CGI vs. Practical

   This article discusses the differences in CGI and practice effect and how they are both necessary to make something look realistic. This reminds me a lot of the arguments between digital and traditional art. They both have their advantages. I'm not sure how well they could be used together but I'd imagine they could be. I agree that there are certain scenes that just look better in CGI or practical and there are also many that work well in both. Effects improve greatly every year and normally you see a good combination of both types of effects used to accomplish that. 

The Pendleton Ward Experience

   Adventure Time is one of my favorite shows and Pendleton Ward is one of the animators I've grown to admire. Reading how far he's come to share his creation is pretty inspiring and seeing how far it's come is more. I've always wanted to have my own cartoon and hope other's feel as much love as I put into it. It's sad to see how he's worked so hard for it to be too much and end up quitting being the showrunner. But I'd imagine it's still honorable to have created it and still be a writer and storyboard artist. And now that he has less pressure to perfect Adventure Time he finds more time to enjoy his work. As he says, "Whatever the next thing is, I just want my brain to be happy doing it". Trying to perfect something can sometimes cause you to forget why you enjoyed it. 

Weekly Comments

   This week was pretty uneventful in my short. I'm almost done and probably will have it done next class or the following. Some things disappeared in my animation, sadly. Like the sound and his arms. I have a week to figure that out, though, so I should be fine. I hope to learn how to use the effects to fade parts of the opening. That would've been all I needed to do if things hadn't vanished on me. I'm getting a little anxious for break and just looking forward to no school for a bit. After that we're moving to 3D, but I don't know if I'm excited or not. I've always been interested in pursuing 2D. 3D is great and I admire it so I'll just wait to see how I feel. Who knows, I might end up favoring it. 

This isn't relevant to what we're doing right now but it's really helpful. It shows how Pixar designs characters. Explaining both the writing behind it and art. 

http://pixar-animation.weebly.com/character-design.html

Animation as an Industry

   This article was about how far the popularity of animation has come and how large and demanding the jobs are. It gave me a good idea of my chances of getting into the animating field. Though I've known animation is a growing industry, it's cool to see just how much it is. I'm glad that I'm in the generation of strong animated films. I suppose if I weren't I might not have loved it as much as I do now. The best thing about most animated movies is that they do appeal to all audiences. Not only are they kid friendly but they have in-depth stories that adults can get into as well. And that's what makes them so popular and why it's such a thriving industry. Or as the article states it's why "you get box office magic". Now Best Animated Feature is in the Academy Awards. In 2001 Shrek was honored the first of this award. And I'm glad, too. Animation is really the only category I pay attention to in the Academy Awards. 

Weekly Comments

   So I still have about 24 seconds to go in my 2D short. I'm not too confident that I'll get to 60 seconds, but I really can't tell right now. From what I have there are some things I should fix and movements I could add but this week I've focused on getting the gist down and then hopefully later I'll have time to improve it. It's still frustrating and when I go home I still think it's fun. I just hope I find a good and fitting way to lengthen my short. I think I've learned the run/walk cycle better from all of this. I definitely need to work on the bounce in the step though. I also figured out that you can change the size of your frames in your timeline in order to have more viewing space. That's neat but it kind of makes it difficult to click the frames if it's too small anyway. 

This article is of James Baxter explaining character animation and the process of it; using The Croods as an example. 

http://mobile.digitalartsonline.co.uk/news/motion-graphics/james-baxter-reveals-secrets-of-enchanting-character-animation/

Sound Effects for Film

   This video about sound effects has tips on how and when to use them. He explains how important subtle sounds are in a film. How things like the flipping of paper can make scenes seem more real. I've been hoping to add simple sound effects into my 2D short and this video has been helpful with ideas. Sound effects can be used to create a mood without dialog, as he shows in his short. Or even without picture; like a deep ringing of a bell to imply a grim scene. I'm using an upbeat tune in my short and I think it gives the perfect mood for what's going on. I always focus on the picture in films, but I think I should start appreciating the sound as well. 

Weekly Comments

   This week I learned how to do the forward walk cycle. It took me a few days just to figure it out but I did get the leg movement down. I think I focused too much on that because now it's difficult to time the bounce in his step. I guess I should have done that while I was animating the legs. Animating is fun and frustrating. I love and hate it. It's pretty fulfilling when you finally understand something. Of course another thing always comes up giving you more to face. I'm looking forward to seeing my finished short and everyone else's. There are a lot of cool ideas I've heard so far. 

