New Animation Reel 2018

My First official Overwatch Short, Reinhardt.
I'm so very honored and proud to have been part of this great project.
This was the first time I was able to work on internal monologue and facial close up.
Hot Dam was it a challenge, but everyday a new learning experience. I feel I learned a wealth of knowledge about face structure, muscular triggers, and eye movement.

Reinhardt is a character who compared to Winston is the heart beat of the overwatch team.
The tank and shield of the game. Within this 7 minute short we see what changed Rein into the man he will eventually become.

My supervisor Hunter Grant really was my shield animating this guy. Giving me the opportunity to have some of the most sincere shots in the film, was probably the best present I could have asked for. What I learned is that the most subtle acting shot can be just as hard if not HARDER than the most physical dynamic shot in the movie. What a challenge to take on, and such a gear change from the slappy physical cartoon style that I'm use to. At the end of the day our team was trying to make the most action packed heartfelt story we possibly could. Directed by Ben Dai who directed my favorites, The Last Bastion and Recall. It was an honor and dream come true to bring this character to the big screen!

Hope you enjoy it!    HAMMER DOWN!

Currently working on Season 5 of TMNT for the past 6 months and it's been an amazing journey. The bar is constantly rising for this great show and I have been learning so much from this awesome crew in Kelowna, Canada. The Turtles were a huge part of my childhood and to have the opportunity to work on this series for the next generation is truly an honor. Hope to do it justice and can't wait for everyone to see what's in store for next year.  Cowabunga!!!

CTN Demo Reel 2016 from Brad Faucheux on Vimeo.

Update to my demo reel with new shots

Teary eyed surprise!

Today I have ended my search I have poured a bucket of tears With
every click, some weak ones some strong ones, and one that was
incredible. The most extreme tear jerker for me that I found was
Shaliene Woodley in Divirgent. The movie is not great, passable to say
the least, but spoiler (someone close to her bites it) and her
reaction is heart crushing! Way to intense to be animated for now.
SPOILER BUT WATCH ANYWAY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-GOtreNc1I



my time is passed, the production side of me has called quits for
audio hunting. There is still so much more I want to study and explore
but watching dead films and top 10s all the day is a waste of time and
boring. I have to draw the line.
Im not saying that I haven't picked some good audio clips,
I want my new shot as perfect as I can get it, and That's my problem Reality is
it's not going to be the next Pixar piece, it's not going to be the most
amazing piece ever, it will only be as good as I prepare for it.

I was listening to John Lasseters lecture
the other day and he shared with us what his buddy Andrew Stanton
always says "be quick to fail ". This is a great reminder for me not
to get ahead of myself like I did in previous classes, just because I
happen to have a decent piece that worked the first time ,
doesn't mean I know what the hell in doing now.
I'm terrified that I will screw this up. So I will be quick to fail hard in
establishing my shot.
Sad scenes are tough for actors to pull off, Well dam try to create
that performance with a 3D character. That is our challenge as animators is to
keep pushing and capturing a moment the audience can identify with.
Lucky me to have kept searching because I found
one very unexpected clip that hit my heart from the most least
expected movie. This one was definitely the favorite out of my
selections. The more I concentrated on it, the more it connected
with what's going on in my life right now. I'm emotionally
attached and devoted to this clip and already have a story set up for
it. My email is sent and asking for confirmation, still waiting to
hear for it by tomorrow. Hope soon so I can start shooting reference
and blocking. Here's hoping to early tomorrow! until then I will study
layout shots, facial acting, the science of crying and more
leyendecker Art.

Week 4 Final !!!

And We call this a FINAL  ( APPLAUSE)   woo woooo

....... well kinda  haha

This last critique was well on it's way. 

I'm relieved to report that the review went well. The major notes were hit and  still getting a laugh. Now I can crawl in a corner and let it all out.  Less headaches, More chillax

Now comes the last stop of fine polishing. This is the most tasteful part for me, where I take all the final notes and anything my peers can give me to wax this piece up .  Little things that were mentioned to kick it up a notch. more posed poses, pops and penetrations, better shaped lips. 

Yes some facial poses were pushed a tad too much. just as I feared.  Breaking the characters model.

BUT THAT'S OK!  in my past experience I've noticed the workflow of pushing too much and backing it up until the medium hits, is always the way to go for most projects.  This is normal, so now my mission is to find those spots to blend and tweak.

Big Note for the week 

working with two characters in a gag, the audience eyes will be moving back in forth between who is acting and reacting. No one can see both characters at once so each character must have a pause while the other is talking. 

Today I am catching up on my normal life, resting, resetting, and planning my next shot.  I am studying many of suspense film and drama pieces, looking for cameras angles and new ways to tell stories.  Right now the TV shows Daredevil and Maddogs are the two I'm currently watching. Both are unique and the action and intensity is something that intrigues me.  Even though I have shown Malcom some of the audios I like, I feel like there is still more, something tells me to keep searching just a bit more.  Today am watching some films that might fit that bill, they are 13, Snowpicker, The Town, and Out of the Furnace. 

And for my next trick I'm gonna bring the tears because I want the challenge of breaking a character emotionally. This I've heard from many of animators is the toughest thing to do.  Sounds like just the idiot idea for me. 3  big motives have made this decision for me.  

1.  I rarely see any shots on demo reels that get deep inside a characters eyes. I can maybe recall one maybe two shots I have seen that were done beautifully. Those moments stop you in your tracks and are the essence of what makes animation so special to the world.

2.   Ted Ty ( legend ) did a talk last year at  CTN  a two part lecture called Boo Hoo, explaining emotion, character, inner struggle, posing in emotion. Everything that leads up to an impact.  This inspired the hell outta me to really tap into the notes that came from that lecture. Not only is Ted an unparalleled animator and the sweetest guy you'll meet, but his passion and enthusiasm pours out in everything he talks about. The lecture on crying and emotion brought the house down in November.

3.   I'm an idiot and a junky for challenge 

So here we go.....  I feel like Gandalf at the end of two towers. The battle for Comedy is over... The battle for Sorrow is about to begin....  

Easter Week of Work

I've overslept these past few days and knocked out half of my time away from the computer. I've needed lots of sleep, but I just felt the need to journal my class. I have spent most of the weekend searching for my new clip for my new animation piece. This again I believe is the most difficult part of starting a scene because I have an idea and sometimes your idea could not work with what is already there. A simple search for the saddest scene in cinema increases the chances that someone already has animate this. I've been at it all day to find an intense or sad piece that works within 6 to 7 seconds. There are a few but nothing within that amount of time to make any sense. When understanding that you only have that much time, you need to make sure that within the first frame of the shot you already are telling 95 % of the story. Dam this sucks, the more I search the more determined I am to make this the best I can possibly make it. I'm trying to break out of the box that many animators put themselves into once they start blocking a shot. I want to try new things with the camera, new ways of telling stories, give them something that's not to be expected. I feel I got to do this in order for my work to stick out but it's so difficult to find the shot that works for emotional moments. Now that I think about it, it's not the search I'm pissed about it's the amount of time I have to do it in. I know time is not on my side and my schedule has backed me into a corner I need to be very careful with how I use each hour of each passing day. I had to skip out on going to movies with friends and exercise in order to find this piece. Not to mention the fact that I want to get as much work done as I can. This is my last class for a while and each week is critical. I hope I don't go insane, as I'm doing this I'm trying to stay motivated and stay healthy. Sometimes giving a 120 thousand percent catches up quick! To give you an example, I'm writing this as I'm sleeping in my car during lunch break.