound.

That will include the
drawing from the storyboard

but with the right timing

though you can consider

this as being an animated storyboard.

Depending on your
projection level and style

there might be other steps
like pre visualization

but with those element you
are generally good to go

into animating your shots.

A good shot or a good animation

depends on the staging.

Staging is one of the 12
principles of animation.

Staging is the presentation
of any idea in your shot.

It includes a lot of different concept

but to keep it simple,

think of it as making the
action clear and understandable.

So it includes everything
about your animation

whether it's the character movement,

what he's saying if it's
a character speaking

but also the way you move the
camera, you frame everything.

If we take the example of our shot,

we can immediately understand
that we are in the forest.

To guide the viewer that
something will happen

in this specific bush,

I've made it shaking a bit.

We have also animated our character

turning his head in here,

and then there is this
anticipation before it goes away.

The other example is this trailer

for the game Nora I've made in 2018.

The first thing we want to
say is that we are underwater

and we wanna make it a bit mystical

with those luminous and seaweed.

As we go through the surface,

we can see those quality of drops

on the camera lens

selling that we were into the water.

While we could have used
the crab for appeal only

this character is used
for scaling purpose.

This way we can understand
that he's on a pretty big rock

and what will appear
beyond it is even bigger.

Staging is also about composition.

Every shapes tend to drive the
eye toward the center sphere

and on top of this,

this is also the element

with the brightest color
and the strongest contrast.

So basically when you are building a shot

ask yourself all those questions.

Does the composition read well?

Do the audience know where
the animation takes place

and if it matters?, Do we understand

the character motion and feeling?

And do we understand
what is going to happen?

One last example here,

this character have a
very slow breathing motion

and very slow motion in general,

that tells that he is very big.

Also the composition with
this pyramid double shape

shows that he's an important character.

He's currently the King,

and we can see that the light
is also supporting this.

Now look at the anticipation
on the next move.

His whole body is moving
to raise his fist,

again supporting the fact
that the character is very big

and probably very strong.

And it also give a visual anticipation

on the transition toward the next shot.

The fingers are shaking
communicating anger and strength

and the shuttering rocks
just to confirm this.

It's now over loop two
hours quilt or shot.

I want to give you some
tips and some pitfall

you should avoid.

First try to keep your camera
move as realistic as possible

as if it was a physical
camera in the real world

and we will talk about
camera in the next video.

The second thing about camera motion

is to avoid anticipation.

Here the bush moved first,
and then I rotate the camera.

So you have to think

that the camera is catching
up with the action.

It's not predicting the action.

So when our character is
jumping out of the bush

it's like the offset is
not centered in the shot

and then the camera catch up

and center it as being the focus point.

Another very important thing
regarding the readability

of your animation is to make sure

that when you switch from
one shot to the other

there is a continuity in the
motion of your character.

If we have a look to the transition

between the first and second shot,

the character is
disappearing behind the bush,

he's into a lending motion.

So we can think that
during this transition

where he's hidden behind the bush

he's bouncing or jumping another time,

and when he finally reappear to the camera

is currently how ball
making the transition

between the two shots seamless.

On the next one I used a
fading between the two shots.

We generally use these
to tell the audience

that we are changing off environments

where the animation takes place

or that sometime has elapsed.

And this is what I wanted
to communicate here.

And you can see that there
is a slight difference

of lightning between the
previews and current composition

as if we were getting closer to a sunset.

The color are slightly more orangy.

Another thing about this shot

is that I make the birds
appearing once our character

has got through the shot.

As he's in the background

if the bird were appearing first,

that will create a lot of visual noise

and we would lose the
focus on our character.

But they've added those birds on purpose.

Once our character is disappearing,

it tells me to bring some appeal

and keep this shot for a little while.

So is that when I
transition to the last shot

we have the feeling that the character

had the time to climb the tree
and go on the current branch.

Finally here, both the composition

and the direction the birds are flying

focus our attention toward the sun

and the logo cross this line.

So while this course will
focus on the animation

of our character,

the anticipation in the
way our character move

also serve the staging.

And if your goal is to
create your own shots films

for example, staging is very important.

It's like any form of art.

It's about composition,
rhythm, mood, sound

why I put something here and not there.

Staging is here to support the idea

to make it as clear as possible.

To summarize, we have seen that staging

is about clarity of your shot.

Your character behavior
is part of the staging

whether it's through anticipation,

his mood or whatever he has to communicate

the idea behind the shot.

Composition, camera movement, and lighting

are very important to make things clear

both your thought to guide
the eyes of your audience.

Unless it's done on purpose,

try to think of your camera
shot as if it was enrolled

by a real human being or
using real world constraints.

If you are working on multiple shot

make sure that your
transition makes sense.

Blend the motion from
one shot to the other

or use transition whenever
you are switching space

or switching time.

Don't forget it's a creative process

so don't be afraid to experiment.

And when you are working on big project

don't forget to write a script,

create a storyboard or
even create an animatic.

In the next video, we
will talk about the camera

so that you can create your first shot.