This week's link is about the new Disney short, Feast, that premiered with Big Hero 6 in theaters. It talks briefly about the 2D-3D method used in Feast and Paperman and why Disney decided to make another short. 

http://www.buzzfeed.com/adambvary/disney-feast-animated-short-film-big-hero-6?s=mobile

The Science Behind Baymax

   The new movie, Big Hero 6, focuses on futuristic tecnology; specifically robots. There are many different types of robots in the movie but Baymax is one that brings a whole new idea to robotics. The idea of Baymax came from the co-director, Don Hall, while visiting a robotics instatute that included an inflatable robotic arm. The softness of the robot is meant to be more delicate. In the movie, Baymax is a medical robot meant to help you if injured. Inflatable robots might not be completely fantasy. Some of these robotics are under investigation and could be used for many things requiring caregiving and a soft touch. I was happy to see a whole new concept of robots in a movie. Comparing it to the technology now seems to mean it will be awhile until we can come close to what Baymax does. 

Weekly Comments

   I think I learned a lot this week. Mostly things I've  known already but just improved in. Using the camera is so much easier and makes a big difference. What I want to learn has been the same. To manage my time better. I turned my 6 second club in early to get started on my short but I could have added more facial expressions/movement. Puppet animation is really nice, though. I'll definitely use it in my short along with frame by frame. I felt like I got a lot done so far. Then I played it all and realized how hard I need to work on this. 

   I saw Big Hero 6 earlier today and I loved it. It wasn't one of my favorite movies but I'd definitely suggest anyone to watch it. 

   This is an article about the mathematics behind Pixar. It's interesting, but I'm terrible at math. I should probably work on that. 

http://gizmodo.com/how-pixar-uses-math-to-make-characters-look-perfect-1657339566

Weekly Comments

   I managed to finish the 11 second club on time! That was shocking. Though there's not a lot of movement going on. I learned how to use the camera better, but I hope to learn when to change views and scenes to my advantage. I think the most frustrating thing was aligning the mouth movements with the sounds. Some of it was too muted or just hard to understand while simply scrolling through the frames. I'm having a lot of fun working on my storyboard for the short. I just hope it's not too big of a bite that I can chew. 

   This article gives tips on how to storyboard along with why storyboarding is important. It specifies on live-action film but, of course, the tips can be applied to animation as well. 

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=9&ved=0CCEQFjAI&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.outsource2india.com%2Fcreative-services%2Farticles%2Fstoryboarding-tips-for-short-films.asp&ei=579WVPrLKuvLsASZtgE&usg=AFQjCNHzNUI0ldkTrbdsc3P84JgAQbktRw&sig2=vJ4aOvJK_dySpj03qNLWGw

Weekly Comments

   So this week we started the 11 second club project. Which means we start lip syncing for the first time. I'm not sure how I feel about this, but learning how to lip sync is pretty neat. I didn't know that you have prethought out mouth possitions that cover multiple letters/sounds. I'm pretty behind on it so hopefully I'll catch up fine. 

   I hope to learn to make smoother movements and maybe I can while working on this. I'd also like to work on time management because  I'm not confident with this project on that right now. I haven't turned in anything late yet but I'm cutting it close. 

   Well the most that I'm worried about is time. I can't take my projects home with me so I have to rely on the time I have in class. But I have been able to work on the mouth chart at home and better my ideas. 

Science and Film Working Together

   The more animation and digital graphics evolve, the more it's necessary to involve physics.  Ron Henderson is a physicist who teaches at DreamWorks to help animators bring more realism into their creations. To learn how to create bubbles, the animators were given a demonstration with real bubbles along with a lesson on how they work and react with different things. Physicists, engineers, and even former NASA employees have begun working in the growing film field. Head of digital strategy for DreamWorks, Jim Mainard, said "often we end up at the same place, but from different directions." Which shows how both physics and animation are needed to make a whole. 

   I thought this article was very interesting. I didn't know that companies hired specifically scientists to work on the film along side animators. Or that many do it. It's cool to know just how many possitions are needed to create a quality film. I often forget how much science and math is put into animating. 

Weekly Comments

   This week has been nonstop working for me. I've learned a lot about movement and weight from the walk cycle and diving board exercise. A walk cycle is a lot more difficult than it looks and I hope I'll be able to get the hang of it. I plan to use my free time to study the different steps for the walk cycle so maybe the next time we use it I'll do okay. The flour bag exercise has been another fun project for me. It's exciting to create emotions in general; which is something I haven't put into other animations we've done. I'm still having trouble with speed, though. What I have so far is a little too fast. We may be getting our computer fixed soon so I can finally take my projects home and put more time and work into them. 

