. . .

You: I thought you said you'd never come back.

Me: Well, I didn't get to say goodbye.
GOODBYE! Okay, I'm good. 

You: ...

Got my Rear View Mirrors! (Reflection Post)

When it comes to presentations or school assignments like essays, I have a habit of completely blocking them out of my mind after they are finished until I forget about them. That way I will assume it went a lot better then it actually did. I don't really care anymore, and I don't take it as personally as I usually do when the grades and comments come in. But just for you guys, I'm gonna invest in some rear view mirrors that even come in handy for race-cars and rack my brain for a little bit of a reflection on my TED talk.

This month and a half period seemed to be all building up to the TED talk presentations, and for me, it seemed like a really abrupt and uneventful ending. I mean, I think my presentation was average. Could have done better, could have done worse. I ended up improvising a little more than I wanted to. That always happens though since my mouth has a mind of its own and starts saying something random and I have to come up with a second part of the sentence that makes sense. What I really should have done was gone up there and just been like: I create feelings in other that they themselves don't understand.... through stories. Ca-chow! *Wink* (if you didn't get to see my TED talk, I talked about the power of storytelling and how freakin' awesome it is!)

Here's my final product (and you can actually hear the music now, unlike during my TEDtalk :P )

What I care a little bit more about, though, was the project itself. I think overall, it was similar to my presentation, could have gone better, could have been worse. I got pretty frustrated about the whole thing most likely because my computer (which I named Bessie) was the most inefficient and annoying thing in the world. Whenever I worked on my project, the program was 'not responding' every five minutes -.- Actually. I took a lot of quick pit stops (almost Luigi "Peet Stop" quick) along the way to keep myself from bursting with frustration.  Partly due to that and partly due to my schedule, I ended up moving a lot slower than expected. 

I also expected to somehow be amazing at animation as soon as I opened up the first frame. I daydreamed about this happening in the not so distant future:

Mia: I'm Mia!
Tia: I'm Tia!

Mia and Tia: And we're like your biggest fans! Can you sign our faces!?

or 

Random old guy: You got more talent in one lug-nut than a lot of cars has got on their whole body.

Well... not exactly, but I did fantasize that this would somehow kick start my love for creating animation, not only watching it, and lead to me becoming a professional animator when I'm older. 

Working at Disney has sort of been my dream for a long time, so I was really nervous to start this project and have my dreams crushed. By the time I got to the end, that didn't happen, but I also didn't have an epiphany, like:"HOLY PORSCHE! This is what I NEED to do for the rest of my life!" which kind of scares me. But, I guess, that sort of thing only happens in movies, so I shouldn't think too much of it. 

I did, however, learn a lot of new tips and tricks about animation from the good ol' smart people on the interconnected web. Some stuff even completely flipped the way I thought about it: "I'll put it simple: if you're going hard enough left, you'll find yourself turning right." Hmm, interesting. But I'm no Ferrari yet, so I really want to continue working on more animation, probably with a little more time to be able to develop and flush out my ideas. I was planning on going back to work on my project and perfecting everything, fix some timing, and working with some other parts of it, but honestly right now I don't feel like ever looking at it again. So I'm just going to move on and start something new. I probably won't post anything back on this blog, but if I ever finish an animation that I think is good enough to share with other people, I will definitely post it on Youtube.

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Get Excited!

Hey, so in preparation for my TEDtalk tomorrow (and since I forgot to post these earlier), I thought I would show you some of my original brainstorming, storyboard, and concept art.

Keep in mind that I really simplified the characters when I switched to digital, because it was a lot harder and took more time. But the concepts are still similar (hence concept art). The characters we pretty difficult for me to draw without making them look really awkward because cartooning is mot my style at all. I think its also really funny how most of my concept art for the girl was focused on her hairstyle. In the actual thing I just completely left out the pony tail or braids because (as I said in an earlier post) it would be very difficult to figure out how the flow-iness of the hair would react to her movements.

And I'm Back! (Post 5 if you count the vlog...)

