Goldfish - We Come Together (animated music video finished)

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Mikdog
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Goldfish - We Come Together (animated music video finished)

Post by Mikdog »

EDIT:

Final video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-tNUur2YoU

or

http://www.vimeo.com/goldfishlive/wecometogether

Making of: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vz1_MQnw5WA

Making of (extra): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pblMKuuplCY


Hi All,

I need your help please. I've put much of an animated music video together. I have a week now to make any changes, get this sorted, fix issues, and make it cool.

This is a private link of an early work in progress. Its hard to control much on the Internet, so I'd appreciate it if you didn't share the link. Though I'm reticent about putting an early version online, I value some of the feedback I get from you guys - the forum has been a big help in pointing out issues and getting good suggestions, so, can't get that without putting something out a bit:

[links removed]

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EDIT
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Image

Pleased to show a little 'making of' video before its release:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pblMKuuplCY

Image
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/EDIT
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Any ideas on how to improve it, anything at all, please let me know.

All done with Photoshop and Anime Studio Pro, except the 3D bar scene. Other 3D done in AS.

3D matrix-style scene has not been rendered with lights yet btw so its pretty dark.

Hoping to hear from you soon, thanks in advance.

Mike
Last edited by Mikdog on Mon May 23, 2011 7:28 pm, edited 8 times in total.
DarthFurby
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Post by DarthFurby »

The one weak part that really stuck out to me was the muted flat colors in the 3d bar spinning matrix style camera sequence, but maybe you were deliberately imitating the look of a particular game? Either way, the dull grayish tones/lighting didn't work for me, especially since that scene seemed designed to be a visual highpoint.

Loved the little videogame cameos, paris hilton(?), and the general videogameyness of it all. I don't think the average person off the street would catch many of the references, but it does hit a sweet spot for those of us that do and the video could explode in popularity if targeted at the right audience(like the web saavy, videogame, internet meme, animation crowd etc.)

That's all I can think of for now. Good luck! It's good stuff, and hope you'll share the final video with us soon.
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Mikdog
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Post by Mikdog »

Hey Darth,

Thanks man. I forgot to mention the 3D matrix-stye scene hasn't been rendered with lights yet. It is pretty dark without.

Supposed to be Kesha, but think I'll put some text or something behind her indicating as such.

Thanks for the comment,

Mike
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Maestral
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Post by Maestral »

Even though its very interesting and quite amusing, few things...

At the beginning, when they catch the fish it`s done by the crane fixed to the ground... so, they are not running away with here, are they? ,) I think it ruins the idea of quest on which the heroes are, later on. Maybe, just to move crane to the right and lose it out of the screen.

After that, heroes are moving to the left and the crane was on the right side? It could pass, but goes rather difficult with previous remark.

Also, during the AS 3D scene pixels are not quite present/visible, so it slightly drops out of the hole context.

Would love to see 3D bar scene under the proper lights and the final cut, since all this are just details. Very nice work.
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Mikdog
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Post by Mikdog »

Hi Maestral,

Good point about the right to left. I may flip that scene.

About running away with the princess ... I know where you're coming from. I may just leave that scene in as is though. Didn't consider this, though, thanks.

Also, will see if I can get the pixels in the 3D scene to come through a little more, will, at least, look at this a little closer.

Thanks.
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jahnocli
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Post by jahnocli »

For me, the big thing was the lack of syncopation between the visuals and the soundtrack. The visuals do not match the beat, like they do in previous stuff that you have done. Love the style, though!
You can't have everything. Where would you put it?
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Post by Mikdog »

Hi Jahnocli,

Thanks man, nice point there, someone else mentioned that too. I'll see if I can remedy that in some of the scenes.

Mike
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tonym
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Post by tonym »

Wow, you're really trying to top yourself. Great stuff.

As you are in a hurry and facing a deadline, let the feedbacking commence!

Throughout the video there are occasions where characters are bouncing to the music, but not bouncing sufficiently. They are under-bouncing. For example, the storm trooper at second 56. If I were to change one thing and one thing only, it would be to make sure every character is bouncing like they love the music. That would include the robot at 3:05, and also completely immobile characters, like the blue Garfield on the bridge (3:25). The characters must bounce! Thump thump thump!

If I were to change a second thing, it would be to add some camera work to those static scenes which last more than 2 seconds, to punch them up. For example, the scene where the fish and two band members put on storm trooper helmets, that scene is 4 seconds and the camera doesn't move. Some zooming or tilting or other camera stuff would look great there and many other places.

Other minor stuff...

Second 45. The triangular backgrounds that move into the picture (behind the characters) are too simple - each triangle is one solid color. Even gradients for those triangles would look better.

"Fishy Time" (second 46) is too simple - there are blinking colors, that's it. Maybe some additional shapes moving or spinning, or the text could wiggle or something.

I would lose the "smooth jazz" and pink triangles at 2:05. If you want to keep the text, camouflage it like you did earlier (3:40). At this point in the video, I felt like I was reading too much.