Here's an article briefly explaining the flower sack exercise. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=7&ved=0CBwQFjAG&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.animatorisland.com%2Fhello-world%2F&ei=nOdDVMO0EveRsQT4z4L4Bw&usg=AFQjCNF6AaeN5WsohHrLucm3y_6SRC2gzw&sig2=0txPzf50tNy4c_7iwTd62A

And this brief animation gives a good idea of how a flour bag might move, if it could. 

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OiSkn_JR2-s&autoplay=1

Weekly Comments

   This week has been nonstop working for me. I've learned a lot about movement and weight from the walk cycle and diving board exercise. A walk cycle is a lot more difficult than it looks and I hope I'll be able to get the hang of it. I plan to use my free time to study the different steps for the walk cycle so maybe the next time we use it I'll do okay. The flour bag exercise has been another fun project for me. It's exciting to create emotions in general; which is something I haven't put into other animations we've done. I'm still having trouble with speed, though. What I have so far is a little too fast. We may be getting our computer fixed soon so I can finally take my projects home and put more time and work into them. 

Here's an article briefly explaining the flower sack exercise. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=7&ved=0CBwQFjAG&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.animatorisland.com%2Fhello-world%2F&ei=nOdDVMO0EveRsQT4z4L4Bw&usg=AFQjCNF6AaeN5WsohHrLucm3y_6SRC2gzw&sig2=0txPzf50tNy4c_7iwTd62A

And this brief animation gives a good idea of how a flour bag might move, if it could. 

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OiSkn_JR2-s&autoplay=1

Weekly Comments

   This week so far has been my favorite. Animating is as fun (and frustrating) as I thought it would be. The first few animation assignments did not go so well. But I think I started to catch on with the tail exercise. I at least know I put the most work into that. It took me a long time to get the hang of the movements of the tail and hopefully it paid off. The ball and tail assignment has been my favorite. It's just calming, even if I'm not great at it. I was a little terrified when my frames disappeared on me but thankfully they came back. 

This video I found gives a brief description on how to make a short film. It was neat to see the layout and process first hand. 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rJaN643ri7s

The Science Behind Viewing Movies

   Scientists have begun studying films to learn more on perception. A vision scientist, Tim Smith, collected data from 75 people by monitoring them while they watch Iron Man 2. Using cameras to track their eye movements and a heat map, Smith is able to find where their attention goes most. After collecting his data, Smith presented it to Jon Favreau, director of Iron Man 2. Favreau stated that "everything you're looking at is real, and everything you're not looking at is fake." Because of how the brain interprets information, simple backgrounds can be created with CGI. Brains take in separate bits of information then merges them together as one whole. "The best visual effects tool is the brains of the audience", claims Favreau. 

   This article helped me learn to use perception to my advantage and that some things can be too complex to capture the realism of live acting. The use of manipulation of the eye is very useful for the animation field and I think especially 3D animation for its tendency to be more realistic than the classic 2D styles. 

Cloudy With a Chance of Animation Principles

   The twelve principles are seen in every animation. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is a prime example of the uses of the principles and how they can be exaggerated into the favor of the art style. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs uses principles such as squash and stretch, anticipation, slow in and slow out, and exaggerating. Every movement seems to use squash and stretch in this film. From the way the characters walk that gives a little bounce to their strut, to their facial expressions. It's used simply when the food falls from the sky and bounces off the ground or in the jello mansion when Flint and Sam jump around. Anticipation when Flint first turns on the machine to create a burger. He waits ready with a plate in his hands for the burger to be made while the machine prepares to make it. Of course the power surge caused the machine to stop which added to the anticipation. Another example would be when the crowd of people looking into the sky, gasping, before the view showed what they were seeing, causing anticipation for the viewers. Slow in and slow out was used while the food was falling from the sky. Secondary arcs were seen in most characters such as Sam giving her report and adding a wink at the end and the mayor continuing to eat while he's speaking. Both showing more about their characters besides what their primary action is. 

Boxtrolls and Stop Motion

Travis Knight, lead animator, president, and CEO of Laika, helps create a whole new stop motion film. From the creators of Coraline and ParaNorman, two Oscar winning films for their "creepy artistry", make a new movie called The Boxtrolls. The Boxtrolls is described as an absurdist coming-of-age comedy taking place in a Victorian town where monsters literally live bellow the wealthy citizens and a boy named Eggs who was raised by the boxtrolls learns to live with the humans above. 

