final post ever of all time

1. Why did you take this class?
I took this class to extend my range as an animator and because I like films not because I want to be a filmmaker. That and a lot of my friends were taking it this years so I figured why not.

2. In general, what did you like most about this class?
I really liked the people in the class and learning about the process of film making. With the exception of food I have always enjoyed learning about how things are made and what inspires them. 

3. In general, what did you like least about this class?
I really hated doing the blog assignments and the "having to film stuff" part of the class. I feel I'm a better editor than a director and with the exception of fight scenes I really hate filming.

4. What was your most favorite project and why?
my favorite project was the explosions project, it had the best final out looks ans some of the funnest videos I've seen in class.

5. What was your least favorite project and why?
I hated the video poem project it was boring and honestly no fun to do.

 6. Discuss the overall effectiveness of the instructor
The institution was the same as last year just with a different subject

7. What are the most valuable things you learned in the class?
How to mange my time wisely and what goes into making a awesome movie.

8. Do you feel that this class will help you achieve your future academic or career goals? How or why 
This class helped get me to realize what makes movies great so I can do those same things in my animations.

9. How could this class be improved?
Nap time. No seriously though what makes or brakes the class is the people you work with, if you don't like them the class suffers.

10. Additional comments:

It's been a joy and a pleasure thank you

weekly post 27

I have a lot of crap I have to do next week so I'll keep this short. I leaned how to make a good demo reel and how to create a cool chase seen. I was also reminded what happens when you forget you script, a lot of bad improve. What frustrated me this week is a lack of time I was able to devote to all my time to the final project. But what made me happy is the fact I got to work on my blogs in school which is nice.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbfweWkMFQs this is a video review of the witcher 3 and its awesome.

filmmaking according to the pro's

The film industry is massive in both its spendings and profits but unlike most industries who know exactly how to make a killer product every time, films making is more subjective,what appeals to one person may not appeal to everyone.  It means different thing to different people, and over time has proven to be more of an artform than a product they can just market. to some Filmmaking is a dream come true, a life long ambition and dedication that ended with a dream job of getting to make a movie and see their vision come to life on screen.  To other it is a challenge they take on wanting to push the limits of what is possible with current technology and what is allowed by current social standards. Some see it as a gamble, spending money to try and make a vision that could ultimately fail, but there is one thing they can agree on a director's biggest fear. That at the end of the day no matter how well you know the material or how good your actors are, that what you are doing just won't work and the audience won't respond.
What the article said is true making videos is an art form more than it is a business, because the don't give awards for iphones. Making films is hard and no mater how much effort you put being it the possibility of failure is always there. Its perseverance that guides film makes  to create one of a kind master pieces.

animation do's and don'ts (demo reel style)

Animation is one of the most cut throat industry and the only way to make yourself stand out against the competition is your demo reel so its imperative that you make yours as distinct as possible, these are some ways to do that. What most of the demo reels have in common is the lack of a wow factor something that sets you apart from the rest. Many of the people reviewing the reels are looking at thousand of them which causes most to blend together. First off only use your best work, not what you like best what is the best, it helps to have a friend look at the work to help you decide on the best after all two heads are better than one. The next tip is a serious suggestion (this won't break your reel but it makes you a nice person if you do) keep your demo reel short like 1-2 minutes max. Like I said befor the people doing this have a lot of videos to look at so the shorter the better and real wow them. which bring me to my third point begin and end with your strongest work it makes a good impression and leaves them with something to remember. Lastly send a your demo reel to as many animation studios as you can get your name out there, it can't hurt.
Let me just say this article was helpful with giving me the dos and don'ts of making an animation reel but what it boilies down to is talent.  that should be emphasized before you start making the reel or even animating make sure you have some aptitude for the craft. Getting that out of the the demo reel is as, if not more important than you portfolio, it's a demo of your skill and some people just don't have enough of it. All we can do is hope that we not one of them and we got what it takes to make it in this crazy world.

weekly post 24 (I think)

this week is the week after the avengers and the movie was awesome no spoilers but you will love Ultron he is the best. This week I learned how to make a pretty cool chase scene thanks to film riot, love those guys. The frustrating part of in ability to take out cameras so thanks for making an exception. Sad part of the week is the fact that its over, one week left to final project is due and that stinks.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfjLRuE1CLw  this is the clueless gamer reviewing the witcher 3 basically its Conan O'Brian acting like an idiot playing the Future game of the year.

