any tricks for setting the pace of animation?

Mistara

i prolly on the wrong track

first avenger movie it seems like 4 seconds between a transistion, like they setting the attention span for the audience at 4 seconds.  if the camera linger on a face for more than like 4 seconds it'll be too boring.

mebbe 4 seconds is a joss whedon thing.

if i had to pick a favorite movie based on pace, i'd go with the first 2 transformers movies.  the sound track had a heavy beat, feels lile the camera is synced to the beat of the sound track.

Sci Fi Funk

On this topic I had the privilege of being schooled by one of the main contributors over on the team dystopia boards. One thing he put me straight on immediately was the pacing of your movie.

In essence, the audience takes in a lot of detail quickly. They get bored quickly, so you need to be moving the story line along at a pace. This includes camera angles and timing. 

1 second is often used. 

2 seconds is probably my favourite time period, great for most action sequences and many dialogues. 

Higher than this you need to be asking your self can the contents of my scene hold interest? 4-8 seconds fall within this category. Sweeps work well in this time period.

The thing is even if the story line is in a lull - I'm thinking of Terminator 2, when the three main characters are in the desert and Sarah is talking about the Terminator being like a perfect dad for her child - there is still a lot of scope for moving the camera around and showing off more of the set (so visual interest).

This is a concept that a lot of enthusiasts miss, and so we the viewer are treated to 16 second walk loops with the same shot - then some action after that. It doesn't hold interest. Chop that up into 4 secs (initial sweep), 2 secs (face close up), 2 secs (body shot different angle), 1 sec (extreme face close up - he notices something), then 4 seconds (first person perspective), 2 seconds (what is waiting for him from the objects perspective), 1 sec (surpise on walkers face), now the 16 seconds has told a story - much more engaging with more than one thing happening at the same time.

 

Mistara

thanks for that example.  i remember the scene with sara conner, whatever they did, it was meemorable.

the avengers scene i was studying yesterday, black widow is tied to the chair being intergotated.   they zoom into her face close up. 

Mistara

 

Mistara

Sci Fi Funk

re: your pacing in film link - good find - yeah so they add in the pacing of the writing, which is key also.

I'm currently writing film scripts. I'm on my 7th one. Something I learned from a Woody Allen Film (he often writes about writers) is energy. 

If your writing without energy forget it. For a scene to grab someones attention apart from an obvious need for some ability / talent to write, the physical action of writing at pace (becuase the dialogue is pouring out of you), I believe translates well to the pacing of the film. I like quick witty interchanges between my characters. This is beacuse I am writing at speed almost feeling the conversation, and I hope my audience will as well.

Contrast this with a lacklustre feeling at the keyboard, chucking out lines for the sake of it and you come away as a writer feeling you should have done better (becuase you should have).

However back to my original point, even a "slow" scene can be made more interested by pacing the camera moves, 1 sec, 2 secs, 2 secs, 4 secs etc.

 

Mistara

i finished the first book of my story in 1989.  character's lives kept going in my head, the movie will pick up where the last book ended.  a weird way to go, lol.

back then my fantasy world was fueled by novels, not movies so much. 
The Darkover series, Forgotten Realms and Gary Gygax, Thieves guild, the Janet Morris high couch. Pern and Krynn dragon series.  in real life, i visited a few fetish places in new york city. my story lines influenced a bit by what i saw and heard.

I watched the extras on the LOTR dvds, learned about story boards.  Watched every carrara tutorial I could find.

Learned from this book.Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Second Edition: How to Edit Yourself Into Print
tho i don't agree with everything in the book.

I'm doing it for the fun of it.  Not expecting to win any awards.

Mistara

i think, part of the trick is to always have some movement, even if its just a leaf in a breeze.  its not really enough to keep the camera moving.

 

i love how, in the witcher 3 game, when on a boat, it shows splashes of water droplets hitting the camera lens.

Sci Fi Funk

@Mystiarra Thanks for sharing the link above! This is exactly what I need right now with the majority of my work sitting in first draft.

 

WendyLuvsCatz

yeah imagine that,  a camera crew following him around