Tuesday, September 4, 2012

One Day - THE FILM

Fiiinally! One Day, a film by Joël Corcia, Bung Nguyen, Thomas Reteuna, Bernard Som and myself.
(I haven't actually seen this since we finished! :S)



And here, is my Making Of video n.n



Vimeo lovers can see it HERE
The obligatory 'End of Something' speech is further down the post. There are so many things I could talk about with regards to the film and life in general this past year - buuut I'll just talk mainly about my Animation Process. The rest would be too much for y'all to handle :P
First though, a few images from my character research.

When the animation phase was about to start, I wanted to try something that I thought a) I would be more comfortable with, and b) would potentially save time.

After Project_Gouken I really loved how Flash freed up my rough animation. Coming from an Assistant Animator background, it's easy for me to fall into the habit of trying to do tidy drawings from the get-go when I work with paper. Digitally, I feel so free to do scribbly, rough, nonsensical marks.... using things like the transform tools to really chop and move things about, change the spacing and timing of things in an instant and seeing if it works....
(I know I know.... in the old days they would see the line test only after all the animation had been done u.u Well there's a reason why they were Disney legends and I aint! :D)


Rough & Tie-Down. Don't worry - they came rougher than that :P

The idea was, Rough and Tie-Down the anim in Flash, print out the keys and then clean 'em up and inbetween on paper so that the final images would be like the other team members who were animating traditionally. I did a test with the Clean in Photoshop, and once the line and character were coloured in the style we were going for, there wasn't a way to differentiate between the two methods.

I was actually somewhat relieved at this discovery - for me, more time would be saved (and also a few trees :P)! No printing, no hole-punching, no scanning (all the stuff a Producer would LOVE to hear! :D). It also meant it was easy to take work home too, and when you live 40 minutes away and up 6 flights of stairs, I'd choose a usb key over a pile of paper any day!:P


I know how you feel mate u.u

The Rough animation was my favorite part of the whole production (a bit obvious?) - Unlike every other stage of production, it didn't feel like work at all... It was just fun.... Tie-Down was also cool - I enjoy that phase (even if I didn't want to continue a career in it :P). Clean-Up was a royal pain in the ass however. Thanks Joël u.u

There were no 3D films this year (again. Look for that to change next year!), though there was a film animated entireley in After Effects. Out of the year there was only myself and Tom Law, the Calarts exchange Student, who animated 'tra-digitally'. (His recital from memory of the One Day dialogue to perfection was stuff made of Legend. On which point, you can imagine how many perverse iterations of the dialogue were thrown about our room.... mainly at JJ's expense :3 "Shhh JJ! Don't be ....", "Sorry, do you mind if...").
I think it gets stereotyped a bit by 2D purists, 'Flash' animation... looked down upon. But how can you look at something like Ernest & Celestine and not be wowed by it's beauty...

I think it was in a Glen Keane interview he mentioned how the only reason we have this way of animating on paper today and how the technique (even the style itself!) evolved is because of the constraints they had back when it all started out. Had animation been invented today, it would not be done in the same way....
Don't hate on me just yet! You know I love drawing (you can look at the amount of sketchbooks I fill if you don't believe me), and to see a Milt Kahl line test or even just one frame of his craftmanship is uncomparable to anything you can see today. I pray that it doesn't die out - why can't all the mediums just get along and co-exist!! For me, animating is animating, no matter what medium you're using.


Paper for Layout - Flash for Animation/Tie-Down - Photoshop for Clean. It worked.

The shots were coloured in TVPaint and composited in After Effects. Thank you to everyone who helped with the colouring of the shots - you are all beautiful people.
If you are interested in finding out more about the process to produce animation in this way, feel free to ask any questions n.n



I think our group will be remembered for a few things... one perhaps being the fact we had a tin. Whoever was the last to arrive out of the five of us after 09:45 HAD to put in 1€.
Over the course of the film we accumulated round about 80€ XDD There were a fair few times I was late.... but it just so happend that on those days.. there was always someone later :'D I would RUUUUN if I thought I wasn't gonna make it - more to do with the principal than the money I think (cough cough) - so it turned out to be a good incentive - well, for me at least! I ended up putting in 0€.
I won't name the primary contributor to the 'Group B End of Year Dinner' fund.... But needless to say, we all thank him sincerely for what will be a joyous feast :D


Going to the sound effects studio was awesome fun! So much junk everywhere! :D

Crazy how much can happen in just one year, huh. How much can change. How much you can learn, improve.... and then fail miserably. How often you can feel ecstatically happy and then confused... or worthless. How many people you can meet, get to know, miss out on getting to know, fall for, work well with, work not so well with, help, please and hurt.... and how much your hair can grow.
I'm happy to have shared the experience with everyone at the school. Afterall, it is the people that make a place.

January 2012

It's pretty weird to realise an ambition such as what Gobelins was to me. So happy to have done it, but perhaps more happy to have finished it - to stop having to chase the dream. Don't get me wrong, to have ambitions is a good thing - it pushes you, drives you on.... but once it was over, I felt so light and at least for now, I'm so happy to take pleasure in the little things and just.... be.
Courage to anyone who goes after something they want. You'll need all the courage you can muster.

