November 7th 2001:

The sketch that started the ball rolling (or the chandelier falling, take your pick...).

November 19th 2001:

A screen capture of the AIFF file in SoundEdit 16. The waveform you see is the visual representation of the sound.

The dialogue must be broken down phonetically and the frames in which each vowel and consonant fall must be notated.

The highlighted section of the waveform shown here is the word "darkest." Phonetically, it would break down as "d - ahh - r - k - eh - s - t," with each portion taking up a certain number of frames. One must play each word repeatedly to pinpoint where each part of the word falls. This must be done with every word in the dialogue track. These notations must be exact or the resulting animation will not sync up.

Measuring "sentences" was my first attempt in breaking down the dialogue and getting the feel of working with sound. The numbers on each side of the lyric denote the in and out frames in which they appeared. Alongside, I made a note of breaths Mr. Crawford made between lines and the intensity of each.

Video was taken from every source I had, the clearer the image, the better. Michael Crawford isn't the sole Phantom represented on the tape, although he is the primary basis of my interpretation. Other Phantoms that I studied include Davis Gaines and Franc D'Ambrosio.

Sketches of the Organ (or as I fondly refer to it, "that #*@%*^!*!^&#*&@%^*#*! Organ"). A few decent photos of it have appeared, but very few show the entire stucture in any wealth of detail. The design also varies from production to production, which doesn't really help much. But little by little, its design is revealing itself to me.

December 16th 2001:

Front view of the candelabra: an amalgam of the London and Toronto designs. Beautiful, to be sure, but I forsee nightmares in attempts to render and paint it in the future.

December 28th 2001:

Phantom head turnaround. This revised model sheet refined The Phantom's face, eliminating the youthful roundess of the original design in favor of a more mature, angular look.

Refined sketches for respective character turnarounds. Heights are approximate.

January 11th 2002:

Front view of the completed Organ design. Future modifications may be made to make it more grand and forbidding.

February 21st 2002:

A sample page from the storyboard. A multitude of sources influence the movements of the characters, and I hope to at least capture a bit of the magic seen onstage.

June 7th 2002:

Here are the complete storyboards for the shot I've chosen to animate first. I went with a relatively straightforward one with a "simple" action, although head rotations are not something I'm accustomed to animating.

In addition to studying the acting and mannerisms of Crawford, Gaines, and D'Ambrosio for inspiration; I'm also adding my own thoughts into the motion style of this animated Phantom, emphasizing his movements with s-curves to give him an inherent elegance. And while it won't be a consideration for this particular shot, I've also thought about giving him a tango dancer's walk so that he stalks about the Lair smoothly and gracefully.

Click here to see the full-size images.

A detail of the x-sheet for the test shot. A description of the action and beats goes in the first column, followed by a phonetic transcription of the dialogue in the second column. The middle columns represent layers of animation, each row representing one frame of film. Multiple layers allows you to hold some drawings while others continue to move. The last column is used for camera information and instructions such as pans, trucks, field sizes, etc.

X-sheets are far less intimidating once you get used to working with them.

June 24th 2002:

Here are the default color models of The Phantom and Christine. I'll most likely alter their color palettes to suit the darkness of the Lair.

January 14th 2003:

One of the new rough key poses (well, "rough" after a few passes to keep them on model, anyway). While the figures are large, only a small portion will actually be seen in the frame.

March 14th 2003:

Pencil test #1: Here is a flash version of Scene B2 in it's earliest stage. The first half is animated, with keys and breakdowns making up the rest of the shot. The characters were animated on seperate levels, a simulated camera move applied and the Michael Crawford soundtrack included. Drawings are still relatively rough and little nuances have yet to be added.

Click on the image to view the animation.

June 8th 2003:

A cleaned-up key drawing. Painstaking (and often time-consuming) care is given to making sure the characters look as they were originally designed. Shadow lines are made in a different color for reference. These lines will be converted into self-color lines that will mark the boundaries between shadow and flat color.

