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!

7 Tips For Drawing Realistic Humans

     The first tip is to follow the action. Gesture is super important when drawing your characters, a simple line can convey many emotion. For example a drooped line can seem depressing whilst a straight one can show strength.Tip number two is is proportioning your character's height. The head to hips is the same length as your hips to your feet. Proportion is a fundamental part of drawing characters, it shows that you have a understanding of relative size. Number three is to not underestimate size of the shoulders, your body is approximately 3 heads wide, so keep that in mind so your characters don't end up too thin or thick. Tip four is to remember facial proportions, eyes are at one half the head, and the mouth is one quarter of the head. Tip five is to add a little flexibility to the neck, your neck isn't a stiff tube, loosen up! Tip six is to smile from outward not upward, your muscles on your face pull out not up. Tip seven is to block out shapes as an easier reference for angles and proportion. Its easier to imagine in simpler objects before going into something more complex.
      So, the article is pretty self explanatory, not to be egotistical but I know all of this already. If you are just starting out in animation or just want to get better at drawing in general, your fundamentals are the best place to start. Moreover it would be easier to explain why drawing fundamentals are important. It doesn't help as an animator to be over ambitious with a character trying to animate something really complex when you don't have the basics down, or in general trying to stretch the proportions when you don't know the proportions to begin with. Surprisingly just learning how to draw will benefit your animation more than just straight animating. I see this in my own work because when I used to animate I would spend more time figuring out how my drawings looked rather than the flow of my animation. So, in general this is a really good article for improving animation by improving your drawing!

Weekly Comments

     AGH NO TIME NO TIME!!! This week in class I learned how to do color correction on my videos with curves thanks to Joe! All of my shots are really red in my fictional short so fixng that is a big priority for me. What made me happy this week is that I finally got to start working on a fictional project, I like to work for myself and make things I enjoy to watch so the fictional short project has been alot of fun so far and is coming out good! Also it was my birthday this week my parents got me a couple shirts, and I had cake! ALSO I passed my road test, so if anyone wants to get together and film with me or just hangout I am avaliable! What made me frustrated and is frustrating me right now is the lack of time I have to finish my portfolio for sheridan! I can't get motivated to finish my drawings and every single one I am making is coming out really terrible!! I am going to toronto tommorow, and there is no time left for me to do my best work! I'm mad that we had blogs this week cause I really just wanted to focus and finalize my portfolio! GRRRR!!! What I want to learn in the future is how to color correct for different moods in a film project.
    My link of interest this week is to a clip of from one of my most favorite movies "The Triplets of Belleville" . The movie is animated in the style of French Charachature, and is beautiful to look at. I really like how the capture the essence of the characters in thier stature, faces, shape, and movement. I really recommend you watch the whole movie!

What To Know In Art School

     Art school seems like somthing any amazing artist has been to. Jon Williams gives us some tips on Art school. First is that art school is not nessisary but won't hurt. Attending a school alone won't make you better, everyone with a simple grasp on education can understand this. You have to work to improve whether it be practice or taking your time to focus and learn somthing. Many jobs in the arts do not care about your past schooling, and some do. BUT even that thier main decision is based upon the work you have already done in a portfolio or demoreel.
     Next is to think less about your 3d software and more about your art fundamentals. Technology is always changing you can never keep up. But when software is always updating you want to know every new feature, this is extremely distracting towards you as an artist wanting to experiment with every new feature pulls you away from the bigger picture and what really matters when working in your software.
     Another statement of Jon is that you are not the best do not have to be. Having an ego is an awful thing, and can really destroy you as an artist. Being this way makes others not wish to work with you and only makes others wish to tear apart your work more. Additionally aspiring to be the best is not a bad thing but you will never reach that level. What really defines someone as "the best"? If you think about it, that is a totally subjective question and everyone will awnser differently.
     Lastly Jon states that your development as an artist never ends.  That is 100% true there is always room for improvement whether it be speeding up your work flow or refining your art.
     Seeing as I want to goto art school this was a good read. I agree with alot of his points on what decisions to make, how to go about your work and collaborating with others. I wish to do my best in the field and starting well in art school would be great.

Why Lateral Motion Matters

     Humans interpret things with instinct and logic. The slightest change in somthing can completely change thier feelings on a subject.
     When watching a film we don't really pay attention to what direction people and objects are moving, but our brains are paying attention. Why do we enjoy watching things moving left to right, and are dissatisfied with things moving right to left? Studies say that is because we read from left to right and view almost everything in that manner. We associate left to right with progress and moving towards a goal. Moving from right to left we see opposition and just an unnapealling feeling. This is similar to how we see characters portrayed in film through different angles. Whereas low angles establish dominance and high angles establish fear.
     When I work I noticed how when making a safe feeling scene all the characters move to the left, but when I want to show anger or fear I make things move right to left. It allways felt very natural doing it that way, and this article definitely shed some light onto why I plan my shots like that.

Weekly Comments!

     This week I learned how to put batteries in a shotgun mic and do a test shot before my final shots. What made me happy this week is that I won best new media piece at Daemen's All High Art show! I submitted my final animation piece from last year. What made me angry this week is that my competition piece didn't come out as good as I wanted it to. What I want to learn in the future is how to track motion in after effects and then transfer that information into maya.
     This week's link of interest is to the Oscar Animated Shorts nominees. I watch these every year. They are all worth a watch to study and gather information from!