the science of the avengers

One great thing about the avengers is the when nerds argue over who could win a fight. While they are point unless they're fun and what makes them fun is factually arguing your points and using science to back up your clams. Iron mans armor for instance although the writers say its made of  iron and gold but scientifically speaking that makes it really heavy and hard to fly witch means it wold make more scene to make the armor out of nickle and titanium and reinforce it with graphite and carbon fiber to maximize heat resistance. What I found interesting is when stark made his own element to put in the new reactor that entire process is entirely possible and is how real life scientist make elements, healing factors are another story. It is by far my favorite super power in whole marvel universe and it works by enhancing the bodies white blood cells and rapidly increases ones ability to repair them selves. Lastly is the most iconic shield in the world, Captain America is made of a steel and vibranium  which is basically indisputable awesome.
          The article was cool but they took all there facts from the movies when it would have been more interesting and factually accurate. Tony Stark's armor is propelled by ionic thrusts not rockets and Caption America shield is not made of steel is vibranium and adamantium. Lastly vibranium don't convert vibrations into light it stores it then disperses it when the Cap through it or hits someone with it. One thing I would of liked to do is see the break down of what makes Thor's hammer unliftable, explain that.

dragons and their animators

Everyone love dragons they're big, strong, capable of flight and breath fire who would love that. But since they have never existed it can be hard to recreate, never the less people will try and animators at Pixomondo are doing just that, trying to make a dragon, and they are succeeding. They work for the game of thrones directors to make the massively awesome dragons that Kalisky hatched out of an egg in season 1. Through the use of 3D animator they create a incredible detailed rig that they then recreate every season to make it more authentic, like its growing older.  One of the things they do to make the dragons move realistically is copying the movement of bats. At first it wasn't an issue with the dragons being so small as they got bigger and the rigs more complex they began using the way bats walk and take of were great for studying, they also did some act-to-out exercises. Currently they have added more facial expressions to give the dragons a little more personality. Currently they are working on the the ability to ride dragons or rather animating dragons that looked like they are being ridden. 

Dragons are awesome, and Game of Thrones did a great job of making them as believable as possible for a while I thought that they were real. they did a great job with the little details that sell the dragon as a huge monster that started of so cute and are now almost unstoppable by conventional standards. The way the sakes move on the creatures and the way the look at each other like brothers and especially how they treat Kalisky as their mother. The only one to ever rival them in personality and general badassitude is Smaug from the hobbit movies, I mean he's voices by Benedict Cumberbatch nothing more awesome than that.      

disposable aniamtion

art is subjective an wile it can be time less  but it can also be total trash and only worthy of a quick look and a toss in the trash. Eather way they make money and that what compines care about the bottom line. Hanna-Barbear was one such companies but because they created such classic like the Flintstones so we let is slide a little.

weekly post 23

the movie as cool I liked the ending, it was confusing, frustrated about time deadlines, happy about fight scene it tuned out well. I learned to use low and high angles effectly and i gont a ton of stuff I have to go later.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8lJ85pfb_E john Oliver interview

becoming a better director

Being a director is hard, not if your Michel bay but that another thing. to be a good director you must know what you want and communicate that to your actors and every else on the team. Next you need to be able to incorporate others ideas this is key to making a great film. Most importantly plan your time, using your time wisely is the only way to have a film ready when it need to be done and respect your helpers, this isn't easy and yelling at them isn't gonna help.
These tips are useful in making understanding how hard it is to be an good director you need to be smart well planned and able to adapt.

animation face

using you face to animate is what adobe it trying to do with their latest soft where. the soft where makes use of  of microphones and the web cam you can make creatures come to life in 2d. The program can be synced to body parts witch eliminates the need for riging. The program can also be used to lip sync what you are saying to what the creature is doing. To top it all of the soft where can also mimic a lot of the little thing that people do like swaying back and forth slightly that sort of thing.
This sounds like a grand idea the only problem is implementing it, adobe is famous for glitches in their new stuff and this sounds really experimental or in other words like it would be prone to a lot of glitches. If I had to guess this will become the standrd eventual but until then it just another buggy system to work try and work with, but a great idea.

