The finished version of "The Brain Storm"

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ddrake
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The finished version of "The Brain Storm"

Post by ddrake »

Ok, here is the completed version of "The Brain Storm" written by 8th grader David Hopping for the 2nd Annual Pens to Lens Screenwriting Competition.

The Brain Storm
(Runtime - 8:32)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9YZmA6 ... ESjlW6YXGg

(So sorry for this extra burst of promotional links, but I'm really proud of our community for hosting this project, as wacky and varying as the resulting films may be :D )

For some more entertainment from absurdly strange to heartfelt, please feel free to check out the rest of films written by K-12 students at CUFilmSociety's channel:
https://www.youtube.com/user/CUFilmSociety

Also my goofy secret-agent worm animation appears in the title sequence of the film "Double 0 Kevin" written by 6th grader David Cerezo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jjtrfb9 ... qgPQWKU1LT

For more information about what this Screenwriting Competition is about, visit http://www.penstolens.com

Thanks everyone! :)
-ddrake
ruscular3d
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Re: The finished version of "The Brain Storm"

Post by ruscular3d »

I like it! Kept me captivated and enjoy the punch at the end! Breath of fresh air on this one!
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Little Yamori
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Re: The finished version of "The Brain Storm"

Post by Little Yamori »

Your sets rock, and the transitions from pencil sketch to animation were really well done. Everything was very professional and smooth, from the editing, sound quality and choice of music. Awesome. Story-wise, being written by someone in 8th grade, I realize that you must have been limited in certain inputs, but they must be over the moon that there story was animated so well.

Congrats

LY
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AmigaMan
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Re: The finished version of "The Brain Storm"

Post by AmigaMan »

That was excellent! I too was captivated and never did I feel the urge to skip forward. I didn't want to miss anything. It could have almost been an episode of Twilight Zone. Very well written and animated. Absolutely brilliant! :D
Danimal
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Re: The finished version of "The Brain Storm"

Post by Danimal »

Exceptionally executed. The animation was very well done and the intermixing of sketchy drawings for their imagination was a great touch.
~Danimal
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sargumphigaus
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Re: The finished version of "The Brain Storm"

Post by sargumphigaus »

very cinematic. It's one thing to be really good at animating, but it's another to know how to present the content in the most effective way possible. It would appear that you have a solid grip on both. At no point in time did I find myself losing interest, given that you continue to liven the animation and refresh the premises, which is impressive given that this is 8 minutes long. It's very interesting how you enlivened the project with such heart and soul. It can be felt in the use of the music, the angle of the cameras and the organic quality of the characters themselves. And while this particular style of animation doesn't necessarily appeal to me on a personal level, I could certainly prosper from following the examples you've provided us with. It wouldn't surprise me if you had more in store for this idea. It's an open ended premise with plenty of room for exploration, and given your grip on cinematic prowess, i'm sure you could pull it off. well done.
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Droxon
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Re: The finished version of "The Brain Storm"

Post by Droxon »

Excellent work! and very entertaining.

Can you please share some info about your workflow? I'm really interested on the backgrounds... Did you import the 3D objects into anime studio? or did you work with the backgrounds in a 3D application and the mixed them in composition?
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Re: The finished version of "The Brain Storm"

Post by Danimal »

Droxon wrote:Did you import the 3D objects into anime studio? or did you work with the backgrounds in a 3D application and the mixed them in composition?
I believe he did them all in Anime Studio, just to make the animation THAT MUCH MORE impressive. Here's an example, there's many threads that go into his technique:

http://lostmarble.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=25429
~Danimal
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Droxon
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Re: The finished version of "The Brain Storm"

Post by Droxon »

Thanks for the link.

That's very impressive, i still prefer to do all my 3D work in softimage but it never looks right when i combine 3D with 2D.

I'll definitely have to give the 3D tools in anime studio a try.
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Artpen
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Re: The finished version of "The Brain Storm"

Post by Artpen »

Great work, I had to keep watching!
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lwaxana
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Re: The finished version of "The Brain Storm"

Post by lwaxana »

I love the way you animated the ideas. And the characters and situation were also convincing. Nice work!
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3deeguy
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Re: The finished version of "The Brain Storm"

Post by 3deeguy »

ddrake, you are a star animator. Your camera movement blows me away. I noted how the camera, outside the window moves up and to the right. It's like you've got a gimbal or a crane. When your main character's palm moves toward the camera it goes out of focus. Wow.
Cheers, Larry
ddrake
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Re: The finished version of "The Brain Storm"

Post by ddrake »

Thanks for watching and all the positive comments :D

This project was fun to work on, with a lot of learning opportunities. The student writer was quite pleased with the result, so it was a very rewarding experience through and through.

@ Droxon:

To clarify and confirm what was already said, every visual element (down to the posters and desktop icons) were created in Anime Studio with the exception of the notebook paper backgroud, which is simply an image scan.

I used Adobe premiere as a final sequence editor, but no layer compositing work was done.

Since I started using AS, I've been very interested in seeing how versatile the program can be, especially with using some of the 3d capabilities to facilitate what i feel are more of my strengths. Namely more of a camera/shot based framing approach to scenes, using a fuller environment, (rather than being able to visualize and directly drawing exactly what I'd like to see in the background.)

Some of the technique is surely not for everyone, and initially might devote much more time than necessary to complete a shot. But since my larger scale project will involve many and varied re-uses of the created environments, I'm hoping it pays off in the end.

It has been an ongoing process of figuring out what works well, what doesn't, and trying to nail down an art-style that bridges the 2d-3d look effectively. This is STILL an ongoing process, which kind of leaves me without what I would call an efficient and consistent "workflow." But hopefully there's something useful there.

While most of the stuff I've put out there stems directly from techniques already graciously shared throughout this forum, it is always helpful to see how people apply things and combine ideas to find something that works for them....

So, as I get my ducks in a row to get back to work on my "ZHS" project, I'll try to set aside some time to do a tutorial or some kind of more in-depth sharing of some of the ways I (try to) go about a few of the things people seem the most interested in.

Also then maybe someone might be able point out some other obviously stupid or ineffective approaches I have. :oops:

Thanks again everyone. :)

**EDIT** Also bear in mind that I cannot promise that any tutorial I make would not also be as obnoxiously long and wordy as most of my posts. :P
-ddrake
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Víctor Paredes
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Re: The finished version of "The Brain Storm"

Post by Víctor Paredes »

Fantastic work, Dan!
Congratulations, really. It was fun to watch, nice voice acting, it has a good script and it's very well executed. I loved how you solved the diferent visual moments in the entire video.

Thanks for sharing.
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baphomet
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Re: The finished version of "The Brain Storm"

Post by baphomet »

I really liked watching this one Drake!
Check out my Twitter for work from now and the past: -> http://www.twitter.com/sceafa78
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