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: ...
Thursday, March 26, 2015
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.
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.
Last Comments (ಥ﹏ಥ)
Jess
Felicia
Allison
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!
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.
Last Comments (ಥ﹏ಥ)
Jess
Felicia
Allison
Sunday, March 22, 2015
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.
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.
Saturday, March 21, 2015
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 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!
Weekly Comments:
Catelyn
Alycia
Josh
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!
Weekly Comments:
Catelyn
Alycia
Josh
Friday, March 13, 2015
Sunday, March 8, 2015
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!
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.
Monday, March 2, 2015
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!
Comments:
Liliana
Ellie
Nicole
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!
Comments:
Liliana
Ellie
Nicole
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