the career of animation

The whole concept of needing a job to get payed isn't true all you need is some one willing to pay for you work, but finding thous people is another story. Getting an animation job is next to impossible and that dream Disney job is really just another high stress desk job where your job is to doodle. If you want to be a "real" animator you need to make a career out of you skills, which  basically means you livelihood is made and broken from you reputation or more accurately how good you work is determines if you get to eat or not. the person who wrote the article was an animation fan boy from and early age and he only manged to hold a job with Disney for about 9 mouths, what does that prove, even thouses how love aimation don't always get the steady job what gets you work is determination

weekly post 21

This week can be described in one word "horse@#$@#" I've spent most of this week trying to come off a week long sugar high and now all i want to do is sleep. So far I've been told I have less time to do everything and I've got more stuff to do. Welcome to life I guess the only thing I learned about this week show much

weekly post 19

this week got the final fanticy game i was talking about last week and it is awesome, if you don't count the crap textures and poorly dubbed dialogue but the combat is fun and new so i overlooked the small parts. I learned it could make a cool video in about 6 hours this week and it was really disappointing that the screening was canceled but we get to watch Monday with is a plus. The best parts of the week was finishing the necessary work in the amount of time and not handing it in late.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vs2lYw22t_Y this ones in the spirit of march madness.

Drones an filming

drones are becoming a topic of real conversation, what with their being laws made about it an all the fact they are being used for filming is not surprising. tile drones are a great way to get air shots if you don't own a helicopter but it'll still set you back the price of a nice computer. Drones are nice because they make it possible to look like you have professional team working to help you hake the beat film possible when in reality It's really just you and you one friend who willing to buy the snacks and do nothing else. The Slavin's film festival is a place where drone filming is displayed like in the film superman with a go pro. That film primarily used a drone to film the the air shots where superman was flying around then superimposed his arms onto the footage and spend it up to make it seem like he was going fast. Drone filming is still new however and as such most filming techniques are still experimental at best but they are quickly becoming an industry standard.
I personally like drones and the shots they make its like a mini roller coaster made in your back yard. The only problem is the TSA is being a dick about using them on american soil, it's ok everywhere else but not here so that a bummer. Only time will tell if drones will become the nest steady cam but until then I'll stick to filming on the ground.        

all for the animatiors

Animators have one of the hardest jobs in the industry simply because no one in the industry has to adapt as quickly or as often as a animator. Sure the industry has had lots of changes over the years, camera have smaller and more portable while the editing software/hardware has become vastly more powerful but that doesn't change the fact that this only happens once every 10 or 15 years. An animator has to adapt to a new system nearly every year and they have to solve new problems with every new project. In order to do this we have to devote an ungodly amount of time to learning about the new processes and techniques and developed strength in everything under the sun. Not to say that you have to be this animation jack of all trades but knowing a bit about everything can't hurt and remember its better to be ok at everything then the best at only one, and always keep learning those are the keys to being the best animator you can be.
Personally I liked the article it made good points about not always playing to your strength and working on what you suck at to make it better. Personally I need to get better at 3D modeling and rigging, if I'm being honest I need to reevaluate my skill in 3D because I know I'm gonna be rusty for collage.

weekly post 18

Theses things are my least favorite part about taking digital media, and to be clear I just mean the journal entries, the articles are about stuff i kind of care about and have great tips on making your stuff better. It's the talking about my life that bothers me, by the time I write this thing I've already forgotten about half of the stuff I did this week let alone how I felt about them so this time I'm gonna recap the week how I remember it. Pax prime east happened this week and square enixs' new final fanticy 15 demo being bundled with the HD remaster of type zero witch also look frigging awesome  and I want them both. they did away with the combat from 13 and went closer to their kingdom hearts formula and it looks awesome, not to mention the graphics are prettiest thing I've seen since blizzard's overwatch trailer. I'm seriously considering buying type zero just for the demo. I learned how to make a cool window effect this week witch is awesome and looks real. I'm still upset about moving back to the back, the front was a lot more comfortable and the change of scenery was nice (I've been back there for two years its getting a little annoying). I did like the new operating system though, it feels nicer that the old one and the computer itself runs a lot smother. The complaint of the week is the amount of stuff I have to do at once from prep work to contest to collage stuff this mouth is trying into a nightmare.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qfPJm7nZn0 this is link to everthing this is on FF 15 and it jsut looks awesome. (that is how you animate a character)

6 ways to call me lazy

Its been said that practice makes perfect but to make it in the film industry you need to better than perfect and to do that you need to film every day, these are the six reason you should film every day (the number six may be pending). First off it helps get you familiar with all your equipment, even the stuff you don't use all the time like strobe lights. Filming every day can help create opportunities to practice using things like alternate angles, framing, and camera movement witch are eventual to a good film. Another benefit of constant filming is identifying your strengths and weaknesses than working to fix them through adaptation and practice. Another great thing is forging habits when you film, this makes it easier to have good shots you are use to working with. Lastly if you film every day you can easily come up with great ideas for shots and possible ideas for stories. And always remember to check you camera setting be for you start don't learn that the hard way.

