Dawnrunner Productions

From Concept To Art

2009-11-16T23:43:07Z

When we start a new project one of the most important things we need to do is make sure everyone is on the same page. And that can be hard to do when you're creating things that exist only in our imaginations. One way is to spend hours talking about and describing the details of the ships and locations in the film to each person, but a much better way is to have our ideas turned into sketches and paintings so everyone can see what we're thinking.

Even before we started working on the details of the story for "The Darkest Matter" we had a few ideas for the space ships and stations that will be in the film. James described the look and feel of the ships to Andrew, our concept artist. I contributed technical details about how the ships would actually work. Andrew, armed with this information, created a couple of pages filled with thumbnail sketches. James and I give him feedback and select a few of the designs to have done in larger sketches. And we continue this process until we have finished paintings of the final designs.

This year we want to get everyone involved in the pre-production process, and not just as observers. So by joining the production you'll get a chance to help us choose between different designs. But we'll have more info on that later, for now enjoy some of Andrew's early artwork for "The Darkest Matter!"

The Darkest Matter

2009-11-16T23:20:53Z

The entire crew at Dawnrunner Productions is incredibly excited to announce the launch of the pre-production phase of The Darkest Matter. We're doing something a bit different this time, in that we've created a website designed to help include people in the process! This is a fairly new concept, and we're thrilled to have the opportunity to participate in this new level of collaboration! So - what can I tell you about the story? Well, it's much darker than previous projects, Singularity and Fortunes Mine. We have decided that we liked space, I think it has something to do with all of DRP's secret dreams of being cosmotographers, cosmocinesists... we're still working on the actual title. This time we're taking a look at the darker, more sinister side of space - and ourselves! As we get into the development process there is going to be a ton of information about the story available so be sure to check back often! I guess I better get back to working on my research for the script instead of writing on the first blog post....

Production Wrap Up

2009-08-08T07:05:47Z

Well today is finally the end of our official production for Fortunes Mine. Finally the end of an amazing and intense three weeks of shooting, problem solving and getting to know the wacky and talented kids that we were working with. This is our second year of the Summer Film Camp, and this year was definitely much different, and it felt so much improved. Although in fact there were many new problems and difficulties to address, I think that every obstacle actually allowed us to create solutions that were better than the original idea; overall I learned so much more about what it takes to make a movie happen. I am so excited to begin post production, and to finally see the final product in October. Even now I can tell what an amazing piece of work Fortunes Mine will be. It was fantastic and loads of fun, and its already time to begin planning for next year’s camp.

Some More Pre Pro Photos

2009-07-17T16:45:38Z

The cave walls are done! We've got most of the props loaded in, set and ready. We're looking forward to next week! Here are a few more photos taken during construction. Geoff talked me into operating the paint sprayer again this year, only I had to get all dressed up. You'd think that a jumpsuit made of napkin material would be cooler - it's not.

Stages of work

2009-07-15T00:46:52Z

Well the project we've been working on for the last few weeks has had the opportunity for some real concept work for me. There will be visual effects shots which will be using miniatures, live footage and lots of composition work in post, but before all this goes down an idea of what we are aiming at is required. A good example of what I am talking about is a shot where our characters walk out of a mine tunnel into a huge underground cavern with a walkway on one, chains hanging down into the darkness, and a waterfall. In order to get all the elements required into one angle I picked a top down shot looking at where the people will be walking.

Ok, so the way that I constructed my images for this project were all the same with only minor changes from pic to pic. I would start with a line drawing of the scene. . .well actually, it starts with a conversation with James or other crewmembers to see what they had in mind for the shot, to figure out important things like scale, lighting considerations, what elements were related to plot points, and the mood and the emotions the scene are trying to convey. Stuff like that, then the drawing. My example will be the room with the treasure, cuz hey, who doesn't like treasure?

After each stage I would go and get feedback from the crew before moving forward. With a thumbs up on the drawing I would scan the pic and go over the whole thing in black and white, getting the value and lighting figured out. This is where a lot of the mood would be injected into the piece. Alot of the lighting in this project is going to be produced by flashlights, which makes directing the attention and focus of the viewer alot easier. Literally just point at it.

