Le Donk opening titles animation
Jun 11, 2009 12:30:46 GMT
Post by Bill Edwards on Jun 11, 2009 12:30:46 GMT
Hey cheers guys! ;D
But!!
Que the 'Urr err URRR' dramatic pause diminished chord sequence... Oh No! 
Not quite "back of the net", Dave! It glanced off the crossbar and ricocheted down to the wrong side of the line! I started to go in to foot it over before the goalie got to it first! All this in slomo...
WHY!! I'm imagining hearing you scream!
Ahh dear...
Well I got the text I didn't want to get on Monday from Shane's editor, Richard Graham. "There is a problem with the animation. Call me." My heart sank.
It turned out there was a weird 'wipe to white' for a couple of frames just before the fade-to-black was about to commence. Dunno why it was there! My Mac's too puny to play the hi-res HD file properly so when I saw it before I handed it to Shane I put it down to my Mac as I had also created a lo-rez MOV file so I could check how it looked and the brief wipe wasn't there. There was also nothing in my Flash file that was doing anything like it!
The Mill worked some magic by fading to black earlier than they wanted to.
I got to the ball to nudge it over the line but the goalie made contact at the same time as me and the ball went spinning along the grass toward the right side post along the line but not on the right side of the line!!
WHY!! I'm once again imagining I can hear you cry with antici... Pation.
Ah jeez...
It had become apparent that I had completely misunderstood the term, 'Title safe' and too many of the titles were too close to the edge. Nobody noticed this before because of the way I had set up my file it looked like I had understood the term so this errant time bomb went under everyone's radar...
The magicians at The Mill decided to bring the animation in by 10% and put a black border around the title sequence. The film had to go up to Edinburgh on Tuesday.
The spinning ball and a slight curve on it so it was about to go over the line before it got to the side post!!
But it wasn't to be...
The goalie reached out to the ball and just managed to put a finger on to it so negating the effect of the spin and the ball started to head back out in the goalkeeper's area!! NOOOO!
Shane got a stay of execution from the Edinburgh Film Festival until today and got some more time at The Mill. We were going to give it another shot.
First I had to reduced all of the animation elements by 10% to make it 'title safe'. Then I had to try and work out how to eliminate that pesky unwelcome wipe. As I had to this anyway Shane decided it was a good idea to amend a few other things too. There was still a timing issue with the way it ended. It needed to fade to black at just the right moment so Shane said he would come back over to my gaff and we would work on fixing it together!
So Shane came over on Wednesday evening, we cracked open some Carlings and got to work. Shane didn't leave until half one in the morning! He had to get off so he could make an early start to London with the new file. A proper movie world style late night session for me!
Cool! Loasa hilarious stories and insights into the mad world of da moofies were in store for me. What an incredible privilege it was to be working with Shane Meadows like this! Stunning.
That wipe was still there though.
After loadsa faffing about trying different things, in the end I did a quick fix by duplicating the element that was disappearing onto a new time line so that it covered the wipe up. It worked!
I started the export at 3am and went to bed for an hour. The alarm went and I staggered down stairs to check the file and everything was OK! The wipe had gone! Woo hoo! ;D
I went to bed at 5 to get a couple of hours in before I had to get to do my 9 to 5 wondering how I was going to get the file to Shane. In the end I left an external drive at my partners place and gave Shane the address. He popped round later, picked it up and flew to The Mill.
I waited anxiously for the news!
I got home yesterday evening and after a quick cheese sandwich I went straight to bed. I put my mobile on my bedside table and began to drift off.
The mobile rang, It was Shane! Everything was OK! The animation was in and it was fine and the film was ready for grading and for the sound mix before being scooted up to Edinburgh sometime today!
The ball must've hit a hit a stone or a sturdy blade of grass or something as it magically started going back towards the line! Maybe the spin was going the right way anyway? The goalkeeper was too far away to do anything! He froze. I froze. And I WILLED the fucking thing over the line!
And over it went... The crowd roared!
Spinning all the while until it settled against the net. The goalies head sank and I got to my knees and punched the air with both fists! Woo hoo! ;D 
So now it is done. It is this time. And Le Donk should be on it's way to Edinburgh as I type for sure...
That'll learn me for being cocky!
Phew! Long post but I thought I'd share the drama with you all. Some of you will have been there yourselves.