AND NOW!!

I have some drawings from the Layout phase of the film (obviously I have NO drawings from the animation phase :D) and also some rough scribbles to give away!


If you would like to have a drawing (If you liked the film that much that you want to frame it and put it on your wall... or if you want to sell it for 1€/79p/1.25$ to help pay for the cup of coffee you needed to stay awake through the ¡€#∆µø thing), then all you have to do is the following...
Leave a comment and be sure to include the phrase,
"OH! J'EN VEUX!!"

Anyone who also Embeds the film on their own blog/site/page will get themselves extra bonus goodies.... and a hug voucher..... valid for one year.

Like last time, participants will be put into a draw. Winners will be randomly selected at the end of October and contacted at that time for their address. Artwork will be sent in time for Christmas ;)
Oh and this time around there can be up to 7 winners n.n


And just 'cos I never posted it here..



'Till the Next,
L

Si vous pensez que je vais traduire tout ça, vous êtes fou!! :D Mais, ce que je vais dire, c'est si vous avez des questions par rapport du film, n'hesitez pas de les mettres dans les commentaires!
Et si vous voulez avoire des dessins du film, il faut juste laisser un commentaire avec le phrase, "OH! J'EN VEUX!!". Pour gagner plus, ajoutez le film sur votre propre blog/site aussi. Jour J est le fin Octobre.
Merci et Bisous à vous tous!!



70 comments:

libra bear said...

I haven even digested this yet, just wanted to comment first. Lol. I'll comment properly later :)

Alfredo said...

grate job man!! beatiful animation!!

Kristian said...

What a wonderful piece of cinema mon ami. I truly mean that. We need to see this as a full length feature.
Great work all of you.

Nubian Greene said...

I didn't even read this post yet,I just wanted to say great fantastic job,"Where are you gonna take me tomorrow" I think should have been subtitled in english,as its key to understanding whats happening,I must admit I didn't catch on at first.EXCELLENT job,it had a very "iron giant" feel.Now to actually read this post,lol.

Nubian Greene said...

I forgot to ask,do you have an email I could contact you on? I'd like to ask a few questions.

DSM said...

What color! I like SF from under the steps. Bravo's to you all.

Unknown said...

Oh my... I've no words! Amazing! I share this around the web!

J Lou said...

Aww the setting in the end reminds me of home :') Loved everything about it. Had to watch it twice before watching your "making of," which was awesome!

I really liked the pacing ;) Backgrounds were very nice, and characters really had solid flow in their movements, which I always look forward to in any great animation. It's pretty clever to have that tin while you were all workin on it XD

Toniko said...

GREAT INSIGHT dude! Thanks so much for processing your thoughts. I didn't know that you'd animate things in Flash first, and then clean it up on pencil! I guess Flash tends to be looked down upon because its commonly seen as a cheap tool to make online/ symbol based cartoons, but its clear that flash is capable of so much, especially for rough animation (the only thing I hate about it is how many times its crashed on me during production) and yes, clean up is a huge pain the ass! Especially when going for something lineless and graphic, its a completely different game! Excellent job to you and your teammates!

L Rossi said...

@Wes
There's a lot to digest :'D
Hope your'e hungry :P

@Alfredo
Thank you so much! n.n

@Kristian
Thank you sir!
:D I think that was an issue we had - was the subject really suitable for a short film. We found the idea, then tried to fit it in the time limit (which was 2min30 - so as you see we went over), and we reeeeally had to work to try and get everything across in that time.

@Nubian
Ah cheers man!
I'll take Iron Giant:P
The school put the French version online... there was an English version with subtitles for the French speaking, which in my opinion would have been more accessible for the www.
If it's about the film, you can ask here n.n That way other people can profit from the answers :)
(or is it personal? :P)

@DSM
Thank you kindly!!
I'm glad you like that shot :')
Thomas did a great job with the environments and colour, I agree!! That's why I like working in a team - bringing everyone's talents together n.n

@Claudio
Oh wow, Claudio thank you! I'm glad you liked it that much you want to share it!

@JLou
Thank you Jamie! We'd never been to San Franciso, nor is it mentioned anywhere in the film - so for you to know it's your home town means a lot! :') Thanks!!

@Toniko
Thank you Sir!
Well that was the plan - to rough in Flash, and then clean in pencil, but in the end, I cleaned up in Photoshop :P
I guess each has their own method.... so long as the outcome works I guess! :)

Dana said...

Repasting from the email!


First, why did you choose to cleanup in photoshop rather than TV Paint?
You animated/tied down in flash, exported the keys into photoshop or everything in that shot? Did you use the video layer or regular layers?
And finally what was your process exporting all THAT into TVPaint? Did you color the lines in there too? We just got that program at our school for the first time and I'm excited to use it but it's still such a mystery for me @_@

Thank you! <3 <3

Helen Ström said...

Any drawing for sale ? (before they get too expensive!)
I can I buy some for a Xmas present to someone ?... "Ô I forgot!! "Oh! J'en veux!!!" ... : )))

Lovely, beautiful, great, grand, ENORMe job you've done !! Congratulations!!

Nubian Greene said...

