Phil's Infamous Chair

Just wanted to share this quick shot today.

This has become one of my favorite shots lately. George's set looks amazing and Phil's awesome chair deserved a proper reveal. All the elements came together. The animation is simple. I think this one shot says so much about this film.

Here we see one of the Sherpas unwrapping Otto Von Louse's arm chair in the cabin halfway up the mountain.

Getting Creative with the Sets

Starting off on this film we had but a few sets: Some flat planes, a cabin, and of course our massive miniature mountain. Though simple, the flat planes have become the most effective. Forming canyons and ridges, they have served to create more interesting shapes as our team's accent steepens.

We rose the set to desired incline.

Shooting on green screen means more complex backgrounds may be added in post. Extra rocks break up the flat horizon.

We make sure the set is locked in place; They won't be going anywhere between frames.

The sets have proven most loyal. With all the lock downs we have pierced through them, their undersides look like pin cushions. Swiss cheese or not, they are still doing the job quite expertly.

110%

So I set up this shot, telling Keenan it should only be an eight second shot at the most and, egged on by Roberta, he turns in a shot just shy of 20 seconds!
I can't complain though :)

Scene 3 Shot 2 from Neil Baker on Vimeo.

Some more old footage.

Scene 3 begins. from Neil Baker on Vimeo.

Another quick composite

Obviously not as good as Jon could do, but it gives us a good idea of how scales can be affected.

Walk Comp Test from Neil Baker on Vimeo.

The Long Walk

Six hours of animation = 3.4 seconds of walking footage. It's like that sometimes...

The set up


The remaining sherpas


The long walk


The real director


Keenan animates, captured on Monkey Jam, surrounded by the cameras capturing the scene and him, and... ooh, I've gone cross-eyed.


The rig



The director directs

Jump Test

Thought I'd take Roberta's flea jump and see how well Premiere handles some basic compositing.
I painted out the rigging, added a background, and voila - a quick bit of compositing!

Jump Test from Neil Baker on Vimeo.