KC: So at this stage of the shot are you just going to continue adding breakdown keyframes between your initial pass of poses?

SM: I’ve only in the last few months settled into a comfortable working method for this stage. For me, it’s always been the most painful portion of the process. I used to take my scenes down to fours, sixes or eights, meaning that I’d save a pose on every fourth, sixth or eighth frame, depending on the action. From there I’d switch to spline curves and start fixing all the inaccurate in-betweens the computer was inserting. This was so tedious and painful for me that I would have trouble concentrating on the scene. So now I like to bring the scene all the way down to twos or threes while still using stepped curves. This way, when the curves are switched to splines, there’s much less room for error in the computer’s in-betweens. There’s not much tweaking of things necessary at all when I do it this way. The only time I don’t bring it down this far is on something like a moving hold that doesn’t need to be broken down very much.

The slumping state as Mr. Stout finishes his speech.

KC: By tweaking things are you setting additional keys or are you adjusting the curves?

SM: More often it would involve working with the poses themselves, interacting directly with the character. I tend to avoid any of the technical editors and curves until I need to use them for something specific. It’s in the same line of thinking as only wanting to see what I’ve intentionally done when showing a scene. I’d rather work with the pose itself than mess around with some curve and then have to go back to see how it affected my pose. The way I look at it, no audience is ever going to see my curves on screen, so I don’t really care what they look like. All anyone is ever going to see is the character, so that’s where I direct my attention. I will use the graph editor, but it’s just usually to help me figure out what’s causing something weird to happen, such as a pop in the arm.

KC: You’re using those tools as a clean-up device.

SM: Yes. It’s really just that. I’ll take the scene down to twos or threes by interacting directly with the model rather than refining movements by working with the curves.

KC: You’re setting keys every two or three frames for every part of the body?

SM: Not necessarily every part, but every part that needs something done to it. Say the character’s body is standing relatively still but they are doing a broad sweeping motion with their arm. The body might stay on fours but the arm will end up going to twos to keep it on arc. It’s a matter of only setting as many keys as you need.

KC: It’s essentially putting keys where you need more control.

SM: Right. And I’ve found that when I work things down to twos or threes and switch to the spline curve, 95% of the time it’s essentially done.

KC: How do you deal with changes once you’ve gotten to this stage? For example, I’m the director and look at your scene in a 98% completed state. I decided to have the character jump up and down in the middle of the shot as opposed to just standing there. What happens now?

SM: If it’s a significant change, I basically go in and start blowing away sections of keys. It’s easier just to start over on a section of the scene than it is to try and rework what you already have there.

KC: It’s difficult to salvage something with that many keys. It’s often just too laborious.

SM: Right. But that’s why it’s important to get the blocking approved. Ideally, you would show your scene in the early blocking stage, and then a second time at a point about halfway through, when the idea is completely clear. You would ensure that the direction you are moving in is correct, and then finish the scene. Hopefully, you get any director comments in those first two stages before breaking it down to that many keys.