You might also try to punch up the first few seconds of the video. Showing performers performing on stage is not exciting. Yes, the video picks up speed several seconds later, but still... Also, the text "Goldfish" was hard to read on the stage and then it disappeared before I could read it and I got annoyed. I like the closeups at second 14 - something like that would rock for the first few seconds, and then maybe you could pull back to show the whole stage.

Now for some minor, minor stuff...

I don't think we need to see the green creature (second 17) blow a second bubble.

At 2:19, I disliked how you zoomed in a little on the bomb, waited a moment and then zoomed back out a little. I think you should zoom in or zoom out, not both.

The pantie shot might be funnier if the camera moved from her face down to her panties rather that the other way around.

On second 20, the thumb is missing. It looks like a solitary finger is pulling the sling shot without a thumb, which is confusing.

On second 50, the intestines coming from the storm troopers neck are colored gray. They should be pink.

Feedbacking concluded! Awesome work, man!

Tony
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Mikdog
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Post by Mikdog »

TONY!

Thank you, that is awesome stuff. I'm adding that to my text document of things to go through. Okay, so, I guess I'm going to be adding more bouncing - kewl. Really useful stuff there, thanks, really.

Awesome. Others' eyes are seeing things that I don't really register. This is good.

Mike
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lwaxana
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Post by lwaxana »

Wow, this is really cool! I think the 3d scene that could most benefit from some pixel-y details is at 1:29. Love the video game references. Anyone who's ever played a game should get at least one... And the whole cat/fish dynamic is super cool along with the cat-ized characters. Only real crit is that the celebrity cameos had a negative vibe to them that spoiled the mood for me. It's like you're following along with this playful, upbeat story and then suddenly there's something that seems too harsh and something inside you says no, and then you can't quite get back on board for the rest of the ride... Maybe if the celebrity battles were adjusted slightly to be more playful?
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kellz5460
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Post by kellz5460 »

i wish i could give you some ideas- but i'm in freaking awe

DUDE- this is freakin amazing work and style here...and goldfish rules

tips: The finger with slingshot looks a little awkward, there needs to be like just a bit of a hand or something or maybe a pinch finger pulling the rubber band, Also the same thing for when the cat pushes the button (that has the blue finger) that finger looks REALLY long

At :50 when he's about to swing the saxaphone- it looks like theres a frame missing because when the other characters hit the catroopers the animation is more fluid? idk
OMG make it stop!
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Mikdog
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Post by Mikdog »

Hi kellz and Iwaxana > thanks for those comments.

Iwa > fair comment, and I did have my trepidations about doing fight scenes. I don't like violence in animation, there seems to be too much of it, along with swearing and generally, characters who just seem to be angry at each other and fast backchatting all the time. Kind of a downer. I like to create nice, happy, feel-good stuff and deal with conflict in interesting ways, not just bang bang guns etc... so I was pretty hesitant about this. Though I figured I'd get out of my comfort zone a bit and give this a bash, take off the kid-friendly brakes a bit.

Thanks for heads up on the 1:29 mark, I don't have the video with me at the moment but I'll check that out.

kellz > thanks for the finger comments. Someone else noted this too, I think Tony, so that needs changing, will add to list.

Thank you.
gregino
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Post by gregino »

Awesome! another masterpiece on the forum, thank you !!!

To point a minor detail, maybe a little anticipation of the jump at 0:12 would be nice:)

About pixel art, maybe you'll find something interesting on these links ;)
the work of Paul Robertson :
http://www.catsuka.com/news_detail.php?id=1249845592
and this amazing video clip :
http://www.catsuka.com/news_detail.php?id=1258563270

Can't wait to see the final result of your work !
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Mikdog
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Post by Mikdog »

Thanks Gregino.

Yes, I'm familiar with Paul's work, he did the sprites and animations (well, some of them) for the Scott Pilgrim video game. And Baby Cabana Battle or whatever its called. And the Trucker's Delight video by Jereme Perin? Ha ha. Yes, I've been studying that for a while, I've taken a lot of inspiration from that.

Another oldie is Junior Senior's 'Move Your Feet' 8-bit video. I really like that:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPlQpGeTbIE
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Mikdog
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Post by Mikdog »

Hello friendly friends.

Please could you take a gander at this more recent wip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7xwhxCZxmU

Still a link, not really for wide public viewing if that's alright.

Anyways, thanks so much for all your suggestions, slowtiger, bless him, gave me a really good thorough list of stuff, I've only done a bit of the video, but perhaps you could take a look at what's here. I also include the 3D scene that's been lit.

Thanks again gregino, kellz, Iwaxana, Tony (I did the bouncing, kind of like it) and johnocli, maestral, flipped the scene thanks, anything else you got, please lay it on, I have another 2 days I'd like to get this all wrapped up. As a side its nearly 9:00 am. I been working on this since 3:00 pm the previous day. Whoo boy. Animation. What a thing.
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