First. Choose your background and overlay.
Iāll use:
EXT. BRICK MANSION - DAY with CAR ANGLE SILVER
A Guide to Using & Animating OVERLAYS
Letās have two characters in the scene. One waiting and one in the car.
Iāve already spotted my āwaitingā character:
How to move your characters around (Spot Directing)
EXT. BRICK MANSION - DAY with CAR ANGLE SILVER
@JULIE spot 0.832 173 177 AND JULIE faces left
@JAMES stands screen left AND JAMES faces right
I zoomed out the scene so I can see where to place my car and character:
Now using Overlay Helper And Switch Tool I will change the size and place my overlay.
SCALE - make it bigger or smaller
MOVE - move around the screen
If youāre directing on mobile:
In order to use SCALE, drag your finger from side to side across the screen. This makes the overlay bigger or smaller.
I did the same with the character in the car
Copy the spots on the bottom and add to an overlay
@overlay CAR ANGLE SILVER shifts to -758 -48
@overlay CAR ANGLE SILVER scales to 0.872 0.872
COPY just the one size and AND spots and ADD to the BACKGROUND:
See example:
EXT. BRICK MANSION - DAY with CAR ANGLE SILVER to 0.872 -758 -48
now your car will be offscreen at the beginning of the scene.
reset zoom
Using directing helper move your overlay to the scene same as the character
This is the place I want my car to stop:
Copy the spots for your character and overlay.
You have to use & instead of @ if you want to overlay and character to move simultaneously
Also, you have to use the command āwalks to spotā for your character to move and does it while animation.
EXT. BRICK MANSION - DAY with CAR ANGLE SILVER to 0.872 -758 -48
@JULIE spot 0.832 173 177 AND JULIE faces left AND JAMES spot 1.032 -306 -85 AND JAMES faces right
@pause for a beat
&JAMES walks to spot 1.032 106 -85 in 3.0 AND JAMES does it while idle
@overlay CAR ANGLE SILVER shifts to -342 -48 in 3.0
3.0 - itās time in SECONDS, you can use what you want, you can move the car and character slower or faster. Just make sure they have the same time.
Note:
If you look closer I kept my Y (UP/DOWN)coordinates the same when my character and overlay are off screen and on screen.
To understand it better hereās the example:
% X Y
1.032 -306 -85
(Size) (Right/Left) (Up/Down)
For driving off:
Place your other character in the car. I used:
@JULIE walks to spot 0.832 -60 189 in 2.0
@pause for a beat
@JULIE spot 1.033 -88 -82
@JULIE walks to spot 1.033 15 -94 AND JULIE faces right AND JULIE does it while idle
She walks left first then sheās moving inside the car.
Then place your car off screen again, in this example off screen right and place your characters inside the car again
Now you just need to copy the character and overlay spots and again use & first then @ for the second command otherwise, they wonāt move together, make sure that the time is the same as well.
Full script:
EXT. BRICK MANSION - DAY with CAR ANGLE SILVER to 0.872 -758 -48
@JULIE spot 0.832 173 177 AND JULIE faces left AND JAMES spot 1.032 -306 -85 AND JAMES faces right
@pause for a beat
&JAMES walks to spot 1.032 106 -85 in 3.0 AND JAMES does it while idle
@overlay CAR ANGLE SILVER shifts to -342 -48 in 3.0
@JULIE walks to spot 0.832 -60 189 in 2.0
@pause for a beat
@JULIE spot 1.033 -88 -82
@JULIE walks to spot 1.033 15 -94 AND JULIE faces right AND JULIE does it while idle
@pause for a beat
&JAMES walks to spot 1.032 776 -94 in 2.0 AND JAMES does it while idle_happy
&JULIE walks to spot 1.033 678 -94 in 2.0 AND JULIE does it while idle_happy
@overlay CAR ANGLE SILVER shifts to 325 -48 in 2.0
LOOPING BACKGROUND CAR DRIVING TEMPLATES:
INK
LL