Extended Reference: Perry Flowers

For my animation I wanted to fit as much movement and action as possible in each scene, the main action being within the chase scene. I wanted to be as ambitious as possible with the chase scene however I needed some reference to ensure that the movement and action worked successfully. After a crit session, Elyse from my group suggested asking Perry Flowers for reference.

I mainly used Facebook to communicate with Perry for the ease of messaging and sending sketches of what I envisioned for the sequence. Perry was extremely nice and helpful, I told him what main action I wanted and to change this action to something different if he thought it would better suit the sequence. After sending him diagrams of what shots I wanted he gave me amazing reference the next day. He not only did the camera angles but different actions that could also work instead of the original action. I used Drop Box to share these video files as they were too big to send over Facebook. Drop Box is fantastic to share bigger files with more than one person as well as commenting on the file at the same time. I will be using Drop Box for most of the communication with my voice actor and musician for the backing tracks.

Using Facebook 

Quick sketch of the camera and action

Quick sketch of camera and action

After watching all of the reference that Perry created, I decided to take alittle bit from each reference. I really liked the idea of the camera following the main character as he runs towards the kart, before cutting to a profile perspective of the main jump. As the main character jumps over the kart, a slow motion low angle shot, as if the main character is jumping over the audience, as the main character apologies - to then cut back to a profile shot of the main character stumbling slightly as he lands. 

I also asked Perry for reference of sliding over a surface, as I wanted my main character to escape over a market stall into an alley way for his escape. Perry suggested that different types of vaults would be more suitable, and I really liked these actions compared to what I had originally thought. It worked with the main character, I didn't want the main character to be perfect with his movements and the vault actions worked with this in mind. I wanted the main character to stumble with quick movements to follow this.

Notes on Reference:

Side Vault finish

+ I really liked the head on shot of Perry running towards the camera before jumping over the surface, I loved the line of action as he put all of his weight on to his arm to then swing his whole body over the mat. It is such a strong pose and would work well with the animation. From this the landing is quite strong as well and can easily be adapting into the main character starting to run again after he lands.

+ I didn't think that the profile view of the vault worked as successfully. I don't think it would be suitable for the animation through the angle and environment that the main character would be running through. This would be appropriate if this action was used instead of the flip, over the kart, as the profile is needed to understand the action. The profile for this action would be lost due to the market stalls, in the environment being connected. 

Side Flip Final

+ The third flip is fantastic for my animation, The strong key poses of the flip work more successfully than the previous variations, as well as being closer to the surface. Being closer to the surface gave me an idea of the main character knocking a few of the items from the kart with him, which would help the movement of the flip.

+ I loved the head on, running towards the mat before flipping over it. I wanted to mix this with the previous flip. This would work successfully and make the jump more dramatic especially with the camera following his run before cutting to the actual flip on a profile view.

Front Final

+ I really loved how strong these head on poses were, however I didn't think it was needed for the animation. I wanted a variation of camera angles to make the action more interesting and dramatic and the head on camera wouldn't work with what I had in mind.

+ The camera following his run before the jump were more successful in this reference video than the previous, I really loved the last run with the camera following him as it would work with a cut to the profile jump. 

+ I really liked the low angle camera with him jumping over the camera, it worked well however if I was to use this shot I would zoom in slightly and cut to an extreme close up of the characters face to show the dialogue of him apologizing as he jumps. I think this would work really well and make the whole action flow better.

Cat Pass Final

+  These references were mainly for the slide type action I wanted, however I didn't like these as much as the previous videos. I believe these would have worked with my animation if I had more obstacles for my character to avoid however for the time that I have for my animation I wouldn't be able to add anymore in the scenes. 

Final Additions

+ I really liked the first action with the 3/4 angle, I believe this would work really well with the slide movement. I would want to flip this action however so that the main character went from the right to the left. Even though this is a weird way to translate the action, as western culture read from left to right, I think having this would make the action more dramatic and work with when the main character stumbles as he lands and scurries to run further away. 

+ I love the second action, even though Perry hits and knocks the surface down as he lands, Perry stumbles which works with how I want my character to react. I won't be using this sequence as reference but I will be using the stumbling for reference for the other two pieces of main action.

Check out Elyse's blog here and Perry's work here.