Well, This Is Goodbye

 It's been a great year at NCTEC. I've learned so much and gained many useful skills for the road ahead. Here are my final comments:

1. Why did you take this class?
I took this class because I was always fascinated in the animation and cartooning process. I wanted to explore this field and gain new experiences. I never thought I'd have this much fun working with such amazing people.

2. In general, what did you like most about this class?
My fellow classmates and the projects were pretty fun too. I also enjoyed learning a new skill, that's always fun (it isn't work if you enjoy what you do).

3. In general, what did you like least about this class?
Deadlines, but those are a part of life, so I dealt with it

4. What was your most favorite project and why?
I have to pick just one? Aw man! I liked quite a few of them. I liked the 3D short because it was my first chance to explore 3D film and create and animate my original character, Goo. I also liked the 11 second club simply because it was fun to work on. I also liked the final project because we had complete freedom to interpret an ambiguous script (despite its massive length) and I got to reintroduce Goo as a 2D animated character.

5. What was your least favorite project and why?
2D Short without a doubt. I feel like I did so poorly on it and I had the most stress and a few panic attacks while working on it. I guess it was a good learning experience though.

6. Discuss the overall effectiveness of the instructor (for example: preparation, availability, interest, content knowledge, expectations, etc.).
Ms. Licata was an effective instructor who was willing and able to take the time to explain something we were unsure of. She did not have much knowledge of Maya, but that wasn't her fault since she had been given the program so late in the summer. I am happy to have had her as a teacher and I look forward to having her next year.

7. What are the most valuable things you learned in the class?
Teamwork, time management, etc.

8. Do you feel that this class will help you achieve your future academic or career goals? How or why (or why not)?
Yes. It gave me a head start in the animation field (at least as far as education goes). I also think that my achievements in this class will help me get accepted into colleges and careers alike.

9. How could this class be improved?
Get to know Maya a bit better? I'm not really sure of anything else...

10. Additional comments:
I am grateful of all of the things I experienced during my time in class.  The thing I am most happy about is the connections I've made with those around me. You have all taught me a very valuable lesson. Working together and tolerance (well, it's still a work in progress...). We may not be friends forever because hey, forever is a really long time, but for now I'm just glad to have had you all in my life. I wish you all the best of luck in this cruel world and hope you find exactly what you were looking for and more.

Yesterday brought the beginning
Tomorrow brought the end
And somewhere in the middle
We became the best of friends...

File Corrputed

• Learned

 Karma can be a jerk? Also AP exams can be jerks too (specifically AP Physics B)

• Want to learn

 How to speed up the process of lip syncing. That would be nice :)

• Frustrated you

 My final project got corrupted and it can't be recovered. I guess I didn't loose to much, but it still stinks. Thank goodness I had backup files, but they were several hours older than the file I had lost, so I still lost a bunch of work that I will have to make up for today. I don't think there's any way I'll be able to finish be Wednesday :( Guess I'll just have to finish what I can and hope for the best...
  

• Made you happy

 I didn't loose all of my work at least. And I got a bunch of compliments on my work from my older sister (who usually doesn't care about anything I do), which was nice I guess. Yesterday my boyfriend got us lunch and got me chocolate, which was thoughtful and kind of him.

Update: I made up my lost work with ease and am progressing with my animation :) Poor Goo looks so sad xD Which he's supposed to. It's funny.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aiBSNumx0A

A beautiful documentary on the art of game. It details the progress of games and how video games are an interactive art form that does all that good art should do. It also goes over the Borderlands 2 Cooperative project with the Academy of Art University. I liked it :D It's a long video, 1:05:00

Puppies and Plots

• Throwing in a little pooch or kitty can make an old character type feel new and fresh again. Seems simple enough.
• Cat people are stereotyped to be crazy and moody but dog people are thought of as social and cooperative. Utilizing this concept and manipulating it to surprise people can be a useful strategy.
• Even if the characters don't have a pat currently, implying or stating that they may have once had a pet or currently want a pet can do just as much for a story.

 Thoughts:

• I don't think that it is this simple. The pets need to have a purpose and if they can be easily replaced or removed without much change to the story, then they shouldn't be included. The closest example to this I can think of would be Mia's pet cat, Fat Louie, from The Princess Diaries. He doesn't serve much of a purpose in the movie other than act as a companion to Mia (which is arguably an important role, but probably not as important as Toto from The Wizard of Oz) 
• The "dog person" "cat person" stereotype isn't completely false, but it isn't completely true either. Cats are good pets for people who can't get up and out as easily where a dog is a pet that needs a person who has enough energy to get up and take them out every now and again. However, a person could be very social and have a little friend back at home who doesn't require to much maintenance and someone who is introverted and antisocial could have a dog to keep them company or provide a sense of safety. It all depends on the person.

