Blur Studios asked Robert back to direct this episode of the LD+R series. I have worked for Rob off and on for over 20 yrs now, and I can say a lot of complimentary things about the guy. One of the most outstanding things I've noted these past decades is his loyalty to the crew. On Rob's productions, he has a preferred group of hard working skilled individuals he continues to call back. The schedules might be challenging, but its a good work environment with solid folks.
Recently I was working on some personal animation and I wanted to apply some of the techniques of tones and highlights that Robert uses on his productions. So I asked Seti Erfan (who did some great animated shots on 400 boys) to help me with a one frame tone set up on my own work. On past jobs I directed, I'm used to one tone, one highlight and occasionally 2 tones/highlights on jobs incorporating animation and live action. When I got my animation file back from Seti and reviewed her instructions, I was blown away, as I had no idea the complexity of this technique. Its extensive, multiple layers of tones and some highlights per character, per frame.
Robert is quite particular on how things look in the end, and what the Animation Assistants do on all these jobs to get the desired "Robert Valley Look" is amazing. Especially on how fast they do it. Sending so much respect to everyone in that department.
I'll post some stills of my shots in the future.
