Wednesday 7 March 2012

Peer Review.

So Monday was DOOMSDAY. Or the Peer Review, what ever you want to call it.

Went into it feeling generally awful, following 3 weeks of basically agonising over storyboards/animatics. None of which I actually showed at the review- that's how bad it got. 

To put it lightly, the problem was basically that I had no idea what the problem was. I knew I wasn't happy with it, but being basically trapped inside your own head with your own idea for so long, it's hard to look at your work with a level head and fresh eyes. I just knew that I didn't want work that I wasn't happy with to be everyone's first impression of the film.

Anyway, the review went surprisingly well considering my initial mood and lack of animatic, and I was soon chirped up by the excitement that comes along with animators hearing an idea for the first time. The group that were in were great, and we had a good chat about where things could go. Mad how people can just come in and look at something in a completely different way!

I'm beginning to ramble now, so let me steer this post in a useful direction! Basic notes from the meeting were as follows!
  • Why is the 2D section in 2D? Same for the 3D scene? Could they be swapped, or mixed?
  • Do the monsters need to be in a "lifelike" style? Couldn't they keep the look of the children's drawings?
  • Why don't you get to see the kids' drawings? Could they be brought in? Animated even?
  • What shortcuts can be taken to minimise 3D workload?
And the classic...
  • Do we need to see the mum? How can we "imply" her?

So yeah. Not entirely topics that hadn't been considered before, but the people present were able to offer up new opinions and ideas for dealing with them.

To be honest, the most valuable thing I have taken from the peer review isn't the ideas that were bounced around, but more the kick it has given me to stay passionate about the film, and keep thinking about how to make it the best it can be. Just what I was needing.


Conclusive, "re-birth of 'Monsters'" post to follow!

Cheers, 
Nikki

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