• Location: Australia
  • Joined: May 14, 2014

Topic: Need inspiration and technical expertise. Don't like my work. :(

I have six scenes where a person pushes a button on a electronic device and the button turns from red to green or green to off or off to red or whatever - the button changes colour.

The button push, the colour change and the text is all integral to the movie.  Lego of course doesn't have writing so I printed this out on A4 paper and stuck it to a flat 2 x 1 tile and got the camera in real close.

I don't like the presentation but I really can't think of an alternative.  This device tells part of the story and it really needs to be readable.

Here is a snippet of what I have so far.  I have to do this button push six times throughout the movie and it's just blah!

3 seconds: https://copy.com/vsFbfpbyuLuPGTtk

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Re: Need inspiration and technical expertise. Don't like my work. :(

While the woman "has no choice" but to push the button is she willing to do so? Is it in her best interest or will there be consequences? Perhaps you could bring more life to the button push by animating the arm to show emotion while she speaks. Fear (shaking), doubt(pullback), and panic (multiple pushes) could follow the arc of your story and each button push could be unique.

For your button it was hard to make out it WAS being pushed because the camera was looking down on it. It might help to orient the camera differently to simulate the pressing down of the button. I have seen a technique that replaces a traditional 1x1 round plate with a 1x1 round tile to simulate the action. As the 1x1 plate is becoming available in more colors it should be easy to match a brick in your collection.

Have you seen Jay Silver's Rise of the Empire? In it Anakin raises his hand and makes a fist but it is not a minifig hand. It's a brick built construction with additional articulation. Perhaps when someone reaches for the button in your movie you could use Jay's method.

I did like the button press. Especially how you kept the lego logo aligned. The movement was quick and exact. But if you have to do it 6 times have some fun with it. If you're not, well, things could go downhill quickly.

-Jared

P.S. I do not know why the word doctor has a number 2 in front of it-this is something the final movie will explain. But...I only add this for you to laugh at me...I thought it was a "doctor" past 2 o'clock on first glance.

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Re: Need inspiration and technical expertise. Don't like my work. :(

I don't like the presentation but I really can't think of an alternative.  This device tells part of the story and it really needs to be readable.

Here is a snippet of what I have so far.  I have to do this button push six times throughout the movie and it's just blah!

3 seconds: https://copy.com/vsFbfpbyuLuPGTtk

Give me some time tomorrow and I'll design you a perfect shot. mini/smile

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Re: Need inspiration and technical expertise. Don't like my work. :(

Why don't you add the text by using a film editor?    mini/confused

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  • Location: New Jersey
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Re: Need inspiration and technical expertise. Don't like my work. :(

Is this scene 9?  My wireless connection has full bars but is excruciatingly slow.  if so, I actually like the close-up animation.  In my head, I imagined that the button turned transparent green rather than opaque lime, but I really don't care about that.  This is your vision.  Maybe adding sound will be all that's needed.  In cartoons, objects make more sound effects than in real life.  A traffic light, for instance, dings when it changes color, especially if it's the focus of attention.  Maybe all you need is a blip, a bloop, some buzz, or a quick-attack, long decay synth noise.  The British OsCar synth comes to mind as a source to produce a good button-press sound.  Or you can listen through the Hanna-Barbera library.  Rhino Records has a nice CD with some of their most iconic sounds, and even their voice actors doing answering machine messages for your voice mail.

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