I made an alien species to escape reality this week. We got memes banned. -Finger guns- What else is new?
Thi week we learned about sound recorders and some audio editing. Sound recorders seem pretty simple to use, but I'm anxious about using one because my dialogue in my animation has very specific specs to it. We already knew somewhat about Audacity, but it was refreshing to learn more. Garage band seems like it will also be really handy for sound as well because it has some sounds that are better than hunting online for uncopyrighted things. I learned that by the sheer power of will you can turn a bad goat imitation into a spaceship noise. I also learned that for some reason I know chemistry math better than statistics math. I learned more calculator commands I don't have the capacity to remember. And finally, I learned I'm too stupid to even apply to a college I wanted to go to.
Something I would like to learn in the future is how to properly lip sync. I thought I had it down, and that was the only thing in my 11 Second Story Club I liked. Then I was informed that I did not, in fact, have it down, and it just looked like mouths opening and closing. Which leads to I need to figure out how to lip sync properly for the single line of dialogue in my 2D short and the loss of slight pride for my 11SSC.
Existing frustrated me this week. I'm still somewhat sick, even though I really shouldn't be. I have grown to actually hate my history class because people in it have no idea what feelings are, and one of my majors was made fun of. Learning I can't even apply to a desired college frustrated me. Everything is just frustrated and I'm frustrated and bitter.
My friend bought my World of Warcraft game time. That's the only thing that really made me happy because I get to waste my weekends on my space goat(draenei) again and it is a huge stress relief. WoW has always made me happy. What can I say? I've been playing since I was four. Which means it has been a part of my life since it launched(November 23, 2004). It really says a lot.
My link of interest this week is really astounding. The amount of effort this person had to put in to edit this is the effort I wish I had. It is smooth and flawless and beautiful and you should watch it: Fan.Tasia.
Sunday, November 20, 2016
Ideas and Stuff
This week's article talks about Disney and Pixar. More specifically it talks about the process they go through to just come up with the ideas for their movies.
The process is called research and development, and it can take up to a year to finish. It all starts with a story pitch. Or three to be exact. Three separate directors spend four to five months constructing the world, characters, and a theme for their story and then they present. The ideas aren't always picked up, but if they are that director is sent on their way to work more in depth on it. Sometimes there is a certain aspect to the story that is liked a lot, and they are sent off to further that before they pitch again. R&D is mostly used to further develop the given pitch. It takes process through endless notes and pictures and live action reels and this and that until at the end you stand in a story room surrounded by countless notes. The people at Disney and Pixar travel for their research, like to talk to a woman with 36 rats for Ratatouille or to tepuis in Venezuela to create Paradise Falls for Up.
After all this research they then have to find a scriptwriter. They read tons of scripts and then interview writers they have chosen to see if they fit the mold for a Disney or Pixar script writer. It is basically summed up that introverted writers are not really fit for this job. The writers then get together with the story artists to work out an outline and beat board of the main characters emotional journey. Once these outlines are approved by Disney's Story trust and Pixar's Brain trust, boards made of directors currently at the animation studios the story can take its way to scripts and storyboards.
It is necessary to "Be Wrong Fast". The Brain Trusts and Story Trusts have this motto because they need to be able to pick out flaws earlier in the productions rather than later. They will sit and watch the movie six to eight times in various stages of its production. From storyboards to the animation with dialogue, because it is vital to find everything that is wrong fast.
This article gives the reader three key takeaways as it travels through a short movie making process: take the time to develop before launching into creating, know your world through research, and find trusted collaborators to pull your story about as you go through making it. The time you take to develop ideas before launching into them will benefit you in the long run because the idea will be more fully fleshed out then "wow what a good idea lets work with just this and nothing else that could build on it". Knowing your story's world through the power of research will give you the ability to work with everything in it. You won't be unsure how something happens because you will have fully planned it before you even started writing. Collaborators to pull your story apart sound harsh, but they are good because then you have someone who isn't you finding flaws that linger in your world. It is always better to have extra people because you don't often see your own flaws.