Haha its not personal.Well I just thought it would take up too much room haha.I'll give a lighter version...

I'm interested in where initial ideas came from,and also the shot designs etc. Did you watch any movies to get your inspiration for staging? etc. The shots sync really well I'm just curious as how the teaching style differed from AIB to Gobelin,perhaps you could talk on that,i'm sure its just time + experience.Remake favelados with your new skills :P

A more technical question,how many layers was the very first shot?Looking at the reel,you seem to have gone for all the most complex acting shots.Was that your choice?

L Rossi said...

@Dana
Thanks for the mail!! :))

1)TVPaint is a great program - I mean you just have to look at the Headless Trailer for, 'My Family and The Wolf' to see what it can do.
I also had never used it before - and was much more at ease with PS. Either would have worked...BUT one startling thing you need to know is that in TVPaint, if you make a selection on a drawing and try to move it (i.e you just want to tweak something), the line loses quality, even if it isn't scaled. This can be annoying in many instances u.u

2)First I imported just the Keys. That way they could be cleaned and the model maintained with much more consistency. After the Keys were done, I imported everything all together (i.e keys and rough inbetweens) and then inbetweened the cleans.
All of this being done with Video Layers. So I had one layer for Rough Keys, one for Rough All, one for CLEAN.... and that was it n.n
OH and none of that was timed out. I charted and numbered every drawing in flash and exported it all on ones (one drawing=one frame)....

3)...So I exported the Clean Png sequence from PS, all untimed. Imported that into TVPaint, and using the charts etc, timed it out there :)
Lines were coloured in TVPaint (I'll send you that thing later :3)

If you get the time to, swat up on the program before you need to use it... it'll be worth it in the long run!

Thanks again! :))

@Helen
:D Well the very fact you said the magic phrase means you are in the draw to win yourself one! And at this rate, I don't think you will have much competition :'D
('Someone' a déjà piqué quelques dessins :P)
Merci infinement!!

@Nubian
Initial ideas - oof that was hard. There were many many many. The idea that triggered it all was a story telling exercise. We took a passage from a newspaper and made up a story from that - we came up with a chap who woke up and his house had moved. Simple. We didn't think about that exercise again until all our other ideas for the film had been slated :D
Then it popped back up and we elaborated on it n.n
Of course we looked at film reference - I think our film is shot more like a live action than an animation - so we had a look at lots of dialogue scenes mainly. The rest of the shots came from lots of thumbnailing and many discussions :D

The difference in teaching is particular - we didn't have 'a' teacher. In fact we had many people come in for specific stages of the production - all industry people. There were people for design, storyboard, layout, animation, clean (a lady I worked with on Titeuf :'D), compositing, colour/Bgs, acting.... and so I found this awesome. They wouldn't give lessons - they would give advice to the group (or individual) and were there to specifically answer your questions. I enjoyed having Stéphane St. Foi as our animation intervenant :')

I have no idea how many layers that first shot was :'DD I'll ask Thomas

I don't think it's fair to say I had the most complex acting shots - I think any shot can be deemed difficult.... and that's what we did. We went through all the shots, giving them a difficulty rating of Green (Easy), Yellow (Med), Orange (Hard), and Red (V.Hard). We then split them up as equally as possible, (we all had around 10 shots), but we would say if there were specific shots we really wanted to animate. I was happy with the ones I ended up with n.n'

Ben Ho said...

This is DAMN COOL Mr Rossi! I really loved this! The idea was unique and had a nice sentimental touch at the end. Ticked all the boxes for me! I enjoyed all the mysteries in a short like this and all the details in the shot that could give you clues to whats going on. Its like an episode of Lost haha.
Im tempted to pick your brains about what is happening in the story outside of what we are shown but I think that could spoil the illusion. I think thats whats so successful about this short, you get a sense of the world it's in. Great job!

Patrick Ballesteros said...

Great designs and animation! Looking forward to seeing more in the future.

Yung said...

nice work, man---very impressive! love the behind the scenes stuff.

Ashley Boddy said...

"OH! J'EN VEUX!!"...

What did I just say? Does it mean I win something?

Excellent stuff man. From now on I shall stop referring to you by your old native american name ("Long Hair" Rossi) and give you your new coming of age name...probably something like Laurent "Carbon Footprint" Rossi...or perhaps Laurent "Dalai Lama" Rossi (why can't all mediums just get along!)

And it's been posted on the blog...but you have more visitors than me anyway. I shall be redeeming that one free hug...or does it trade in for a beer. If memory serves Paris was quite pricey on the booze front.

And Photoshop is totes amaze for animation...CS6 upped its game!

'Til the Next!

Helen Ström said...

Who can that 'someone' be? Someone sneaking around taking drawings from you?? :))

libra bear said...

Yep, Ive eaten and I'm full. Might eat a little more later. :) Dude I loved it, I really really loved your making of real, so inspiring. The body of work is amazing,Im proud of you man, and I hope your proud of yourself.

Donna Hyuna Lee said...

I think I saw the film about 10 times now and it's still so beautiful. The feel of the film is great and the animation was superb!

Did you do the animation with the shadowing in order to set up the value or was it colored on top of when you did the coloring? And also, what's a Tie-Down?

