DreamGirls ... Eddie Murphy WIP

During the recent Super Powers competition, I was inspired to really focus on more Lip Syncing and chose to try my hand at music. What better way to practice lip syncing and animated body/emotional delivery than a powerful, soulful song.

Started today, March 20th and expect three-four days worth of work before completion.



The song is from Dreamgirls, Eddie Murphy singing Fake your way to the top.

This is going to be a little challenging because I simply can't do the nifty trick Tyson supplied us in order to put 2-3 Lowmax's on the scene. I kept getting errors. So, since I have to learn compositing also, the finished version will have loads of tricky AE compositing that I'm only assuming will pan out nicely.

The completed version will be a minute and change with multiple camera angles, and the three other 'DreamGirls'.

This is Shot 2 and the camera isn't placed yet. It's expected to dolly in from behind and to something almost in this angle. I'm keeping it here so I can get the lip syncing, body motions and key stuff out of the way.

Oh yes ... and the keys will move in time with the music also.

This is just the set up.

Cheers to one and all!
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This is today's update on Eddie Murphy/dreamgirls lip-sync test. What I ended up exchanging for a lot of foot/leg work movement is a lot of timed piano and gestures. Can't escape timing.

My workflow started with just the basic objects in their place, hitting specific beats for certain gestures ... separating the shots according to my storyboard I sketched out. I wanted to end the day with enough basic movement so I can concentrate on the fingers/keys and then the lip syncing.

First is all of 'eddie's' stuff, followed by any one of the 'dreamgirls'. what I did was sew the general direction I'm going with this test through premiere so I can have a visual if what I'm doing matches the sketches and general timing.

No lights, materials, etc yet. Much later ... right now, I'm happy with the way it's going and the chiseling of more 'animated' gesturing begins. I already started with the opening hand playing the keys ... from that point forward, though, it's all just flat until I get to it.

The black 'blank' parts of the short are the spots the compositing will go of multiple characters. There is a part mid-way where eddie is singing 'round and around" and he looks over his shoulder ... then later slides to the right .... these are areas that will have second and third characters composited next to and walking around him.

Originally, this was going to be in a simple background and floor ... but I'm seriously thinking of making an all out recording studio to surround the characters ... a few instruments in the back and foreground. Studio lights and mics.

comments, complaints and concerns are welcome as I go along.

38mb's, folks ... depending on your system, it may be a slightly slow load.

wow dude that was insane..........I love it .
Lowmax doing music is the wip man.
I tried it too.............

Hey man,

First off...you might want to look into some better compression methods 40mb for that clip is a little big!

Anywho...nice update between your first pass, and today's pass. Good to see you making some nice progress

The main (2) things I'd say are:

1) Whenever I see people playing pianos, they always hold the notes down after hitting them (I think this creates the drawn-out notes, as opposed to quick, stocotto (sp?) notes) Right now your character lifts his hands after most of the note hits

2) His hands are very very wavy right now, whereas I'd imagine them to be sort of always pointing down at the piano, as if he's getting ready to hit the next note. It might make more sense once all of the fingers are animated, but for now it looks sorta odd.

Keep us updated!

Hey, kilroy ... thanks for the kind words.

Tyson, thanks for checking it out and the advice. Yeah, things at this stage are wobbly, but that's my on-going refinement challenge. I appreciate the advice on the piano keying and my next days work on it (after the regular job) will be to work on maintaining a hold per key. BTW, Why am I getting errors when attempting to place two lowmax's in a scene with the maxscript. I know it has to be my inept self at work, botching up perfect material, but there is a shot coming up in this WIP that would better serve me with two in a scene than an intricate compositing. Any advice on that would be a blessing.

Oh, and your tight ... 40 mb's is a little much. I've re-uploaded a 20 mb version for the prior update and this one is 16mb's. Please forgive the grainy-ness, but I figure it's just a WIP, why struggle with anything bigger?

So today's work slipped in more lip sync, which was the central purpose of this study with timing. Every time I look at it, it makes me wish I can really play the piano, so I must be going in the right direction. I'm trying to make LowMax look cool .... so further facial expressions (eyes/brows) will come later on. The flat look on his face while playing HAS to go.

I totally messed up with last minute thinking to add a background (usually the first thing in my workflow (setting up the environment) ... and the different angles you see are different setups ... so I have to get the eventual recording studio set in each different scene carefully. Would have been easier to just have it done at the start and copy throughout. Grrr. So more later work to do.

Hey man....what error are you getting when you try to copy the lowmax rig?

Did you follow all of the steps posted here?: http://simplycg.net/viewtopic.php?t=2959

That's awesome! But one thing I would say... don't bite off more than you can chew. You said this is a learning exercise so it would be a better idea to make it short and sweet - really focus on the details rather than going for an epic like this.

As for the background I'm sure there's a way to reference in the environment in Max (ie. have the BG in another file, place it once, then the updates are read in your animation files) But if you're going to do lot's of compositing work could render off a single frame of the BG and comp it (on the static shots of course)

Hey guys ...

First... Mr. Tyson ... Disregard my error problems ... like taking the car to the shop after hearing a noise, of course the noise 'stops'. I did another run through and I didn't get the error anymore. Just for the record, the error was: 'No Get Function something-something' and highlighted the following line: script1 = $.modifiers[#Morpher][q].controller.script

I think I selected the wrong part of the head. I really appreciate your willingness to help, though. That went a long way for me and I thank you.

Global ... at one point I thought this was a huge undertaking. Fact is, it IS kinda unwieldy sometimes ... but I keep telling myself, it's only a minute and 9 seconds of animation ... it's crazy how much information goes on within a single minute! I figure, if I can chisel at it and accomplish this, I'll get over this hump of 'lack of material' issue I've been having lately. I'm in this "So-you-say-your-a-filmmaker-so-where-is-your-stuff?" frame of mind, and I've been putting myself to the test. Kind of like in the military (basic training) where they push you to your limit in a short amount of time ... then do it again until it become second nature. I don't even have a demo reel to show and I want to work in the industry. So this is what this and me entering challenges are all about ... pushing, carving out a style and talent and hopefully build enough to have a reel and make a living like you guys do. Right now, I work at 'Target' (retail) and I absolutely, positively KNOW I can do more than this.

I'm trying to step up and do better ... thus have better. All you guys of the SimplyCGnet working 'in the industry' ... I envy you. Come what may of the hard work, the hours, the management issues ... it's better than working totally outside of the creative industry you love ... and I'm desperately trying to reverse this issue.