Animated Punk Rock Music Video

[ZeroAbility]

I have just finished work on an animated music video for the song Cops And Robbers by Dublin Punk band HOOLiGAN.
The video was done completely in Anime Studio Pro 9 and took over 300 hours from start to finish (story boarding to final edit). Believe it or not, this is my very first animation project, so the learning curve was pretty steep, but the end result was worth it.

The song is about a 70's French criminal and each line refers to specific events in his life. So it was a challenge to incorporate all of this while maintaining some kind of continuity, particularly as most of the shots ended up being very short - 2 seconds or so each.

The solo in the middle presented the biggest problem to storyboard, but we eventually settled on a bank raid & car chase. Timing the cop cars to the music was ...er, fun

The most time consuming part was creating all the additional characters. Initially we were just going to have Jacques, Broussard (Jacques' nemesis) and the guys in the band. But Dave from HOOLiGAN wanted more, and we ended up adding guys from the record label, ex band members, other well known Punk band members and friends. Whew!

I am really pleased with how it turned out. Of course, there are always things you would change or tweak, but...

Hope you like it.

Mark
ZeroAbility.

[heyvern]

Awesome job!

You nailed the "look". Your use of backgrounds with foreground elements is very well done. The "3D" effects in many scenes is great. The FX were cool to, like the water. That water draining away in the overhead shot in the prison cell was awesome. That scene was great in composition and the subtle effects. There were many scenes that from a film maker perspective were really cool! Very well done.
The character drawing style is awesome. Not overly realistic or overly simplified. A good stylized middle ground.
Animation timing and the editing was good.

Constructive Criticism:
I hate to be too critical considering how well done EVERYTHING ELSE was, but...
The one thing I would mention, and this is for your own growth as an animator and editor, would be the "floaty" or "drifting" movement of the keys during the animation. For this type of story telling that is as action packed as an Iron Man film , you need tight and fast movements rather than slow, drifting motion.

You just need some more "hold keys" to cut down on that "floaty" motion. I love hold keys and sudden changes in movement. It really creates an exciting and dramatic feeling in the animation. When motion is slowly drifting rather than using hold keys and quicker movement changes, it slows down the pace of the action. For this hard, fast music, you need that fast quick action in the animation to match.

Some of this is personal opinions, but I think overall that would be the main thing to think about in future animations.

Job well done!!!!

[ZeroAbility]

You just need some more "hold keys" to cut down on that "floaty" motion. I love hold keys and sudden changes in movement. It really creates an exciting and dramatic feeling in the animation.

Thanks so much for the feedback.

Your point is very valid. I am definitely still just beginning my animation journey, so anything I can do to improve, I will take onboard.

Mark.
ZeroAbility.

[hammerjammer]

That was bleeping awesome. VERY WELL DONE.

HammerJammer

[neeters_guy]

First work or not, it's great! Congratulations!

[SimplSam]

An amazing first run. Well done.

[lawnmower70]

I think I saw a face rig test you posted of this on youtube a while back. Glad to see the final result! Awesome!

[ZeroAbility]

I think I saw a face rig test you posted of this on youtube a while back.

Yeah, that was me

[Danimal]

Believe it or not, this is my very first animation project

That is pretty astonishing as this is quite well done. The backgrounds and characters work well together and the story is told at a good pace. Nice!

And what's this? A song with a guitar solo in it? I didn't know bands did that any more, takes too much talent.

[sargumphigaus]

If this is your first animation, then I can only imagine where you'll be 10,000 hours from now. This is freaking exceptional.

And what's this? A song with a guitar solo in it? I didn't know bands did that any more, takes too much talent.

You sound very bitter. It's the radio isn't it, or MTV...something broke your spirits and musical faith. It's okay, it broke me too.

[Danimal]

You sound very bitter. It's the radio isn't it, or MTV...something broke your spirits and musical faith.

Either or both, yes.

[jahnocli]

I remember seeing a film about this Mesrine character; one of his stunts was, after robbing a bank, he saw another bank on the other side of the street and robbed that too! Hardcore...

[ZeroAbility]

I remember seeing a film about this Mesrine character; one of his stunts was, after robbing a bank, he saw another bank on the other side of the street and robbed that too! Hardcore...

Yeah, he wasn't what you'd call a planner. He got captured while trying to break back into a prison he'd just escaped from, he was trying to break his mates out!

If this is your first animation, then I can only imagine where you'll be 10,000 hours from now. This is freaking exceptional.

Thanks! Continuing to rack up the hours on my next project. 10,000 here we come! LOL.

And what's this? A song with a guitar solo in it? I didn't know bands did that any more, takes too much talent.

Old school. Gotta have a solo. Not really that much of a punk thing, but it works on this track.

[Undiscovered]

Excellent!!! Great job!
I also have been following you since you uploaded the face rig. I subscribed.

I would love to see you do more tutorials on your youtube page on how you did some of the scenes and character designs and animations.

It would really help us all out and we can learn a lot from you.

Did you do all the effects in Anime Studio? Water, explosions etc?

I wish you and your animating partner the best of luck. You are natural talents and I look forward to more.

[ZeroAbility]

Excellent!!! Great job!
I also have been following you since you uploaded the face rig. I subscribed.

I would love to see you do more tutorials on your youtube page on how you did some of the scenes and character designs and animations.

It would really help us all out and we can learn a lot from you.

Did you do all the effects in Anime Studio? Water, explosions etc?

I wish you and your animating partner the best of luck. You are natural talents and I look forward to more.

Thank you!

All water effects were done completely in AS.
The grenade explosion is also done in AS, with a few PNG images overlaid on top to beef if up a bit.
Muzzle flashes and the lens flare of the lights on the Police cars are done with PNGs as well.
The explosion behind Jacques and the band running is a stock video clip.
Tyre, exhaust and muzzle smoke is all done in AS.
The bullet holes in the windscreen - well, that might require a tutorial

I may do a tutorial or two, however I suspect that I methods would not represent the best or easiest ways to accomplish things. I learned a LOT in the making of this video, so I wouldn't necessarily do some things in the same way if I was going start again now.

I had thought that I would do a 'Making of' style video to encompass the overall process. It would cover things like:
How the project came about in the first place.
Some of the challenges of making an animated music video.
Why I dumped all my storyboard sketches into my video editor before going anywhere near AS.
Some of the difficulties I had creating the characters that needed to resemble actual people.
why I needed to say 'No' so some of the changes that were requested.
etc.

Mark.
ZeroAbility.