L Rossi said...

@Ben
Thanks so much Ben n.n I'm glad you liked it!
I think we managed to convery what was necessary to understand the story - but like you say, there was a lot more that we wanted to say that we didn't have time to show....whether or not that would have made it better, who knows! :P

@Patrick
Thank you very much!
I wonder if I'll ever be part of another short film like this ever again :SS For the time being, I don't think so! :D

@Yung
Thanks dude!
Hope you enjoyed life drawing at least a little tonight! I was amazed how I managed to keep out of harms way, if you know what I mean! :'D

@Ash
:D Literally it's like, 'I want it/some'....
And you are now the second person in the draw! So your odds of winning something are looking good for the mo! :3
I never even knew my native american name! :D But Laurent Dalai Rossi works.
You're not wrong man - it can range from 2.50€ - like 8€. Tonight was 7.50€ :SSS So how about I give the hugs & you can get the beer ;)

@Helen
Je me souviens plus :3

@Wes
Means a lot dude :')
hmmm I wouldn't say I was proud of myself in terms of the work... I don't think anyone is ever 100% happy with what they do.... I'm just happy I was able to get this opportunity and see it through n.n

@Donna
Thank you!
Only 10 times? ;)
Everything was coloured first with the base colours for the characters. The shadows were done after, and were all one tone - the shadow layer was then 'multiplied' so that it merged with the base colours, and then adjusted depending on the shot.
Tie-Down is the phase where you take the rough animation - usually rough drawings made of simple shapes with construction lines, or indeed loose shapes with not a lot of detail - and you put the character on model, adding more detail, volume and intention into the drawing. It can still be somewhat rough, but everything should be there and much more concrete in terms of accuracy in the model and movement.
For instance, if you look at the four images of the man lying on the bed, the 2nd is a rough frame, and the 3rd is a tied-down frame.

Anonymous said...

I did read the whole post XD Just wanted to leave a comment to tell you that this is an amazing film! I found your process very helpful, because I am also looking for a way to save time (not effort–it's almost impossible to save effort in animation, unfortunately).

I'll be following your blog from now on. Keep it on! :D

Chris Cormier said...

Really great stuff, man. I love it! My favorite short films are those with clever, unique concepts that don't pander to the audience and spell everything out. One Day handles that all beautifully. The animation and design are wonderfully crafted, as well. Really superb work!
So to achieve this "line-less" look, you would flood-fill the shapes, and then paint the lines the same colour? It's a fantastic look, and I've wondered how you approach that.
As for your animation process, I think it's great. I prefer pencil on paper, myself, but I definitely fall into the trap of drawing too clean and finished on my first pass, easily getting carried away, and my work suffers for it. It becomes a bit stiff and flat, so I can appreciate you taking the steps that help you break out of that. I'll have to try your method.
I love your making of video, and I appreciate the time you've taken to share such a meaty post, and share so much of your experience, both in the post itself and in your replies to comments.
Awesome work, man! Congratulations!
"OH! J'EN VEUX!!" :)

Dana said...

Thanks so much for answering back : D Im considering now doing cleanup in PS for my film. I guess you just retimed everything when you imported it into AE, that's kinda the same process I did for Kickball. And it wasn't as time consuming as I thought it would be.

Thanks again dude! Always learning from you :')

Dana said...

Oh I guess another question about the PS process, were you able to use onion skinning on the video layer or were you able to flip? One of the things that annoys me about PS is that you can draw a key but it will be there for that one frame and one frame only, unlike Flash where you can make that key hold for multiple frames, which makes flipping and onion skinning easier to handle. Is there a way around that stupidness?

Théo said...

Awesome work, man.
I really mean it. Your short blasted me away, it is so powerful and yet human, sensitive.
The fact that you allow us to see what's behind the movie is fantastic, we can feel the passion, the work, and the pleasure you put into it (and all of your teammates too, great work guys!).
You are truly an inspiration for me, I hope the best for your next projects/jobs, keep up the good work and the magic.
Merci.

OH! J'EN VEUX!!

L Rossi said...

@Ana
Thank you! I hope your projects go well! n.n

@Chris
Hey Chris! Thank you! :')
I'm happy you appreciated what we were going for :D I think it's hard in 4 minutes... but a few people seem to think it works n.n
In TVPaint there is a plugin that can help colour the line based on the underlying solid colours, but it needs retouching after as it's not perfect. Otherwise you can just click the Alpha button at the top and anything you do will only effect what is already there... i.e on the line layer only the line will be affected when you use the 'lasso type colour tool thing' :'D
Otherwise you can do the same thing in Photoshop n.n

@Dana x1
No worries!
No I retimed it in TVPaint - that way you have just to export a sequence from there for colour, line and shadows, and in AE it's more manageable I feel...

@Dana x2
How did you manage it without flipping!!?? :D
You can flip like in Flash... you just either need to edit the keyboard shortcuts, or create ACTIONS.
I did Actions.
Open the actions window and when you create a new action, you press the record button and until you hit stop, it will remember everything you did and assign that to a key. Pretty nifty!

