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.

WEEK 3 CRITIQUE

Last nights review just hit! BOOM !   I'm on my way to finishing, Polishing has begun, I finally got what I've always been wanting notes, notes, and more notes. At first I was beginning to get let down that I just seemed to be doing everything right and I"m thinking IT's A TRAP
But right off the back My instructor told me, "No more praising now you're gonna get it!"

  .......I LIKE THAT

Time for the juicy part of class. I see how Marlon teaches. I'm feeling his workflow and it is very interesting. Once blocking, story, staging, and splining are set. he sets up his critique in small sections of the scene,
My shot is 302 frames, so maybe 50 frames a piece? nAAAAAA
Instead Marlon focuses on each beat of the shot, notes about what can be improved and what you can do to lead into the next beat. This is the same way Malcon had explained to me about the energy . curve liek previously mentioned.
Then he'll put all the pieces together to get an overall feel of how the shot can be plused and presented.  In my this case I have a piece that is pushed more into the cartoony realm of physics and my biggest note was to find the spots that can be  exaggerated, like big vowels and posing.
-more head jesters
-bigger antics
-wide eyes. Etc...
And it's freaking exciting I have a more stylized shot!
The biggest challenge I'm sure will be how to properly break and model Jack's rig
I need to  keep him on model and push just enough to keep it from looking crazy. One of Marlons biggest notes is to keep the character on model and he gives us a chart with model sheets in order to do this. I'll be doing a lot of emailing with him this weekend I'm sure.  Also I have acquired Hotel T and T 2  for reference. I love to study other animations as well as great films, get inspired, then work my ass off.  I also got permission to start on my next shot.  Dam, not even 4 weeks in and I got the green to think about my next shot. Can't slow down now, My previs classes I had produced a total of 2  strong shots because I took my time. I heard legends of people who have produced 3 during one term. Sounds Next Gen son!!  The Challenge intrigues me. I never thought I would get through this shot so fast but Marlon's flow is speed,  teaching me to be faster and to push forward when things work. My time at Reel FX I got pushed into the deep in with shots for my first feature and yes the crunch is real and if you don't keep up it will trample you with attention and not the good kind. This class is teaching me time management and persistence.  Can't slow down now.   I am currently looking for my next piece and this one's going to be more serious and intense ,but for now I'm going to enjoy this week, breaking my character, getting feedback, adding some fun and searching for my next shot. Stay tooned

The Road to Critique Week 3

Today I just kinda want to talk about my review from last week! As I'm watching Marlon explain to me what he likes and doesn't like, he will begin to act out moments! He's really grabbing some great expressions that I never thought I could use. I started to think that one of the real reasons I like online schools I can actually interact with my instructor see him act out scenes and show me what  he's thinking, versus someone having to type it all out on the computer.

I've notice time and time when trying to get feedback a lot of people don't write critiques because it takes a while, to explain. you can't really understand what that person is saying the less you see him and let's be real depending on the level of your skills as an animator most people won't waste time to even tell you what you need because the work sucks or either you're in the very beginning stage and most people just want to say get in a school or keep practicing. And I've also notice the only things written in the comments but every once in a while whenever taking the class you might get a few students that really take there craft seriously, want better quality stuff each week. These are the lions, the grinders, THE ANIMATORS. This is where the instructor makes a connection with that student, and you know who the tops are. These guys will get the more in debt instructions, it's more interactivity with the instructors, It's more excitement and energy put into really helping you grow as an artist. I'm starting to see that with Marlon, I really enjoy the one on one time, But I want to pick his brain more for things that I don't know. Some instructors might give you a simple critique and say see you next week that's my golden opportunity to stop them and say what about this, what about that? I need to learn something from this class not get a pat on the head job! Ask your mom for that.

WEEKEND 3

So Week three of the grind I'm still continuing to polish my animation. The second half of the shot what a great notes from last week, a few changes but for the better! It seems to be funnier and I've also looked at the shot as a whole. Some one or few notes I got were basic things such as hitting walls, pops, and eye shapes. The weekend has been a focused concentration of splining and body mechanics. A big challenge that kept coming up in my mind was to keep my characters stylized throughout the shot, physics and weight come up as I'm timing each pose. But I'm often thinking about the way the characters would feel in this world. My animation is slightly more exaggerated and am cranking the toony part of it up just a notch. I'm also taking into account the peak of interest within the shot. One of Malcon Pierces first notes he shared with me was the overall beat of the shot, where are the most important beats and where are the supporting beats leading up to the peak. Almost if you would draw a stockmarket graph over the acting. Where are the main points of interest? This has helped my approach to working on shots since I have taken his class. The anischool student work demo just dropped the other day and I have been watching it many times over. I was floored by a lot of amazing shots that this school has been producing and quite frankly it's probably one of the better school reels I've seen in a while. The other online schools reels haven't impressed me that much and I feel that the quality is lacking, I've heard from many students, that classes lack time for questions and critiques, instructors are not as enthused or motivating, feedback is difficult outside of class, and forums and feeds for critiques are quiet and abandoned. Whatever the case, I'll simply say what every higher up always crams down your throat, " The work speaks for itself ". And right now Anischool is intercepting the ball. As far as the characters, the shots, the acting, it's all adding up and looking great! Just gives me more motivation to keep pressing on with my shot to make it the best I can. It's always great to have motivation throughout the day. Besides the movies, music, podcasts with artist. Demo work will do the trick.

 Take a look for yourself