Sunday 1 November 2015

Minor Project: Previz



At just under the four minute mark, my previz has finally materialised fully. I have included areas of minute detail in the characters' actions as visual cues and notes for the animation itself. There is still a lack of audio as the soundtrack is being worked on, though I am interested to see how it translates to the audience since there is also no dialogue.

2 comments:

  1. Hey Josh,

    Lots to enjoy here - and you're clearly working very hard to push this along. Well done, this is the work that counts! I've got a few observations to make for your consideration; the first is that the spatial relationship between the veg and the fridge isn't clear at the moment. It feels as if some shots are missing: the veg are on the edge of the counter that is immediately opposite the fridge door, but the first time we encounter the fridge as the object of the veggies' attention is when we see the dramatic forced perspective shot, which in itself feels a bit odd, because the height of the counter and that shot of the fridge don't seem to make complete spatial sense. I suggest you might need to revisit the introduction of the fridge in terms of sequencing of shots and spatial relations; I don't think it's completely clear yet what the Broccoli is thinking: it feels like it needs to be put together a bit like this:

    1) We see cucumber begin to rot
    2) We see broccoli react
    3) We see cucumber fall apart from B's POV. The cucumber is in middle of shot, so that he's blocking B's view (and audience's view) of fridge on other side of kitchen. Cucumber falls apart - and out of shot - to reveal fridge.
    4) We see b's reaction.
    5) Camera tracks towards fridge and it assumes 'special light'
    6) All veg look at each other; they look at dead cucumber; they run towards fridge, but they stop dead at the edge of the canyon.
    7) We have a 'contra zoom' style effect from the veg perspective as they look downwards...
    8) Camera shows us side view of counter and fridge - it's shot in such a way as to make it look like a vast ravine...
    9) We're shown B thinking - looking across the worktops to figure out the route - we see him plotting the route to the fridge.
    10) The dog arrives etc.
    11) The mission begins...

    There's just something about the set up that's not crystal clear yet, and for my money it's all about the interrelationship between the fridge, the ravine and doing just a bit more to make B's thoughts available to the audience.

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  2. Hi Phil,

    Thanks for the feedback! After countless replays of the piece, I do feel that the explanation of the objective is the weakest/more convoluted part of the narrative. I think I just got slightly wrapped up in the idea of paying homage to 'A Space Odyssey' here, perhaps in fear that I might end up spoon-feeding the audience. Since it's also become a challenge not to glamorize the fridge in any shots between leaving the bag and B's epiphany, this idea feels closer to the reveal I was initially imagining.

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