Production changes
on April 17th, 2010, by aliThe animations provided by the community will be very useful.
Sintel, the Durian Open Movie Project
Sintel, the Durian Open Movie Project
Sintel, the Durian Open Movie ProjectThe animations provided by the community will be very useful.
April 17th, 2010 at 12:04 pm
Wow the dragon Scales!
April 17th, 2010 at 12:07 pm
OMG ! Colin ! you’re so cute 😉 i’m such a fan
April 17th, 2010 at 12:18 pm
A.W.E.S.O.M.E.
April 17th, 2010 at 12:31 pm
only 25 useable animations from more then 75 blendswap submissions? and only a few will be taken? when do we will know whos you’ll take?
btw: sintels voice is terrible, sounds to old, even i know nothing about sintel, it just don’t fit to the model.
April 17th, 2010 at 1:08 pm
Are you sure that’s a voice of a 14-year-old girl?
Heck no.
April 17th, 2010 at 1:18 pm
My girlfriend here agrees about the voice 😛
To me the animation felt a bit weightless. When the dragon is running in close up, you can see his head moving at the same speed as the body. And Sintel jumping also feels a bit too light, even though this might feet with her personality.
I think you’re doing a gigantic work there guys. Just thought a couple of fresh eyes might help a bit.
Keep going!
-Gian
April 17th, 2010 at 1:22 pm
thanks for these videos ali! please more of them! 🙂
April 17th, 2010 at 1:26 pm
Hm, scales…scales… skills
April 17th, 2010 at 1:26 pm
Mwoahh, I don’t say it doesn’t fit, I’ve heard enough teenagers with a quite older sounding voice.
I don’t consider it as a problem. (btw, to make it more ”acceptable”, I would suggest to not reveal her age in the film)
April 17th, 2010 at 2:04 pm
Is that a Chiken!? It sure does fly high 😛 It was the only thing for me that felt wrong in that scene, everything else looks cool!
I think that the voice of a person doesn’t change much or at all from that leap of children to teenager at 11/12 years old 🙂
April 17th, 2010 at 2:32 pm
If you need some help for a powerfull computer for the rendering, ask me. I am working with AMD and ATI.
April 17th, 2010 at 2:54 pm
ziwon: this is why she has a strong voice: /wp-content/uploads/2009/11/sintel-paintover-revision.jpg
DurianTeam: Nice backstage video!
April 17th, 2010 at 3:00 pm
Could that be…the death metal rooster(look it up in youtube)?
April 17th, 2010 at 3:30 pm
Or ”Sintel goes Gothic” 😀
April 17th, 2010 at 3:32 pm
Nice Chicken :). Is it final Sentinel’s voice?
April 17th, 2010 at 3:56 pm
Nice scene! Remenber that things passing close to the camera or moving towards/away from the camera will both add a lot of energy and also hide missing elements(lack of extras).
The wide shot with the Sintel dodge, could be a tracking shot with the camera behind the stalls with Sintel in profile, meaning you will get at lot of movement(the stalls swishing by) and the extras doesn’t have to move at all as the are only seen for a few frames each.
Another thing when working with extras is to trying to avoid that they “steal” the shot, if you want it so say something else, like she-sees-nothing. When I use extras for live action, I tend to arrange them in a way that they more or less have the backs turned on the camera, because instinctively the attention of the audience will be drawn towards faces. And another thing is to avoid suddent moves of the extras, because suddent movements also attracts the attention.
