Heart of Steel, Part Two, Act Three (Part Three)

Herein I present pages 35 through 50 to Act Three of the storyboard to the Batman Animated series episode #44, entitled “Heart of Steel Part Two”. This episode was directed by Kevin Altieri. I am posting the storyboard in serialized fashion. Kevin Altieri boarded this section. I wrote the staging directions (you can tell because I write “E” as a “C” with a line through the center; Kevin’s are more squared-off.)

This is the last 15 page chunk of Kevin’s second fight scene from “Heart of Steel, Part Two”. This second fight scene was somewhat anomalous because Kevin rarely had time to two sequences in a single episode. Usually it was only one; sometimes not even that.

I find it amusing that both action sequences climax with the robot antagonists undergoing “death-by-elevator.” Fortunately, Kevin doesn’t repeat himself in the second sequence; the fact that he chose to clean his own roughs in the chunk presented in today’s blog post indicates to me that he must have been especially jazzed.

However, this is not the end! In C59, Hardac announces the activation of the final duplicant. The doors of the replicant chamber slides open; smoke pours out dramatically, obscuring the figure that emerges! Who/what is it? Kevin draws out the suspense with scenes C60 through C65. Finally, in scene C66, we see that it’s Robot-Batman as it leaps out of the smoke, at camera! (If it were my section, I would have drawn one more panel, showing precisely how close I wanted Robo-Batman to get to camera before we cut to the next scene.)

To be continued!!!!

Heart of Steel, Part Two, Act Three (Part Two)

Herein I present pages 17 through 33 to Act Three of the storyboard to the Batman Animated series episode #44, entitled “Heart of Steel Part Two”. This episode was directed by Kevin Altieri. I am posting the storyboard in serialized fashion. Kevin Altieri boarded this section. It was cleaned by me (pages 17-20), Mike Goguen (pages 21-32); Kevin might have cleaned page 33.

Kevin was trained in martial arts, which is one of the reasons his fight scenes were so convincing. In this case, I especially like Batman’s leap-in-place, then kick at Robot-Gordon. The action continues as Batman lands in the same shot and is set upon by Robot-Possum, who judo-thrown o.s. 

Students of storyboarding and film-making in general would do well to study the way Kevin will begin an action in one scene and pay it off in the next. For instance, scenes C24 through C28: 

C24) Batman throws R.R. o.s.

C25) Barbara watches as R.R flies into frame, upside-down, and crashes into the glass tank holding the unconscious humans, damaging the glass.

C26) M.C.U. on R.R., recovering from throw as the cracks in the glass tank spread (hooking up with C25), sprout leaks and burst before R.R. can react.

C27) Interior Tank; water gushes out, carrying the unconscious humans with it.

C28) Downshift on Barbara as she is hit by wave of fluid, swept off her feet, joined by the  unconscious humans as they wash into frame, settle.

To be continued.

"Heart of Steel, Part Two", Act Three (Part One)

Herein I present pages 0 through 16 to Act Three of the storyboard to the Batman Animated series episode #44, entitled “Heart of Steel Part Two”. This episode was directed by Kevin Altieri. I am posting the storyboard in serialized fashion. Kevin Altieri boarded this section.

Actually, that’s only partly true. This section is a anomaly in my professional career, in that most of pages 1 through 16 are cleaned by ME. It’s anomalous because I can count on the fingers of one hand the instances of me cleaning another artist’s storyboards; usually its the other way around. I’d judge that Kevin cleaned pages 1, 6. 7. &  8. I wrote the staging directions on pages 9,10. and under scene C17. (The “tell” is the letter ‘E’; mine are ‘C’ with a line in the middle; Kevin’s are square.)

Yeah, I know how exciting this info must be for y’all. I share it as a convoluted example of how closely Kevin and I worked; how in synch we were. I don’t know if working with Kevin extensively influenced me deeply or we naturally were on the same wavelength. 

Actually, I know Kevin Altieri influenced me in one profound sense; When I entered the industry in 1983 I accepted it as a given that television animation sucked, had no value and was something I would do only to make money until that blessed day when I arrived as a comic book artist. It was Kevin Altieri (along with Eddie Fitzgerald and Richard Raynis) who opened my jaded, cynical mind to the possibility that TV animation had value on its own terms, that it had the possibility, even the right, the DUTY, not to suck.

Heart of Steel, Part Two, Act Two (Part Six)

Herein I present pages 78 through 90 to Act Two of the storyboard to the Batman Animated series episode #44, entitled “Heart of Steel Part Two”. This episode was directed by Kevin Altieri. I am posting the storyboard in serialized fashion. Michael Goguen boarded this section.

B128-B136) Barbara has successfully gained entry to Cyberbron. She spots the close-circuit camera in the hall before her, swinging rhythmically back and forth. She sneaks skillfully past it, not counting on security back-up in the form of cute little robot trash can sentries, one of which follows Barbara down the hall. This is a classic example of the droll, deadpan humor which suffuses this series.

B136-B137) The robot stops shadowing its quarry and shifts into attack mode, transforming into a Miyazaki-esque robot (from the pre-Totoro period). We were all big Miyazaki buffs, and would reference him at any excuse.

In fact, we liked the trashcan sentries so much that the camera stays with them as Randa and Rossum drag the uncooperative Barbara out of frame. I like the final shot, where we cut to a trashcan-sentry p.o.v. shot, using the descending eye-lid to wipe to Black. End Act Two.