Question:
 In what situation would a pet be detrimental to a film? Perhaps it wouldn't make sense to have one or it would take away from the plot.

Theaters Desensitising Audiences

• Innovation and originality are rare in the movie industry, and this is spoiling the experience for movie goers. If there is anything less than perfection, it is stamped with the seal of disapproval by audiences.
• Impressive CGI and stunning special effects aren't seen as special because we are bombarded by them in every direction. We have grown sick of seeing the same thing over and over again and no amount of special effects can change this.
• Although not every filmmaker can be a James Cameron, audiences still expect the filmmakers to actually give a care about their work. Audiences want an engaging and original narrative that doesn't rely solely on blinding special effects. CGI should be in balance with the narrative, if one is good, the other should be just as good.

Thoughts:

•  I agree that movies have been given much less thought in modern times. It has gotten to the point where whenever I see a movie trailer on the television, I always say "that looks like a bad movie." I may know nothing about the movie, but if it looks like it has the same dusty and overused storyline as every other movie of its genre, I will immediately assume it to be a bad movie. Often I am wrong. And it isn't necessarily fair of me to judge a book by its cover, but when each book you look at has the same cover, it's hard not to judge one story by the content of another.
•  To much money is being spent on CG and not enough thought is being spent on an engaging plot.

 Question:

•  When did it all start to go wrong? When did filmmakers start to grow lazy?

Weekly Struggles

• Learned

 I... uh.... still haven't really learned much...

I guess I learned a thing about Flash audio. Matching the frequencies and stuffs.

• Want to learn

 I don't know, more complex and realistic tweens?

• Frustrated you

 I feel like I'm making little to no progress no matter how hard I work. It's really discouraging...

• Made you happy

 D&D this week was absolutely amazing. My boyfriend and I went off on our own separate quest to search for 8 legendary keys (weapons). I have no idea what they will be used for, but they're still super awesome. First, we fought a vampire spawn (I broke my Rapier), then we found a pair of boots that let the wearer walk on water (which I now call Jesus Boots), then we fought and killed a butcher who wanted to eat us (he smelled horrendous), and then we encountered a vampire lord who chastised us at first for breaking into his home, killing his butcher, and stealing his precious dagger. We tried reasoning with him, and it got to the point where he was willing to give us the map to the next key and he was going to let us leave alive, so the DM had to throw in a random warewolf because we completely bypassed the boss fight by becoming buddies with him. We all killed the warewolf and as thanks, the vampire gave us the dagger (which steals 1 constitution per hit) and a room for the night if we left by morning. The next morning we went into town and I spent several thousand gold on an enchanted Rapier that does acid damage and The Bane of Humanoids dagger which gives me a chance to instantly kill a target (they have to roll 3 saves to not instantly die). It was an amazing day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5L1YdFcw0A

Things to do when you're depressed :D It's a catchy little song with some cute animation to go along with it :P Some of these ideas could actually help someone feel better if they are feeling blue (like building a pillow fort or watching cat .Gifs on reddit). I recommend watching :D

Animated Characters Evolved

• It is important to create a character that the player can recognize and connect with. To do this, it is good to pay close attention to the human form, with a few minor alterations.
• The simplest conglomeration of shapes in the right place can be identified as a human form. Use this to your advantage
• Do your best to make sure that form meets function. This will create a more believable character

 Thoughts

• Fairly useful article. It might come in handy if I am ever designing a humanoid character (though it seems more useful in 3D than 2D)
• Though this article raises some good points, I'm not entirely sure that the player can only relate to a character if it has a fairly accurate humanoid shape. I think that the player has considerably more to grab onto and connect with other than physical appearance. I'm sure it helps though.

Question
How far might be to far? At what point does a character start looking unbelievable? Are there any exceptions to this concept (where unbelievable might be more believable)?

