MOVIE UPDATE - WEEK #2

The WiPs has been posted in the "Other folder".

Heyaaa!! Let's start with this week's update cause I have so much to tell you! I will as always subdivide the update in section so you choose to read only the sections you want.

First setback, negative and positive outcome.

Let's start from the biggest and most impactful update. At the beginning of the week I had my first setback which lead to my scrapping the entire intro animation I made. This is my first movie in years and I have very little experience. I expected to run into issues and I did but the outcome was very positive.

Why I scrapped the intro

It was a really really hard decision, I had worked on it a lot and it was really painful to set it aside but it's the right decision. The intro was really off, it was not the right intro for this movie. As I was working on it I constantly felt uneasy as the story turned darker and darker, it was simply not fitting for a nsfw movie. It was either, keep working on it and hope that it will work out or cut the losses and restart new.
I have very little experience with Movies so despite my best preparations I still fell into management issues. The setup for the Intro was really bad, the way I animated the base animation, the way I set the pacing, The priority order and more were all wrong. I learned how important it is to follow a plan and that it is crucial in the making of a movie unlike short animations were improvisation is much more acceptable.

What's the intro now?

The intro has been completely rewritten and it will be much more sexual. If before sex was very marginal in the intro before, now it's central. Sharrans are infamous for their cruelty so expect a lot of Maledom and Femdom. One of the things I learned about movies is that everything servers the narration, each shot and each scene must be part of the same bigger picture and the intro will serve as a much more straight forward introduction to the Trials that are the core theme of this project.

Progress

Colours and Lightings
A re-Imagined "House of Grief" where darkness is dominant reflecting the cult of Shar. The lights are strong and white creating a "Black and White effect" on the grey bricks of the walls and strong contrast enhancing the shadows. A black and white palace decorated with gold and purple. The neutral white light enhances the skin colour of the characters highlighting them and their beauty.

Maps
You'll find WiPs of two maps I assembled this week!

• The Sharran dormitory bedroom where Shadowheart and Nocturne reside. (Nocturne is that tiefling you find at the House of Grief that used to be Shadowheart's friend before she lost her memory).

• Trial room. A small room, there are many rooms like this of different size and shape where acolytes are tested.

Animation progress
I have posed the first scene of the new Intro which I'm animating and should be finished tomorrow. The first sex scene involving Shadowheart has already been posed and will be animated next week along with other scenes! I will refrain from posting the WiPs of Shadowheart for now as I don't want to spoiler too much but will post a sneak peak of it!

I am still deciding on the appearance of the characters of the first scene so it may be different in future WiPs.

Personal update
I have learned so much in these days, movies are such a new thing to me despite the previous experiences. It's so mentally stimulating as I learn more and more on how to do it properly, how to evolve my workflow and how to setup the work. Right now I'm set on a very clear path and very smooth days of work are ahead! :D Despite the setbacks I don't feel stressed at all, it was really frustrating but it never made me feel burned out because each problem I had so far was a lesson learned.

Hope you like the WiPs and see you soon with the third poll for this month's poll animation! :D

Disclaimer: There are several clipping, model deformation and light issues as they're still Work in Progress. These are EARLY WIPS the final result may be different and scenes might be changed.