Im working on an animation for Bob Dylan's "High 61 Revisited". But I just started using Poser and although Im learnig allot on my own I need some more help, in terms of how to get the effects I want.

Heres a blog of the full script and a short sketched out draft of the first 1:47 seconds of the piece.

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=81414658&blogID=283216888

If anyone here can help I would appreciate it, especially if anyone here is from Los Angeles that could give me some tips, that would be magnificent.

Bumdog

If interested at all, you ought to check out his link.  Looks like he's done some pretty good work in developing a script that could really be done in Poser alone.

I looked up "Highway 61 Revisited" in order to find out what that was, anyway. 2 min. of video at 1440 frames per min. - may be doable in poser, but did they have hassidic jews in abraham's time? the blog script wouldn't run in my browser.

No youre right  they didnt have hassidic jews in Abraham's time, its surrealistic.

What browser are you using? Maybe I can post it somewhere else. Or infact Ill just post it here:

Bob Dylan's
Current mood: awake

This section of the film is a animation for Bob Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited". I want to do it as a animation, and I actually wrote out the script for the video years ago, but I have no drawing skills at all. And the people that I know with those skills are either too busy working or doing their own thing. Then  came across this 3d animation software called Poser. An I now believe I can do this by myself but I still need help figuring out the software. If anyone has any advice, or even better, have advice and live somewhere in Los Angeles, I love to hear from you.

Below is the script and some sketches that a friend of mine made that I edited together to make a rough draft of the first 1:47 of the piece.

http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=12037821

The giant hand of God descends down from out of the sky to the middle of a desert (all the action of the entire song takes place in this desert), where a Hassid Jew with a long Grey beard, in a black hat, long black coat and pants is tending sheep with a long wooden staff. The hand (A dark Mediterranean, hairy hand) with its finger flicks the shepherd's hat off. The sheered turns around surprised to find himself confronted by a giant hand

God says to "Abraham kill me a son"

The hand points his finger and sticks out his thumb in the form a gun. Then brings the thumb/hammer of the Hand/gun down to simulate a shot. Abraham's face becomes shocked

Abe say, "Man you must be putting me on

God say "No"

* *The hand shakes finger "no"

Abe's face is again shocked

 Abe says "Wha"

The hand raises up as if to calm Abe

God say "You can do what you want Abe but

Then Gods finger comes down again poking Abe hard into his chest. Then it grabs fistful of his jacket and lifts him up into the air

"next time I see you me coming"

He drops Abe the ground

"youd better run"

The hand protrudes his fore and index finger like two legs and with them his hand runs across the desert and over a mountain. Abraham watches the hand of God runs away and disappears over the mountain. Thinks for a moment about whats just happened. Comes to a decision. Puts he hat back on. He looks off to the right then walks off in that direction. When he comes back he has his arm around Isaac's shoulder patting it with his hand to reassure Isaac everything's all right. When he gets to the spot where he saw God in a quick motion he pulls Isaac down by the neck, to his knees and pulls out a large OJ butcher knife. He shouts out to the sky

Abe say, "Where do you want this killing done?"

The hand comes down again and taps Abe on the shoulder. When Abe turns toward the hand, the hand sticks out his thumb like a hitchhiker and points it off to the left.

* God say "That way. down Highway 61."*

Isaac suddenly breaks free from his father and runs off to the left. Abraham runs after him all the time trying to stab in the back from behind.

They run down the road like this, passing a government building with an American flag up a pole in front of it. The camera zooms in on the front door of the building where a man is seen waist up naked, walking out. Hes a big husky man with a dejected look on his face, and a bloody nose.

Georgia Sam had a bloody nose

Welfare department wouldn't give no clothes

The door behind him slams shut with the sign on the glass SOCIAL SERVICES DEPARTMENT0

He asks poor Howard "Where can I go?"

Turning a shyster in a beige suit, who is leaning against the pole filing his nails. He looks like one of those con men you'd see on 42 street.

Howard says "Theres only one place I know"

Sam desperately grabs Howard.

Sam says "Tell me quick man Ive got to run

Howard pushes him off, pulls out a .44 magnum and runs into the SOCIAL SERVICE DEPARTMENT. Shots are heard, as people begin rushing out the door screaming for their lives. Sam just stands to the side watching the people run out. The last woman who runs out is shot right through her stomach, two through her chest and once through the head. When she drops Howard is seen calmly walking out the door, with a smoking gun in his hand, over to Sam

Howard just pointed with his gun and said "That way down Highway 61"

Sam runs off into the direction that Howard points to, bare-ass naked. He runs right behind Abraham still chasing and stabbing at Isaac.

They run pass a homeless man pushing three shopping carts in front of him. He pushes them up to a King on his throne flanked by royal guards and courtesans solitary in the middle of the desert

Mack the finger said to Louis the king

I got forty-eight red white and blue shoestrings

Pointing to the first basket full of red, white and blue shoestrings

And a thousand telephones that just dont ring

He waves to the other two shopping carts full of different size and types of telephones

Do you know where I can get rid of these things?

