I considered animating the SS agents in slow motion but that looked to unnatural. Instead I kept fast motion through the run and then spent one third of the time getting them to settle into a final stance. It worked out well. I haven’t added shadows yet under the agents. That will anchor then to the ground plane. The shadow of the agent leaping over the cell phone will be painted on a layer behind the held cell of the phone. That will allow the opaque phone to cut off the shadow cleanly.
With the second agent I tried the run with the agents arms stiff as a held cell. That looked very unnatural, so then I tried flailing the arms about but that looked too crazy. I finally animated the arms straight out front but going up and down a bit and then slapping down at the end. That was just enough action to work without looking distracting.
I painted the background to fill in where the agents once stood. This allows for me to move them all without a hole appearing behind them. That new painting was used to create the depth map. I didn’t bother painting the tire on the car since the tire will never be seen. The two foreground agents will be very still although I might shift their weight a tiny bit.
I have one more agent to animate today. My plan is to have that agent fill in the empty space behind the other tow agents thus filling in the empty space. I would cut off that animation without settling the action at the end. That means I will have to space out the keys further apart to get a fast run. He will have to start from behind the car of perhaps even off screen to make that happen. Each run has three primary keys so I will compare the spacing to the previous runs.
I should have the scene finished and composited before I start virtual teaching in the afternoon.