Anyway remember the saying: it doesn’t have to be perfect, it just needs to be finished. 🙂
April 17th, 2010 at 4:04 pm
I read the comments before looking at the video so I had some expectations, which were wrong. The voice is perfect. I know that women in different countries speak with different inflexions. This sound very much like the voice of an energetic and athletic 14 y/o from the Netherlands, let’s say a long distance skater? 😉
Great work for preliminary animations guys. 🙂
April 17th, 2010 at 4:30 pm
I agree that removing the marketplace stands would be a mistake. That said, you only really need one shot of the marketplace full of people (3 or 4 seconds?) and then you can get away with tricks of the camera for the rest of the scene with only maybe one extra here, another there but mostly just Sintel and the dragon in frame. Possibly an angle looking up at her from the ground? Or straight down? Or extreme close-ups like in those action movies where you can barely tell what’s going on. Cutting to her feet running or something would get across the same feeling I think. I just think there a million different ways to film it without “ruining” the set and scene.
Good luck getting it all done!
And to weigh in on the voice, it wasn’t what I was expecting, but it could grow on me. One thing I think you ought to be careful on though is leaving in too many breathing sounds. It’s good to have one or two of those in, but filling the whole soundtrack of the scene with her breathing I think would be overcompensating, but I’m sure there’ll be some nice SFX and music when the whole thing is finished anyway. Keep up the great work guys.
April 17th, 2010 at 4:38 pm
I used audacity to make the voice 15% higher, but I don’t think it’s a big deal.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0q4pvtQPDOw
April 17th, 2010 at 4:40 pm
Another thing, can you post a list of which models and animations will be used?
April 17th, 2010 at 4:47 pm
Wow, an entire sequence that is not first minute! 😀 Noooo…! Yeah…!!! 😀 So cool, thank you! 😀
For me, I am just enamored by Sintel’s voice. 🙂 It’s not unfitting in my opinion.
April 17th, 2010 at 4:47 pm
I’m much more worried about how natural the voice acting sounds than whether it “fits the character” (just what does a hardened 15yo girl sound like? not many of those to be found these days).
My comment on the voice acting: ADV dubs: 0-1, Sintel: 7+ (not really anything to complain about, but perfection is a direction, not a place).
April 17th, 2010 at 5:02 pm
@taniwha,
Just to correct you, ADV dubs: -9000
😉
April 17th, 2010 at 5:37 pm
NIce work guys! I’m longing for the trailer and for the dvd to drop down into my mailbox.
How does the timeline look like?
April 17th, 2010 at 6:07 pm
That voice seems spot-on to me. Good to see the community integration going so well also. Looks like you’ve got a lot of tough work ahead… good luck!
April 17th, 2010 at 6:09 pm
Good Times!!!
April 17th, 2010 at 6:14 pm
Everyone:
The video AND THE AUDIO are all just placeholders. I dream of having rough drafts as complete as this! I love watching the Durian team’s workflow. It’s going to be a model for my company in a year or two.
April 17th, 2010 at 6:22 pm
“Com’on, Scales, get him!”
Pokémon, anyone?
April 17th, 2010 at 7:02 pm
I can’t remember if the proxy scene of the marketplace was uploaded along side the other files during the sprint but I would imagine that doing so would increase the amount of usable material you would have received.
It’s something you’s should look into if you’s do another sprint, having an actual scene for people to animate in would open up a huge amount of ideas, and it would also allow people to animate more intricate scenes, such as a person walking across the market, from one stall to another etc.
April 17th, 2010 at 7:42 pm
@taniwha,
For the most part I think you’re probably correct. Especially with the other sound effects added, such as the box crates falling, extra’s reactions, music, ambient sounds, etc. it will sound much less awkward, if it sticks out at all. Right now it sounds like you’re listening to what it would sound like from Sintel’s perspective with a space helmet on, which will leave you unfairly unsettled. But to be totally truthful, when I first heard her voice it was enough to immediately feel “something not right” weirdness to take me right out of the action, pulling back, gritting my teeth, eye muscles tensing, while sighing softly “oh, no…”
“(hardened 15yo girl sound like? not many of those to be found these days)”
Trust me, unfortunately there are still plenty. They all sound different, true, but this sounds like a 18-20s to be truthful, 15 is a bit of a stretch.
@Paulo Bardes
That better, but that might be too much in the opposite direction, sounds 8-12ish, maybe 8% or 6% would be better.