Shane was great about it all and has been a real gent. Cheers Shane! ;D
But!!
Que the 'Urr err URRR' dramatic pause diminished chord sequence... Oh No! 
Not quite "back of the net", Dave! It glanced off the crossbar and ricocheted down to the wrong side of the line! I started to go in to foot it over before the goalie got to it first! All this in slomo...
WHY!! I'm imagining hearing you scream!
Ahh dear...
Well I got the text I didn't want to get on Monday from Shane's editor, Richard Graham. "There is a problem with the animation. Call me." My heart sank.It turned out there was a weird 'wipe to white' for a couple of frames just before the fade-to-black was about to commence. Dunno why it was there! My Mac's too puny to play the hi-res HD file properly so when I saw it before I handed it to Shane I put it down to my Mac as I had also created a lo-rez MOV file so I could check how it looked and the brief wipe wasn't there. There was also nothing in my Flash file that was doing anything like it!
The Mill worked some magic by fading to black earlier than they wanted to.
I got to the ball to nudge it over the line but the goalie made contact at the same time as me and the ball went spinning along the grass toward the right side post along the line but not on the right side of the line!!
WHY!! I'm once again imagining I can hear you cry with antici... Pation.
Ah jeez...
It had become apparent that I had completely misunderstood the term, 'Title safe' and too many of the titles were too close to the edge. Nobody noticed this before because of the way I had set up my file it looked like I had understood the term so this errant time bomb went under everyone's radar...
The magicians at The Mill decided to bring the animation in by 10% and put a black border around the title sequence. The film had to go up to Edinburgh on Tuesday.
The spinning ball and a slight curve on it so it was about to go over the line before it got to the side post!!
But it wasn't to be...
The goalie reached out to the ball and just managed to put a finger on to it so negating the effect of the spin and the ball started to head back out in the goalkeeper's area!! NOOOO!
Shane got a stay of execution from the Edinburgh Film Festival until today and got some more time at The Mill. We were going to give it another shot.
First I had to reduced all of the animation elements by 10% to make it 'title safe'. Then I had to try and work out how to eliminate that pesky unwelcome wipe. As I had to this anyway Shane decided it was a good idea to amend a few other things too. There was still a timing issue with the way it ended. It needed to fade to black at just the right moment so Shane said he would come back over to my gaff and we would work on fixing it together!
So Shane came over on Wednesday evening, we cracked open some Carlings and got to work. Shane didn't leave until half one in the morning! He had to get off so he could make an early start to London with the new file. A proper movie world style late night session for me!
Cool! Loasa hilarious stories and insights into the mad world of da moofies were in store for me. What an incredible privilege it was to be working with Shane Meadows like this! Stunning.That wipe was still there though.
After loadsa faffing about trying different things, in the end I did a quick fix by duplicating the element that was disappearing onto a new time line so that it covered the wipe up. It worked! I started the export at 3am and went to bed for an hour. The alarm went and I staggered down stairs to check the file and everything was OK! The wipe had gone! Woo hoo! ;D
I went to bed at 5 to get a couple of hours in before I had to get to do my 9 to 5 wondering how I was going to get the file to Shane. In the end I left an external drive at my partners place and gave Shane the address. He popped round later, picked it up and flew to The Mill.
I waited anxiously for the news!
I got home yesterday evening and after a quick cheese sandwich I went straight to bed. I put my mobile on my bedside table and began to drift off.
The mobile rang, It was Shane! Everything was OK! The animation was in and it was fine and the film was ready for grading and for the sound mix before being scooted up to Edinburgh sometime today!
The ball must've hit a hit a stone or a sturdy blade of grass or something as it magically started going back towards the line! Maybe the spin was going the right way anyway? The goalkeeper was too far away to do anything! He froze. I froze. And I WILLED the fucking thing over the line!
And over it went... The crowd roared!
Spinning all the while until it settled against the net. The goalies head sank and I got to my knees and punched the air with both fists! Woo hoo!
;D 
So now it is done. It is this time. And Le Donk should be on it's way to Edinburgh as I type for sure...
That'll learn me for being cocky!
Phew! Long post but I thought I'd share the drama with you all. Some of you will have been there yourselves.
Shane was great about it all and has been a real gent. Cheers Shane! ;D
So Shane if youve got any old baby grows send them my way mate 
