Opening Scene
The scene begins with the camera moving downwards at an angle before stopping at the planet. This is to duplicate the well known establishing shots at the beginning of Star Wars, I even added the music at the start to again mirror these scenes. There is then a pause to create anticipation before another reference to the original films with the star destroyer passing overhead towards the planet. I chose to keep them very dark with specific lighting to emphasize there looming evil and this corresponded with the imperial march tune.
Overall I think this scene turned out perfectly, it did end up taking up about 8 seconds of my animation but I think it was worth it.
If I was to redo this scene I would like to add more detail to my star destroyer models and also I would have liked to pan round and show more star destroyers but this proved difficult with the flow.
Scene 1 - Tatooine
The scene again begins by establishing the location. I wanted the audience to get a feel for the planet they are on which meant creating more models for the scene such as Jabba's palace and the typical huts rather than just a desert. I added the box droid as well to add more life to the scene. After a second of anticipation the sand crawler comes pushing through the left hand side. I used its size to really emphasize that it is the focus of this scene.
I again was happy with this scene, I think the box droid drawing the attention of the viewer to the right really adds to the revealing of the sand crawler.
If I was to remake this scene I would like to add more droids or maybe humanoid figures to the background, I would have also liked to cut to a different scene showing the long journey of the crawler, maybe shifting from day to night but the time constraint prevented this.
Scene 2 - Uphill Crawl
This part was very short, just showing the sand crawler climb up a small hill. I went with a lower angle in this clip to again emphasize the size of the model. The model comes up the hill slowly before dropping slightly to show it has stopped. It was a fairly straight forward clip. One extra touch I did like was the looming star destroyers in the back ground, I thought this was a nice feature as we already know they are evil through the shadowing and music in the opening and now they are looking over the sand crawlers whose journey we are following.
Nothing was really wrong with scene although it did take some time to get the speed right as I have mentioned in an earlier post that having chosen such a slow vehicle for a 30 second animation has proven awkward.
If I was to redo this clip there isn't much I'd change, maybe extend its length to link in t a longer journey as I mentioned above in scene 1.
Scene 3 - T3-M4 Reveal
This scene goes with a high angle unlike the previous shot to give a greater angle of the sand crawler and also to emphasize the size again as the T3-M4 comes out. The sound added for the door opening works well with this moment, the scene also zooms towards the droid. This again is to show the audience what the focus of the scene is which leads in to the next shot.
I was again pleased with this scene, especially after I added the R2 like sounds for the T3-M4 to really give life to it. I particularly like how it links into scene 4.
There is nothing I would change about this scene except maybe more detail to the location and maybe animation the T3-M4 more so maybe his blaster would come out using rigging rather than just start off out.
Scene 4 - Close Up T3
I really liked this shot, I think it is a shot more of my colleagues will find a challenge to incorporate into their own scenes. This scene just allows the viewer to see the droid scanning the location. I thought the best way to do this was to make him look left before right as this adds emphasis onto the next scene being a surprise and builds up the tension.
This scene is fine, the only things I would change are how it linked into the next clip, I did quite want a zoom in to the star destroyers to show what it had scene but I guess the next clip achieves the same thing and allows me to keep to the time constraint of 30 seconds.
Scene 5 - Tie Fighter Fury
The next scene follows 3 tie fighters coming from the direction of the star destroyers. This shot shows what the T3-M4 saw when he looked behind him and also builds up the action with a quick camera following the fast tie fighters. This scene required a lot of work on the terrain as it looked far too bare originally but the final product looked good. Towards the end of the clip the camera becomes static to allow several things. Firstly to give the tie fighters some distance, secondly to show their target is indeed the sand crawler and thirdly to allow continuity to the next scene as I have found a quick moving camera does not like to flow into another shot.
Overall this scene is fine, if I was to reattempt it I would like to improve the spline the tie fighters follow as at a few sections it jumps, barely noticeable but after 20 odd watches they started to bug me. Also I would like to have made them not so in-sync with each other as they look in unison but boarder line unnatural but to be honest these are minor issues which in a 30 seconds clip do not really show up as major flaws.
Final Scene - Darth Revan Returns?
The final shot starts at a slight low angle and slowly moves towards the dark door way of the sand crawler. This builds anticipation along with the fact that there are star destroyers looming above and tie fighters closing in from the left and right. As the camera approaches the doorway the T3-M4 is also moving to the right hand side, this was to make it clear to the audience he is no longer the feature of the sand crawler scenes, someone else is inside. Once you close into the doorway two light sabres, one purple and one red suddenly activate in the darkness. These are Revans light sabres and I thought would be an appropriate ending to the scene as I feel you can't help by wonder, "the Empire? T3-M4 and now Revan, what is going on!?"
I am completely happy with the final scene, if I was forced to remake it I might alter the tie fighters in the background as something doesn't quite look right but generally very happy with the ending.
Overall I think the animation is awesome, especially since 11 weeks ago I had no knowledge on how to use 3DS Max and now have enough skills to easy create basic animations and I imagine with a little more practise, some amazing animations!
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