Microfiche sequence

I'm now working on animating the microfiche sequence. The microfiche sequence was originally the research-in-the-church sequence which got turned into the research-using-the-portable memex sequence which got turned into the research-in-the-washroom sequence which got turned into the research-in-the-garage sequence. It shows how Ben is putting together the clues that take him from point A to point B. No wonder I'm so tired these days. We really did shoot all those earlier versions, none of which worked.

In After Effects I'm animating a large document with fake microfiche text that scrolls around on screen as if you're doing research. Knowing me you would think I'd want to use a real microfiche reader and you'd be right. But good luck trying to getting microfiche made in this day and age.

I've been feeling tired lately, partly because I've been sick, but also because it takes a lot of energy to do this thing. Here are some of the factors that make our particular process slow and potentially tiring...

1) If something doesn't work, I reshoot it.

2) I go from analog-digital and digital-analog a lot. Just doing simple 2nd unit stuff is time consuming which is one reason why people like to do things as visual effects even when it's unnecessary. It's strange, but even though it's usually faster to just shoot something (rather than doing it as an effect), it's somehow more tiring getting everything set up.

3) Since the film moves amongst different kinds of modes (animation, video, acting, etc.), I'm constantly having to develop new approaches to doing things. For example, the microfiche sequence is the only sequence in which I have to use F-curves (acceleration/deceleration curves). Each of our short animation sequences requires a different approach and technique.