From Script to Screen - Visualization Camera Tutorials

 Today we went though some of the basic camera shots used in animation and film, these will be used in the visualization of our animations. These tutorials was done using Maya and some already made models/ scenes premade, giving us more time to understand the shot and movements better.



 Pan Shot

 Pan shot move across the scene horizontally, with the subjects being central. This shot involved following two characters as they walk through a corridor, starting at key frame 14 and ending at 150. As the first one traveled to the second door, we moved our camera horizontally across the Z axis, and then returned to our original key frame with the second character exiting through the first door. During the middle, we had a slight pause whilst waiting for the second charter to emerge.

 Roll Shots

  Rolling shots can give a sense of danger, empathy or revealing something important to the story.  For the first video, the camera was placed at 82 on the Translate Y (Key frame 10). When reaching the height of the roll, the Translate Y was at 160 and the roll was at a 160 degree angle (Key frame 140).

For the second and third shot, we just increase the roll angle of the camera from 160 to 720 degrees. Any more rolls then that may have been too much.



 Pitch Shots

  The pitch shot is of a superhero flying downwards, however the first animation was just the character emerging from the top and disappearing straight off the screen. We wanted to follow the descend more accurately and add a sense of drama.

Starting on Key frame 25, we had the Pitch controls to 50. As the hero descended, the direction of the Pitch changed from a positive to a negative so to keep the subject in shot, ending on key frame 150 with a Pitch of -66. This is the first attempt at this shot, and will prob do this again but with the aim to gain more of an arc in the flying.

 Dolly Shot

  A shot what involves the camera moving towards or away from the character/ subject whilst filming. Dollys are carts that can be moved manually or mechanically, often having a camera person operating the camera to get the shot.

This one is again using a pan, and only has 2 key frames. The shot starts at Keyframe 1 with a pan control at 57 degrees, the final keyframe is 120 with the pan control at -27.6. This change from the positive to negative in the Pan controls gives this slight swooping view.

 Crane Shot

  This action is achieved by using a crane to go from high and low angles, and visa versa. This model had 2 extension controls which allowed for great reach over the scene, also containing a horizontal and vertical rotation for the camera. The beginning of the scene starts with focussing on the woman on the balcony, then moving down to finish on the character hiding around the side of the house. Once the Keyframes was set, manipulating the curves on graph editor allowed a smoother circulation around the house, filling the small pause with better details.

All the aboves shots was captured by Playblasting. Playblasting is a quicker and cheaper way of seeing how an animation is developing at a much quicker developing speed, but doesn't contain a high quality like a render does.

Playblast Settings used

 Pre-Visualization is more about gaining the correct timings rather then placing high amounts of detail, so the models used can be very low res. Also, the mock-ups don't have to have fully functioning walk cycle or facial rigging, the story and tone is what takes priority. In regards to timing, it's important to consider avoiding dead space.