*Disclaimer*
I am NOT the authority on animation, nor do I think I am. What I'm trying to do with these "observations" is learn from them. Yeah, some of these might make you say, "well, duh...who doesn't know that?". Sometimes they make me say that, too. But being able to type them out and put them in a cohesive paragraph will help me to remember them and incorporate them into my own work more. Hopefully it will stimulate a discussion as well, maybe you think something different? Tell me! I'm always open to different theories. I'm here to learn and absorb as much of this medium as I can.
*Disclaimer*
These days everything I read on the internet is "pose to pose animation".
Pose to pose this and Pose to pose that. Always start your animation with posing,
posing, posing, posing, posing.....you get the point. And while I'm not arguing
that you need strong posing in your animation, I think alot of people stop there.
I know I've been guilty of it. I get done with a performance, but what I see is
this figure hitting poses at certain times.....there's no life to it. No train
of thought, it's like the character's hitting cues. And while
I've checked all my arcs and made sure I have moving holds and looked at everything
else there's still something that's missing. I think it's a piece of
the puzzle that I've been missing this whole time....no one "hits" poses in real
life. I was talking to a fellow animator about this. He had done an animation
and one of the comments he got was that he needed to offset his posing. I had
no idea what that was. I thought you had poses, you hit them and then moved on
to the next pose. But if you start to offset things...have one arm hit the pose later, have the pelvis lead a gesture, while the head stays behind a few frames,you start to get a little life into the animation. I think this helps communicatea thought process to the audience and keeps the character moving, even if he's standing still. Looking back at The Incredibles
I hardly see "poses", but I feel their performance. Now I know some shots are
full of poses, like when Mrs. Incredible drops on top of the monorail buggy,
she holds that pose, and it's a great shot. But in alot of the shots the poses weren't as
easy to pick out, and I think that's part of what puts Pixar's animation on top of others.
Another quality I've noticed in the Incredibles is how much the characters DON'T move....but
I'll get into that later.
G
Here's the full sign from The Astro Motel. Near the corner of Sepulveda Blvd and Venice Blvd. I had previously posted just a piece of it. Here it is in all it's glory. And yes, it is open for business as the sign would suggest.
I shot this on sunday. I took a little bit of time and just walked a few blocks along Santa Monica Blvd., snapping photos. This sign has always stuck out as I've driven by, not because it's huge, but because it's got some great character. How long's it been there? What's it seen in that time? Old signs are like old people, over time they gain alot of character, and see alot that us younger people would miss.
*Disclaimer*
We went here for lunch on Tuesday. 
