This next exercise takes inspiration from frame-by-frame artists like PES. We use objects to visually create an opening countdown for your films and other visual mediums. Traditionally, these countdowns were used to help sync up a sound track and picture but they have become part of the filmic language that we know. Each number on a countdown (which can start at 10) should represent a full second including any movement and the number itself. In our countdown, we go with the NTSC video frame count of 30 frames per second. This gives us enough frames to animate any object we choose on single-frame shots and enough time to see the actual number on a hold of 10 frames (or a third of a second). For the sake of ease and simplicity, we start our countdown at 3. You certainly can expand on this exercise, as with all of these exercises, and start at 10 with various objects or even people. You might consider using one person for each second of a countdown and have them swing their arm around in a large circle like the second hand on a clock frame by frame, changing the person every 30 frames. That is another exercise and requires many people and a lot of coordination.
I decided to execute this 3, 2, 1—countdown with some everyday objects around the house. I dug into my childhood trunk and resurrected my old bag of marbles. I also collect coins from various countries, so some of those Polish and British coins were pulled into service. Finally, I got hungry while searching for the first objects, so I made a bag of popcorn. Eureka—there was my final choice for an interesting object or objects to animate in the countdown.
I decided to shoot these objects on a table. You need a dslr camera on a taped-down tripod and any lens that gives you enough range or tabletop area in which to work. I used a 24 mm lens. I also added a very simple direct light with the barndoors pulled together, so it formed two diagonal shadows above and below the numbers.
FIG 6.A The camera, light, and object setup for the 3, 2, 1—countdown.
If you can make your animation production time more efficient in the planning stage, then I encourage you to consider it. For example, once I started working with the marbles on a tabletop, I realized that it was going to take me a fair amount of time to make the number 3 with the marbles. Those marbles seem to have a mind of their own and just rolled out of place when I just looked at them, let alone breathed on them. I felt it was going to make my animation very difficult, animating forward and trying to get the marbles to fall into place and form a nice graphic number 3. So I decided to work backwards. I encourage you to do this with the exercise. Now, you may not choose to use marbles in your countdown, but whatever you use, it will look better if you have plenty of time to set up and form the numbers with those objects without having to reach the perfect placement in a straight-ahead forward piece of animation. You can set up the number and get it perfectly placed in the frame so it reads and looks great. If you need a reference, then import an image of the number into Dragon and use the rotoscope feature to line up your objects.
Because I decided to work in reverse, I first started with the number 1 because that is at the end of my reverse playback. The number 1 is formed by my coin collection. I set up the coins to make a number 1, shot ten frames, then started my animation. Coins are often stacked, so this is how I animated the individual coins. They collected on top of each other in one column, then the column diminished and disappeared.
FIG 6.B The number 1 coin sequence in key positions.
The popcorn came next. (I was starting to eat the popcorn, so I thought I better use it before it all disappeared.) Without moving the camera or light, I carefully formed a number 2 with the popcorn kernels. I was shooting on a white background so the popcorn, which is light in value, stood out enough due to the shadows from my key light. Once the number 2 was set up, I shot ten frames and decided on the best and most interesting way to introduce the corn from the blank frame left after the number 3 popped off. Popcorn pops and explodes so I decided to randomly pop the corn in a three-object replacement series. This series was a small corn seed for one frame, two or three large popped kernels grouped together for one frame, and then the final replacement was one normal kernel of popped corn.
Fig 6.c a series of popcorn replacements.
The popcorn would disappear after it popped onto the screen when viewed playing forward. Eventually, the corn pops only where the number 2 would be created, and the corn kernels remain on the table forming the final number 2 for ten frames.
Fig 6.D The key positions for the number 2 corn kernel sequence.
Without moving or bumping the camera and light, I proceeded to my last number. The final number in the countdown was 3, formed by my childhood marble collection. The next step is to figure out how to move the marbles in an interesting way (backwards in 20 frames) to form the number 3. Marbles roll, so I wanted to add a little dynamic action to a rolling pattern and have it appear as though the marbles roll in, squeeze together in a pile, then burst out into the number 3 for a ten-frame hold.
Fig 6.E A series of key positions for the marbles forming the number 3.
Once all the numbers were shot and the animation complete, I cleaned up the tabletop and proceeded to edit. Because the camera and light remained in the exact same position, I had all sorts of freedom in the edit area. As I mentioned earlier, I decided to shoot backwards but I wanted the action to move forward, so I had to apply a reverse playback to the footage to see my final effect. You can view a reverse playback in Dragon, but you need to export your frames to Final Cut or After Effects to kick out a reverse playback Quicktime movie. Your final results are the marbles rolling on to form the number 3 for ten frames; then a blank frame invaded by popping corn kernels, ultimately forming a number 2 for ten frames; and finally a stack of coins that grow and disperse into the number 1. On the end of the exact 3-second count, the animated countdown is complete. There are all sorts of combinations and possibilities for animating a countdown, and this exercise, I hope, will spark some ideas of your own that you can expand upon. For inspiration, you can view the 1987 film Academy Leader Variations, directed by Jane Aaron and Skip Battaglia.