October 28th 2003:

A color key of frame #159 (letterboxing added to show how much will actually be seen onscreen compared to the cleaned-up version of the same frame above). I'm trying to strike the right balance of colors for the Lair without losing the characters within it. Shadows are given a bit of a blue tinge to reflect the cold environment I imagine the Phantom's Lair to be. A theatrical lighting scheme will probably also be necessary.

November 24th 2003:

The latest pencil test (in Quicktime format).

Click on the image to view the animation.

December 19th 2003:

A floorplan of the new Lair set (clockwise from top) The lake is situated at the top of the illustration with the pier just off to the right of the page next to the Lair's entrance (much like the Carre design). The septagons are columns that stretch up to the ceiling and will have modified versions of the candelabra attached. The Bjornson/Hildebrandt pipe organ will take up the entire wall on the lower right hand side of the illustration, a curtained area implying the torture chamber will be to it's right on the opposite side of the column, next to that -- an entryway leading to a dining area. Two sets of steps separated by another column (also modeled after the Carre set design) are located opposite the organ and entrance. The center column will house the broken mirror and mirror bride while Christine's bedroom will be located through a doorway on the lower left corner of the illustration and the Phantom's bedroom located in the upper left corner of the illustration.

Decor has yet to be decided, although the Phantom's throne will be located somewhere near the upper left column and there will be many candles strewn about the room along with little things like sculptures and books, etc.

February 13th 2004:

Set layout plus camera positions for the first few shots of the video.

Mapping out the camera positions in this manner helps me know what will be included in the background of every shot. I'm also using the camera like any filmmaker -- utilizing the traits of the various lenses (wide angle, normal and telephoto) so that they serve the mood of the piece.

February 13th 2004:

"Elevation" tests of the sets and props in relation to the characters.

The dimensions of the proscenium arch (which will serve as the framework for the portcullis in the Lair) were far too large, so I scaled it down so that the room itself wouldn't be so huge.

May 28th 2004:

Click on the image to view Verse 1 in animatic format (file size is 3.8MB). You will require the latest version of Quicktime to view it.

This is a bare-bones animatic of the first verse of MotN. In the final version, title credits will be added, the opening camera move will be smoother, and cuts will be replaced by cross-dissolves of varying length.

June 11th 2004:

Click on the image to view Verse 2 in animatic format (file size is 2.8MB). You will require the latest version of Quicktime to view it.

This animatic replaces the Verse 1 animatic (the complete animatic may be available after all verses have debuted individually). This version of the animatic also has the pencil test animation spliced into it for a better feel of how the scenes will work together. As with the previous animatic, the final version will have more complex camera movements and effects, including a slow cross-dissolve over Christine's last action into the next verse/shot.

June 25th 2004:

Click on the image to view Verse 3 in animatic format (file size is 2.7MB). You will require the latest version of Quicktime to view it.

The opening shot of this animatic is supposed to be a continuous pan right, following the Phantom as he walks to the organ. I couldn't quite engineer it in time, so I made due with a series of cuts. The final version would be a single take, however. Subsequent cuts are as you see them, only with softer cross-dissolves, particularly on the last cut.

July 13th 2004:

Click on the image to view Verse 4 in animatic format (file size is 2.5MB). You will require the latest version of Quicktime to view it.

The posing the Phantom does in the beginning is courtesy of a photo of Franc D'Ambrosio's Phantom. The rest of the choreography is strictly Michael Crawford and Christine is based on Lisa Vroman's interpretation.

September 7th 2004:

Click on the image to view Verse 5 in animatic format (file size is 2.6MB). You will require the latest version of Quicktime to view it.

A relatively simple sequence with a nice jarring cut on action when the music stops. Rather straightforward, I believe.

October 15th 2004:

Click on the image to view Verse 6 in animatic format (file size is 2.2MB). You will require the latest version of Quicktime to view it.

The verse with possibly the most ambitious camera move in the video - a nearly 180û pan while on an arc in which the Phantom and Christine pivot and spin around the their marks in front of the shattered mirror.

Due to the constant perspective change throughout the scene, the camera move has been broken down into key images that hopefully demonstrate the action involved.