Weekly Doldrums

• What I Learned This Week

 This week was mostly a work week, but I did get a referesher on different photo editing techniques. I used a lot of the clone stamp tool and a bit of masks. I also used a bit of layer adjustments to change the color of the scene, which made some cool effects too (like a green octopus).

• What I Want to Learn

 How to edit the colors of videos rather than still pictures.

• What Frustrated you

 I don't like the new format for blogs. I understand why they were changed, but I disagree with it. The change was supposed to make it easier, but instead it made it harder.

• What Made Me Happy

 I donated blood on Thursday this week. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. It didn't hurt too bad and when it did, it went away pretty quickly.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pomc3DunY8c

•  Little commentary with the Gearbox at Pax Prime 2014. They're talking about the newest Borderlands installment, Borderlands the Pre-Sequel. It's pretty cool. I personally find it entertaining to listen to.

Color Harmony

• Colorists are vital to a successful film. They fix color mistakes and make scenes generally better by adding colors and gradients. Effective use of color can be seen in not only movies with actors, but also animated films. Pixar skillfully uses colors to make the viewer feel the desired emotional response for the actions playing out on the screen. The colors can be subtle or they can be bold, but one must make sure that they do not overdo it. Find the most important scenes or most intense moments and saturate those with the necessary colors. Colors can vastly change the meaning of a scene. A darker scene might express fear or danger where a brighter or warmer scene might express joy or love. Colorists are just as important as sound editors and a good (or at least decent) colorist should be taken into mind before starting a good film.

• Useful article. Always good to keep the fundamentals of color in the back of your mind. I learned that no matter where you go in the animation/film industry, color will never stop being important. It will always loom over your head and will always play an important roll in whatever you make. I agree that colors are important and will always be important. How does one become a good colorist? Color is important no matter where you go in digital media. Always good to have a little refresher.

Boxtrolling

• Travis Knight is not only one of the animators behind the recent stop-motion film The Boxtrolls, but he is also the president and CEO of Laika where the animation happens. There, all of the skills and tricks learned from its previous movies are not only maintained but utilized in future films because there is a single core staff that sticks with the studio from film to film. Though Laika has made a group of movies with similar settings and themes, Boxtrolls is determined to be different. Boxtrolls is taking a more absurd and fantastical route, involving new creatures. To Laika, animation is more than just a genre, it's a method of conveying ideas and stories to viewers who watch it, regardless of genre. Travis Knight states that his transition from animator to CEO was challenging. He had to go from focusing on the small details to the big picture. He also had to deal with a variety of different people and a variety of different problems and the initial transition was uncomfortable and uneasy. The team seized the opportunity to try something new by rigging the Mecha-Drill with motion controls that have never been used before on anything other than cameras. Doing this was a step towards making a more sophisticated movie that people could watch and feel as though the characters were more than just dolls, but real living beings. With stop motion films such as The Boxtrolls, redoing shots is tricky and difficult. Laika relies on its careful cast of animator/actors to get the job done right the first time. For a successful film such as The Boxtrolls, the team needs to be made up of those who are good with their hands and crafting things and those who are good with technology and keep up to date with the newest gadgets. They might occasionally but heads, but in the midst of the tensions, some of the best ideas can form.

•  Personally, I don't like The Boxtrolls. That just isn't my cup of tea. Most of the information in the article does not pertain to my interests or my ideal field of animation, but I suppose the article would be useful to someone who did want to go to the stop-motion field. I learned a lot about stop motion stuff and Laika stuff: What makes up a good team, how innovations can change the feel of a movie, and how Laika doesn't want to be put into a box, so to speak. They want to be known by just one type of movie they did, but by the movies themselves. Everything in the article was pretty agreeable. It was all factual and based on the personal experiences of Travis Knight. This article is huge for those who not only plan on going into this field, but also those who enjoy animation altogether. It gives a brief insight into the Laika animation studio and what makes them tick.

Dawn of the Third Week

• Learned

I learned a lot this week. From retouching to masks to color theories and much more. I also got a brief refresher on notebook organization. Always a good thing to do

• Want to learn

I have a bit of trouble understanding the difference between saturation and hue. This is something I really need to know but right now I can't understand it.

• Frustrated you

 Sometimes the clone stamp tool can be annoying to use. You have to be really careful when using it.

• Made you happy

My Urban Evolution project is pretty funny in my opinion, even though everyone else says it's terrifying. The Italian Chef statue looks so goofy and happy and the moth is just kinda like "Hey everybody! I am a mustache!" and I crack up a little each time.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQVXOdjGQ5s

• The newest episode of Did You Know Gaming about Rayman. It has a lot of interesting facts that I did not know and it talks about various animation/game elements such as concept art, game engines, etc. It was an entertaining video to watch and I would highly recommend to anyone interested in gaming history.

Documentary Obsession

Mister Michael Moore gave the world a little insight into how he makes his successful documentaries successful in a relatively easy to follow list necessary pointers. He asserts that documentaries should be treated like movies that make us laugh, cry, feel good about ourselves, or teach us something new. The audience should leave the theater with a sense of personal discovery and wonder that can not be achieved through a lecture style documentary. Be bold and make the documentary personal. Don't be afraid to appear in your own documentary or simply add a your own voice to the mix. Trust your audience and yourself because if you don't like your work or if you don't smile or crack up over it, how can you expect anyone else to do the same? Finally, give a bit of extra respect to your sound worker. The work that they do could make or break your film. The sounds that they produce can carry the story a long way.