Also getting the black and white value drawing done makes the rest of the job alot easier. In a layer set to colorize, just painting over in any color adds tone and saturation without messing up the light and dark value that has already been established. Some adjustments to the levels and contrast are going to be necessary as the image will be different than expected with color.

FX's for Fortunes Mine

2009-06-30T18:13:56Z

Hello everyone. My name is Richard Tepavchevich and I'm the visual effects supervisor for Fortunes Mine. I've spent the last 2 months drawing pictures of caves, and traps and treasures helping James and Geoff realize their vision of Fortunes Mine. During the camp I will be the on-set effects supervisor making sure we get the cool shots we need to make the cave look as real as possible. We have big plans for the effects. It is going to be one awesome project. We have full size caves and miniatures and we will be using advanced filming techniques mixed with green screens to make Fortunes Mine and it is going to be a very exciting project for everyone involved. Along with my job comes our Production Designer, Jennifer "Hollywood" Schafer. While I help with construction and breakdown of the effects shots she handles set decoration, painting, paper mache, plaster, building and gathering props to bring life to our cave.

Anyway I am very excited, and here are some pictures of the construction process so far. There are lots more built pieces but for now I'll just show one actual walls.

The frame is built

out of 1"x 2" wood.

Then 1" hexagonal

stucco mesh is stretched

across it and warped

into "rock" shapes.

(The mesh is a little hard

to see here. It is the very

faint silvery screen

on top of the frame)

Then we used

red rosin paper and

heavy brown paper

mixed with water,

glue and wallpaper paste

to make our

paper mache coat.

Finally the cave wall

is painted.

A dark base coat

is applied.

Then a lighter brown

is applied sparsely

on top of the base.

And finally a

very light brown

is dry brushed

on top of that.

To Build A Mine

2009-06-20T02:30:54Z

The first week of set construction has come to a close! The crew has been hard at work trying to build the most realistic cave set possible! The Crew took a trip to Gold Country earlier in the week and got the chance to come face-to-face with some honest-to-goodness mines from the late 1800's! We spent some time inside the "Big Haul" as well as the "Gold Gulch" mine! The folks at the Gold Gulch Museum in Coarsegold really helped us out with tons of useful information and even arranged for our whole crew to go 150ft into a cave! More on all that to come later! Also be sure to check out the DVD when it is released for all the fantastic behind-the-scenes info on the making of! So set building is going great, all the hard work of the design team is really paying off! We will have pictures to update with early next week.

Fiona and I have been hard at work breaking down the script and planning all the awesome stuff to go into the film! I have to say we're both pretty excited and cannot wait to share with the rest of the crew - we think they'll be excited as well! Fiona is also acting as our UPM & Script Supervisor for this project! She's doing an outstanding job and we're having a lot of fun getting all the details lined up for production! She's a natural! There will be more on this process later on.

The crew is in great spirits as things are coming together and we can't wait to get on set!

Jumping into PrePro

2009-06-18T08:19:55Z

Hey all- as you can see, this is my first time posting, and I am really pleased to say that I just started into preproduction for our upcoming film, Fortunes Mine. Now that our script is nearing its final version, James and I sat down with it and began to break it down into its elements. This time around, I am also performing the duties of Unit Production Manager, in addition to being the Script Supervisor on set. It is a very big job with many new responsibilities, but I am working closely with James, who is showing me the ropes, and I am pretty excited for a challenge. Tomorrow we are actually beginning set construction for bits of the cave walls. In the next couple of weeks we’ll all be working really hard on the various set pieces, as well as drawing up a shooting schedule for next month. This year we have a much bigger crew, a greatly expanded cast list, and a lot more material to shoot, and I am really looking forward to being on set again.

Designing a Costume

2009-06-11T05:52:53Z

I’ve said it several times and it’s very true but one of the things I enjoy most about my job as an artist is not just getting my imagination on paper but getting the ideas out of someone else, and creating an image out of that. Hearing “you took the picture right out of my head” is a big fat check mark in the I did it right book.