Ok, I'm in the last straight of this project and I think I have finally figured out that I'm not up a creek without a paddle. I still have a lot to get done today, but I am fairly optimistic about it. No, over this week I did not have a huge epiphany that completely changed my outlook on the project... like: OMG The Remote Controls The Robot!!! Nope... but after a few late nights of feeling completely hopeless and like a worthless human being my conscious worked up the courage to confront me like:

I actually don't have to feel terrible about what I have created. (because really, I'm not happy Bob, not happy.)  But I think it is understandable for me to be so critical of my work, since I can point out all of the flaws and I know that it is far from what I had expected coming into the project. 

I finished the animation itself earlier this week, YAYY! Pretty i n c r e d i b l e, right? :P 

BTW: here's one of my favorite parts because it is  really awkward and random. Creepy old guy waving in that really weird way that some people wave!!!

BAHAHAHA and it looks really fast because the gif converted it to 24 frames per second and I animated it in twos (12fps) so it is moving two times as fast as it should... back to the basics. I will try to fix this soon!

(Added later: just gonna say that this gif is extra exclusive now! Due to technical stupidness, it messes up this one part for some reason so the man is completely still :( and doesn't do his weird wave thing)

So you may think that I may be done with all of my problems, but nope! Among getting ready to give a TEDtalk about how I've grown throughout this project and writing this blog, I still have to add some sort of audio to my video... This could either make or brake my project (India-Golf-Niner-Niner transmitting in the blind guard, disengage, repeat, DISENGAGE!!!), but I found it is kind of awkward to have you guys sit there for a whole minute in silence watching an very noticeably amateur animation.   

I looked around the inter-connected spider web of knowledge and found this website: http://filmsound.org/synctanks/. I read through this site trying to get some sort of sense of how to put sample audio tracks into my video. My video doesn't really have any dialogue and its not live action, so I don't have to do any of the dialogue editing or ADR (automated dialogue recorder) and/or other stuff. But I did read about some really cool rules (No capes!) and tips (Machine washable, darling. That's the new feature) that the professionals use to pull a movie together (which is what my original goal was, even though it was more on the actual animator side) I'm not even really sure how I am supposed to apply my new found knowledge though, since I don't know about software that has simple sample (hehe that should be made into a tongue twister!) audio thingies or a website that I can download some...? I'm going to look into that. Does anyone know about this better than I do? Please comment if you have any ideas!

Anyways, I've finally come to the end of this crazy experience. I almost feel like a super hero (nudge nudge, wink wink, kick in the face) WHERE IS MY SUPER SUIT!? But in reality, this project has taught me some pretty worthy lessons for a TEDtalk ;) And I really want to share my Super Knowledge with all y'all. Then you guys will be like super heroes with your super knowledge, too! And when everyone's super... hehehehehEHHAHAHA no one will be! Just kidding, I'm not gonna go that route, but still. This project has been really worthwhile, and now I really want to get moving on another animation to improve my skills.

Also I just realized that I have to part with my drawing tablet that the Dr. Mcgonigle allowed me to borrow :'( NOOOOOOO looks like I'll have to invest in a new and better one!

Bomb Voyage!


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VLOG! (Post 4)

Enjoy!



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Progress Report!

Hey guys, so I'm over half way finished with my short film, I'm going to give you guys a sneak peak into what I have done so far.

The plot of my short film involves two main characters:

                                                    

They are very simple and generic characters, the classic innocent little girl and the stereotypical grumpy teenager... but thinking back to my original goal of this project, they have allowed me to work more quickly and with the motions rather than the detail. Also the girl technically has a pony tail, which I did not include because it would  surprisingly add a lot more complication. It would swing back and forth depending on her motion. I might go back and add it in if I finish early.

Here's a gif of part of my animation :) This simple walking motion took multiple hours to create... so you can imagine how long this whole animation is taking me.

Stay tuned for my video blog, coming soon, for a behind the scene's look into the creation of my short film!

I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date! (Post 3)

I am not going to lie, I am very behind from my original schedule... For this week and the last, I have gotten home from school at 10 o'clock every night, and although Young Frankenstein its going to be completely awesome (BTW March 5, 6, and 7; buy tickets from me), the rehearsals have left me with no time to do any of my homework. With the combined lack of sleep and way too much stuff to get done, just thinking about everything stresses me out to the point where I think I am going mad. I wish I liked coffee so I could stay up all night to get everything done... or maybe tea! Then I would complete my transformation into the Mad Hatter.