This list has a lot of useful pointers contained within it. I felt as though some of the pointers were not explained too well, but for the most part, I understood what was being said. These pointers will be useful for when I will eventually have to make a documentary myself. It feels as though some of these pointers will be hard to implement, but having the general knowledge just helps in general.

Causing a Hullabaloo

Veteran Disney animators are attempting to bring back 2D animation with the creation of Hullabaloo, a movie about a steampunk universe following our two female protagonists Veronica Daring and Jules who share an interest in engineering. Together they must rescue Veronica's father who has mysteriously gone missing. But before Hullabaloo can be come a reality, the animators have to raise money through donations. Depending on how much money is donated by an individual, that person can receive a special gift such as web content, e-books, an art book, and concept art material. Real signs of appreciation by the animators for the generous donors who are helping to make the dream of resurrecting 2D animation a reality. If this movie is a success, then there will potentially be more Hullabaloo content released such as a web series, TV series or even feature-length animated film.


I personally believe that this is AMAZING! 2D animation has had an amazing impact on my life. I wanted to get a career in 2D animation but I've always been told that 2D is dead and I would only be able to find a job in 3D. Hullabaloo could potentially prove those people wrong and I am so excited. I am curious about the actual animation process is going to work for the movie though. Is it going to be the traditional Disney style of Cell animation or is it going to involve some computer animating programs? Only time will tell.

Winging It

• Learned

This week I learned a bit about Photoshop and different video production stuff. It was really cool. I didn't think I would like Photoshop that much but so far I'm loving it! I also think I'm not doing to bad at it :D

• Want to learn

More Photoshop stuff! I also kind of want to learn actual video production stuff, but that will come later.

• Frustrated you

I don't like a lot of the little printed out assignments we have to do. I mean, I will still do them, but I'm not happy about it.

• Made you happy

I'm happy to have my loving boyfriend by my side and I'm glad for all of the good friends I have. I'm glad that I am able to do what I love every day and I'm glad for those who are helping to make it happen for me.

• Link of interest 

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

• Comments on the above link

I found this video over the summer and I've been itching to put it into one of these posts. I get it, not everybody like My Little Pony, but if you can bear to watch the video for the first 2 minutes and 33 seconds or so, you could learn a very valuable lesson. I won't spoil it for you, but it could benefit just about ANY young animator. The rest of the video is also really useful for someone who likes animating wings or winged beings. Could be a really useful video to watch altogether! Give it a peep!

Keeping it Reel

• What I learned

You have about 30 seconds to show potential employers what you're made of. Choose about 3 of your best works and try not to fall into any trends or cliches. Show them that you have something new and fresh to add to the table. Take the time to learn the character you are trying to make. Characters that look and feel more realistic are much easier to relate to than a character who looks and feels fake. Taking an acting class can help you to create better characters. Don't be offensive. If your potential employers market to women, don't make a reel that would be offensive to women. Lastly (and probably most importantly), make sure that your reel is accessible to your potential employers. If they can't access your reel, then it's highly unlikely that you will get the job.

• Opinions

Extremely useful article. This will certainly help when I get out of college and start searching for an animating job. All of the tips are things we should of known but didn't even consider until now. And, since we're probably not going to be getting a job in the animation field any time soon and we haven't started assembling a demo reel yet, we have a bit of an advantage and a heads up. I'm very glad to have read this article.

• Question

How soon should someone start assembling an demo reel? Where can demo reels be used? Just for potential jobs or are there more places where a demo reel can be used?

Cutscene Cinematogrophy

• What I learned

Films have had over a hundred years to develop and video games have only had around forty, yet games are catching up fast. Using what we have learned from movies (camera angles, lighting, choreography, etc) we are able to utilize this knowledge to build a better game. Our most important stride lately has been in the area of cinematography. We learned from Lev Kuleshov’s famous experiments with the “cutaway” that lighting can effect the emotion of the viewer. Even if no real emotion is being portrayed, the lighting can give the illusion of a desired emotion through cinematography.

Still, there are people who are skeptical of the usage of Hollywood aesthetics in games. They fear that it will make games (an interactive art form) feel more like movies (a non interactive art form). The cutscenes would feel unnatural and confining and the difference in quality of the game itself and its cutscenes would be distracting and unappealing. Game developers however are doing their best to put these worries to rest by creating smooth cutscene flow and equally visually appealing gameplay.

• Opinions

I think that it is absolutely wonderful that we are making strides towards more visually appealing games by using knowledge we already have. Using these techniques will make games even more enjoyable than they already are. If a game can make you feel real human emotions just by changing up the lighting or using simple camera angles, then shouldn't this be praised rather than feared. We should be able to get as immersed in video games as we get in movies. I sincerely hope that more games will use these techniques in the future

• Question

Why has this not been done sooner? Have we just recently developed the technology to make this possible or have we recently found the courage to try something so bold and daring?

Summer Is Over

May the fun begin