And Louis the King said, "Let me think for a minute son."

He thinks while stroking his beard. Suddenly something catches his eye and everyone turns to the left to see Abraham chasing Isaac with the knife and Georgia Sam running right behind them stark naked. The king turns back to Mack the Finger with a bright smile and he says

"Yes it could be easily done just take everything down to Highway 61

Mack the Finger starts pushing his carts in front of him while running until he catches up to Isaac, Abraham and Georgia Sam.

They all run pass a desert caravan tent. The camera leaves them and heads into the tent where it finds a pale white girl in front of a mirror to her left there is a 12 candle holding menorah with 5 candles in it lit

Now the fifth daughter on the twelve night told the first father

She turns to her father dress as an ancient Israeli with a beard robe and turban

That things weren't right

My complexion she said is much too white

He said "Come here and step into the light

He takes her over to the candlelight. Turns her head into a profile and sees his hand clear through to the other the side of her face

He says "Hmmm youre right"

Let me tell the second mother this has been done."

He turns and walks away, as he passes the opening of the tent he looks out and sees Abraham chasing Isaac. Georgia Sam running nude. And behind them Mack the Finger pushing his shopping carts. Then he sees his wife outside on a bicycle with his son on the back.

But the second mother was with the seventh son

And they were both outs on Highway 61

They ride off. The father runs after them but Then stops and shakes his fist at them angrily as they disappear down the road.

Isaac, Abraham, Georgia Sam, Mack the finger, the second mother and the seventh son now pass a man sitting on the ground. Its Tom Metzger. The leader of the Aryan Nation. Behind him is a huge billboard with swastikas, SS, German crosses and written on it like THE RACE WAR IS COMING! NIGGERS GET OUT! FINAL SOLUTION! KKK. Skinhead's RULED.

The frozen gambler he was very bored

Metzger takes off his toupee and scratches his bald head

trying to start the next world war.

 On the road a bandwagon drives by and from it Don King is kicked off and lands in front of Metzger on his ass

He Found a promoter who nearly fell on the floor

King dignifyingly dusts himself off, then looks up at the billboard and turns to Metzger

He said, "I never engaged in this type of thing before. But yes"

Scooping Metzger up into a bear hug

"I think it could be very easily done."

Something catches their attention and they both look to the road where Isaac passes by running with Abraham hot on his tail stabbing at him. Georgia Sam running asshole naked. Mack the Finger running, pushing shopping carts in front of him. The second mother with the seventh son on a bicycle. Don King then jumps in the middle of the road facing the direction everyone just went and spreads his arms out

We'll just put some bleacher out in the sun"

Bleacher materializes and multiplies as far as the eye can see on both sides of the road

And have it  right here on Highway 61"

He brings his hands down and at the end of the road a atomic bomb explodes. The force from the blast blows away all the bleachers, blows off Metzger toupee, and slicks Don King's hair back. In front of them Isaac is first seen running back towards them, he runs right in between and by them. Followed by Abraham with his OJ knife in hand. Then the au natuale Georgia Sam, cart pushing Mack the Finger, and the second mother with the seventh son all rush in-between Metzger and Don King. When they're finished Meztger and Don King look at each other, shrug and run after them. The Camera watches them run down the road before turning to the right to a sign that says LAST EXIT TO HIGHWAY 61.

Well in the video to the song I remember Bob Dylan barely had time to flip the cue cards with the lyrics on them since the tempo of the song is pretty fast.  

Were you going to try and time the animation to the song? That could be very problematic to get it to fit. If you're just going to animate the scenes without the music it could be done a lot easier.

The basics are to make sure you do it in small shots of about 3 seconds each with different camera angles, to fit together the long shots, inserts and close-ups. That will make it easier to animate it in pieces and also hold the viewers attention more.

Since you have the script already, the next step you should take is to make a storyboard of how you want each shot to look like and what motion the scene will have. You can do single frame renders in Poser since you'll have to set up the models for the animation anyway.

Good Idea, Argon.

my suggestion if you need to time the piece to a song is to render in poser and then piece together in a movie making program.  For me at least I have found a lot more freedom in the timing that way.  Timing in poser afaik sucks.  Either way you are going to be rendering 1440 frames so - might as well take the easier approach with the timing.

For my animations I also hate rendering in poser.  Maybe it will be easier for you but personally I LOVE to render poser scenes in Carrara and if time is a factor rendering 1440 scenes will certainly be faster in carrara.

Those are my 2c on your project.  Good luck it should be a long fun journey for you.

Quote - my suggestion if you need to time the piece to a song is to render in poser and then piece together in a movie making program.  For me at least I have found a lot more freedom in the timing that way.  Timing in poser afaik sucks.  Either way you are going to be rendering 1440 frames so - might as well take the easier approach with the timing..

I do that also render the animation as image frames and put them together in Adobe Premiere, but it's still at least 30 frames a sec and with a song with that fast a tempo you'll never get any decent shots following that script if the verses take only 15 secs. 

make cuts to new scene every 2-5 sec., and split screen into cartoon panels during sections of the verse where the scenes are changing rapidly.