So, in the factory's stead, I'm trying to decide between an indoor swimming pool or a well in the middle of a forest. Opinions/votes?
Swimming pool problems:
-swimming pools are huge. This may make some shots (which I have been framing with a well) difficult
-The perspective shot with the tiny dragon filling the frame might be harder to sell with the swimming pool. I'd have to use a really wide angle lense really close up, and there will probably be major distortion problems.
-Swimming pool caustics (shudder)
-no well ledge to place the box and ingredients. This seems trivial but it makes the animation so much more complicated. The action of placing a box on the floor requires a much keener sense of weight than merely placing it on a waist-high ledge. Same thing for picking up objects from the floor versus a ledge.
-Honestly, I find a dragon coming out of a swimming pool much more incongruous than a dragon coming out of a well.
Forest and well problems:
-first and foremost, the forest itself! I will have to model and texture trees, which I really really don't want to do.
-the ground: brush and rocks and dirt. More modeling that I don't want to do. On the other hand, it would be nice to have a little forest set that could be reused
-leaves rustling. The leaves on trees are never stationary, and that would all have to be animated. And before anyone mentions it, massive amounts of paint effects up close is a bad idea unless you don't mind your project looking like a video game. Actually, maybe I want my backgrounds to look like video game backgrounds. Who knows.
-the well is still just as anachronistic as it was five weeks ago. So make him a farmboy instead. Uncle Joe came in from the big city and dropped off some cool science magazines and Little Billy decided to order the Dragon kit.
-Light goes out scene. I'm thinking that I'll use a single light on a pole, maybe a telephone pole, that flickers, goes out, and comes back on. The scene will obviously be at night, no moon / new moon, maybe some stars.
4 comments:
I really like the idea of the forest...It seems a lot more mystical than a swimming pool. It also seems like a more practical place because in children’s books dragons usually seem to live in a haunted forest.
Jon - I think the well is better than the swimming pool too. It feels more of the dragon world. What's funny is that a dragon of course couldn't fit in a well. But we may not question that if the directios say 'find a well.' It could just be in his backyard if he lives in the country. Perhaps its old and overgrown with roots or something?
I agree that the forest would be a good setting for the story rather than a pool in a factory....it has that Lord of the Rings feel. Thought about a trilogy?
Hey Jon,
I really like the forest also. What if the kid brings a flashlight with him and that's one of the lgihts that go out? If not, I think your idea of a light pole would work. As for the difficulty in modeling a forest, you'll be focusing mostly on your boy and the dragon when it comes into the scene, I would simplify your background as much as possible. You know more than I do about that stuff though! Good luck!
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