I say, just don’t reveal her age in the film. Problem solved, unless there’s something in the story that needs her to be known as that young.
Also, I’ve never seen a chicken fly, they can kinda go in hover above the ground for a few seconds over a couple meters or more, or up and down in rather sharp parabolic shapes, and even then that’s while struggling and flapping wildly, anything but elegant. Just going up in a y, x curvy motion and z linear progression makes it look awkward, like this is a small planet, or a moon. It would be better if it could be jump-hover-brief-flying up farther and farther from one object to another till it’s on a roof top or something. Then again, this is fantasy, so, as long the rules in your world remain consistent, it’ll look fine. Other than those rather pendant complaints, great job, it looks awesome so far, and I am sure that what ever you’ll do with it it’ll be epic! Can’t wait to see the results!
April 17th, 2010 at 8:13 pm
i think ancient chickens were much better in flying. 🙂 only todays industry chicken are so degenerated that they can’t move properly anymore.
April 17th, 2010 at 8:19 pm
Is that the actual voice of sintel or just a placeholder? In my opinion, it sounds like an old pirate AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRR!!!
April 17th, 2010 at 8:45 pm
A bit off topic, but just ran across this and thought it would be good for inspiration:
http://forcg.com/articles/inspiration/80-extraordinary-dragon-artworks/
April 17th, 2010 at 8:50 pm
I’m just going to comment again.
Sound is a layering process, you layer voices with Foley/ ambient sounds with music, so what you hear in this short sequence will be nothing compared to the final shot. While her voice stands out here (Because it’s the only sound) and you guys and girls may think it doesn’t fit, or is badly mixed (Sound only coming from her own perspective), you have to release that with the final sounds mixed in and the audio levels mixed, it will sound completely different. I mean very very different, and this audio could just be a place holder anyway. So I would leave all the comments until after you hear the final mix down.
April 17th, 2010 at 9:27 pm
Hmmm soon we have everything that is difficult cut from the movie and only the first minute to see, which is mostly empty.
Perhaps the first minute can be in slow motion to last the 10 mins.
April 17th, 2010 at 9:28 pm
Daniel has it right. What you’re hearing is the raw guide track the team is animating to. Not only is it unmixed, there’s also quite a bit of dynamics compression going on so that the animators can make out every nuance.
April 17th, 2010 at 10:50 pm
In regards to the chicken flying, if any of you have every seen a chicken trying to escape or being frightened you’d be surprised how high they can “fly”. I grew up with chickens and they would commonly make in mid-way up trees when spooked by coyotes and such.
April 17th, 2010 at 11:01 pm
If you want to see a REAL example of an action scene with a fleeing chicken, watch the opening scene of ”City of God” (but I’m sure that the Durian guys has done that already 😉 )
April 17th, 2010 at 11:32 pm
Sorry, but I dont see any unique style in this movie. 🙁
ED and BBB has unique style.
This looks like a copy of a steril, boring, soulless plastic graphics…
I hope the story has some unique thing…
April 17th, 2010 at 11:43 pm
@endi: this is only to show some of the animations, not the rendering.
April 18th, 2010 at 12:10 am
Indeed, this actually a ”moving storyboard”
April 18th, 2010 at 12:16 am
Jan, is there any chance, we can hear any of your work? I am as excited about that as I am about the movie 🙂
April 18th, 2010 at 1:42 am
I have to agree with the suggestion of using extras in brief camera pass-bys to establish the market as a busy place, and including the vendor stands. The sequence shown looks very underpopulated, not much sense of a busy market; adding extras, even if barely animated, would help a lot, and they don’t need a lot of camera time to establish a sense of presence. A good ambient audio track of busy market-goers would also do a great deal to help reinforce the idea of a bigger population.
The idea of Sintel dashing through a medina-like space rather than an open area is more appealing and makes the need to dodge the extra(s) more sensible — in an open area she’d have plenty of time to spot and avoid them.
