The first step was going to be focused on the most important character as animating multiple characters at the same time would be a difficult task. This is where I decided to make the choice to remove the two other characters from the narrative. I was reluctant to do this as I wrote the initial storyboard and narrative around these 3 characters and felt that using their perspectives combined would help develop and build suspense. However, I have limited knowledge on animation (meaning I was figuring most things out as I was going) so three characters in a short timeframe would not work out so well. I realised though that this would also benefit the narrative in a different way, it would play into the idea of isolation and now it makes the empty streets feel a lot more threatening because there is only one person left. It brings up the question of where is everyone else, what happened to them? And it makes the lone character feel more vulnerable and the audience can somewhat connect with that emotion.
Anyways I was now starting the main scene and figuring out where to begin. First up would be looking through Mixamo for animations to use and working out how I'd be connecting multiple of them up in blender as currently it usually only let me use one animation at a time. Thankfully this was pretty easy to find a tutorial for, I ended up watching this video for it.
Before actually applying this to blender I wanted to start the search for the initial animations and figuring out how I was going to start this scene. The main aspect was that they needed to be holding a gun to help with the connection that they are in conflict, or at least where there was a conflict, and they are a soldier. Another was that they'd be making slower movements to show their fatigue but thanks to the settings in Mixamo I could turn down the overdrive option to adjust the speed:
By simply searching rifle I found a range of animations that had the character holding a gun, the first I found which I felt would be a great walking animation featured the character crouched and walking slowly. It both showed him being tired due to the slow movements but it also implied he was trying to be quiet and his stance made him seem paranoid and weary of his surroundings.
Whilst I saved it, I also wanted one with the character walking whilst standing more upright with his gun more relaxed for the moments when he begins to let his guard down and start to take in the environment and the feeling of exploration. And sure enough, I found one that fit this well.
According to the tutorial I also needed an idle animation for use inbetween animations. Thankfully the website not only provides those but they also provide transitions between idle animations and movements. I decided to download multiple selections of idle animations as it would be good to have variation. I ended up browsing and downloading a wide range of animations that would possibly suit me in the project, especially the beginning of the main scene.
Before anything else now I had to sort out the area of the set I would be using and adjust it so it had lighting prepared. The area was a level section with no inclines as that would make things more difficult in terms of animations, walking up would need it's own animation or else it would look weird and unnatural. I started my work on the area by making the red panels that would turn on near the end, helping to show that this is the same area as the start of the film. This was done exactly as the opening scene, I just made the texture of the object an emission so it would give off a red glow, I would also later be adding a light source so it would reflect on the character and objects realistically.
Then it came to making it so all the panels in the scene would also give off light, this turned out to be quicker than anticipated as I realised they all shared the same material. This meant I could edit all of them at once and wouldn't need to make a new object to cover them. I also realised that this meant I could instantly make all of them red and had no need for the red panels I made previously.
All of the lights made the city actually feel like a real one at night, it worked well to help liven up the set and not make it just seem like a model.
Next came adding light sources around the area, I didn't need to bother adding them to other parts of the set as it would be wasted effort and having these lights where I'd be filming meant it would be easier to tell. I added lighting to a branching off street for if I had time to record some additional shots.
I had to set how many frames would be needed for this film, I decided to aim for 3 minutes so I'd likely have more time than needed and it means I have no limits on what to work with. When I figure out everything I'd be able to adjust the time if necessary.
Now I had to follow the tutorial to get the character in the scene. For starters I was just going to do something more basic and get them to walk through the street and stop at the lampost. From there I'd work on making it slightly more complex or continue keeping it simple depending on how it went. First I had to import the idle animation for the character that I downloaded earlier. I also had to import the basic mesh without any skeleton so I could transfer the textures to the animated model.
This is where I realised that I'd need a gun model for the character, the one I used in the War Photography experiment didn't fit any of the poses so I had to find a new one. Though this time I used the website SketchFab to find a free model to download and use, it also came with textures so it was ready to be used for the film. I chose this one in particular as it was based upon the game and it was the right shape and size to be held by the character. I decided however, that I would first work on the character's animations before adding the gun. Instead I'd have it on standby to be added to the scene.
This was the download link: https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/battle-rifle-halo-993b53264b5c413c98dcdd34693a801c
I renamed the animation to idle 1 in blender and continued the tutorial. I next imported the walking animation and once again renamed it so it would be easier to identify. I could now delete the second model as the animation was saved in Blender. I went into the animation settings and set it so that the walking would blend in from the idle, this is very similar to video transitions in programs like premier pro. I now knew how to connect animations, I just needed to be able to loop the walking animation. This was pretty simple as all I needed to do was set how many times I wanted the animation to repeat.
Now came the walking, I needed to just set keyframes so the character would move. This meant I would set a keyframe for the starting location of the animation and one for where they finish walking, in this case it was going to be frame 316. The biggest trick was making sure that it wouldn't move too quickly or too slowly, I had to find a nice middle ground that fit well without looking unatural. Moving it too far away meant it was too quick and too close would be too slow.
This is the outcome I got after working at carefully changing the settings and placement. The main issue was that the rotation of the character made the walking look slightly weird and when the character stopped it also felt very sudden. I could easily fix the rotation issue and the other could be adjusted by changing the blend in speed between the walk animation and the idle animation.
Next was a lot of rinse and repeat of using idle animations and moving the character. I made it so after walking the character would stop and look around for a second before continuing to walk forwards slightly. I made them look around to show the sense of paranoia and alertness this character is feeling. I also discovered that with making the character walk I could easily match the speed they move with the animation by simply copying the ending frame of the animation and pasting it into the movement.
Now I wanted to figure out how to get the character to stand near the screen panel. I was still aiming to keep this in one single camera movement but I was willing to make some hidden cuts when the camera is being blocked by an object. I decided that during the walking animation once they passed a small barrier to the side I would change their position. Whilst the camera is out of view I could place them directly where they need to be for the next shot by the screen.