]]> I’ve said it several times and it’s very true but one of the things I enjoy most about my job as an artist is not just getting my imagination on paper but getting the ideas out of someone else, and creating an image out of that. Hearing “you took the picture right out of my head” is a big fat check mark in the I did it right book.

Well this particular project is a lot of fun because it is in a world very different from ours, and those are the most fun (the more distance from the real world the more my imagination gets to do). Anyway, the costume is very dependent on the character, in fact it is the outward projection of who the character is and very often the only, or first information we get about them. Think of the beginning of Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Arc, for the whole intro we don’t even see his face. But we see that he is wearing practical tough clothes, dirty and sweat stained, he has a gun and a whip on his belt, and he is wearing a leather hat that gives him a silhouette unique among his companions. All these elements tell the audience who this man is, and ask questions that don’t show up on the surface. These are things that the concept artist has to think about. Know that characters world, present circumstances, and the past history that brought that person to the point we as the audience meet them.

This guys threads sure tell a story.

Your mom told you “Don’t judge a book by its cover”. We aren’t writing books. We are telling stories though.

Max here is in a similar world to our hero. The costume I am working on is wrapped around some one who also lives in a world were civilization has crumbled, basics of survival are daily challenges, and the very climate has become an enemy. We also get to throw in a much more toxic and lifeless environment, for fun. So that’s the world we get to live in. What does that mean in terms of costume? Well, working from the most basic needs on outward, given the environment: no exposed skin, and full gas mask. Moving out from there we have a world that doesn’t provide much food or water, so our hero is a traveler, much like max. We get sturdy clothes, boots that wont give up on ya, and a collection of whatever personal belongings our character can carry to make surviving a bit easier, and these things need to be easy to carry, so no airline luggage with the fold up handle and little wheels. Whats more, one look around tells us that the world has been messed up for a long time, which means our character has to stretch what she has for as long as she can, and has done so for a long time.

Result. Hope ya like it!

Fortunes Mine Update

2009-06-11T00:12:47Z

When we set out with the onset of this project last year with Singularity, we aimed high and "shot for the moon!" This year, with Fortunes Mine we're "kicking it up a notch!" The script is nearing it's final approval stages and I must say, it's going to be awesome to shoot! Geoff, Rich, "Hollywood" and myself have been working tirelessly on the cave set design, traps, treasure, etc. We will begin the process of gathering materials next week when Rich get's back from his hiatus, and full fledged construction should begin middle of the week. We are hoping to have pictures and video to upload as a preview of the set itself!

Fortunes Mine is going to be a challenging project in it's own right. Compared to the film we did last year, which was set/prop driven - Fortunes Mine is one level higher. A large portion of the script takes place inside the mine itself and for that reason an incredible amount of detail is required. We at Dawnrunner like to make sure things "Could work...." It's our goal to make sure that what happens in the script is at least within the realm of possibility while still being entertaining and fantastic. This has meant, as the writer on the project several fun things: Exploring abandoned 1850's gold mines in the Coarsegold (Gold Rush Town) area. Which is very scary I must admit. Reading several accounts from early gold rush miners about their experiences in the caves, and all the amazing things that happened to them. Going over and over the Legend of the Lost Dutchman Mine and trying to rationalize how it would fit into our story (no spoilers here!). The research I enjoyed the most however, was of traps, puzzles, and other hinderances that might exist in a cave holding the greatest treasure thought to be on American soil. The chore as I've been writing it, is to make sure to turn the ordinary - extraordinary! The really rewarding part I think, personally, is being able to write a script for a film that I would have really enjoyed watching when I was younger. If I would not have gotten a kick out of watching it, then why would I make it - after all?

As we close in to the 1 month deadline we be moving into the scheduling process and the nuts and bolts of the production. We are hoping to be able to update with lots of pictures and videos throughout the process.

Definitely check back for more updates and information!

Fortunes Mine Update

2009-06-10T23:53:03Z

Singularity is an Official Selection!

