Sunday, June 27, 2010

ZombieWalk animation clean-rough storyboard

Rough storyboard/leica reel for zombie walk



A quick leica from my story thumbnails to see what works.

Project1 story development

All right then. So this will be more a record, recounting my progress throughout producing material for my demo reel.

The initial goal was to develop a series of three works to comprise the reel.  On choosing animation as my focus, I started sketching/storyboarding ideas for short 10-30 second pieces that would showcase animation principles. To be manageable in the time allotted, the ideas had to be technically feasible, entertaining, and not containing plot points that would lead to over-long story setup sequences or "mushrooming" overall duration.

The first idea - that didn't included cloth or rope - was a good ol' timey zombie walk cycle, utilizing the tried-and-true Norman rig, but modded to my designs.  Now, as it turns out, a zombie walk is a limp/stagger.  The timing/spacing of the quick transfer of weight from the one leg to the other that defines a limp can be a tricksome thing.

I found a nice zombie limp reference example in a short film by Animation Mentor student, Bobby Pontillas:
http://www.animationmentor.com/newsletter/0210/feature_short.html