Simple hitman job goes wrong. Yes. That's the story.
Authors note:
"My name is Tomás Vergara, a self taught 3d artist and a film nut. As for now, I’m 25. I was born in Chile and I live here. In 2011, I left my full time job in advertising to produce The Chase, my first personal project, completed in an isolated cabin in the woods. It took me 6 months to produce, but 8 in total to complete because of slow render times. My budget was US $700."
So, let's proceed with the good things, because it will be easier to start with.
The environment is lovely. Author took care of many details which really does its job.
The same thing is with the lighting. Great job.
And yes, this is all.
Now, the critique.
First of all, the character does not have any weight. Run cycle is HORRIBLE. Examples: 03:18, 04:43, 06:10. These shots just ruin the whole movie! It also applies to the walk cycle.
The moves are not natural and looks stiff. Example? Fight sequence. Animation principles? Screw animation principles!
Instead of being isolated in cabin in the woods - OBSERVE people. See how they move. And please.. read some books about animation.
Second thing which drives me crazy - SSS. Yes, we all know that SSS is really great and we should use it but here.. it was exaggerated. Twice. I do believe author can render skin, but real skin does not looks like that. Awful.
Third, we all know great shatter plugins with realistic physics. But here it is too much. We got like four or five shots where something gets destroyed. Looks like a plugin promo. Also, reminds me of Steven Seagal movies, when explosion was at the whole screen to show how much money they spent on that.
Another thing -going back to animation- in some parts characters are not moving at all, not even micro movements were applied. Okay, it can happen in one scene but entire movie? Come on! Examples? 01:30 and so on.
Last but not least, the story could be told in 3 minutes not 13! To me it's simple show-off to get a job as a generalist. Nothing more.
I do believe, a lot of effort was put in making this movie, but when you spend 8 months in creating a short, it better be good in every matter! In this case, it was better not leaving a job in advertising.
If you have 13 minutes and you're extremely bored, watch 'The Chase'.
Also, visit the official website to see the making of and other authors notes:
http://thechaseshortfilm.com
Exactly my thoughts, after reading his story with the cabin in the woods, leaving a job in advertising and all, I started to sniff some elaborate show off project and became really skeptical. Then the first few seconds confirmed everything. The animation has some good qualities that you've mentioned but all in all not ready for prime time I would say.
ReplyDeleteWhat was the name of the animator who did the same thing a few years back and wrote a book about it, describing the whole process?
It rather looks like animation by undergrad student using poor quality mocap.
ReplyDeleteI think I know what you're talking about, but can't remember now. If you find the name, please share it with me.