2009-06-10T23:10:16Z

It's official! Singularity is an official selection at the San Diego International Children's Film Festival! It will be screened August 15-16, schedule TBD! Here is a little more information on the festiva from the festival's websitel:

The 6th Annual San Diego International Children's Film Festival is July 24 - Aug. 16 2009, at the San Diego Museum of Art in Balboa Park, at Comic-Con International at the San Diego Convention Center, at the Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa Park, at the Carlsbad Dove Library and at the New Children's Museum downtown. The festival will feature hour-long blocks of films from around the world made for children and teens - animation, live action and documentary - clustered for different age groups.

For more information please refer back to the website as it is updated throughout the summer.

Everyone at Dawnrunner is extremely excited and looking forward to attending the screening of this great little film! As we get closer to working out all the details we will be posting additional information and providing information for people interested in attending the screening. Dawnrunner will definitely have a large presence at the show and we are in the process of redesigning all the film promotional collateral. With the next project hot on the burner, Fortunes Mine, we are hoping to improve on the proven formula we employed last year!

Be on the lookout for the Official Selection Laurel hitting the Singularity website sometime next week! We will definitely be taking photos and perhaps even some video behind the scenes at the Film Festival and posting it here for those of you who cannot make it!

I would like to congratulate the cast and crew of Singularity for this wonderful honor! Great job to everyone involved.

3D Mine Design

2009-06-10T21:42:38Z

The time to begin building the sets for this summer's film is rapidly approaching, and that means getting our designs in order.

James, Rich and I sat down and discussed the mine walls a couple of weeks ago and set out the requirements. We wanted to make a few reusable set pieces that could be moved and reconfigured to create new locations and shots in the mine. That means the pieces have to be interchangeable and must have some standard form to follow. They also have to be light, inexpensive, good looking, and quick to build. At least we're not too demanding! The solution we came up with is very light wood frames to give them shape, a pvc tubing infrastructure so they can stand on their own and paper maché facing.

We worked out the scale and the basic shape. I then took all the ideas we had and started to mock them up in 3d. Here are a few of the renderings:

The first two shots illustrate how the camera will see the set, using the lens and settings we'll be using during the shoot. The blurriness of the mine wall illustrates the depth of field we'll be able to achieve and we also get to see how some of the angles will look.

The other two shots show the construction method. We're going to build 15 panels with a similar profile (that can be used as walls or ceiling). We're also going to build 3 angled sections to allow us to put bends in the mine shaft. Also you can see in the last shot how a roof piece can be removed to allow for lighting.

So there we go, building starts in a week so check back for some photos of the process.

The Dawnrunner Universe

2009-05-29T00:20:02Z

We here at Dawnrunner are big sci fi fans. So when it came time to name our fairly expansive network, what better name than "Cosmos." From there our satellite hard drives become stellar bodies (named after various Stars throughout the Galaxy) and our local mounted hard drives became the various paired forces that exist, chaos and cosmos, conflict and resolution, action and reaction, etc. Cheesy? Absolutely! This created an elaborate "webbed" fixture of stellar bodies, effectively, in our office. What's not completely awesome about that? It has however made me a bit curious as to what other naming conventions people use for their professional networks. If you and/or your company have a unique system drop me an email, I would love to hear about it!

Cave Wall Test

2009-05-28T18:58:57Z

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With the launch of the new Fortune's Mine website, and the script coming along nicely - we decided to try our luck with some cave wall tests! Since, of course, the main location for this story is in fact a mine shaft - we decided it was important to test this! After playing with expanding foam, and weeks of planning and talking about various ideas - we finally decided on a method. We like to call it Papdirpaint-Mache, as it's a delicate blend of paper, dirt, and paint-mache. Mixed-Medium Art at it's finest. Once dry, we went in and did some detail painting and threw up the camera, lights and did a proper test. As you can see from the video above, it looks pretty good! We used a fairly small section to test, and honestly didn't spend a whole lot of time on it. We're happy with the results and will be moving forward with the creation of some fake boulders, rocks, mine-shaft walls and other various accessories for our set! Check back for more tests to come!