This article brought into greater light just how much goes into animated movies. I never really thought about it, but to sit and work an idea to its greatest potential for up to a year before even starting a script or a storyboard is a lot. Being an animator is no joke, there is work upon work to do.
I'm amazed by the amount of time put into just fleshing out a story. I may not be equipped to ever become an animator, but I do know reasearching for a story. I can spend up to a week learning a topic that is only going to be in my story for about three paragraphs. If I ever thought about working for one of these companies I wouldn't mind being with the research and development team.
The process is called research and development, and it can take up to a year to finish. It all starts with a story pitch. Or three to be exact. Three separate directors spend four to five months constructing the world, characters, and a theme for their story and then they present. The ideas aren't always picked up, but if they are that director is sent on their way to work more in depth on it. Sometimes there is a certain aspect to the story that is liked a lot, and they are sent off to further that before they pitch again. R&D is mostly used to further develop the given pitch. It takes process through endless notes and pictures and live action reels and this and that until at the end you stand in a story room surrounded by countless notes. The people at Disney and Pixar travel for their research, like to talk to a woman with 36 rats for Ratatouille or to tepuis in Venezuela to create Paradise Falls for Up.
After all this research they then have to find a scriptwriter. They read tons of scripts and then interview writers they have chosen to see if they fit the mold for a Disney or Pixar script writer. It is basically summed up that introverted writers are not really fit for this job. The writers then get together with the story artists to work out an outline and beat board of the main characters emotional journey. Once these outlines are approved by Disney's Story trust and Pixar's Brain trust, boards made of directors currently at the animation studios the story can take its way to scripts and storyboards.
It is necessary to "Be Wrong Fast". The Brain Trusts and Story Trusts have this motto because they need to be able to pick out flaws earlier in the productions rather than later. They will sit and watch the movie six to eight times in various stages of its production. From storyboards to the animation with dialogue, because it is vital to find everything that is wrong fast.
This article gives the reader three key takeaways as it travels through a short movie making process: take the time to develop before launching into creating, know your world through research, and find trusted collaborators to pull your story about as you go through making it. The time you take to develop ideas before launching into them will benefit you in the long run because the idea will be more fully fleshed out then "wow what a good idea lets work with just this and nothing else that could build on it". Knowing your story's world through the power of research will give you the ability to work with everything in it. You won't be unsure how something happens because you will have fully planned it before you even started writing. Collaborators to pull your story apart sound harsh, but they are good because then you have someone who isn't you finding flaws that linger in your world. It is always better to have extra people because you don't often see your own flaws.
This article brought into greater light just how much goes into animated movies. I never really thought about it, but to sit and work an idea to its greatest potential for up to a year before even starting a script or a storyboard is a lot. Being an animator is no joke, there is work upon work to do.
I'm amazed by the amount of time put into just fleshing out a story. I may not be equipped to ever become an animator, but I do know reasearching for a story. I can spend up to a week learning a topic that is only going to be in my story for about three paragraphs. If I ever thought about working for one of these companies I wouldn't mind being with the research and development team.
Sunday, November 6, 2016
Be BRAVE
The article this week talks about insecurity. Being an artist is hard a lot of the time because you always see someone who's better than you or feel like you aren't enough. This article gives us the seven ways to overcome insecurity.
The first way is to have thick skin. Pursuing an artistic job like animation can lead to one thing: constant rejection. But you can't let that get you down. There's always reasons for rejection, and they tend to be the same through all art fields. They could be looking for a different style, a different angle, a certain kind of person, etc. etc. Most times it is not because of your talent, and you shouldn't let that get to you. But you should also continue to always improve, because even though they may not view your talent as important in every case, the eye is drawn to the concept of improvement. Reason two is that you should have persistence. Put yourself out there always, over and over. Let the world get to know you. Take any job you are offered, no matter what kind of job it is. The wider known you are the better you can ignore your insecurities about your career. You should be able to take constructive criticism. Accept it and treasure it. In the first moments of it, it may make you upset, but later in life, after you've worked with your criticism and used it to the fullest potential you'll be thanking someone for what they said.
