How did you come up with the concept for your short film?
Dan Segarra:
It was definitely a team effort all of the way through. I had general ideas and I know I wanted to tell a story that reflected who I am. I also knew that I wanted to tell a story that focused on the biblical teaching of God's love and how it's affected me without hitting anyone over the head about it. So with that in mind, I asked many people (classmates, friends and family) to give me their opinion on what they thought about my ideas and to even throw in some suggestions if possible. I also had a few brainstorming sessions with my wife and best friend where most of the ideas we came up with finally started to take the film into a more focused direction. So I guess there wasn't any specific moment where I thought, "Bam! There's my film!", but in time and with collaboration the film took root.
Animation Mentor:
What important lessons did you learn from making your short film?
Dan Segarra:
The importance of planning!!! Early in the process, although I had my storyboards to help me, I didn't have all of my thumbnails fully planned out and I paid the price for it. It took me a long time to get anything finished primarily because I didn't have clear acting choices that I wanted the characters to hit. Because of it, the short overwhelmed me for a good portion of the project. Now, I'm actually hesitant to stop thumbnailing too early, so I continue until my idea is purpose-driven and clear to someone looking at them.
The value of working on a team is something that I've realized can bring something special to your film.
I think the MOST important lesson I learned was how much I still need to learn! After finishing the film, I feel my acting choices, my timing, my use of secondary animation, my poses, etc. could be strengthened. I put a ton of effort into getting it to look how it looks which I'm proud of and I'm very happy to have finished, but looking at it now, I want to go back into it and rework... but I'll apply what I've learned to the next project I work on instead. :)
Animation Mentor:
How long did it take to complete your film?
Dan Segarra:
It was supposed to be a 30 second short done in a total of 6 months... but it ended up being a minute and a half and took about 1 year to do. So if you're taking the course (or going to take the course), just remember to seriously consider hitting that 30 second mark...
Animation Mentor:
How much planning was put into your short film? Did planning help make the process easier?
Dan Segarra:
I shot reference, I researched sheep movement, I storyboarded out my shots, and drew my thumbnails, but I still felt it wasn't enough because I didn't thumbnail to the extent that I should have. I was missing crucial moments in my thumbnails that would define how the character would transition from one position to the next and again, it slowed down the entire process for me. Overall, planning definitely made the process easier, but it could have been much less of a headache if I figured out more than I did.
Animation Mentor:
Do you mind sharing some of the pre-production work with us with a little explanation of what we’re looking at.
Dan Segarra:
Sure! Here's a sketch of the sheep design that I came up with messing around during lunch one day.
From that drawing I drew up a model sheep for my wife to follow when she modeled the little guy.
The rough storyboards is an early version of the short film. It's what I had at the point before I started to layout my shots in the computer. Things were still a bit unclear but I had to move on if I wanted to get this film done. This is what happens when your piece goes from 30 seconds to a minute and 30... you don't have so much time to spend on areas you would like to have spent more time on. I did like how the chase turned out for the most part, as well as the ending scene... but there were still areas I wanted to improve that I kept in mind while moving forward.
The layout pass is the pass where I played around with the camera work, as well as placement of the characters. No animation here, but it helped me see what areas I could transition from shot to shot a little better. I also kept that in mind while beginning to animate.
Animation Mentor:
What obstacles, if any, did you experience during the creation of your short film? How did you work your way around them?
Dan Segarra:
One obstacle for me was having a character in my short that wasn't provided by Animation Mentor. I didn't have the final sheep rigged until pretty late in the process. It was actually the same for the environments as well. I had asked a phenominal environment artist to help me out, and as hyped as that person was to work on this project, weeks passed without seeing any progress. So I gave the artist more time and after more then a month, the artist abandoned the project completely. So the way I got around it was by using temp models (primarily just cubes) and having the character interact with those primitive shapes until someone could create my backgrounds. In the end, my wife, who's strength is in character modeling, ended up building the environments late in the process.
Animation Mentor:
Tell how your Animation Mentor experience helped you in creating your short film.
Dan Segarra:
Ummm... that's a no brainer. :) They strengthened my foundation in animation, as well as story telling that would not have been the same if I had done this project on my own. I also had (and still have as an alumni) the fantastic opportunity to show my work to industry professionals who I admire and respect, the eyes of the entire Animation Mentor community to leave feeback about my work whenever I want (isn't that crazy!), and the devotion of the Animation Mentor staff who sincerely believe in their students as becoming strong players in the animation industry... so yeah, my experience here at Animation Mentor might have helped somewhat. ;P
You guys at Animation Mentor ROCK!