Skateboard Dolly Project: Part 1 (Concept)

2009-05-28T02:33:13Z

One of the most important aspects of professional looking film is camera movement. Of course, dollies, cranes, jibs and steadicams are some of the most expensive pieces of equipment on the set, not only because they are precision machines but also due to their sheer size. On the DIY side of filmmaking, there are a million novel ideas about achieving camera moves (basically mount the camera to something that moves and you have a new mount!), but many aren't exactly capable of smooth professional moves or the durability that is needed on set. I know, I've built a few failures myself. Lately I've been trying to aim for something that is ideally the best of both worlds but is at least somewhere between the two.

We have a scratch-built 4-way steering doorway dolly already and it works wonderfully. I'll post some of the details of that build later. While it has an amazing turning radius and is very durable, it is also very heavy and not super smooth (although that depends on where you're shooting). So to beef up our dolly collection for some upcoming projects I'm building something new. Well something tried and true actually; a mainstay of indie filmmakers everywhere, the skateboard dolly.

]]> Skateboard dollies are so called because they use skateboard wheels. They can be as simple as a dozen-plus skateboard wheels and a sheet of plywood (and maybe a broom handle if you want a push bar. They have many advantages too. The skateboard wheels have built-in bearings making them easy to work with and since they are available everywhere skateboards are sold they are easily replaceable and fairly cheap. Skateboard dollies are also pretty much require track of some sort. So unless you have access to track or want to rent (if you can buy real dolly track, then buy a dolly too) a skateboard dolly maybe useless for you. Track, or lack there of, is the very reason we build a doorway dolly first.

Track may be an issue but there is more than one solution. Film track is stainless-steel tubing 24.5" apart on center. It usually collapses like a parallelogram for transport, has a flat base for shimming and leveling and interlocks with the next track section. Curved pieces are available too. And it's expensive. For our use, however, track can be any length of rigid, smooth, parallel material. We considered PVC tubing or even EMT Conduit. The PVC would be too flexible in my opinion (although other's use for their dollies) and conduit is a little more expensive than I'm willing to go. And you buy two lengths and have to find some way of keeping them parallel by tying them together somehow. I'm going to ignore curved track for now, since homemade solutions are complicated to say the least.

The solution I chose is somewhat a product of our location. Being located in silicon valley means there are a lot of computer hardware recyclers and resellers. That's great for building a spaceship. I was wandering around WeirdStuff and I came across some huge server racks and related accessories. The cable rails caught my eye. They're made of relatively thick-walled rectangular steel tubing, joined by cross pieces. And best of all they were powder coated black.

I haven't decided what to do about joining lengths of the rail together smoothly, but some of them were 12 feet long so that might not be an issue. Going with this track though mostly rules out a ride-on dolly. It's only about a foot wide, so making a dolly wide enough for a rider would probably be unstable. That's okay with me since I've got a different idea: keep the camera low (for stability) and near the track and raise the track to the height you need. I plan on using a hi-hat for my bogen 519 tripod head and building a rolling base for that. Something as simple as sawhorses can raise the track up with the added benefit of making leveling easier and eliminating shims altogether. The track is rigid enough for this application.

I plan on using the Manfrotto 325B hi-hat. That may not exactly sound like it fits with my low cost plans and that might be true. But we need a hi-hat for low angle shots anyway, and the 325B provides a 100mm bowl interface and has convenient mounting options. It can be mounted to this skateboard dolly, I can build a skater dolly (yeah, it's different), I can use it as a base to attach my tripod head to a crane and in plenty of other situations. So it's more or less an investment for multiple projects and that's one of my core philosophy when building new equipment; I could go for the really cheap solution now and build again later or I can get the one semi-expensive piece now and make it interchangeable and useful in a multitude of situations. A lot more bang for a little more buck.

This post is getting very long now, so check out the next part of the project. I promise it will be more about the specifics and details of the project and probably more to the point (but I can't promise I won't ramble).