This article was nice, big print, lots of spaces  and very to the point and I do agree with the articles message with out enough practice you can't really experiment or grow in any sort of way. that being said I would film every day to save my life, in my opinion its too boring and tedious to do every day and if I did I would give up on filming altogether. Filming is not animation it takes a lot of organization, people, and planing to make anything look cool, wile animation only requires a half decent computer and some pre-built rigs and you can make a story all your own. That why I like it more animation is more free.

The sound of animtion

Sound is the most important thing to films and animation period. As soon as sound was introduce to films it became an accentual part of creating a believable work of art. The importance of synchronized sound is one of the most commonly over looked parts of animation for one simple reason, the only time sound is notice is when it is bad. These are the tips for using sound correctly so you can make your stuff awesome. First off you have to time everything right according to what the pacing of the music, you don't want you character running doing the slow parts and doing nothing during the fast parts. one of the more advanced things you can do is sink a body monition  to an intermittent, for instance you can  a trumpet sound every time the character look up in triumph or a symbol crash every time someone through a punch that really connects. Something to remember is that music helps develop a character  by adding to their emotion when a song or music peace plays that defines their next action king in Indian Jones right be fore he dose something cool.

 I really feel that sound is so underrated by most people and that's so disappointing because its so important. With out good sound your film and animation lack realism and that just kills it for the aduance. sound is a crutal part of both an emotion and comical films and without understanding how to make the most of sound your are shooting your self in the foot... with a bazooka.

weekly post 17

This week was my first full week pack and I gotta say I really enjoyed this week end. I really enjoyed competing to the regional competition and the most frustrating thing this week was getting to the competition. The bus rides was long, the food was OK and  lugging the computers around was heavy as hell. The best part was winning second  what frustrated me this week was shadowing these kids aren't gonna sine up this late in the year they are just coming to get half a day off from school. But on the plus side I learned how to make a cool telaporting shot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yN4NusvfIg this is a video from film riot they have a lot of good stuff so check them out.

lights and their bounce

lighting is very important to film maker for one simple reason it helps to sell the illusion they are trying to create. One of the lighting Technics is to bounce the light to give the shot a more natural look. You can bounce the light off a wall to create a natural look for you subjects and the background, the lighting its self looks more even with some not so harsh shadows. form there you can angle it more to create some nice depth of field shots. If you want some great back ground shadow  you can bounce your light off a pad then angle the pad till you get the look you want. Always remember to have the proper setting one the camera before shooting or all your shots won't come out right.
The article was help full in giving me some ideas to to better light my scene in school because lets face it some of my shots needed it bad. The article was timed great because I am in the process of shooting at school where we have access to the lighting equipment.

sponge bob movie

the sponge bob movie is coming out and guess what, it's live action and CGI/animation blend so naturally its gonna be horrible. the last film to do this right was who framed Roger rabbit and even that wasn't the greatest. This of course this doesn't change the fact that what they are doing are is complicated as all F#$k so props to them. the change comes form making character that are 2d and bring them into the 3d world. they do this by adding light textures to the character to make them seem more realistic, the tricky part comes from trying to find the balance between realism and toy looking. The animation is then  layer on through masks and layering like all other special effects. The animators are also taking care to ensure the spic stile of animation that is described as snappy.

The article is cool and inserting but I don't really car about SpongeBob. the article didn't focus on with was nice but I'd be more interested if this was about something like big hero 6 or the new ninja turtles movie this article just can't hold my interest.

Oscar editing

The Oscars are one of the greatest TV events all year riving the super bole. This years winner for best animated film was Big Hero 6 and the winner for best editing in a movie was Whiplash. This article is about what makes editing Oscar worthy.  Editing is at its best when you don't notice it at all

weekly post 16

This week was a long one, witch is ironic seeing how it was a four day week, I was able to finish my tutorials but i'm not sure if its counts as one day late or 2. The best part of this week is was finishing the movie sheet the worst was completing the movie sheet. I learned how to make a really easy wall cut and how to make super speed witch is awesome. The only thing that frustrated me was the lack of time I had devoted to making the story boards for the next project.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UsHHOCH4q8 its another John Oliver clip and its on tobacco because if your gonna listen to news its better to listen to a guy that's British.