For instance in Layer>Video Layer> You can assign Duplicate Frame, Delete Frame, Insert Blank Frame to a key. In the animation timeline you can assign the Next Frame and Previous Frame to a key.
So in the end, you can flip and add frames etc just like you would do in Flash.

I found though that rather than exporting a png sequence normally, quality was better when done the following way;
In the animation timeline settings, once you're done, 'make layers from frames'. All your frames become individual layers. Then, File>Scripts>Export layers to files.
You will have to rename the files though for it to be recognised as a sequence :S But there is a program you can get for that (I may still have it??)

Shout outs to Kenny Anderson for helping me with all this Photoshop malarkey! n.n

@Théo
Thank you! That's really kind of you :')
I guess in the end there are always some people that won't like it - thats understandable as everyone has different tastes, but that's what makes the world so interesting!
And then there will be people who do like it, and who feel encouraged to push themselves further.
SO many things I've seen have given me the urge to try something new or work harder... and I'm chuffed that something we made has given you the same feeling n.n
Pas de Souci!! Et bien ouej! Pour le moment, c'est certain que tu vas avoir un dessin :P

jsatt83 said...

This is AWESOME!
I can't even begin to imagine how much effort went into this project.
Keep up the great work, Can't wait for your next update!
Jason

Aaron Ludwig said...

Super inspiring stuff. Thanks so much for sharing the film, and the behind-the-scenes too! Always fascinating. OH! J'EN VEUX other people to do the same.

:)

Mauricio Abril said...

Great work! I really enjoyed the film and especially all of the hard work that went into it. It's cool to see you lay out the process a bit for us as well. As someone who's also working on personal projects of a similar nature, it's exciting and inspirational to see something like this transpire. Cheers!

Justin Rodrigues said...

Absolutely beautiful! congrats on such and amazing piece of work my friend. I loved every second of it.

Francis said...

Fantastic stuff man! Really very evocative and I loved the mixed methods in the compositing (if that's right); the water effects, painted coffee, book pages, etc.
Your 'Making of' was good fun again and I love the character designs; no sweat on the digital methods, "[We] know [you] love drawing" too, I was admiring your recent sketchbook pages :]

There must have been times you wished for some 'rien a faire' yourself.
And yes, animation and hair growth, definately a thing!

OH! J'EN VEUX! Mmm... colours.
Great, looking forward to more lines!

Nikhita P. said...

Hi Laurent!

This film has left me speechless. I absolutely loved the concept and it's absolutely wonderful execution. Your animation was so beautiful and I'm glad I got to read so much about your 'making of' in this film! I'm making my short film right now as well and I had a lot of questions regarding this film. The compositor must be really good because the camera, the 3D, the water and the reflections all looks so gorgeous and real, and yet they fit in the movie so well. The bgs and the light is stunning!

Technically I wanted to ask one main thing about cleaning up in TVP - when we outline it in black, how do you manage to change the color of the line? Do you take it to another software? Do you do each part (head, short, pants) on different layers so you can change their colors later?

Also did you take reference in 3D for the character's movements? how did you do the book's page flipping? Is it 3D or after effects? And when the house is moving we see the light of the window flash in different colors on the bg. How is that done?

I'm sorry for asking so many technical questions, my knowledge is very limited in the area and I'm still learning.

Finally, congrats on the film! It has been in suspense for so long and I'm so stunned by the amount of work that must have gone into it. It's absolutely beautiful and I would say it's the best of this year's films. Please congratulate your team on my behalf as well!

Cheers!
Nikhita P.

Frankie Swan said...

i swear i left a comment on this post!arh!
there was a major delay as i was on hols the week you released your film, tho i did have time to catch it when i was in italy.
its Amazing dude, congrats on achieving such a high standard. your hard work ethic is an inspiration.
thanks for the breakdown
this has to be your best post ever!!

L Rossi said...

@jsatt83
Thanks Jason!
Oh... yeah, a fair bit of effort was needed here and there :'D

@Aaron
:D Well played sir!
And thank you!!

@Maurico
Thanks very much! n.n
I'll look forward to seeing your personal projects! All the best with them!! :)

@Justin
Awesome :') Thank yooou!

@Francis
Hey man!
Thanks so much!
I had no part in the compositing :D Thomas managed most of it himself - and Bung and Joel helped out towards the end. But he certainly did a great job and it's amazing how much good compositing can change something *o*

:'D In the early animatics, the guy was an Anglophone, so I did the voice... and at the moment he was going through the Journal, he also said out loud, "Nothing to Do, Nothing to Do".... and it became a bit of a running gag because it was so OTT. The text was enough :')

@Nikhita
Wow first off, I can't thank you enough for your kind words :')
Secondly! I really hope your short film goes well!!
And now onto the questions! :3

In TvPaint, when you have your line layer selected (it can all be on the same layer), you click a button at the top which is called 'Alpha'. Now with your paint tools, select the coulur you want and paint freely over the line - because the Alpha button is highlighted, everything will only effect the line and not go outside of it :) (you may want to duplicate the layer so you have the orginal black line jsut in case)
(If you have scanned your images in on paper, you will need to clean up the scans - there is a process but I don't remember what it's called. If you did your lines digitally however, there's no problem)

We filmed ourselves acting out the shots, each of us taking turns and trying to interpret things differently, and this gave plenty of ideas and reference to help us.

