Week 35 Comments

This week was mostly a work week but we had a few curve balls thrown in like a few demos and quizzes. What made me happy this week was finishing my documentary on furries. It came out great in my opinion and I can't wait for the critique. I get the most excited for critiques when I know I'll get strong reactions from people which is what I enjoy the most in what I do. I think this documentary is one of the best things I've ever done so I'm looking forward to the critique the most in class. What frustrated me most this week was not getting very far in my other projects though. I'm very behind in the class competition but hopefully I can finish the prep-work (not for a grade, it's too late for that) and get to actual filming soon so I can catch up. I don't have any ideas for the fictional short yet though so I'm going to have to think long and hard on that one. Personally though I finished one of my favorite animes I've ever watched, One Punch Man, and I really loved the first season and can't wait for hopefully more. I also started playing Undertale more which I am enjoying more and more. I want to start making games soon and I hope I can produce something that's half as good as that game. But anyways link of interest...

This is game play of one of, if not my most anticipated upcoming games, Dreams for PS4. This game is made by one of my favorite developers Media Molecule and takes the play, create, share aspect that they are known for and completely revolutionizes it. In this game you can sculpt landscapes, make characters and all different sorts of games and movies. It honestly seems like the most ambitious games I've ever seen and if it's have as good as it looks I can't wait. Also they want to have VR support which would be 10x as amazing. I honestly can't believe Nintendo and Xbox aren't investing in VR yet because I honestly think it's the next big thing in gaming. But anyways, that's all for now.

How to make it look like you have money for lighting

This article/video was about how to use less than ideal lighting situations and still getting the best lighting you can. Natural light can be tricky but you can use your situations to your advantages. Like on a cloudy day you can get more soft light which can be good for calm shots. You can also use props that you can put around your lights to change lighting. Like putting a frying pan in the background to get more blacks. It's also important not to make the mistake of using too much light. Darkness can be very good depending on that look you want and is all over Hollywood films. Location is important to make your shots look better too. Even uninteresting shots can become interesting if there is something intriguing going on in it. Color is also a very important aspect. If a shot has strong contrast between two colors it can look very nice to the eyes. Emotion can also help. If the shots connect to the story it can add to shots a lot. Senses can also add to scenes. We can relate to stuff like being wet and having clothing sticking to us or being so thirsty our lips are cracked.
I thought this article/video was very helpful for filmmakers. I agree with pretty much everything said and will definitely use a lot of these techniques in my own work.

3D Printing is changing stopmotion forevs

This article is about how 3D printing is changing stop-motion as we know it. 3D printing is already becoming quite a big phenomenon already, but it is already starting to be used in stop-motion in movies like Paranorman or Coraline. LAIKIA is the studio that made these films and started to shape this way of animation. They use a technology called "replacement animation" were they swap out different parts picture by picture. To do this Lakia models all these parts first on computers and then 3d printed. They use many different techniques to stay efficient like splitting the head in two parts. Many characters have tons of different possible expressions so many different parts must be printed. A new film called Anomalisa takes it a step further where almost all the characters in the movie have the exact same face so many different versions of the same face had to be printed. Many home versions of 3d printers are available now like Formlabs or Makerbot. Even websites like shapeways can send you a custom 3d printed model of your choosing. Even big budget films like Star Wars and Mad Max use this technology which shows how truly innovating it is.
I found this article to be very intriguing. It's great to see a blend of 3D and Practical effects used in harmony like this. I think this is very good in animation for people who are better at modeling on a computer than with clay in real life.

Week 34 Comments

This week was definitely interesting. It's nice to get back after winter break and get back to the old grind. What made me happy this week was about 5 minutes ago when I realized that the documentary is due next week and not this one. I was getting really nervous because I need to get a lot more work done on it but I feel a little better about it now. What frustrated me this week was of course not getting enough work done on it. I'm looking forward to getting that and the competition done. Also tomorrows my birthday so that's a thing, but the link of interest has to be more interesting than that, eh?

This is the latest couch gag from The Simpsons. I thought it was really well made and it also made me laugh quite a bit. The animation in it is quite different from the normal Simpsons style as well. The whole 80's theme is quite well represented. Well that does it for this week.

Writers Block

This Article/Video was about tips to tackle writers block. The first tip is for people who can't think of ideas and take forever to finish scripts. He explains how this is really just procrastination and the best thing to do is pick a date and keep to a schedule. Next he gives tips on people who can't stick to an idea and think of too many ideas at once. The best thing to do in this situation is to pick one idea and stick to it. Another tip he gives is to write a list about all the reasons of which you like about this idea and why you're doing it. Next is about what to do when you run out of ideas for a certain topic. Some tips on that are to write about something else completely. Another way is to change it up by maybe changing the way you're writing, like how and where. Also writing about certain characters could help a lot. Exploring you're characters past and following them around is a great way to help add to your main story. Another thing is that you can add a big new situation for your characters to overcome. Force them to act and shake up the story. And the final point given is to stop shutting down every idea you have and not let you're inner editor keep coming through. You can't write and edit at the same time or you'll never get anything written.
I thought this was a very helpful video and it even somewhat inspired me to write more. I think he gave a lot of great tips like to set a schedule and to not shut out every idea you have.

Dancing Frog

This article was about the classic Warner Bros. Cartoon, "One Froggy Evening". Amid Amidi writes how this classic cartoon is the pinnacle citizen Kane of animation. He credits Micheal Maltese's story, Abe Levitow, Richard Thompson, Ken Harris and Ben Washam and of course Chuck Jones. He also talks about how impressive it is that Jone's team of animators spent only a few weeks working on these animations. Also the fact that a lot of the songs in the cartoon where written by them. The whole animation was really a labor of love and brilliant work from Chuck Jones and his animators.
I thought this article was good but not that interesting just being the writer praising Chuck Jones like a god over and over again. But I do appreciate all the hard work Jones and his team spent on it, and I think it is one of the greats.