Creature feture

Animation is a an art form, and like all art its only good to you if its making you money. The first step in making a living animating is to get hired, and the best way to do that is wow your future employers with your very own demo reel. One of the best things to include is creature animation because it not only shows you have range but shows you are willing to do more than just work with people,(aka you have verity)  witch is valuable. Keeping with the theme of verity make sure that you have a lot of different videos in you demo reel sometimes it even good to show special effects if you've done any. One of the best ways to show diversity is to change up the stile of animation, it can be anything from 2D to 3D or showing a boy running vs a dog, its stuff like this that makes you stand out angst the rest.
This article has a lot of interesting stuff in it and I like the pointers about how to land a job with people like pixar. the advice they give is repetitive but in a good way the only way to become a good animator I to diversify yourself.  And the best way to diversify yourself is to change up the stile, type, and character type.    

weekly post 15 (or so)

This week we finished our class competition and I'm happy to say got it done and it is gonna be... ok ish. I learned how to make a good PSA this week mostly through trial and error. The most frustrating part of the week was having to deal with my computer, it kept crapping out on me and forcing me to restart and re do work. Needless to say I got it done and its pretty good as far as content goes but is lacking in the sound leveling department. It makes me sad to know i could do better if i had more time but what can ya do. I'm seriously looking forward to break next week.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-lDFJH_IHc this is a video about a new game and the people who made it. enjoy

three's a party

The only thing more annoying that people is needing a lot of them and not having them. Lucky the smart people in the film industry has created a way to get around that with the use of the almighty perspective. The is a technique a lot of Hollywood uses to make large crowds to avoid have to organize a lot of people. The first thing you do is shot everyone as close together as possible to make the shot look populated. Second, shoot with a lone lens it helps sell the idea of a tightly packed place and can focus attention on the main character if he/she is in the shot. A another nice thing you could do is place your extras on a different plane than you character. Have them walk in front of and behind the camera. If your feeling brave you could try to get closeup shots of the back of the extras head and use them over and over if you can figure to the blocking (witch I can't) and you can make a lot of really cool shots.
The article was structured and written in an entertaining way and made a lot of points that I hadn't consisted and the advise was really good. One thing i'm thinking of using the advise for is a army like in the lord of the rings only with more horns on the helmets. Needless to say the article was more than useful and it was a great choice for this weeks article.

maleficent and a bunny

The Superbowl is a great time were we as a society come together and hate on the patriots and as we have grown as a culture to even value the adds as part of the game day tradition and this year they pulled out all the stops, with everything from Leaum Neason to breaking they even got Oscar award winning director Robert Stromberg to make a car commercial incorporating both 3D animation and live action and its impressive to say the least. He not only had to contend with all of the problems that come with filming outside but also the also had to deal with the problems that come with making a 3D animated film. You through in the need to make many characters as expressive as possible with the fact that they are only going to appear for a few seconds in a minute long commercial you have quite a bit of work ahead of you, and Stromberg took it on like a boss.  The rest of the article is just more about the car company and about the Superbowl in general nothing special.
The unfortunate part of this article is that it never goes into any specifics of the changes they faced wile filming. Sure they mentioned having to create characters and have them go through the stages of production but its nothing new. The rest of the article is basically an ad meant to mention the Superbowl and the car. The only other thing of note is the remarks that Robert made about the creative process but it was mostly its just stuff other people have said in different ways.

Its all in the eyes

If your an animator that has done anything in 3D  you know that the eyes can make or break a facial expression with in turn can make or break the animation as a whole. Disney being  the innovators they are have created a computer program to create photo realistic eyes. The key to making an eyes photo realistic, especially with more than one character, is to make every pare of eyes different.

size matters

When it comes to film perspective everything is hinging on your ability to make the audience not only beleave whats happening but feel the proper emotion for the proper characters. One way of making the audience feel a a character is more powerful than others is to alter the perception of their size. The manipulation of size can be key in in creating climatic scenes that can define a character a unstoppable or as helpless. This can be done a multitude of ways, for starters it can be as simple as filming form a lower angle or something complicated like building a smaller set to make the character is bigger by comparison. Its important to remember that the audience judges size by whats around them so taking away or manipulation the back ground elements can create the illusion you need to fool the audience.
This article was interesting to say the least the two separate videos helped to bring the point across through the use of examples. I know perspective is incredibly important when it comes to making movies so its good to know not only the types of perspectives you can manipulate but the ways you can manipulate them. The video also ranged the ways from the simple like camera angle to the advance like making a set with a low hanging ceiling and smaller bed frames.