Animations in film?

[Graeme]

Two part question,

How would it look if I did animation (somewhat cartoony) in a film for a scenes where doing the background and character actions would be a tad difficult?

How much do you think it would cost? For the actual animation if I get a key-framer animator student I know to do the keyframes? Outsource to China/India a savings?

The language being spoken is "foreign" by some aliens/monsters so it doesn't have to sync (we just add jibberish voice over after and plop in some subtitles) which we hope will reduce the cost.

My other option is hand-puppets but that makes things less neato.

Thoughts?

 

[Zensteve]

Two part question,

How would it look if I did animation (somewhat cartoony) in a film for a scenes where doing the background and character actions would be a tad difficult?

I don't understand what you mean, with the qualifications for background & actions.

How much do you think it would cost?

Depends who you know, or what you're prepared to offer. A film I did a few years back had about 45 seconds of claymation - involving 12" tall models of live-action counterparts (in a few different costumes), and miniature sets that also loosley matched the "reality" live action sets. Also involved lip-synching the mouths to pre-recorded dialogue. The entire thing was shot at 12fps (or 14?), and delivered in about a week - from scratch to finish.

In total, it was $500 - though it could have been much less, if I'd hit the CraigsList hard enough. There's a tonne of people looking to build their reel in specialised professions, such as animation, who'll work for "cost of materials" to get started.

I could have spent a tonne more, as well. While I'd clearly listed my budget in my wanted advert, I still got calls from people who misread it as $500 a second! They had fantastic reels (including one guy at Disney, picking up side jobs) but I had to go with what I had. I think it worked out.

But that's just my experience, for one animation gig... and I have a tendency to pay when I can. I have some filmmaking buddies who make it a point to pay for nothing. I don't agree with that myself, but that's the way it is.

Outsource to China/India a savings?

Act locally, in general, is my opinion.

The language being spoken is "foreign" by some aliens/monsters so it doesn't have to sync (we just add jibberish voice over after and plop in some subtitles) which we hope will reduce the cost.

You may as well have the alien-jibberish recorded, so they have something to sync to. The actual job for that, btw, is Track Reader - making sure the mouth is in the correct shape for the particular sounds being vocalised.

My other option is hand-puppets but that makes things less neato.

Why does that make it less "neato"?

Heck, it could even make for a useful guide or visual cue for your animators if you go that route.

Thoughts?

Gave 'em.