I wanted to blog about something that happens on every shot I’ve ever done, and probably is a pretty familiar story to most animators. I’m planning a trip to Machu Pichu at the moment and it’ll be a fairly involved 5 day hike in the rain and mud up to this beautiful city. You have to be quite fit for the route we’re taking and all of this ties back nicely to something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately.
Starting a new shot can be very exciting. To stretch an analogy, it would be like deciding to go to Machu Pichu. Lots of beautiful pictures and stories, deciding how to get there – train, the back route, front route, etc..
After starting the shot though you realize that this is going to be a hell of a lot of work, and you’re not totally sure you’re fit enough to reach that moment of entertainment.
For me, this moment of entertainment is what I call it ‘The HUMP’. It’s the equivalent of reaching Machu Pichu. Even though you have a lot of work left at that point (pictures, wandering the ruins, climbing down, flying home, etc… ) it’s done with a confidence that you’ve MADE IT! Anything you do after this point is adding and improving onto something that exists and will entertain a bit even if you left it as is.
I usually reach a couple of these moments during a shot. First is the moment I reach in blocking where all my ideas are down, make sense and make me smile watching them. The second is after I’ve taken everything in spline and it starts to ‘feel’ like my blocking, snappy and fun. These are huge confidence boosters and my shots always improve and accelerate at these points because I feel like I’ve got a really clear vision of what the end result is going to be, and it will simply take work to get there.
As I’ve become more aware of ‘The HUMP’ it’s starting to be a little easier to reach it. I know what to look for, and how to approach a particular character, bit of acting or movement which will get me to that point. It’s a great ‘mini-milestone’ to reach and has become a really important part of my workflow. I look back at past, less successful, shots and always see relatively smooth ground. There were no mountains climbed, It was simply a long journey.
Anyways, what I’m on about is that it’s GOOD to be challenged and climbing up a mountain you’re more than a little scared by. It means you’re doing something right, and you can help keep yourself sane by watching for ‘The HUMP’ at all the different stages as you work through the shot (Blocking, Splining, Polish). A fantastic quote and a great way to end this post is below.
It seems that when you run against a problem, you always think it’s just because you are not good enough, but it’s not that! It’s just that you’ve hit the limit of your knowledge and you gotta go out and observe, find and discover something more. Those are the best times!
– Glen Keane