Topic

So, for my project I chose a grilled cheese sandwich. Then I remembered one of my favorite scenes from Freaks and Geeks where Bill Haverchuck makes one and eats it alone while watching TV. I wanted to make this animation as a tribute to Freaks and Geeks.

Bill making a grilled cheese:

Bill Haverchuck's Grilled Cheese - image 1 - student project

Bill eating that grilled cheese:

Bill Haverchuck's Grilled Cheese - image 2 - student project

Here's the clip I'm referencing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaqEDBKpdv8

Process

I skimmed through all the course videos to get the gist of the process. Then I started following along step by step. At some point I realized I was just clicking random stuff and deleting things I never knew existed and making my workspaces disappear because I just didn't know basic stuff. It was really dramatic.

During the Random Motion section when Jake was like, "You can check out my other class Animating With Ease if this graph editor is all new and crazy for you," I decided to pause and take that other class. Which seriously helped me out a bunch.

Felt Look - Letters

Bill Haverchuck's Grilled Cheese - image 3 - student project

Illustrator Layers

Bill Haverchuck's Grilled Cheese - image 4 - student project

Keeping in mind the limitations of animating with real felt, I wrote down some ideas to try:

Melty cheese
"Grill" the sandwich with a color change. Initially I applied a more gradual change in color but it looked strange. If I had real felt, I would probably just switch out a white bread felt with brown bread felt. So opted for an instant color change by transitioning color between just two frames.
Gas stove flames could be staggered with overshoot like the windows in Animating With Ease.
Change the light source and flickering at the end to mimic a TV.

After Effects Still Frame

Bill Haverchuck's Grilled Cheese - image 5 - student project

For a second draft, I'll definitely make a layer for butter, a fork for the brownie and a glass of milk. And, I learned the hard way that it's better to give yourself more time than less - I had initially set my project comp and pre comps duration settings at 20 seconds. It was getting hard to fit stuff in by the 20 second mark so I extended the durations (a bit tedious with the pre comps). That's something I'd try in the second draft - pacing stuff better, animating with more control..

All in all I'm happy with my project cuz this class was fun.

A M

out in space.

2

9