'Game - Start' was the longest part of the animtion. It had the greatest number of moves (In order to allow Kris to perform the all-important Castle!). The camera would alternate between each Alien as they played their move. The immediate 'snap' of the camera was created by simply keyframing the 2 positions immediately after eachother. In theory, the camera pans around from one alien to the other, but does this in 1 frame, so it gives the illusion of 'cutting' to them.
Kris' first move saw him deftly raising his hand and moving a piece forward. The animation of it was simple enough... but I spotted another large problem: Their arms were too short to reach across the board! Though their arms appeared proportionally correct on themselves, the scene was too large and they could only move to around the 4th row if I really stretched them. Immediately, my scope of possible moves was limited! I could get away with it so long as I kept their moves towards their side of the board.
Carl's move was another quick-and-easy intro. From his lazy position at the end of the previous scene, he leans in forward and boldly moves the knight. I wanted him to cross both arms over, but it looked more natural to just have him just rest one on the table and leave the other free to do the moving.
Kris then moves the knight forward. I added a bit of extra character to it, by making him move it in a very co-ordinated manner. He gently lifts it up and delicately places it down, whilst raising his other hand slightly. It worked nicely to create the impression he was being very careful.
Before Carl moved the pawn, I had him survey the table to consider the best move. Luckily, his right arm was in good view, so I had him drum his fingertips on the table as he planned. He then grabs the pawn and pushes it forward. He then holds it for a while, considering letting go (In chess rules, you can take a move so long as you're still holding the piece you moved)
Like Carl, Kris also quickly scans the board, and then boldly moves his pawn forward, dragging it as he does so. I admit, I was quite lucky on this one. Whilst shifting the cameras around, I found a more suitable angle, but did not key-frame the original one! Turns out that the new effect worked well. As the camera looked at Kris, it gently moved (To moved to the new angle) whilst he planned. The gentle move actually seemed to work brilliantly, so I kept it in. It was certainly a well-received stroke of good fortune.
Before Carl moved his Queen (As per the script) - I decided to throw in another gesture from the reference photos, and have him hover his hand over the Queen, mulling to himself. He then proceedes to gently take the queen and move her forward. Afterwards, he gingerly withdraws his arm and pauses slightly, in doubt, before we cut back to Kris.
Kris then moves the Bishop. Nothing special here, it was more of a 'Filler' move. I decided to leave out the 'Pinkie' motion - As it didn't appear very suitable at this time. Personally, it would be more realistic later on in the match when Kris had a lot more plotting to do. You'll also notice that Carl's arm is raised in preparation for his next move (Explained below). In the final animation, his mesh was hidden so you were not able to see his arm in the shot.
Carl's move was also a filler, but I decided to liven it up somewhat. Breaking the pattern of current camera angles, I zoomed in up close to the knight, which he boldly slams down, causing the other pieces to jolt slightly at the force of the movement. It was a simple little move that was a nice 'break' from flicking between the 2 aliens.
The close-up worked really nicely for Carl, so I decided to break the script (again) and keep the close-up for the Castle. I wanted to emphasise the fingerplay of the move, so it made sense for the viewer to actually be able to see it close up. As a result, I also decided to drop the 'flick' until later on, as it wouldn't have been particularly clear from this angle. Personally, the castle went very well initially.... but before going to sleep I realised I had made a blunder. In a castle: The king is moved next to the rook, and the rook is then placed on the other side of him... What I had done was swap the King and the Rook, so they they took eachother's original places - which is completely wrong. The inner-geek in me wouldn't allow me, so I had to go back and change it. Luckily, I only needed to tweak the motion of the forearm and the pieces. The original fingerplay still worked cleanly.
The close to the scene brought us back to the original shot. Both returned to faily neutral stances
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