GRASSROOTS
Grassroots is a short story about Baz - an ageing and unfit Sunday League football player who lives for the weekend.
THE 12th MAN
A lot of people who play team sports will know a character like Baz. He’s a likeable guy that lives and breathes football, but unfortunately, he’s not the most naturally gifted…
Time hasn’t been the kindest to him, but if we’re honest, he doesn’t help himself. Baz just loves being out with the team, and unfortunately, doesn’t know when he’s had enough.
A lifestyle of booze, kebabs and a routine of being sat down all day has caught up with him, and his body won’t do what his brain wants.
Years ago he could ‘do a job’ for the team, but now he’s even further off the pace, not that you’d know it - he talks the perfect game.
Despite his increasing size and decreasing fitness, he longs for his chance to be back in the team and one of the boys. But he remains on the sidelines of the football pitch, and, unfortunately, the social group too.
MAN ON
Designing Baz was one of the first challenges we faced.
The design had to tick a few boxes:
Show an overweight character who once may have been relatively fit
Be striking in silhouette to support the 2.5D look we were rendering in
Be FRIENDLY
Facially, the challenge was making him likeable and not like a hooligan - we wanted the audience to warm to Baz as a person who just wants to be included, a far cry from a ‘lager lout’.
FROM THE OFF
The animatic and storyboarding process took several iterations and evolved throughout production through animation and even final render.
With some shots towards the end lasting just 2 frames, there was a lot of back and forth to make sure the story was clear, and each cut point was on the money.
We wanted the pace of the film to increase with each ‘loop’ of the story, and show his lifestyle getting worse and worse as he gradually gets demoralised with the lack of pitch time and daily office grind.
HOW LONG REF?
With Baz visiting several locations, at multiple times of day, our talented team of designers painted up several locations, and then our modeling team matched the design in 3D so that we could integrate our character to the scenes seamlessly.
And with all these locations, we had to create a full wardrobe for Baz. In total, there were over 60 clothing assets created, plus several texture variations of them - so wherever we put Baz, he looked the part.
GO ON SON
Now for the bit we love the most. With Baz rigged for animation, we could start bringing him to life.
Our animators did a few tests to make sure his personality was coming through and then it came to creating the 70+ shots in the edit - a massive undertaking.
Where needed the team had fun creating references (not helped by our office dog, Baxter) of some of the more complex movements, but as more and more shots had polished animation, the film was beginning to take shape.
As animation progressed, we began lighting, creating a repeatable setup so that shots could be built quickly, while giving us a lot of control in compositing.
And all the while the edit was being refined so that every frame counted.
LOVELY TOUCH
With the film pretty much there, we wanted to add a final layer of polish and life.
We made several animated 2D characters to populate the football pitch, clubs, pubs and office scenes.
We also made animations of props like fruit machines, his office screens, nets blowing in the wind, water coolers, spinning kebabs, wee and even vomit - blink and you miss it, but it was all there to help add life to the film.
WE’VE GONE QUIET LADS
From early in the process our edit was timed to a metronomic beat that gradually increased in tempo. This helped us ramp up the intensity in the film, but we always knew sound and SFX would be a really important element in the film.
Our friends at BXFTYS subbed in and created a banging garage track. They also went above and beyond, visiting Sunday League pitches to sample audio noises, and even recorded their 5-a-side team, Atletico Wednesday, in a pub to help the ambiance of those shots.
What the film also needed was a bit of dialogue, so a few members of the team went in to the BXFTYS studio for a little sound record.
KICK OFF
To celebrate the end of a long production we decided to host an event to launch the film. It was great to see all the people that contributed to the film and our industry friends turn up.
Keeping the football theme, where better to host than Bar Kick - a fussball bar in the heart of Shoreditch. Pictures to follow….
CREDITS
Direction - Two Jeffs
Producers - Beth Yirtaw, Anika Zinat
Character Design - Jackie Nguyen, Maya Remenyi
Matte Paintings - Maya Remenyi, Gilbert McGirr, Marta Calvo
Storyboard - Marta Calvo
Editing - Dan Edgley
3D Model/Texture - Leo Rezende, Amina Muench, Ines Coimbra, Sophia Shephard
Rigging - RigIT.net, Vytautas Puisys
Animation - Vytautas Puisys, Dan Edgley, Kirsty Harris, Conor Ryan
Lighting & Compositing - Charlie Batho, Juliette Berthe, Maya Remenyi
Audio & Sound: BXFTYS