Gram Ma was completed over a 14 week period. The first week was dedicated to brainstorming several ideas, and one I came up with was the concept of Gram Ma.
On the second week I completed the animatic. After receiving feedback, I revised it slightly and proceeded to record reference footage. At times, I composited footage of myself different sequences, in others I used a partner for some two character interaction.
I acquired the necessary rigs for Richard, Gram Ma, Kyle, and Mia. I made adjustments to the rig for Kyle and Mia to give them a unique look. I gathered and edited environmental assets, building a connected park and city environment.
I collected props and movable objects and set them up with appropriate controllers to manipulate them as needed within the scenes, such as a bend deformer on the money.
With my reference footage, rigs, and environment ready, I got to work on animating. For the complicated action of shot 13 where I was not able to get reference footage of the exact angle I wanted, I used a combination of footage from different angles, drawings, and recorded reference footage of the final pose to combine into the final shot.
At times, I would have to break the laws of physics (or the rig) to get the desired look. In shot 10 I had to stretch Richard's arm beyond it's limits, enlarge the pill bottle and sink it into the bench, and remove pieces of the bench itself so I could place the camera.
Unseen backstage footage of Mia, before and after she encounters Richard in Gram Ma.
Post-production work included editing, color correction, compositing, and recording additional voice over and foley like footsteps and rustling. I planned to have an extra week in my schedule for potential re-renders, and I used most of that week to finalize those post-production pieces as well as adding additional composited background elements.
Completing Gram Ma was an incredible educational journey that has reshaped how I view the production pipeline. I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to dedicate myself to bring an idea of my own creation to fruition.
