For more information about how this shot was created, see below!
NOTE: I had already completed this shot several weeks ago but was not satisfied with it. It was fun but I felt the snakes were a little to "Gumby" looking. So I decided to start all over again. To see the previous version of this shot click HERE.
Started a re-work on cut number
20, which is of three snakes slithering across the screen.
The set was pretty simply, just a piece of board with some foam core bricks and a board covered with wood putty.
For a behind scenes video with
Brandi, click HERE!
As I didn't want to build three
snakes from latex and three armatures to go with them, I made the choice
to just use clay for the snakes. I decided to change to green and add some
scales to make them look more "snakey". For the scales, I just used the
tip of a bolt that I had laying around. Since the snakes would be in constant
motion, I wasn't too concerned about the authenticity of the scales. It
really just needed to be impressionistic surface texture that implied scales.
My choice to use clay brought
with it some issues common to clay animation. One problem is a general
lack of internal support, which means that the snakes just sort of lay
there. While some snakes DO just lay there, the ones in the original shot
kind of raise up and look rather menacing, even for a Hanna Barbara cartoon.
So I decided to shoot the snakes on blue screen, which would allow
me to use external supports for the snake when it needed to rise off the
surface a bit. Also, by using blue screen, I only needed to make one snake.
:)
This is what a typical frame
looks like before I begin working with it in Photoshop.
By manipulating certain filters
and effects in Photoshop, I can create a drop shadow from the outline of
the snake to accompany it as the serpent slithers across the ground. (NOTE:
The tan background here is just for illustration.)
Me animating the snake against the blue screen.
For a behind the scenes video of me working on the animation, click HERE!
The completed clip is at the
top of the page!
Thanks for looking!
All information, videos, photos and graphics in
this website are copyright 2009, Roger Evans. All rights reserved.
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