YouTube Cartooning and You

• YouTube gives the everyday animator a chance to prove their worth. When a good idea is a good idea, but a big time network believes otherwise, an animator can still put it up on the internet  for the world to see. And who knows, maybe it will be a multimillion view hit?
• "Niche cartoons can remain niche and not cause problems for executives, as there is no competition over time slots. For larger networks like Frederator, that peaceful coexistence all but eliminates the challenges of visibility." I think this pretty much speaks for itself
• The internet gives cartoonists almost complete freedom. Length, content, style, etc. Sure, if a video is more adult oriented, it will get less advertisement from YouTube, but if it is good, someone will still find it and are likely to tell two friends who each tell two friends, etc.

Thanks Ms. Licata

• This article is pretty encouraging for me, since myself and a group of friends were (hopefully) going to post our own little series on YouTube.
•  A lot of it is common knowledge (but that isn't a bad thing. It's still encouraging). Sometimes we need to be reminded of things we already knew

Question
What should one keep in mind before booting up a YouTube series? Any tips or advise for people just starting out?

It's Been a While

Wow... it's certainly been a while, hasn't it?

• Learned

 I can't say I've really learned anything lately. Unless you consider "learning what it's like to go out on competition" to fit in this category, that is. Other than that, I haven't really done much learning recently.

• Want to learn

 I guess I'd like to learn how to effectively divide up the work of an animation (which will not only be useful for future competitions, but also for a group of young animators who want to form an animation studio over the summer).

• Frustrated you

 Changing the audio compression from MP3 to ADCPM (or whatever it is). I changed all of my audio files to ADCPM individually and also in my publish settings, but I know there is at least one more left for me to change (that I fear I might miss).

Also I fear that I might be clashing with those closest to me. Our different opinions and comfort zones aren't mixing well and I don't know what to do about it. My sense of humor is different but I don't want that to hurt our friendship. I've been trying to grit my teeth and keep my mouth shut, but that doesn't always help and it can't last forever...

• Made you happy

 Going to competition was a blast! I loved the whole experience! I was terrified and so stressed out I wanted to rip my hair out, but I loved every second of it. I sincerely hope that I will get to participate in many other animation competitions in the future (and other competitions in similar areas).

•  https://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_239531&feature=iv&index=1&list=PL84DB158CAABE4E07&src_vid=8Q2P4LjuVA8&v=zs_4NI7wjno

This is a behind the scenes for a hilarious video called "The Glitch".  The video was well put together and it was pretty informative (through showing rather than telling). It's mostly just for giggles but it could also be a decent reference point for anyone who wants to make a little video like The Glitch.

Pixar Developing a New Way to Animate

• Pixar is developing a new way to help add more "texture" to the textures of their animated characters by putting a layer of paint over-top of the animation. This helps to convey the lighting and the roughness of skin and cloth. It makes it look a bit more realistic.
• Temporal coherence is apparently the fluidness of images from frame to frame. Would have been nice to know before watching the video a million times and not understanding every little detail.
• It is uncertain if this is a step forward or backwards. On one hand, it is still 3D animating (modern) but it is also hand drawn which is time consuming and "outdated". It really depends on who is being asked.

•  I thought this article was very confusing. I didn't understand a lot of what was going on. I noticed that it was turning 3D into a pseudo-2D style that is nostalgic and pleasing to the eye, but that's about it.
• I think this new style is a step forward. It's paying homage to traditional animation while still utilizing modern modes of animation. Personally, I like it.

 Can someone simplify what was being said in the video? I understand that it is explaining the right and wrong ways of using this new technique, but it was so complicated that I didn't understand it.

Film Clichés

• Post-Apocalyptic short films are horrifyingly overdone. It has gotten to the point where this terrifying theme becomes laughable. Please, stop spamming a ruined landscape overrun by the zombie horde.
• Dysfunctional-families are a cruel fact of life. No matter how many times they are used, it never becomes a cliché because it happens so often in reality. The actual problem is that it is not used effectively. If it doesn't have a purpose or meaning, then it shouldn't be added to the film.
• When did short films get so long? When a film is 40-45 minutes long, I don't consider that to be much shorter than a regular film which may only last about 20 minutes longer. I agree that a short film to be considered a true short film, it shouldn't be much longer than 30 minutes (preferably 10 minutes or so).

•  I don't think this list was entirely clear on what makes these "clichés" clichés. Yes, by definition a cliché is something that has been used beyond effectiveness, but an example of some sort might be nice.
• How is cannibalism a cliché? I have never once seen a short film about cannibalism. And why would anyone want to make a film about that?

 How can these clichés be made fresh again? What steps can one take to possibly avoid these over-used ideas?