How to Make an Animated Short Film
By popular demand, I’m writing a “Making Of, from A to Z” series. A lot of people have asked me what’s the path to make a 3D Animated Film. It gets a lot more interesting when you have the desire, but you don’t have the available resources to pay an expensive education. With no prior experience, you may start with something Short. It seems pretty doable after all. Good news is: It actually is a lot easier than you think. Some local guy makes a short film for close to nothing. In fact the budget could have been $0,00, but it would have taken me some extra months. (By the way, cost of living is not part of this budget, that’s pretty much up to you). Really, if I knew this stuff being a kid when I lived with my parents, I’d have done it back then.
There’s a thousand ways and combinations on how to do this, but I won’t elaborate on that. I will tell you the way it works for me. Believe me, I’ve tried most of them. A lot of people are going to tell you this or that, and they are probably right. The problem is: everyone is. With that in mind, opinions are so mixed that at the end of the day you don’t know which one should you follow. All of them together make no sense at all, and its so confusing and complicated that its not even worth it. Once you understand that, its a lot easier to move on.
To make this thing happen it will take hard work, though.
There are a few key elements you need to master before getting there. The following 2 weeks I WILL elaborate on each one of these steps, hopefully with a certain level of detail so you don’t get lost.
IDEA
- Inspiration
- Write a Story
- Sketch it out (or ask for help)
HARDWARE
- Do you need a Supercomputer?
- PC or Mac?
3D
- Learn Maya
- Characters
- Environment
- Learn to Rig Characters
- Learn to Animate
- Learn Vray
FINAL STAGE
- Learn After Effects.
- Premiere / Final Cut (for mac). In this case, its the same thing.
- Sound / Music (Foley / Soundsnap.com / Vimeo Music Store)
THE PLAN
By now, you probably haven’t mastered any of the things you were supposed to. That’s fine. Even though I had the theory, I learned to Animate and Rig Characters when I was actually producing The Chase. So, we are going to need to outline every aspect of the production before starting it. We are getting into that too.
You will eventually need to digg a lot, and some times get your hands and clothes dirty. Some people you like and respect might even get angry. Like your mom, when you were a kid, and she spanked you. But when they see what you’ve learned from it, they will most probably embrace it. You can take a shower later.
By Tomas Vargara
By Tomas Vargara
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