Final Blog Post

Why did I take the class?

     The reason I took video production this year was to challenge myself. I felt that taking this class would benefit me in my career as an animator cause it would build upon my knowledge, and help with my process overall. Choosing to take film this year is not a regret of mine, deciding to take class and learn the equipment and software was a good choice.

What did I like the most?

     Definitely what I liked most about the class was learning about the equipment and working with my classmates. Getting to try out all the video tools that the school generously provides to us was a great opportunity. Thanks to this I am more confident behind and infront of a camera, and the overall process of video recording. Working with my classmates is something I really enjoyed. Getting to work with them will definitely be something I will miss. Everyone was always up to the task of helping each other with their projects. Pretty much I enjoyed everyone's presence in the class and what talent they had to offer.

What did I like least?

     What I liked least about class was how short some of the deadlines were. Compared to Animation the difference in time for each project was drastically different. Some projects should have definitely been extended a little longer, as I felt that I was running short on most of my projects this year. On the contrary I was still able to hand in all my projects on time.

What was my favorite project?

     My favorite project this year was the final project. After learning everything the class had to offer that project was a breeze, and it was presented to us as a project to put a lot of work into. I worked hard and really wanted to make it something I would be proud of and really, it came out just how I wanted it to.

What was my least favorite project?

     My least favorite project this year was the independent study. Just like last year I ended up with something I wasn't proud of. Additionally I didn't really pull much out of the project other than a big experiment that fell apart the moment it started.

How good was my instructor?

     Ms.Licata is the best teacher I have ever had. She is always there to assist me in whatever I want to learn, and she is always available to email, and can be relied on to respond very quickly.

What was the most valuable thing I learned?

    The most valuable thing I learned in the class was film technique, and shot composition. Learning how to operate software and video equipment is something that is pretty much offered with the product. But learning about what makes a shot good and learning all the different shots you can take, is something that you can really only get out of a class. I Learned a bunch of different things like the 180 degree rule, or the rule of thirds.

How did this class help me with my future career goals?

     This class definitely helped me prepare for my college and professional career. The knowledge of film only builds upon my animation skills. Additionally it puts me ahead of the game in college having this extra experience.

How could the class be improved?

     More editing tutorials! I really enjoyed doing them and I feel it was the most effective way to learn my film technique. More of these would make it easier when working on other projects. Possibly doing the editing tutorials before other projects would help us make better projects overall.

What would I say to incoming students?

     To incoming students make sure you plan your time, and dedicate the time needed to finish projects. Also avoid distraction it can be a killer. Lastly, make friends with everyone in the class. They will motivate you, and you will feel more comfortable giving and taking critique!

Additional comments?

     I am going to miss going to class every morning, moreover I'm going to miss the class, we are like a family.

Weekly Comments

     This must be the last weekly comments. How sad... This week we did critique and learned from each other's work.What made me happy this week is that I got most of my shots filmed for my final project! It is looking pretty good! What made me angry this week is that my hard drive isn't compatible with the macs when it comes to transferring files onto it.In the future I want to learn how to make better faces in 3d. I always have issues when it comes to this, making a face function right and not have a ton of polygons.
     Im gonna hand out two links of interest for fun! Here is an awesome music video, I love Breakbot's music. It seems like this is completely rotoscoped and watercolor, it looks amazing!

     My link of interest this week is to picking good colors, this can apply to anything you do, whether its drawing, painting, 3d rendering, or even color correcting your film! Sycra has tons of good videos like this, give them a watch!

How does an Editor Think and Feel

     Editing does not come down to knowledge. Editing is more of an instinctive action, there is no wrong time to cut, but rather fitting the emotion of your scenes when you cut.
     When it comes down to it, editing as all about the eyes, they direct attention, and line up with what is being focused on. Changes in the eyes, tell what the audience is thinking and how they feel. To make a scene feel natural leave room before characters speak, that allows the viewer to pull from their body language then from their speech. Timing is key, you want to give the audience enough time to get the emotion from the shot, instead of cutting leaving them confused, 4 seconds can really make a big difference. Instead of telling the audience how to feel, show them how to feel.
      Rhythm is n our day to day life. Cutting on the rhythm is the best way to edit as it keeps a constant beat of a movie. When you break that rhythm you can really feel it and use it to your advantage. Using abnormal cuts can make the audience feel awkward which can really be an effective method  of portraying emotion.
     Editing is something that I need a lot of practice with, it is hard to do it right because you cannot learn how to do it right, editing comes completely with instinct. Maybe after getting more time under my belt can I become better at it. After all Practice makes perfect!