Fortunes Mine: Screenwriting

2009-05-21T16:53:21Z

The writing of scripts is always a toss-up. We sit around the office and talk about a script until you feel like you’ve already watched the movie. Which is fantastic, and a great way to test story lines. Then however, you sit down to write it and realize you can’t remember things, or the story line or piece that you thought was so awesome - now does not make a lick of sense. You muscle through that moment of frustration, read and re-read what you’ve written - THEN almost like magic, you go “Oh! I see what’s going on!” and then the script just flows from your hands to the keyboard. I wonder at times as I’m writing what it’s like for other screenwriters - though I’m just masquerading as one. Fortunes Mine is now on it’s second draft and I love it even more than I loved the first one! It will not be long now before it’s locked and we can start determining how we’re going to shoot it (my personal favorite part!) Until then….

Fortunes Mine: The Story

2009-05-11T21:33:27Z

I'm going to save the specifics for the premiere so I don't spoil the entire story right here, but I will let you all know that we have just finished the second draft of the script and everyone who has read it is very excited.

Last year's story was based around a few different films, but drew a lot of influence from "The Explorers" and "Apollo 13." This time around were going for more of a "Goonies" meets "Indiana Jones" type of story.

The Story follows a group of kids attending a traditional summer camp who accidentally find an abandoned gold mine. There's danger at every turn as they venture into the mine. Will they find treasure? Will they make it out safely? How will they keep the camp counselors from finding out what they're doing? You're probably going to have to wait until you see the film to find out all the answers but we'll probably let a few of the details spill in future updates, so stay tuned.

Fortunes Mine Website Launched

2009-05-11T20:00:09Z

Hello to everyone checking out the Fortunes Mine website. Were excited to have a place to share our preproduction process for this year's Summer Film Camp. Last year's pilot program, Singularity, was huge success and also a great learning experience for everyone involved.

This year we're writing a longer script, with more roles and more action! We've also assembled a larger crew to help us with visual effects, editing, and sound. This time around we're also bringing some of the post-production aspects to the camp as well; we'll be editing some scenes and visual effects during camp time and we'll be staying an hour after camp each day to work on post-production. We're excited to get this year's film going so check back often and follow what we're doing. See you at the camp!

Website Update

2009-04-10T21:37:24Z

I was poking around the website and I realized that we have been severely neglecting our website updates and our demo reel! We will be working this week to update the videos we've been working on! It's been one of those crazy-busy years that has kept us from sharing all our latest and greatest stuff! We hope to have that remedied by end of the week!

GDC09

2009-03-20T21:30:51Z

GDC is next week and Dawnrunner is gearing up for it's biggest show yet! We are looking forward to seeing all the familiar faces throughout the show, as well as seeing how Think Services has made the show even more incredible than the previous years (something they do consistantly!) This will be our third year covering the show for them, and it is our biggest presence yet! We are all looking forward to the Award show on Wednesday night and the debut of our months of work, but also the coverage of the show itself! With a crew over 30 people - we are hoping to make this the biggest and best GDC yet for Video coverage! Check out the gdconf website for all the sizzle reel shortly after the show, for all those HOT video clips!

Singularity "Commentary" Recording

2008-11-05T22:43:52Z

Today Geoff and I went into the studio to record the Commentary for "Singularity." It was our first time doing such, and I have to admit we had a lot of fun (probably too much!). The Singularity project was fun anyway - but getting to go back and yap about all the fun we had along the way was a blast! IF you picked up a DVD, make sure you watch it once with the commentary on - you will be entertained!

There's tons of stuff on the plate for Dawnrunner Productions, and as such be expecting a lot more blog activity in the near future! Including some commercials shot for local television, some music videos and some of our own projects we're finally getting around too!
Check back soon!

Awards Graphics

2008-10-21T20:45:40Z

Dawnrunner is pleased to announce we've been contracted to do the Awards Show graphics for this years Game Developers Choice Awards (www.gamechoiceawards.com) and the Independent Game Festival (www.igf.com)!! We are coming up with initial concepts now,but we cannot wait to get started! Rumor has it that we will be required to create motion graphic elements to run seamlessly with the show, on a 20ft tall LED screen!! Our graphics department is so excited that I'm a bit scared! We are working with Think Services on the initial designs and I cannot wait to see the result! It is bound to be awe inspiring! Check back for updates, and I'm sure you will get to see the work on the demo reel!

