#71 = Hirai to Ren: Final thoughts
It was a long journey and I have a strong love and hate relationship with this film. In some aspects it does pull off greatly: the challenges of animating an imaginary creature created from scratch, the long still shots and the overall atmosphere of the film, I am really proud of these. Still, to review everything back from the beginning, I feel I am slightly on an incorrect path, or I am a little bit lost from what I am actually keen on.
Let’s wrap up what is going on after these months: The film is almost done, but also not really done, yet. First, I have to admit I am too ambitious this time. On the one hand, it is a big project, on the other hand, I was excited about the settings. The original film is very long, with 7 pages of dialogue and 16 pages of storyboard, combined to an estimated 5 minutes of film. I didn't think that accidents would happen: my computer burnt down during midterm and I lost all my progress. Losing progress is not the biggest issue, the problem is my workstation has gone and I was forced to stop working for quite a period of time. However, even without this, I am still underestimating the possible workload that time does not allow me to overcome. Therefore, changes had to be made. Could be a coincidence, that the first one and half minutes of the original could be separated from and be a standalone film. (As a reminder, the first part of it was introducing the characters visually and showing their interactions, then the rest of the film is the part where the dialogue begins, the whole summary could be found in the blog article 68.) So I cropped the first part out and decided to focus on it, with some twists and adjustments, to make the overall pace of the film faster by including some exaggerated presentations. As a result, here is the “almost finished” film I am talking about in the beginning.
But exactly how finished it was? I would say 75-80%. Certainly, the pre-production, including characters, settings, scripts, animatics and storyboards is finalised. The animation part is also 80% finished, or perhaps more, there is only one long shot awaiting to be completed, (The last coach scene shown on the submission: Ren’s animation has completed, Hirai was 70% completed, the other assets such as lunchbox have not composited on the scene yet.) otherwise, the only scene missing is some “still image” scene which could link scenes and scenes together better. Here is an image to demonstrate the overall progress. (S2: From Hirai’s point of view, showing the time and alarm from the phone screen. S11: From Ren’s point of view, walking upstairs outside the apartment. S13: From Ren’s point of view, walking upstairs outside the apartment. S14: Shooting from Hirai’s back, opening the door’s lock. S22: The TV playing a preview of the possible “sequel” of the film.)
Back to the part that I said I feel lost. First of all, the fact that knowing the film was highly cropped and still, in an unfinished form on the submission date is very unsatisfied, it is not about the physically or emotionally limitation, but the fact time is just unbeatable, the idea was so large that I cannot finish by my own in such a time-limited, but the flip side, I do learn a lot on how to streamline the workflow by using constant pen pressure and mastering cel painting with Tvpaint (There is a video showing how I paint the background in blog article 70!).
Secondly, I feel the animation does not look promising, there are lots of places where I could make a better composition or staging, but with a limitation of my creativity, I fail the task and leave it unsatisfied. Thirdly, most importantly, I am too focused on story writing. Admit it, I am not good at making a good plot, yet, who does not want to create an excellent original? However, this project should be presenting our best strength or our most interesting aspect. For me, I was always digging into movements through these four years but in this one, there are not many areas in that I could let my skill possibly shine. Still, I did not regret my decision, at this moment, rewatching the animatic, still gives me the motivation to push forward.
Despite being overly ambitious, there was another thing I was not handling well in this project. I wish I could manage the outsourcing well, you may possibly realise the film was lacking soundtrack and VFX. I was too focused on my own business on the animation part and did not remember that communicating with the sound designers was also crucial, as a result, we have difficulties making it on time.
So, what next?
I will definitely finish the “director’s cut” (no, just a cropped version.) I am aiming to complete the final 20% before the graduate show submission deadline. Here is the brief roadmap:
For the original one, maybe. I love it but after this year, I really feel the film needs more polish, which I am not capable of yet. I would leave it, rather than rush it for self-satisfaction.