Posing Characters

     Body language is huge when it comes to communication. People can easily pull lots of information from their stance.  For example a drooping pose conveys sadness, and powerlessness, while an upright pose conveys the exact opposite.
     Now the main question is what makes a good pose? Clarity, is the single most important thing within a pose. Clarity makes it instantly readable, so the viewer does not have to think when looking at the action recognising all it has to offer. Proper Physicality shows the environment's effects upon the pose, gravity and balance are what is important here. Thier balance can show whether the character is confident or not. Keep your poses dynamic, the line of action should be easy to find and guide your eyes to the focal point. Keeping poses dynamic make them visually interesting, so avoid things like symmetry. Lastly, your poses should convey your character, and fit within their personality, this is one of the main points of the controversy about Tracer's victory pose.
      Posing is so important when it comes to animation. I really like this video, because it touches all the points about posing gives examples of each point. This article would definitely be good for anyone wanting to improve the clarity of their drawings, animations, or even film shots. Posing is definitely a skill I want to improve on, and get better at because sometimes it is very hard to get a pose understandable and be interesting at the same time. If you ever want to improve on this, goto some figure drawing classes, they really help.

Science of Photorealistic Cgi

     Computer generated imagery is a pretty cool thing, its like the virtual world and real world came together.

    First off, how does math and science tie into cgi? Well, computers are just really strong calculators, so finding a way to calculate shapes let alone 3d objects with math is extremely difficult.  Coding is definitely its own type of math, giving directions to the computer on how to control lighting and color that is accurate to what is seen in life is a challenge.
   
   There are two main ways of rendering 3D, Projection Rasterization and Ray Casting. Projection rasterization works by sending rays from an object's vertices to the camera, then filling in the shape it creates. This is still used in modern gaming as it is very fast. Ray Casting works by sending rays from the camera and detecting when they intersect with an object, then goes towards the light source seeing for another intersection to detect shadows.

    What are the issues with Rasterization and Ray Casting? First off, rasterization creates limited results. One of the issues is that whatever is drawn last is always on top, so even though an object may be behind an object. This problem is overcome with depth maps, drawing based upon distance from camera. Ray Casting's issue is that every ray must be checked against every object. This makes renders take an extremely long time, but creates lifelike results.

     The difference between Direct and Indirect lighting, is that they are two different sources of light. Direct lighting is directly from a light source for example a light bulb! Indirect lighting is light that is bounced off an object onto another object, so an orange may have a blue tone to its edge when its next to a blue wall.

      Indirect Illumination's issue is that it makes even bigger calculations.  This is a challenge in Cgi as you need to create even more rays to detect if another object is bouncing light upon it. So every object you add to a scene needs to be checked against every other object in the scene.

     How does Moore's Law and Blinn's Law relate? Moore's law is that the number of transistors on integrated circuits doubles every year. This relates saying that computers become more powerful every year, this means that rendering times should become faster, and easier on a computer's hardware. Blinn's law states that as technology improves render times remain constant. This is due to the fact as the stronger a computer becomes the more we throw at it.

     Is the art of CGI different from other art forms? I say Yes and No. It is similar to other art forms in the way we try to mimic realism with it. In all art forms we try to create our art in the way we observe our surroundings. It differs from other art forms as we use a computer to do the manual labor, of the recreation. In no way am I discrediting CGI as an art form, and anyone who does is quite honestly ignorant to the thought that goes into its usage. It still is all down to the artist to decide how they are going to use CGI in what they create.

Weekly Comments

    This week I learned more on making action scenes, I got to work more with some of the class to continue with my action scene, directing the ! It is really fun to come up with ideas and use the ideas of others to have a lot of fun and work together, so big thankyou to Brady, Geoff, Elaine, Connor, and Gage for helping me! What made me happy this week is that I had time to work on my music video animation, I just really wanna be done! What frustrated me this week is that the school year is starting to come to an end. I really enjoy the class and its blowing by so fast, it is kind of depressing. What I want to learn in the future is some business stuff, like working with others, keeping contacts, staying in touch, I think it would be helpful learning to conduct business as a freelancer...
     This week's link of interest is to a video made by two of my friends titled "Peck!", its got a little vulgar language, but other than that its pretty entertaining, the animation is superb as always from these two.

Also you can buy the source file and a little extra video for 2$, I did and you should too! Check the description of thier video here: http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/673103

Shot Reverse Shot

     First off what is shot reverse shot? A shot reverse shot is when one character is shown looking through the character at another character, and the camera switches to the other person. Joel and Ethan Coen are definitely understood to be the masters of this shot. They are very good at doing this because they film between the characters making you feel like they are actually included inside the conversation. The Coens use wide angle lenses to help focus on a certain facial feature of a character, or to exaggerate a forward camera movement. Also the wide angle lens shows the environment that the characters are in, which gives continuity to a shot. Another important part of their conversation scenes is that they keep a rhythm to the speaking, keeping the viewer interested in what is happening.
     I didn't know so much went into making a conversation between two characters. I always thought it would just consist of over the shoulder shots only to record the dialogue. But this video is really interesting because it shows you how many different factors you can use when making your conversations to spice them up and add interest to them. My favorite tip is definitely the rhythm, because a scene without rhythm is really boring, but having the rhythm gives a beat and pleasing aspect to a conversation! I am definitely going to apply this next time I make a conversation!