Mitchell Hammond

Behind the Scenes on that Background

Thought I'd post the raw background frames from the previous shot, I really ought to start posting behind the scenes stuff as I promised at the beginning of this Patreon thing. The floor tiles don't exactly line up but it's not noticeable when the soldier is center frame. The tile screws, crate debris and pachinko balls were added after the fact with the soldier, and these same background frames were re-rendered with a lens blur. 

Finally Animated the Background

Talk about a nightmare. I put all this detail into the background only to blur it all out. I know it happens very quickly but the crescendo will be with the following shot. Better get on it.

Still animating the background

Sorry for the lack of updates, I've really been struggling with the background for this current shot. Originally it was going to be a panoramic back ground (http://imgur.com/a/11XV1) but it didn't convey the feeling of falling so I've gone ahead and attempted to animate the room tilting, which, as you can see in the gif above, it doesn't look quite 100%. It's causing me to go totally insane and try my patience, I'm wondering why I...

Head Shot Drop

Now to draw and animate the background.

Update on the Projects Future

My current day job doesn't have the budget to employ me, so before I had a job back in late 2015 I was put on a program called 'Mainstream' by employment services which pays my wages for two years. By December that program is up and I may be without a job. This animation project will probably reach a hiatus for some time at that point so I don't know what will happen from then on. 

Thought I'd give some transparency on my financial situation.

Head Bangin'

For extra sax; https://youtu.be/Sagg08DrO5U

Last Soldier Scribbles

The perspective will be from behind the soldiers head, almost with the camera rigged to his back, so once the final bullet whizzes through his skull he'll drop toward the floor with the camera tilting with him. What this means is I might have to animate the background, or like I said in the last post, create a diorama giving the illusion of the point of view falling with him. To make things a little easier for myself I'll start with animating the soldier first.

Snaku Slide Complete

Added some pachinko balls for effect, also decided not to animate the gun firing off so much as using a flash so the scene can quickly cut to the death of the final soldier.

This next shot, if it's going to go the way I want, will be a bit ambitious, as I may draw a vertical panorama ...

Snaku Slide Background

Thinking I may animate the soldier taking a deep breath as his body fights to survive, sort of like death rattle. It's weird, when making this project I never intended for any blood or graphic violence, but animating this shoot out I felt like it wouldn't make much sense if there wasn't any. So here I am, animating the dying as they suffer. 

Snaku Slide

Nearly spent an entire day drawing a single frame because it didn't look right, especially Snake's face - a face you barely see for a microsecond. I'm just that kinda guy, obsessive.

Draw me like one of your... Foxhounders?

Changed the pose a little bit, might have him just slide right into the frame.

Dive Land

Title of this post sounds like a theme park. Anyway, here's a thumbnail sketch of the next shot where Snake will finally hit the floor and fire his last shot at the last baddie in this room. For continuity sake, to Snake's right his the corpse of the guy who got shot in the nuts earlier. Still don't know how exactly to get Snake to land properly but with everything I've managed to animate so far I should be able to figure it out. Let's get doodlin'.

Snake Dive Complete

Animating all those little shards of debris was a nightmare, and I'm still not satisfied with the boxes splitting open so i may go back and fix them one day. For now, gotta move on to the next shot.

Swiss Cheese

Gettin' there...

Snake Dive

Will need to make the actual dive quicker by removing a few frames. After this adjustment we'll get to shooting up the crate. Sorry this is taking longer than it ought to.

Crates

Figured out the next few shots. In this one, Snake will dive out from behind the left crates to the right as the front crate is riddled with bullets and the boxes explode on top.

Artist's Block Part II

Almost a week and I can't come up with anything satisfactory for the latest shot. Sorry this is taking longer than it ought to.

On second thought...

... forget about that last post, figured it out. On to the next one.

Artist's Block

Can't lie, there's something about this latest shot that isn't jiving with me and I can't quite pin point it. When situations like this happen it can pull you into a rut. For starters the right foot is what should move forward and not the left because the left leg is firmly planted to the floor serving as balance for the body to lift with the right foot. Maybe my mind will change once all of this is put together but so far I don't feel convinced. Sorry for taking so long with this.

Open Sesame

Thinking about adding some blood trickling from his ear.

Corpse and Door

Update on the next shot. I struggled trying to come up with a composition as I want the audience to get an understanding of the geography, the mise en scène, even in something as quick and dirty as a shootout. In this shot, the door will open and a soldier will raise their gun and begin firing. I may also animate the corpse slowly slouching into the floor with his left elbow bending downward.

Small Turn

Beginning of the shootout sequence I'm currently working on, transitions into the previous shot of the first kill. I'll skip the other shot I mentioned in my last post and keep moving forward.

Insert Shots

I've been thinking that the sequence I'm working on needs better context for why it's happening, in that Snake seems to be coming across as the aggressor and wiping everyone out without reason. Because I want this to play out as swiftly and to the point I'm going to place two shots before it all goes down. 

The first image is the door opening revealing Snake's foot then the second shot is the soldier who spots him quickly turning to his right, transitioning into the shootout. 

...

Nut Shot Complete

Second Death

Now to make the background.

Quick Nut Shot

Not quite finished, still need to kill the other guy and as you can see still need to create the background.

Shot Update

Apologies this is taking a little longer than it should. Having trouble with the soldiers face, even though this shot will at max be only a single second long.

The slaughter continues

Here's a quick thumbnail shot for the next two deaths in the sequence, the one closest to the camera is going to get shot in the nuts and the soldier in back will get it to the face. Let's get killing!

Snake Shooting

I've edited the two shots together with an added flash to the soldiers death. The idea is that Snake shoots him first then turns to shoot the next soldier, it's going to be a sequence comprised of quick edits so it'll make more sense once more dead soldiers are added to the mix. I'm going to leave this as a gif for now rather than a video as the progress is too small at the moment. On to the next one...

You enjoy all the killing

Sometimes I animate shots in reverse, so Snake shooting here is actually the end of the shot and he's only going to fire once. What I need to animate now is him actually turning to this point. The reason why I do this is so I know how the money shot is going to work so when I'm convinced it looks good I then go back and animate what leads up to it. Am I making any sense? Probably not, I barely understand myself to be honest. It'll make sense in the end. Maybe.