Blocking Vs Christmas.

It's always a nerve-wracking situation to show blocking for the first time. Two and a half years as a fully growed-up laminator and I still get a severe case of jittery tum over it! Blocking is the most creative and most personal part of the shot process for the animator. That means it's also the toughest, with the most margin for error. The creative leads haven't seen any real performance until this point, and your interpretation of their scene is going up on the big screen. Yikes!

While having to make changes can be an absolutely necessary eventuality in order to deliver the intent of the shot, it's a totally brill feeling though to come out of a review with only a few minor notes and an hearty, "looks good!". It means that all the thought put into the prep before the keyframing has paid off, for it's steered those keys in totally the right direction. It's the best place to be after the first review, and always makes me prance about like a small child on Christmas morn, Except, my version is better since I can get this feeling more than once a year, even when I'm a grown-up. Sort of.

(Father Christmas must be real by the way, for there is no way my parents could have smuggled all my pressies to Tenerife without me knowing!)