Starting Arts Commercial Animatic

2008-10-21T03:01:43Z

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Here's the animatic for the commercial we're shooting in the next week. The idea was to capture the feeling and idea of what Starting Arts does without just coming out and saying it. That'd be an informercial. So instead of telling about what's going on in the animatic, I'm going to talk about the process of making it.

]]> The process started with the storyboards. Andrew drew the boards for this project (after James and I made thumbnail sketches of each panel). I scanned the boards and started the process of breaking them down into photoshop layers. This is the most time consuming part. Any part of the frame that you want to move will need to be cut out and put on a separate layer. Also backgrounds will have to be recreated using the clone tool.

I started by making a new image for each frame. In this case I chose the NTSC DV preset.

Animatics don't really need to be in HD, so this preset is fine. The nice thing about using this preset is that you get guides to show you the title and action safe areas of the frame, and that may help in some situations. So here's frame two of the storyboard when I started:

I started by duplicating the flat storyboard layer, making a new layer for each element that will be animated. I also named the layers at this point. That makes it easy to just go down the list and isolate the element in the layer name.

I like to tackle the background first before starting with all the cloned layers. This is where the clone tool comes in handy. The objective is to make a clean plate so when the elements move we don't see a blank canvas behind them.

With this particular frame, I selected the upper left section, copy and pasted it, and flipped it with the transform tool to recreate the upper right corner. Then I finished up with the clone tool.

Once the background was ready I moved on to the rest of the layers. I used a drawing tablet and the eraser tool to cut out the elements, but it could also be done using the selection tool. The only tricky part is recreating the parts of each layer that is covered by another layer. I used the clone tool in some places and just drew freehand in other. It doesn't have to perfect because, again, this is only an animatic. Here's an example of the resulting layers:

Notice that I didn't add on the fingers on the right hand. That wasn't an important element to add, but I did need to recreate the bottom of the box since it was not originally drawn.

I repeated this process for all the frames of the storyboard, which for this 30 second commercial was only seven images. Bigger projects with more panels would be very time consuming, so it would be best to choose to make animatics only for important sequences.

On other thing to consider is actually creating all the layers when drawing the storyboards. This is a little bit difficult when drawing on paper (but it's a good idea to continue drawing the elements that will move beyond the storyboard frame) but separate layers are pretty easy to make when drawing digitally.

Once all the layers were set for each panel I moved on to After Effects. I made sure to import the files as photoshop compositions. Also my files were named sequentially (Frame 1.psd, Frame 2.psd, etc) so I had to uncheck the Photoshop Sequence box.

Now I had a separate composition for each storyboard panel. I'm not going to explain exactly how I animated the layers, it just basic keyframing of positions and rotations. I also used the puppet tool. One thing to note is that storyboard frames tend to be at the end or at the very least the middle of the action, so it helps to set key frames at the half-way point of the comp and work backward when animating. I chose to do the animating in each composition and make a master composition to combine each of the separate animations. The advantage of this, beside keeping things organized, is I was able to adjust the timing of the animation of each frame just by changing the layer's time stretch value.

After the animation was working well I did a few other things like coloring the layers to help them stand out and I added the particle effects to show where we'd have particles in the final.

And that's the basics of making animatics.

Austin GDC

2008-10-02T20:38:27Z

It's one thing we always look forward to at Dawnrunner - our annual road trip to Austin, Texas for the Austin Game Developers Conference! This year was no exception! Thankfully, unlike last year, we did not almost run out of gas in Palm Desert! Besides the buzz that is normally surrounding the Austin GDC, this year I must say looked fantastic! Think Services did an incredible job with the show, not only visually but it's organization as well! Our crew always looks forward to going to Austin, and it's not just for the a-m-a-z-i-n-g Texas BBQ (although that is definitely a reason as well!). The drive back was interesting as part of the crew got to experience what they deem "horror script worthy" haunted New Mexico gas stations. We still need to get the fully story on that, but we'll update accordingly! Goodbye Austin, until we meet again - and thanks for the ribs!