Why To Make Films No One Will See

    Sometimes you wish success would come easy, or that success would just come in general. It is hard to work, when none of your work is seen or appreciated by others, you feel lonely and hopeless. An example of a successful artist who started like this is Vincent Van Gogh. He first started at the age of 27 a very late start compared to most artists. Even at the age of 31 he had not reached the level of skill he wished to achieve with his art, going nowhere only painting for his brother.
    The interesting thing about Van Gogh is that he did not dwell on the outcome of his work, but rather on the work itself. Instead of focusing on effect, he focused on cause. Interestingly enough we spend a lot of time trying to become more popular, focusing less on our work itself but what happens afterwords.
    Popularity and having your work seen is one of the biggest concerns filmmakers and artists have. Whenever I look at my youtube, newgrounds, instagram, or anything for that matter I am constantly questioning my success as an artist, and my desire to be more popular. Perhaps I would benefit from focusing on my work than on the effect of my work.

Posture!

     Sitting, I love sitting, who doesn't like to sit? We spend a lot of time sitting down, through human history we spent a lot of time moving about. All this sitting we do in this generation greatly increases our risk for health problems. Even with lots of activity and exercise it is hard to counteract the effects of sitting and lousy posture.
   What can you do to help your body whilst working? Paying attention to your posture is a key component to this. A standing desk can be a good component to this. An active chair can help you fix your posture as well. When sitting in a passive chair keeping from leaning back and leaning forward can help you a lot.
    Being a worker in the animation or film industry will definitely guarantee you sitting long amounts of time. So keeping good posture and spending less time sitting will benefit you in the long run, keeping you away from health problems, and overall making you a happier person, and your happiness has a direct influence on your work.

Weekly Comments

     This week we learned about Lights! They seem like something really easy to set up! I cant wait to experiment with them. In the future, I want to learn how to set up a scene better, and convey a story with it. What made me happy this week is that Connor's and my documentary came out better than expected! What made me angry this week is that I didn't get to record parts for my contest, hopefully I will get to that this week.
My link of interest this week is too something called the Annie Awards. It is an animation Award Ceremony! Go check out this year's nominees! I hope I can win one, someday!

     I like these tips from DSLR Guide, they are really delicious!

     SO when shooting shots that you want to keep looking cinematic you must keep in mind your location, colors, emotions, and senses. Use locations to describe your character, what do your locations say about them? For colors, use contrast to exemplify key objects, and make unimportant objects blend into the back.  Emotion helps attach your audience, use setting to your advantage to bring fourth their emotions, drab setting for sad, and bright for happy. Lastly draw fourth with the senses. Use familiar sounds, or bring fourth shots that would familiarize a common taste or smell.
     I hope we keep getting articles like this, they are really helpful and easy to apply to class. I think the most interesting tip was making color corrections. I never thought of changing colors in an environment to make compliments, I will definitely be doing some of that in my next projects.

3D Printing and Stopmotion

     3d printing, I never stop hearing about it. Could it be the biggest invention since sliced bread? It is not a new thing that 3d printing has been used in animation, Paranorman by Laika is one of the earliest stop motion films to incorporate it. 3d animation has been one of the biggest innovations in animation, it seems that majority of feature films are made in 3d. That being said, 3d printing is a bridge between 3d Animation, and stop motion. Printing different heads, and body parts for characters seems like something that would make the process a lot easier and quicker.. In reality it takes about the same time still having to design the parts, sand them down, and paint them.
     3d printing and animation, we had an article on this before.. Laika seems to be the company using it the most. 3d printing has really made creating props for films way more accessible in movies like Starwars and more. Hopefully as it becomes cheaper and more accessible we will see more use of it!

Weekly Comments

    This week we got to work on our documentary's and do some critiques! This week I learned how to gather some interesting shots on location with the help of Connor!  What made me happy this week is that Connor and I got to record some scenes to assist in our documentary. Its really the first time I have done any filming with friends outside of school, it was really an experience to say the least haha. What upset me this week is that the year is going by really fast, I can't believe that we are going to be starting our class competition soon.
     My link of interest this week is to a 3d modeling tutorial, on how to make a trashcan! If you are interested into getting into any 3d modeling start here! This guys tutorials are awesome!

Chuck Jones and 'One Froggy Evening'

     On December 31, 1995 Chuck Jones released one of his most infamous short animations. One Froggy Evening is known for its clever story, wonderful animation, setting, and clever character design. Jones is known as one of the animation greats because of how much dedication and care he put into his animations. He was not one to rely on set character expressions, but made every shot seem like it's very own. Timing is also another one of Jones's strengths, in 'One Froggy Evening' the shots are timed so well that they induce humor, and if they were off a beat you wouldn't have found it funny..
     Chuck Jones was definitely a revolutionary for animation. He really defined what a short animation should be and how the general slapstick humor should be executed. LoonyToons definitely is one of his strong points, especially in the way he did the Road Runner shorts. Bringing life and humor to cartoons is one of the many things Chuck Jones will be remembered as for many animators.

Getting Over Writers Block

     Writers block is quite a doozy to overcome, but it is possible. one of the easiest ways to get away from it is to not let yourself be distracted. Distraction is one of the main reasons have issues with our projects. When we cant focus we cannot work, and when we cannot work nothing gets done. To fix this, buckle down unplug and start working it may be hard but is an important form of self discipline. Next issue is the inability to commit to a project, because you get new ideas and have issues sticking to one. Ideas are not hard to come up with and are not what make a project good, whereas the actual execution of the project is what makes it good. Last is if you cannot stop trying to make everything in your project perfect. An easy fix to this is to not be perfect, be as sloppy and disorganized as you want, but then go back and fix, it is the fastest rather than stressing over every decision.
     Getting a good workflow is important, staying on task and being expressive is the best way to work. This article has very good points on helping yourself out of writers block, I will reference back to this when I need to get working!