OUAN05 - The Classical Elements - Final Stages

I drew the frames for this scene at the point where I was comfortable with the process I was using and the pace of the animation was beginning to pick up slightly as I was getting used to it. The first scene shown below shows the characters close together but with their swords down, this was the position I used after a small sequence within the fight scene to demonstrate the idea the characters were tired or needed a break. After watching multiple fight scenes, both animated and live action I found this to be a common feature in them all and did my best to incorporate it also. 

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I tried to put some emphasis on the elemental aspect of the animation by trying to use the idea of spells or the control of elements. Here, the character projects a sphere at the other character. The way I did this, like the other aspects of this animation without animating anything like this before, was raise the characters arm before carefully applying spacing and timing principles to make it appear as if the sphere accelerates towards the other character. 

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I wanted to include a character jumping at another character and bringing their sword down mid air. To try and make the movement here as accurate as I could, I made sure that the characters were a certain distance apart from each other before I started the sequence. I then had a character run up to the other whilst bringing his sword behind his head. Then as he jumped he brought his sword down, I also tried to include some follow through animation to make it look fluid. 

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I enjoyed animating the scenes, where the characters weren't moving because they were straight forward but I think added a lot to the realism and style of the animation. It also made certain scenes more dramatic or tense, because it gives the audience a chance to catch up on the action, and attempt to predict the next move of the characters which is what I was trying to achieve by putting these pauses in between the action. 

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Towards the end of the animation I do a close up of each characters face before they final sequence occurs, I primarily did this to break up the action and change the shot so it wasn't the same for the second half of the animation. I think it also adds some more drama to the sequence and gives the audience a break so it doesn't get too repetitive. 

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The final sequence consists of the characters charging at each other and the fight ending in a stale mate. After the close up shots I zoomed the camera back out to reveal the full width of the environment before pausing and the characters charging. I didn't use many frames for the charge because I wanted the movement to be swift and from a technical and professional perspective, to keep it under the allocated 20 seconds. 

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Here is the final fade out at the end of the sequence. This takes place as the characters swords go through each other and it's revealed to the audience the fight ended in a stale mate. I wanted to fade it out rather than just cut to a black screen so the animation felt like it transitioned smoother and had an overall more professional feel to it.