This shot has been around my head for more than one year. The idea is to practice some complex body mechanics to know how to handle dancing moves for future shots. The journal will be a little incomplete because I didn't record what I do each one of the days but some work in progress will be shown.
Planning: 1h 00min
Final Blocking: 13h and 10min
Final Polish: 17h and 45min
Lighting: 6h and 35min
Total Time: 37h and 30min
BREAKDOWN:
FINAL RENDER:
FINAL POLISH:
FINAL BLOCKING:
REFERENCE:
Day 01-14, February 12 (last day recorded):
From the beginning to the end I worked on the blocking and started to do a first polish pass. I have to spend extra time troubleshooting, so the work-time on the polish push it a little bit higher.
Final Blocking: 13h and 10min
Final Polish: 10h and 55min
Total Time: 24h and 05min
Day 15, April 25:
I worked on the dance shot polish after a while.
Final Blocking: 13h and 10min
Final Polish: 14h and 45min
Total Time: 27h and 55min
Day 16, April 26:
I continue working on the dance shot trying to finishing it. I post it on a facebook group to see if it looks good with the modifications I made to the rig. If it feels odd, I will modify it again to try to make it looks good. Just a pass in the hair, arms, hands and face are left. Lastly, I play a little bit with the lighting and shading to prepare the shot for final render.
Final Blocking: 13h and 10min
Final Polish: 14h and 45min
Lighting: 4h and 00min
Total Time: 31h and 55min
Day 18, April 29:
I do a pass on the right feet and knee. Also I removed the toe bend that was on the toe control. At the end it doesn't look as good.
Final Blocking: 13h and 10min
Final Polish: 15h and 40min
Lighting: 4h and 00min
Total Time: 32h and 50min
Day 19. May 1:
I continue polishing the animation. I only need to modify the arcs of the arms, the hand shapes (if necessary), double check the left feet and the hair. I say "only" but that sounds like a lot!
Final Blocking: 13h and 10min
Final Polish: 16h and 30min
Lighting: 4h and 00min
Total Time: 33h and 40min
Day 20, May 2:
I work polishing the spacing of the arms and the position of the feet. Also I add some poses to the hair. I think I'm almost done, I could keep working on it if I want to but it's basically done.
Final Blocking: 13h and 10min
Final Polish: 17h and 30min
Lighting: 4h and 00min
Total Time: 34h and 40min
Day 21, May 3:
I do the final animation pass of the dance animation and I prepare the file to render. The render will take 7 minutes and a half per frame (which is a lot! in total the render will be 16 hours). Before sending the render I will try a last thing: polish a little bit the hair animation and using maybe another hand pose in some points (also I will double check the facial expression). After that, I will fix one thing about the environment and then I will start to render.
Final Blocking: 13h and 10min
Final Polish: 17h and 45min
Lighting: 4h and 45min
Total Time: 35h and 40min
Day 22, May 6:
I set up the render for the final output. Now it's about waiting for the final render images.
Final Blocking: 13h and 10min
Final Polish: 17h and 45min
Lighting: 5h and 35min
Total Time: 36h and 30min
Day 23, May 7:
I finished the render and I do a quick color correction pass to the shot. Lastly I put it on my reel. It was a very good learning experience in terms of body mechanics and body performance. I learned that it doesn't matter how cool an action may look, it's important to don't lose track of the body mechanics and the performance. Some people thought the animation started as a martial arts piece, and then they became confused after seeing that she was dancing, so for the next time I will take in mind the clarity of the action and how the performance is working in unison with the body mechanics.
Final Blocking: 13h and 10min
Final Polish: 17h and 45min
Lighting: 6h and 35min
Total Time: 37h and 30min
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