It may take more time to place and manage more extras, but it would up the overall production value of the scene by a significant notch.
April 18th, 2010 at 2:02 am
why a chicken can’t fly (actually they can*) when there is a baby DRAGON chasing it?
*wild chicken can fly much better than domestic chicken because they are thiner and have to get away of a predator.
April 18th, 2010 at 2:41 am
RE: chicken avionics — longest recorded flight, 13 seconds; farthest distance flown, just over 300 feet. Couldn’t find any altitude records, though 😀
April 18th, 2010 at 2:47 am
An African or a European swallow…. err, chicken
😀
April 18th, 2010 at 3:28 am
Wow!! Thats really awesome!!
April 18th, 2010 at 4:26 am
Can you use plain html or provide non-flash versions of the videos please?
Out of the latest 6 entries I can make sense of 2 of them. 🙁
April 18th, 2010 at 4:45 am
ok so change the time of day to prior to the market when a few characters are around setting up or after the market when they are cleaning up.
April 18th, 2010 at 7:02 am
another option to the scene….still some redesign, but have the market somewhat on pole supports or stillts…where Sintel and “Scales” have dropped down somewhat out of sight chasing the chicken below the market, this gives the option to show pieces of the market through the cracks of boards, but also isolates the 3 actors to their own environment a bit….
-just an idea….sorta late in the game though.
Looking good though!
-Justin
April 18th, 2010 at 7:31 am
lol to people going on about the voice, that just seems like a guide rather than the actual voice, animating the lips with be one of the last thing to do on the characters.
and btw it sounds like one of the animators done that voice not a pro…
April 18th, 2010 at 7:38 am
Can I just say, I love the animation!
You guys are doing a brilliant job!
+1 for making the market place a busy one – It’ll lift the whole movie.
April 18th, 2010 at 9:08 am
To kopi and AdobeMan, just letting you know that the voice really is Sintel’s voice actress, Halina Reijn.
/news/in-the-studio-with-halina-rijn-and-thom-hoffman
It is also likely to be the actual take for the movie since Team Durian has been animating to it.
April 18th, 2010 at 10:12 am
I really like the scene !
For me the voice fits good, especially when she is lafing like a little girl ^^
Keep it up guys !
And be strong xD
April 18th, 2010 at 2:36 pm
No problem with the voice, no problem at all, I think it just goes well with the character 😉 not considering the audio mix is way to be completely done, it is at an initial stage, just as an animator reference, as a guide.
Very nice animation, team, I vote for a populated market too.
Consider, if you play with fast camera movements and smart angles you do not really need to animate a lot the extra characters, they can just stand where they are for a fraction of time or move an arm, make a step and so on. Good job so far! 🙂
April 18th, 2010 at 6:42 pm
The animation is nice. But the voice… will you change it with some software? Like make it a bit lighter? Think it would help. It just doesn’t fit at the moment.
April 19th, 2010 at 5:55 am
These comments are so serious with the audio! Haha
It’s obvious it’s a gag from one of the guys, probably Nathan …It IS a gag …right? …Oh gawd please tell me this is a joke…
April 19th, 2010 at 2:24 pm
great job Colin and teamwork. One question: What is the hardest you’ve had to make Durian short?
April 19th, 2010 at 3:09 pm
…yeesh, everyone’s a critic!
Great voice, great progress, I can hardly wait to see the finished article 🙂
Team Durian’s all looking rather pressurized, though.
Breathe deeply, guys, and try to not worry too much about finishing the movie.
Right, now get on and finish the movie! 😉
April 19th, 2010 at 3:28 pm
Very intresting to see how a scene evolves and how it affects everything in the scene. I just got one little thing I need to ask you about, the chicken in the scene is it a remodeled version my dead chicken
April 23rd, 2010 at 6:18 pm
Omg Soenke, what’s that hairy mass in your face?