Due to my time constraint, I have realized that something is going to have to be cut. Off with your head! Nope. Just the details. I am chopping up all of my backgrounds and throwing them out the window for painting my roses red. It's not like they existed yet, but I know I will not have enough time to draw the backgrounds or the hair and any other unnecessary details of my animation. Now, it probable would've made more sense to just take off a good chunk of seconds off the end of it. But when you think about an actual movie, no one would go to the theatre to watch something that didn't have an ending... So I'm just going to make do and create some sort of messed up little animated film that probably won't actually be very good...

LET'S CHANGE THE SUBJECT!!!
The longer this project goes on, the more my mind realizes all of the options that animation can offer. At first I felt like I was lost in wonderland, so I stuck with what I knew. I used one of my first ideas and started drawing. But now, I have started to understand what makes animation so amazing: It isn't the real world. I don't have to plant a rose if I want one. I can just draw it in a few seconds and paint it red, whether or not the queen of hearts wants me to. But then I could make a story line out of that. I could make my characters play croquet with flamingos, even though it does not work in real life (believe me, I speak from experience). I could even create a potion that makes you grow taller and smaller. Anything is possible!

When I discovered this, I started thinking of everything I could create, everything I could show the world. But its too late. Because of the structure of my project, I do not have time to start all over again. And this seems to be something that a lot of professional animators have to deal with on a regular basis. They may not enjoy the idea of a movie they were hired to help create, or they might get tired of a project, but they still have to work on it, otherwise they will not get paid. So I am going to persist. I am going to finish my project, even though I will not be as happy with the outcome.

After all, this project was the first thing that I have ever done in the field of animation. This was my crash course. I skimmed the surface and should not have expected to create an actual piece of art....

On that negative note, I have two more apolagies
1)This post is really boring, sorry. I have been having more technical difficulties and will post a sample of some of my work in the next week. I was planning to get it into this post, but my computer won't let me make this stupid GIF. WHYYYY?!?!

Have an awesome unbirthday everybody!

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Just Keep Drawing, Just Keep Drawing (Post 2)

At the beginning of this week I started to do some more extensive research on animation. I went through khanacademy.org, disneyanimation.com, and quite a few TED talks which gave me a lot more information than I actually need. But I did learn a lot about the basics of animation that I probably could not get by without knowing. For example: animators commonly animate in 24 frames per second (fps), but you can also animate in 12fps at the risk of making it look more choppy. 24fps is referred to as "Ones" and 12fps is referred to as "Twos". After doing the math, I decided that I will animate in twos. So now I will have to draw 720 frames if I want to make a minute long animation (that's at least better than 1440 frames...)

I also practiced some animation basics. I drew myself a cheat sheet for a simple walk cycle and created a bouncing ball GIF. And a lot more work went into that GIF than you think, if you aren't impressed with it. I had to make sure the spacing was right between each frame so the ball would move slightly slower at the top of its arch. I had to change the shape of the ball to show its momentum and its elasticity when hitting the invisible ground. I had to figure out... how to make it into a GIF... which was probably the most difficult part for me.

Look at it! It's so cute! I shall call him squishy and he shall be mine and he shall be my Squishy. Can anyone else not stop watching this?

Along with the information I had gathered about digital animation, I learned about two other preliminary stages of creating an animated movie: concept art and story boarding. I have two characters in my short film, and I needed to figure out exactly what they would look like before I drew them into my story. So I filled two pages of my sketchbook (pencil and paper: something I actually know how to do!) with random little girls and teenage boys. I am not going to lie I came up with some pretty awesome characters that I wish I could have used. But I picked my favorite drawing for each character and began to figure out the details. I changed the heights, the hair, the facial structures, the clothing, the hands... almost everything until I found the perfect fit. 