The next three reasons center around your abilities. You have to present yourself correctly. Don't pretend to be someone you are not, but be friendly and personable. Being disrespectful won't do anything for you. You also have to be able to get along with people as well. If you can't get along with people or you'd rather be disrespectful instead of making at least an effort, you aren't made for an artistic career. Make sure you are flexible. Animation is a transient industry. You have to people able to go with the flow of work hours or workload or studio switching and such. Be sure to have problem-solving skills. In a technical field, you have to know the technology. While IT people are there to help, it is always better to know how to quickly do it on your own. And having innovation can help you too, innovations can get you pretty far.
Finally, you have to be able to balance owning your work and also doing what is requested of you. While you may want to thrive with your own original stuff in art, sometimes you have to start with someone else's ideas. You have to be comfortable with the idea of that, even if you don't like the idea presented. You also have to be able to communicate ways you wants to make a scene yours in a way. Balance is a well-earned skill to have, and you often learn about it in group projects and such.
This article is really helpful for people going into animation or anything art related. Art is a hard field to be confident on, but if you just follow the right path you can get really far.
There are points in this article I have followed for years. As an actress, flexibility is a must. If you can't follow what your director wants, you shouldn't be on stage. Theatre is a tedious field to reside in, and all these points apply to it just not in the same way as animation.
I feel this article has gotten its point across soundly. It gives you reasons and pointers for the reasons in a well-worded fashion. Even though you might feel like you listen to all of this, but also reading about them and examples of them can help out a lot as well.
The first way is to have thick skin. Pursuing an artistic job like animation can lead to one thing: constant rejection. But you can't let that get you down. There's always reasons for rejection, and they tend to be the same through all art fields. They could be looking for a different style, a different angle, a certain kind of person, etc. etc. Most times it is not because of your talent, and you shouldn't let that get to you. But you should also continue to always improve, because even though they may not view your talent as important in every case, the eye is drawn to the concept of improvement. Reason two is that you should have persistence. Put yourself out there always, over and over. Let the world get to know you. Take any job you are offered, no matter what kind of job it is. The wider known you are the better you can ignore your insecurities about your career. You should be able to take constructive criticism. Accept it and treasure it. In the first moments of it, it may make you upset, but later in life, after you've worked with your criticism and used it to the fullest potential you'll be thanking someone for what they said.
The next three reasons center around your abilities. You have to present yourself correctly. Don't pretend to be someone you are not, but be friendly and personable. Being disrespectful won't do anything for you. You also have to be able to get along with people as well. If you can't get along with people or you'd rather be disrespectful instead of making at least an effort, you aren't made for an artistic career. Make sure you are flexible. Animation is a transient industry. You have to people able to go with the flow of work hours or workload or studio switching and such. Be sure to have problem-solving skills. In a technical field, you have to know the technology. While IT people are there to help, it is always better to know how to quickly do it on your own. And having innovation can help you too, innovations can get you pretty far.
Finally, you have to be able to balance owning your work and also doing what is requested of you. While you may want to thrive with your own original stuff in art, sometimes you have to start with someone else's ideas. You have to be comfortable with the idea of that, even if you don't like the idea presented. You also have to be able to communicate ways you wants to make a scene yours in a way. Balance is a well-earned skill to have, and you often learn about it in group projects and such.
This article is really helpful for people going into animation or anything art related. Art is a hard field to be confident on, but if you just follow the right path you can get really far.
There are points in this article I have followed for years. As an actress, flexibility is a must. If you can't follow what your director wants, you shouldn't be on stage. Theatre is a tedious field to reside in, and all these points apply to it just not in the same way as animation.
I feel this article has gotten its point across soundly. It gives you reasons and pointers for the reasons in a well-worded fashion. Even though you might feel like you listen to all of this, but also reading about them and examples of them can help out a lot as well.
