Gummy Wars Storyboard

Blog #6: So I'm Supposed to Have Questions??

This was our topic for this weeks blog: 

"On Tuesday you’ll see (or you saw, depending on when you’re reading this) several of my most recent films. While not completely animated, there were lots of effects elements in them, which makes them fair game for us to talk about here. With a few days distance from the screening, what thoughts or questions do you have about them? You questions can be structural, technical, business-based, logistical, philosophical, or anything else. I’ll try to respond as best I can."

While I'm somewhat confused as to why this is a legit blog topic, I can honestly say that I don't know whether you want our questions to be about our films or yours. I don't really have questions about your films or mine. I guess I'm not that inquiring of a mind. I listened in after watching your films and anything that was asked pretty much answered anything about your film. I was a little more curious about the cultures than the actual films, but those were even brought up during discussion. 

As far as my film goes I guess I do have one question. Can we get an extension?!  hahaha!

Blog #5: The Whole Point

So this week we were asked, "why are you doing this anyway?" (I'm assuming that he meant the blog). The main point of the blog is essentially to get us used to thinking about processes and documenting that. To record thoughts that we're having so that maybe we understand them better. To be simple, you're logging stuff so you don't forget and so that others can in a way, pick your brain. Now THAT'S cool!

I guess the reason that I've really been keeping up with it is so that I succeed in this animation class of Simon Tarr's, since according to him at the beginning of the semester, was probably too difficult for someone that didn't take his Moving Image class. But AHAH!, I'm doing quite well so far! However, I'm not gonna lie, this first short film has me a bit nervous. BUT, I'm going to do my absolute best as always and understand that there will still be many flaws. Perfection does not exist in this world my friends, so coming close is the best we can do (which is what I'm aiming to achieve, as best an undergrad with little experience can do.)

But back to the main topic, why am I doing this? It's pretty neat if you ask me. It gives me something to do that's productive when I'm bored, it gives me stuff to think about, and well again, its required in order to do well in the class. I will say though that because of this class, I'm probably going to have my own blog up and running this summer just to rant about ridiculous things and stuff I've been doing, not that anyone really cares, but hey you never know! Other than that I really don't have much else to say at the moment about this because it was a very simple and short question to answer. So yeah.

Blog #4: Dealing With Open-Endedness

       This past week my class had to pitch ideas about a film having to deal with a scar that they may or may not actually have. According to our teacher this open-ended assignment can lead to problems because it's not a targeted/specific topic. Honestly, usually open-endedness scares me when the topic or theme is too broad. However due to my lack of scars, it was quite easy to pick which one that I would choose to make my short film about. I guess after watching a few of the stop animation films I became interested in trying it out and thought that it would be the best way to depict my scar story of the time a mirror staple cut my leg open while I was out taking pictures of myself. Basically my process of thinking up compositions of shots, settings, and conveying emotions is watching other short films and laying in my bed before falling asleep and picturing how I want mine to look in my head. It's been driving me insane the past few nights and because of that I've been really anxious to get a start on creating the actual film. But other than keeping me up at night, I feel that this process is benefitting me and helping me to avoid certain problems that could arise. I'm hoping that even though my storyboard that I posted last night SUCKS, that my film WILL not reflect that in the slightest and will look really good. (it's just really hard trying to draw compositions that are in my head because what I'm picturing is each frame of the movie, and drawing all that on a storyboard is SO hard!)

Behold THE WORST STORYBOARD EVER!

Please Excuse the Terrible Doodles and Crappy Unfocused pictures, I blame Media Services (excluding Amy Jumper)

So Basically That was the Worst Storyboard ever. Media Services was supposed to give me a really awesome D80 and they did but it was dead and didn't work, so I had to use my crappy camera in the crappy lighting that Garnet River Walk provides because I couldn't do this earlier when it was nice and bright outside due to the lack of equipment! =(

Blog #3: My Relationship With "Cartoons" From Childhood-Now

Basically what led me to begin being interested in animation was my fascination with TV when I was a child. I would sit in front of the TV a LOT, at least more than usual kids in the 90's did. I would watch Nickelodeon, Boomerang, Cartoon Network, and the PBS kids cartoon shows. There was a time that if you threatened to take away my TV I would burst into tears. Life seemed unimaginable without being able to sit in front of that box and watch magic occur right in front of my eyes. Just so you get a gist of the stuff I've grown up watching here's a short list of the shows I used to watch regularly: Catdog, Angry Beavers, Rugrats, Looney Toons, Tom & Jerry, Pokemon, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Doug, Hey Arnold!, Rocko's Modern Life, Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends, Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius, Spongebob Squarepants, Wizard's of Waverly Place, etc.) As I got older I found that I was still watching cartoons regularly while other people were watching MTV, sports channels, and other  "boring" TV. I really haven't stopped watching cartoons all together but I'm more into the believable animation (fantasy or not) and the process of how things are made. A lot changed from the 90's to the present 2010's. Though I saw the differences in graphics and animation over the years, I can't really think of a complete list of the movies that impacted me most. I do however, know that the original Shrek, Toy Story, Harry Potter, 1000 B.C., Up!, Avatar, etc. did really peak my interest in animation and CGI/SPFX. (Avatar was probably THE most influential for me. I watched documentaries, read books, surfed the internet for information about it, I was extremely inspired.) I don't think that I would be as into creating movies if I hadn't watched the amount of TV/movies that I did as a kid. So I salute my parents for not always encouraging me to go outside, and for taking me out to movies a lot, they may have sparked my interest in my future career!

Blog #2: Flows and Struggles With FlipBook Assignment

So for the first time ever I'm working on creating an animation video that's really not that long, but I've never used After Effects or scanners for flashcards before. I've been having difficulties using the equipment in the animation room, and honestly I feel pretty dumb as a Media Arts student not being able to use a freaking SCANNER! Regardless of how I feel, it's kicking my ass. Between work and school and schoolwork finding time to finish this project seems to be the hardest thing right now, however I feel once I understand what I need to do that it will flow and seem soooo easy, I just need to get on top of things as of tomorrow and Monday. Although it will be last minute (which I hate) I'm going to get it done with the help of people that know what they are doing. #MediaArtsStudentProbs

Wish me luck!