Page flipping was all done in After Effects but I'm afraid I can't help you with that or the Flashing BG.
If you click on the link to Thomas' blog and leave a comment, I'm sure he'll be happy to tell you n.n

Thanks again!!
(and I also saw your post - so you get and extra special draw entry ;))

@Frankie
Italy huh! Awesome! I look forward to seeing all your observational work, of which I'm sure there is a copious amount! ;)
And thank you btw! I'm glad you approve! n.n

______________________________

Helen, Ash, Chris, Théo, Aaron, Francis, Nikhita are all in the draw so far... But there is still pleeenty of time...... :P

Antoine David said...

OH! J'EN VEUX!!

sinon c'est un excellent court! mes félicitation

Bethany Craig said...

Your work is wonderful, truly an inspiration.

Alok said...

Hi man,
This is one of the most beautiful films I have ever seen.! I am completely blown away by the beauty of it. I love everything about it.The story,the animation the amazing backgrounds the character designs and the way they act!! oh my god I cant even stop raving about how awesome it is.!Also Your post was really insightful and was really meaningful.

It must have been so so so much of hard work for you guys to realize this! I know cos I am making this short film myself and its been taking forever!

hope you dont mind but I really wanted to know some stuff.how did you guys sync the film with that wonderful music ? was it all done during post production or did you guys have it planned earlier on so that it accents at the right points as the story unravels? How did you brief the composer ?

What were the things you had in mind when designing the characters?what dd the story call for?

And how do you deal with people working in a team.Especially animation and such when you guys have to match the style of the film ?

Last q.How long did it take to produce those amazing bgs!? And which was personally, the hardest part for you in the whole production and why ?

Man I wish I could just sit down with you guys for coffee and just blurt out all the stuff I am dying to ask.!

hope i didnt ramble too much but,
Thanks a million for this film.Sincere heartfelt congrats(standing applauds) from india.

Alok.

L Rossi said...

@Gribouilli
Merci beaucoup!

@Bethany
Ah thank you! n.n

@Alok
Thanks so much for your comlpiments Alok! :') It means a lot to know that you felt so strongly about our film.
And of course I'll be happy to answer these questions!!

Music - So obviously when working with film and sound, and especially to deadlines, it's important to have the music underway as early as possible. When we had an animatic which was as close to what the final timing would be (there was always going to be tiny modifications to timing - thats a given!), we began speaking to the composer.
We talked about the themes of the film and also gave some reference with regards to how we thought the music would kind of sound... and he went away and began doing his thing, and would send us the first attempts and we would say what we liked/disliked etc. Until we said, yep, that does the job!
So all the music hits the right moments because the composer had the animatic to work with and was able to match his music to the visuals.
Making a film with the music already in place can be a lot harder as the timing is so strict..... but I guess one positive is that you know you won't go over the time limit! :D

Joel handled the character designs. We all love his style and knew that his approach would fit great with the type of story. But because of the nature of what the animation had to be like (having to deal with things in a somewhat 'live action' manner), the characters still had to maintain a solid, volumous feel so that they could turn and act out these things.

Teamwork is fun n.n but of course sometimes hard! :'D
In terms of animation, we had agreed on the style we were going for, and people would always say what they thought about how a shot was looking/should look.
There were a few issues with the concept of 'Team' during the production :'D But I won't go into the nitty gritty! What's important is that the 'Team' pulled through in the end, and that's all that counts n.n

BGs - I don't remember the dates exactly... it took somewhere around 3 months I think for all the Bgs (done by one person)

There were two hard parts for me. The start, and how mentally tiring it was to come up with ideas and how to convey those ideas.
And the end - and having to take on as much work as I could possibly handle to help finish the thing on time :'D

Thanks again Alok!!
And all the best to you and your short film!! Enjoy the experience!

Anonymous said...

OH! J'EN VEUX!!

I really really do want them so badly!! Your film was breathtakingly beautiful, so I had to research everyone involved in it. Such an inspiration! I loved the story (I travel a lot myself and I know the longing of wanting to move on and stay at the same time, so this hit close to home) and fell in love with the style and every single character! I can't get enough of it :)

But I also really enjoyed reading your blog post, which was not only full of many helpful little details but also caught the entire atmosphere of the work and the project and the team. Thanks for sharing this!

A school like gobelins is my dream, and your blog post made me feel a tiny little bit like being there ;) So yes yes, please, J'EN VEUX!!

I found the animation through a twitter post from ColinLevy (guess he should get some free goodies for that ;) ) and I will make sure to spread the word myself!
Thank you!

Jonathan R Apilado said...

"OH! J'EN VEUX!!"

Such a beautiful film! From backgrounds to story. ^^

- Tim Sormin - said...

Love the film. I didn't embed it on my personal site because I try to keep that for stuff that my personal site, but I also blog on another site and posted it there: http://www.kennyroy.com/public/department32.cfm?ID=700

"OH! J'EN VEUX!!"

amencodai said...

hello mr L Rossi!!..congratulation for this great animation!!.. i loved it so much...u inspiring me so much.. just want to ask a few question...