Saturday, November 5, 2016
I'm s u f f e r i n g
Our scene starts with a dark stage, a single light settles on the blue-haired person sitting on a stool. They look you directly in the eye, jaw working as if they are about to say something. Here they go, their mouth opens and..."Ugggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggghhhhhh I just want to sleep for nine years." And there you have it. A great example of a high school student. Applause sounds, the person slide off the stool, the light dims. Life is a mess.
This week we learned about the camera in Harmony. I thought it would be easy, it looked easy. I understood all of it for once. And then I spent an hour trying to figure it out and decided it wasn't easy. It is nice that we know how to use it now, though, it will add ~pizazz~ to our animations. In English, I learned that Michelle and I really aren't made for public relations. Our project still isn't done. This is a call out post to Michelle: please send me the facts so we don't fail English, xoxo. I learned I hate Chemistry. There is no love in the world for chemistry. Statistics gave us another project and I internally cried because I hate math and her projects are weighted with the souls of tests, aka projects are graded like tests. I almost fought everyone in history. I might still fight everyone in history. Me vs. A History Class. I bet I'll win. History is just very taxing right now and tensions are high and I am ready to fight everyone. All of them. I'm going to stop myself before I keep going on about this ugh.
I don't want to learn anything in the future. I want to leave the plane of existence that is school and go become a sudden broadway star. Okay but for real I want to learn about 3D animation. I'm kind of realizing I'm not really built for 2D animation. Maybe my calling is 3D? I hope. I also want to learn why drama kids are really bad at deciphering hints. I mean we were in the right kind of idea but we were wrong. Our musical is not Peter Pan. It is The Little Mermaid. I see a lot of stage crew members throwing a fit over it because they think it is too hard of a musical. But I'll (i just sneezed all over my laptop. yes you needed to know.) let you in on a secret: they don't have positoovity. Yes, that is a musical reference to a musical we don't even have audition dates for yet, I'm a theatre nerd leave me alone.
The camera frustrated me this week. My immune system has also been rather frustrating. I'm normally used to migraines, but this week one just built and built until it knocked me out on Thursday and I suffered. I woke up Friday ready to keep going but it was still there and also I was sicker so I didn't even try to continue on. I'm still suffering. I can't breathe and a headache still lingers. I'm gonna ignore it on Monday though. I can't miss school with the kind of life I live. (-forever internally sobbing about how I couldn't have just been a normal average grade and no after school commitments student-)
Has anything made me happy? I went trick or treating with Michelle on Monday. That was good. That was the first time I've gone since I was seven. I was given a musical with a lead I may be able to land for once because I already have the trick down of how they harmonize thanks to my glory days at Yente. I'm still suffering though so honestly there isn't much happy. I just want to lay as still as possible and not move for like all the years. Uggggghhhhhhhhh. (Why is my auto-correct calling me out for theatre but not for four unnecessary gs and eight unnecessary hs?) Also this random fun fact I found out: Prince of Egypt and Shrek were being produced around the same time right? Well, Shrek was always viewed as the ugly stepchild of DreamWorks, because of well...you know why. Anyways, if you messed up on Prince of Egypt do you know what happened? You were banished from working on Prince of Egypt and instead sent to work on Shrek. "That's not true!" you claim. But oh-ho yes it IS: "As Shrek floundered, its status as the ugly stepchild at DreamWorks was reinforced. "It was known as the Gulag," said one animator. "If you failed on Prince of Egypt...you were sent to the dungeons to work on Shrek." The assignment was referred to as being 'Shreked'." (Page 58 of The Men Who Would Be King by Nicole LaPorte).
I am really struggling with my link of interest this week. On one hand, you have this really cool pilot episode thing I found that is the bomb dot com and I love it. On the other hand, you have the first episode to the weirdest thing my own two eyes have witnessed. So what will it be? (Jefferson or Burr? We know it's lose-lose.) I'll just go with whatever is first in my youtube history. I just went through like 15 full plays of the Little Mermaid soundtrack for this, please watch it. It's great. (Wow Becky u sure r hardcore)
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