Week 11 Comments

This week was yet another work week, but I'm not complaining at all. What made me happiest this week was getting more work done on my 2d short. It's coming along nice and I really hope I can finish it in time, but time is closing in and I really need to hustle this week. But what really really made me mad this week, I didn't even know about until this weekend. I was going to get some work done and low and behold, I can't find my flash drive. I'm a little nervous that I lost it, but I'm pretty sure I just left it in the computer at boces. But if I lost it, ugh.... I don't even want to think about that now. Anyways I'm looking forward to finishing my 2d short and the party this week! Now onto the link of interest.

This is another video by Every Frame of Painting,  who I'm sure you're familar with at this point. After I posted a video of theirs a few Link of Interest's ago, and one of there video's was used in a Article Response it probably rings a bell. Anyways, this video is about Jackie Chan and how he does Comedy through his choreographed fight scenes. It's really interesting to see how much different fight scenes are done now than back then, and also how Jackie pulls humor from strange places but that's what film-making is all about. So yep that's it for this week. Hopefully you guys will enjoy my 2D Short when it is complete. I'm definitely going to have to work on it in class and at home double time though, to get it done.

You okay Pendleton?

This article was about Pendleton Ward, the creator of Adventure Time. The article explains why he stepped town as show-runner of Adventure Time and how his life has changed ever sense the show was green lit. It explains how running the show did a number on him and how he couldn't go on with the stress anymore. The article is very descriptive of everything going on as Pendleton talks, explaining every thing they can to make him sound as depressed as possible. He goes on to say how his childhood consisted of him being a bit of an awkward kid, wanting to be nice but was considered an outcast. And the author draws parallels between his dark side being the Ice King, and Finn being his good side. Also, no drugs were consumed according to Pendleton, which...well...I'll let you and myself decide the truth behind that.
I thought this article was very very dramatic and I don't really know how much of this is completely true to be honest. I mean don't get me wrong I believe most of what Pendleton says, (besides the no drugs thing) but I feel the author of this article was trying their hardest to make Pendleton sound like a Suicidal shut-in. I mean, maybe he is really like that. But I really doubt he's even 80% as depressed in real life than they make him sound in this article. But I'll give the author some props, nice imagery in this passage there Neil.

Practical Effects or VFX?

This article was about the differences of CGI effects and Practical Effects in movies. It shows some examples and asks practical effects veterans Rick Baker and Tom Savini. The first example shown is the transformation of a human to a werewolf in two different movies. The first being the new movie "American Werewolf in Paris" This shot was entirely done in CGI and definitely has a different look to it than the other shot. The other shot being "American Werewolf in London" which is the first film, where the shot was done with practical effects. This shot also has a very different feel to it. Then in the last clip Practical Effects veterans Baker and Savini explain the differences between the two, and how they can both be used to create an equal balance.
I found this article very interesting and I liked it quite a bit. First of all about the Werewolf argument. Overall I liked the practical effect better, but there where parts in both sequences I thought looked a little weird and obvious. In my opinion, I think that Practical effects are much better for things like this. Up close and personal shots. But I think CGI is essential for creating giant ensemble shots that practical effects couldn't even dream of making. It's best to find a mix between the two and find which one works for your specific shot. There's nothing more awkward when CGI is un-necessarily used in a shot that would work far better practical, or when a practical effect is painfully obvious and that CGI would have much better suited it. And this is basically what the two Practical Effects veterans where saying as well. It's not about which one is better and taking over the other, but rather finding a mix between the two and see what works best for creating the most immercive effect.

Week 10 Comments

This week was very productive in the work department that's for sure. The thing that made me happy this week was getting more work done in my 2d short. Up until this point I didn't feel like I was progressing all that fast. But I feel like I've been getting more work done which makes me feel a lot better. Something that made me frustrated? hmmm.. nothing that I can think of really. Maybe that I only got one slice of pizza haha. I'm looking forward to finishing my 2d short, our Christmas party and starting 3d after break the most. And now the link of interest...

Aw man... looking pretty good Nintendo. Now normally I'm not really that much into Zelda even though I'm a huge Nintendo fan, but good god this looks amazing so far. I like the new concept of a huge open world too, I think that's exactly the type of change the Zelda series needs. And that map size and those graphics man... So yeah that's all for this week, buh bye.

How to make depth

Creating depth in a 2D environment is no easy task, I know this first hand. But there are a few things you can do to improve depth in your work. First of all Lighting and Shading can make a huge difference a can even make your film "look like a hundred bucks". Next is focus, this is basically what the camera is focusing on while maybe something else is more blurry. This will really improve the final result. Next is perspective witch can add a lot of aesthetics to your work. Parallax, adds a certain kinetic energy to the shot. Hopefully the effect doesn't make your viewers hurl from dizziness though. And last is Occlusion. This is things that are closer to our eyes block out other things just like real life.
I thought this article as very helpful to making shots for not only 2d but even 3d, look way better.

Animation Domination

The animation industry has been thriving for a long time now and there has been no chance of slowing down anytime soon. Before the movie Shrek, there wasn't even a category for best animated picture. But Shrek won it, and sense then animation has been taking way more seriously today than ever. Before this though, there was just too few animated movies for this category to work. There was the occasional Snow White or Who Framed Roger Rabbit but that's about it.
These days though not only are they widely accepted, they make huge bucks. Shrek 2, The Lion King, Toy Story 2 and Frozen are a few animated films that hold huge box office records. Even recently movies like Big Hero 6 beat out all the other movies in the box office like Interstellar and Gone Girl.  There's also many jobs available that pay pretty well even though job out look is only 6%.
The animation industry is also expanding to beyond the U.S as well. The Independent film, movie and television sector has reached the highest record ever.
I thought this article was informative. It's interesting to see the info about how animation is doing right now as a serious buisness.