1. how many people in this production from start to finish?...n how long it takes to complete the film?.

2. can u just roughly explain the process (computer software) form character development until the end?....

im happy if u could reply these 2 question...im a newbie n i think i want to go tra-digitally like u guys did!!... i can feel how fun you are in making this animation.. :)..thank you so much!!!

Nölwenn Roberts said...

Hey!! I read everything :)
SuperCoolFilm, Bravo ! Et ton blog est vraiment chouette :D
A bientôt !

Anonymous said...

This... would be one of those rare occasions I would say, "fuck work" just so I could drive home and see this. Cannot wait to watch this when I get home. *booksmarks*

Melissa Ballesteros said...

is so awesome!!!! i love it , geat job !!!

L Rossi said...

@Luisalum
I'm very glad you liked the film... and bonus points for the research effort! n.n It has garnered you a place in the draw!
Thanks for the support, and as for Colin - he needs to say OH! J'EN VEUX XD (but I/we do appreciate the massive amount of people that have reposted the film on their twitters and blogs.... I just don't have enough drawings and money(!) to post them all something :'))
Also, I'm glad you felt something for the guy and the dilemma of knowing when sometimes to move on... is actually to stop :)

@Jonathan
Thank you Sir!! n.n

@Tim
Thank you Tim! n.n and it has indeed been noted! :P

@Amencodai
Hi there!
Well there were 5 of us... but towards the end of the production we needed help for things like colouring and background animation and compositing, and luckily there were some 2nd and 1st years who were on hand to help n.n That was VERY appreciated!

It took 6 months to make (a long 6 months! :D)

In terms of the digital side - the whole animation process was described in the post. There have been some technical questions already answered here in the comments….
Apart from that, I can only say that Pre-Production was a mixture of traditional drawing on paper, and Photoshop….. storyboards, background research… character colours…. these were all done in Photoshop.
Autodesk Maya was used very briefly to create a basic 3d model of the house so as to see how the shape would look, but more importantly to be able to move a camera around inside to come up with interesting camera shots…..
We don't see a lot of the interior…. but the effort was there!

I hope there's enough there to answer your questions! n.n

@Nolwenn
Hey Salut! n.n
Merci! Idem!
Mais quand t'as dit que t'as tout lu, tu veux dire tout le post, ou tout le blog!? :'D
Désolé je pouvais pas venir hier... another thing came up!
A la semaine prochaine!

@CJ
:D Thanks man!! Hope it was worth the bookmark! :3

@Melissa
Thank yoooooou!! n.n

Nicola Coppack said...

Beautiful film and a fantastically inspiring blog post! Thanks for sharing your process and thoughts! =)

Bsom said...

woho la tof de la team ! même pas tu fais tourner ! jte la pique :)

en tout cas il est cool ton post,
bisous mon LL
on svoit bientôt !!!

Claudio Naccari said...

Great short film! I really like the style, the character design and the story, it's very marvelous!
Congratulations to all the staff!

Amy Elsam said...

I'm like... the equivalent of a shaky ass baby foal seeing a stallion in action here. Seriously, LAURENT. Incredible film. Definitely one of my favourites from this year's lot. The final product is super, super inspiring. Thank you so much for sharing your process/experience too! It's great to see how well the Gobelins experience has payed off for you. :D And, uh, yeah, before I forget... OH! J'EN VEUX!! x

Andrea Fernandez said...

Hey Laurent,

the film looks AMAZING! and what a wonderful post... really informative and fresh! Yeah but back to the film WOWOWOW!!!! You guys did an amazing job! It looks beautiful, I have no idea what they do to you guys at that school but whatever it is it works! You guys always produce amazing films!

Marguerite Dumans said...

OH! J'EN VEUX!! OH! J'EN VEUX!! OH! J'EN VEUX!!

Might be too late tho. But I needed to try :D 53 comments already and u said 7 ppl... ahaha. Whatever. I tried before end of october, not that bad ! ;)) Since u know I don't ever post on my blog I forget to check loads of good stuff on others... But see, I'm still following yours and I'm never ever disappointed. aha. Man. You talk loads :) not sure why, but it doesn't take much courage or patience to read u everytime, and its always pretty interesting :)

Still so fan of ur film. U know that already. :P Still so good. I'll pass it on :)

Hope to see u again, one day ;)
Meanwhile, enjoy life ! Take care Laurent !

L Rossi said...

@Nicola
Thank you miss Coppack! n.n

@Bernard
Eh oh BB - la photo était dans le dropbox depuis Février!! XDD
On s'est pas vu beaucoup vendredi :(
Tu était a le premier soirée?? Je suis rentrée après le premier :S
Mais Thomas m'a montré le parti de son corps t'as rasé a le deuxième! :D

@M'ink
Thank you very much! They will all be glad to hear it! n.n

@Amy
Thanks Amy! :')
Hope things are going well for you at Bournemouth! I've missed your posts!!! Any chance of seeing your latest works?? :3

@Andrea
Thanks Andrea!
:'D I could tell you what they did to us, but then I'd have to dispose of you... :3

@Anne
C'est jamais trop tard! Pas tout le monde a dit les mots magique... du coup t'as une chance :P
You don't know why? Does there have to be a reason? :3
When I read other people's blogs, I like to read thoughts and feelings and reasonings behind the work they do... I think it's much more interesting than just posting an amazing picture. And sometimes I read something that I can take something away from...
But then that's just me u.u

Je suis sur on vas se voire bientôt... :) Toi aussi!! Bon courage pour deuxième année!!!!

