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

This is a post of storyboard pages 30 through 41. Mike Goguen and I did alternate sections.

I roughed pages 30 through 35, Mike cleaned them. The worked was assigned thusly by the episode’s director, Kevin Altieri, partly because he preferred Mike’s version of Randa Duane, partly to help me make the deadline. Scene C44 appears to be drawn by Kevin.

I direct your attention to scene C46. I wanted to start with the medium close-up of Randa’s non-reaction to Bruce’s question/ accusation, but show Bruce answering the phone without cutting This was problematic because the phone had been established in the stock BG as being on the opposite side of the room. This would necessitate a 180 degree pan, but how to accomplish this in animation?

I had recently screened an anime feature about battling samurais (I forget the title) where I observed the effect I wanted. I asked Kevin if he had any idea how it was achieved. He knew immediately, directing me to do a normal, flat  B.G. pan across the room while animating Randa turning-in-place in the F.G.. 

 So, on page 32, Randa cooly lowers her fork and turns toward the o.s. phone as it rings. On page 33, Bruce walks through frame in the F.G. On page 34, the camera pans to Bruce, maintaining Randa’s  position within the composition, animating the simulated camera turn. On page 35, Bruce hangs up the phone, says a terse goodbye to Randa, and strides o.s.; the camera trucks in on Randa as her eyes narrow ever so slightly.

I was really quite proud of this shot. As far as I know it was the first time it had been used in American animation. (Afterwards, I saw it frequently.)

The following section is all Mike’s. Transition to Bruce’s office at Wayne Enterprises in the aftermath of the robo-compact’s hacking the Wayne Tech server. Bruce and Lucius discuss the safety of their data. In scene C52, the camera cuts to an exterior through-the-window shot, and pans to the robo-compact hiding nearby on a convenient ledge. Naively unaware that they are under surveillance, the clueless humans reveal that the real data is back at Wayne Manor.