Once my characters were complete I started to create a story board (once again in my sketchbook. Yay!). I made a grid sort of like a comic book and started figure out each scene. I sketched each phrase of the film. One block would take up anywhere from 1 to 7 seconds. It would represent the angle of the "camera" and what would go on in the scene. I wrote little notes underneath each block in order to remember what would happen, approximately how many seconds it would take up, and how many frames that would need to be. Here's an example of what story boarding should look like: (this is not the video I am going to be making... just for clarification)

By this part, I was starting to see my ideas become concrete. It made me realize how hard this really was going to be. Did I want to switch the angle to the back or slightly above? Should I have the girl do this first? Or would it work best if fade out to this scene? I also realized how many different sequences would occur before one minute was up, and what I should actually fill my short film with so it would be watchable...

So now I thought I was on my dandy way to making a short film. I grabbed my computer and my tablet excited to actually start working. But before I could say P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, Sidney, my first problem slapped me in the face. My digital tablet wasn't working. Every time I put the pen on the surface, a little light turned red and it didn't let me do anything. So I stressed out for a while trying to figure out what the heck was wrong. Finally I went to my graphic design teacher, Dr. McGonigle (sorry, not the professor...), and being the lovely person that she is, she offered to lend me a different drawing tablet. All of my worry went away in the blink of an eye, and I was like WOAHHH and she was like WOAH and then I was like woahhh.

Again, I went on my way to create my short film. This time seemed perfect, and everything was working! After one or two hours, I had a perfect sequence of my little girl walking down the sidewalk. But you know what I forgot to do? Save. And you know what my computer decided to do at that same moment? Freak out and crash. When my computer turned on again, there was nothing. "No Nemo! I will find youuuu!" I searched my computer in and out for any auto saved files or anything I could recover, but there was nothing. I lost all of my work. 

So I decided to make the best of my misfortune and start over. I simplified my characters and made them easier to draw. The next day I caught up to where I was, and for some reason, I felt better than I did before I lost all of my work. Sure I don't trust my computer any more and am going to save a backup file onto a flash drive (ooh remember those things!), but now I have hope that I might actually be able to finish this.

Have a great week guys, and come back next time to see an update on my progress! I plan to finish outlining my film in the software and start filling in scenes! And I will end with a joke that a poor little clown fish worked so hard on, because why not?

...A sea cucumber turns to the mollusk and says, "With fronds like these, who needs anemones?"

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Lines, and Squiggles, and Layers, oh my! (Post 1)

"Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore. It looks like we're in Danimation Station!" Why, yes. Yes you are. Welcome to Danimation Station, a place that has little to do with trains, sorry. In all seriousness, I have decided to introduce myself to the world of animation, and you (and Toto) can come along for the ride! Over the past few years, I have started to think about what I will do for the rest of my life. I still haven't figured that out (and probably won't for another 3 or 4 years...), but I have recognized some of my interests, animation included. For some reason, every time I go to the movies and watch the credits, I kind of want to have my name on that list of people who helped make the movie possible. I know it sounds kind of stupid that I would want to be one of the thousands of people that create one product that lasts only a few hours. Technically I would be responsible for approximately 3.6 seconds of the movie... But it still sounds cool to me.

Over the next few weeks, I am going to (or attempt to) create a short animated film. But before I can do anything, I have to learn HOW to animate. I watched a youtube video (linked here) that pretty much crash courses through the basics of Adobe Flash animation, the software I already have on my computer and seems to be pretty user friendly. I learned how to draw basic lines and squiggles, played around with all the controls and figured out how to layer an image so I can move separate objects around on different paths. Pretty neat! But I also realized how hard this process is actually going to be. I practiced simple motions with my drawing tablet and pen in the picture below, and that's about the most I can do. Its going to be pretty difficult to draw characters over and over...

Through the next two months, I want to experience everything that a professional goes through in order to create a movie. I'm going to continue watching videos and reading to help make sure I am actually doing the right thing, technologically or artistically. Once I start actually animating (which will be at the end of next week) is when the problems are going to start. I am planning on finishing an average of 20 seconds every week, which will be difficult since that would actually add up to 480 frames. Next week I will finish my concept art, and my story boarding to get my short film on the road (back to Kansas, Toto?)

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