Cyberlackey Game Trailer
The task I focused and worked on was setting up key poses for my co-animator to in-between (animating the frames between key poses) and to co-plan the storyboard.
I first blocked in the basic poses according to the storyboard and iterated from there. After setting in the basic poses, I would then start blocking in the general pacing, and after reworking the basic poses into more expressive and silhouetted poses.
When reworking the poses, some problems I went into were finding poses didn't have parts of the same character overlapping with themselves. This poorly uses negative space and makes the pose expressions not feel as impactful, as the character covers their own actions. To solve this, I looked at reference materials to get a gauge on how I could dynamically show expression in a small robot character. Additionally, I consulted my co-animator for feedback as they will be the ones to pick up the mantle after the key poses are set in. Learning from the references and feedback, the conclusion was to exaggerate the eyes in both the toaster robot (BOB) and the drone to show emotions more impactfully, as we can relate to the characters the most via expression from the eyes.
This theory I used can be seen here on the right in the early animatic of the trailer and in the final end-card render I created. I combined the conveyance of emotion from the eyes along with reworked poses.
About the Project
Process Analysis
This 3D Animation is a project I worked on with peers at BCIT using MAYA and Unreal Engine from September 2022 - December 2022. We were tasked with creating a mock game trailer and producing it, simulating the industry pipeline. The trailer depicts a robot character we made sneaking into an apartment to grab a data cube without being caught by a drone.
The main take away for me from this project was to practice skills based off of our chosen roles, my role for this project being Lead Animator. In this project I sharpened my key posing, coming up with dynamic character poses that match the storyboard.
The result from this project was a finished CHANGE HERE 15 second 3D rendered game trailer animation in Unreal Engine that demonstrates non-humanoid character acting and multi-shot sequences.
Storyboard of the game trailer
Animatic for trailer (top) and the end-card/game cover image (bottom)
I
I ended up learning a bit from this project, mainly what type of camera shots and pacing I will need to have for my subsequent projects. I need to shorten my shots further and find better and more engaging camera angles that tell the story elements clearly.
Conclusion