Michael Plummer said...

I'm glad I clicked on your blog just to see what you've been up to, how did I miss this?! Seriously man, this is fucking awesome. I agree nobody is ever 100% pleased with what they do (and probably shouldn't be, always good to feel the need to do better next time) but you've gotta be close. Well done dude, very impressive set of skills you got there!

P.S. love the walking down the street shot, very natural looking especially the delayed step with his heel.

Unknown said...

Awesome work!

Anonymous said...

"OH! J'EN VEUX!!"

Such a great film. Great job! So inspiring!

Darlene Mapanao said...

The light! It is lovely!! *u* Truly a remarkable film! A unique story and a beautiful execution! I've watched it several times and every time, the paintings, lighting design, sound design, animation, timing- everything! has rendered me speechless and has left me full of inspiration! Also, it was fascinating to watch the process and progression of the concepts and animation. Thank you very much for sharing your fond memories and for taking the time to make a "Making Of" video/post!

"OH! J'EN VEUX!!" :D

Charlotte Cambon said...

Who! c'est tellement intéressant d'avoir ton point de vue sur tout ça, la prod, l'école, la méthode d'anim... C'est cool de partager ton boulot! Et je suis assez d'accord sur le sentiment d'être soulagé d'avoir fini Gobelins, même si on est content d'y avoir étudié
Des bises du Sud!

22h39 said...

Ahh, this film was such a gorgeous sight to behold! I'm only a first-year animation student in Canada, but this really inspires me to achieve this kind of work once I'm completed my program!

Lovely artwork and story. :')

"OH! J'EN VEUX!!"

AinuVinny said...

I'm thrilled by this animation.
It's so amazing! I only wonder how many nights you guys stayed up doing this and how you feel after this.
The landscape are simply AWESOME. The colors, the atmosphere, oh my god, I can't even think in doing something like this.
I'll surely forward this animation and blogs to everyone I know!

Thank you for doing this inspiring things.

"OH! J'EN VEUX!!"

L Rossi said...

@Mick
Dude! Thanks ever so much! Hope all is well in your neck of the woods! Would love to hear how you've been :)
(heh heh happy accident really - I had planned him turning all the way, and was like, this isn't gonna work, I'll just have him turn back the same way - turned out better though I think n.n')

@Octavio
Cheeeers!

@Jake
Thank you sir! Glad you liked it! n.n

@Darlene
:') Thanks so much Darlene! Awesome to hear you watched it over and over again! x)
Happy to know you enjoyed the post too - the pleasure was all mine :P

@Cambocha cha cha
Salut!! n.n
Et merci! Tu sais très bien que on peux parler plus, mais je pensais que j'ai écrit suffisant X')
J’espère que tout vas bien a Valence!! J'aimerai bien entendre/voire ce que tu fais :3
(Je suis sur que c'est 'nice'.... oh, you don't need nice... I mean CHOUETTE!! ;))

@22h39
(:D I looked at the clock and thought it would be awesome if this commented got posted at this time... almost!!)
Thanks so much for your comment! I hope your course goes well in Canada!! You've chosen a very exciting career path! n.n

@AinuVinny
Wow thanks man! That's so cool of you! n.n
Yeah, towards the end there were some late nighters :D It was kinda fun though - A couple of us are big basketball fans, so working late, we would have the NBA playoffs on in the background ('cos of the time difference between the States and Europe it was like 2am-5am).... and working alongside someone that late always helps keep you motivated n.n

chromasketch said...

lovely film.. i really enjoyed it.. and... OH! J'EN VEUX!!

eré said...

I hope I still have time to participate in the draw. I felt in love with this movie, everything is amazing. The colors, the background, the animation. I would love to have one of your drawings. OH! J'EN VEUX!!

L Rossi said...

@Chromasketch
Thanks! n.n

@ere
Hey thanks for the nice words!
...
But unfortunately you missed out on the draw by only a few hours!! :S
Sorryyyyy!

eré said...

Bad for me... I read in the blog that the draw will happen in the end of October but waited to much... Maybe next time... Keep the amazing work!

L Rossi said...

I'm waiting for the last remaining winners of the competition to send me their mailing addresses....

ASH
AINUVINNY
LUISALEM
JONATHAN
ALOK

to OneDayLeFilm@gmail.com

Appologies to those who have already sent me their address - I'll send out the drawings once I have everyone's so I can do it in one go.

Ricky Cometa said...

Congrats on an incredible film! I love your work!

Yuliya Stone said...

Amazing amazing film! I saw it by chance today and couldn't find the creators..until now!
You are an awesome inspiration and all the commentary on the process is really helping me out. (since Gobelins changed the application specs this year to include developmental animation work as well..)
Keep up the amazing creativity!
Cheers from Canada