The Making of 'The CandyMan Interrogation'

David Fish and Maik Pham Quang commenced production on The CandyMan Interrogation a mere 7 weeks ago, here is everything that went into creating it.

Please note: When reaching the bottom of the page, remember to click 'older posts' as there is more pages of work, Thankyou

Research: Source Material

When coming up with our idea of a police interrogation, we needed some source materials from both Film and Animation to help us develop our story further. We discovered that the police interview was a very prolific section of film, and has found its way into some of the biggest movies, and games, of all time. Seeing as we was using the 'bad cop' routine, here are a few of the ones we found most relevant to our story.

This is an interrogation scene from the hit Playstation 3 title 'Heavy Rain'. We found this spot on with what we wanted to do. The cop in the video, loses his temper and hits out at the suspect. This sort of behaviour is exactly reminiscent of what we wanted to achieve, and being an animated scene added to its appeal even more.

This scene from the box office smash 'The Dark Knight' is another we thought which showed exactly the type of character we was trying to portray. A very expressive, slightly aggressive, type character was specifically the type of characteristics we were trying to convey with our characters.

Research: LipSync

With neither of us doing much lip syncing before this project, research was key. We gathered as much examples, and materials as possible in our quest to get our lipsync spot on. The Internet proved a great source of information, with people providing their previous attempts at a lip sync which proved invaluable with making sure we either followed in their footsteps, or didn't make the same mistakes as them.

Here are just a few source images we used.

Research: Facial Expressions

Researching facial expressions was very important to us. When animating a lip sync, without good facial expressions, the character can seem lifeless and unappealing towards the audience. We used the internet, and an amazing book by Preston Blair called 'Cartoon Animation'. This book proved priceless with its wealth of information from the professionals.

Pre Production: Sketches

After researching facial expressions, we decided to sketch out what Moom's face will be doing most during our production. We needed to see how his face would contort when surprised, angry, sad and excited just to name a few.

Another thing that would be key to producing really good animation, is strong key poses. We sketched out a few poses showing Moom in different situations, moving, slouched, showing different characteristics would eventually make it easier for when we come to block out our animation using a key pose animatic.

Pre Production: Character Synopsis

When coming up with the whole idea and story, we needed to give each of the characters their own personality. We wanted the cop to be playing the whole, cliche bad cop routine, and the suspect the typical nervous, anxious character set.

The Cop, a bit of a hot head, jumps to conclusions all the time. He's recently divorced, and just missed out on the promotion at work. A chip on his shoulder, good luck to anyone who crosses him on a bad day.

Moom, a nervous character. Being a slightly dopey yet lovable character but always seems to find himself in the wrong situation. Uses humour to hide his insecurities. Lives alone, one day seizes the opportunity to steal candy from a baby, soon enough he becomes obsessed with the thrill.

Pre Production: Script/Screenplay

When writing our script, we wanted to take a serious situation, like a police interview, but add a bit of humour to whole thing. Firstly we came up with the script, and then adapted the screenplay around that. We used certain language in the dialogue to help get the story across, and to also help the audience associate with the characters.

For example, the Cop, being a slightly hot headed character, used somewhat colourful language, whereas the suspect, a very nervous and anxious character used words associated with being scared and feeling slightly out of place.

Please click on each image for a zoomed in view

Pre Production: Sound Recording

Before starting main production on our animation, we decided to test a part of the dialogue from the script using the research and knowledge we had learnt about the structure of lip sync and facial expressions. We chose a certain part of the script that showed real tension and emotion, so we could put some real dynamic expressions to the test.

As you can see we added tiny little details to add to the whole experience. Little movements of the head, eyes squinting, and eyebrows furrowing all add to the intensity, and emotion of the character. We were pleased with this test and so began production on the final piece soon after.

Pre Production: Storyboarding

When storyboarding we decided to leave it until after the dialogue was recorded so we could sync the key poses more accurately.

Using the storyboard, we could position the cameras exactly where we had envisioned them. We used cuts, overheads, over the shoulder, depth of field and perspective as a wide range of shots.

Production: 3D Animatic

Using the 2D hand drawn storyboard we had come up with, we decided to do a 3D blockout showing the key poses of each character and key camera shots for each scene. We synced the key poses with the dialogue we had recorded, and blocked out the animation. When blocking out we tried to create both easy to follow but also dynamic camera shots, so used a wide array of techniques. We tried to implement the rule of thirds, and also tried to implement a bit of perspective where possible.

These are a few key poses used in the animatic.

Production: Lip Sync Test

Before starting main production on our animation, we decided to test a part of the dialogue from the script using the research and knowledge we had learnt about the structure of lip sync and facial expressions. We chose a certain part of the script that showed real tension and emotion, so we could put some real dynamic expressions to the test.

As you can see we added tiny little details to add to the whole experience. Little movements of the head, eyes squinting, and eyebrows furrowing all add to the intensity, and emotion of the character. We were pleased with this test and so began production on the final piece soon after.

Playblasts

Before committing to our final render, we decided that exporting a playblast of the animation would be our best bet to find any problems before hand. We used the playblast to see how the camera angles would work out, and how the lighting reflected the mood. Any problems we found in this could easily be worked out before committing to the high quality renders.

Post Production: Rendering

When it came to rendering we both knew it was going to be a long process. 2694 high quality frames, with high resolution mental ray materials and lighting wasn't going to be easy.

Post Production: Render Quality Tests

Being the perfectionists that we are, we decided we wasn't going to be happy with your average, run of the mill, playblast. We both decided a high quality render with good lighting and texturing, would really add to the overall feel of the animation. Here are just a few render examples of us playing about with the lighting, and the mental ray settings.

The CandyMan Interrogation

So this is our final piece. After 7 weeks of production, this is what we came up with.

We are both really pleased with how it came out, and are proud of what we have achieved. After writing our own script, recording our own dialogue and finally animating, rendering and compositing it, here it is The CandyMan Interrogation.