   Everything learned from creating Coraline and ParaNorman are used together to make The Boxtrolls. Computer generated effects are merged with the stop motion to create effects they may not have been able to capture. They use tactics like colored 3-D printing to make all of the puppets' faces and built motion control devices for the biggest puppet made. To avoid going back and redoing a scene they carefully choose the right animators for the right scenes. Every moment of creating the stop motion film is precision. 

   This article has allowed me to see the processes used to create stop motion films. It seems painfully long to me to move each puppet slowly, frame by frame, for a feature length film. But the end result is beautiful and gives a feel other animation styles can't capture. Overall The Boxtrolls seems to have a great story and I look forward to seeing the results in theatre.  

Weekly Comments

   Week four is out the door and I'm ready to march further into animation. This week was the first week of animating and I feel like I'm a step closer to my dream. I'm not sure if I'm any good yet, on account of me being immpatient; 

which is making me avoid things that I could correct. But I'm prepared for improvement. 

   Learning movement was very interesting and I hope I can nail it one day. I often forget the amount of frames needed to change speed and that less frames give a faster effect, but it does make sense. Working on the different animation assignments has been fun overall. I didn't put that much creativity into it because I was focusing on figuring it out and I think I've got the basics down now.  I especially enjoyed the ball bouncing excersises. It was very soothing for me to draw the individual frames and create the squash and stretch movements. 

I've found this link compairing two different 3D styles of animation. And though we're not on that topic yet, I think it's still an interesting article. 

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=15&ved=0CDUQFjAO&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.awn.com%2Fvfxworld%2Fcreative-human-character-animation-incredibles-vs-polar-express&ei=4hUmVJeOBoKGyAS4jYLQCA&usg=AFQjCNHjYsM5XpdTcWpW8shI3DkIf1VkcQ&sig2=PEQXgjwla8UXxlSvnUiYig

I also found this video on creating comic pages that could be as interesting to others as it was to me. 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=j08XE6UcCN4

Michael Moore's Manifesto for Documentary Filmmaking

   Oscar winning Michael Moore tells a 13-point manifesto on how he makes successful documentaries. He gives many helpful tips for documentary making, but also tips that could be useful for any style film. Some of the important tips he gives that could be used for animation films are using laughter to benefit you and making films more personal. 

   "Laughter is a way to alleviate the pain of what you know to be true", as said by Michael Moore and put very well. No matter how sad the overall story is, comedy can lighten the situation and make things seem less serious. Of course, this method of lightening the mood should only be used when you want to brighten the audiences' spirits. If you want their mood to be grim or sad, a joke shouldn't be added. But you can see humour as a mask in many characters in films. A character may have a tragic backstory, but adding comedy to the character's personality will add depth. 

   Another useful tip from Moore is "make your films personal". It's hard to write stories about things you might not understand. Writing things you can relate to will typically show better results. Just as in his documentaries he wouldn't film something supporting an opinion he's against, you shouldn't write about something you dislike. Of course not all characters in a story should share the same opinions, and your characters shouldn't be exactly like you. But with the right touch you can use your past experiences to create a world in which the audience can relate to as well. 

Keeping 2D Movies Alive With Hullabaloo

   3D animation seems to be dominating the world's media today. Causing 2D to die with it's success. Or at least that's what James Lopez, a veteran Disney animator, believes. James Lopez has worked on many classic 2D Disney animated films such as, Lion King, Pocahontas, and Paperman. But he has never done anything that was his own. And with 2D becoming less popular in cinema he thinks it's the best time to let his world blossom and bring back the classic hand drawn animation. 

   Hulaballoo is a story with steampunk and female protagonists. The main character spends the story searching for her missing father who invents many steam-powered machines that she uses on her adventures to find him. Lopez hopes it could develop into a television show or even a feature length movie. Him and a few other veteran animators, like Rick Farmiloe who worked on Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin, plan to get this project going and have raised the money to support it and then some. 

   To me, this story idea is very exciting and I hope I get to see the end result as either an animated short, t.v. show, or a movie. Though I don't fully believe that 2D animation is a dying art. It's not seen often in movies anymore, but is still a preference for cartoons. But hopefully Hullabaloo can bring back the 2D animation that is fading fast in theaters. Because there really is something in 2D films that 3D just can't capture. 

Weekly Comments

   It's only been three weeks now and I've already learned more than I could have hoped for in my high school year. It's been so exciting to learn more about animation and it just makes me hope to get into the field even more. This week we mainly covered color harmonies, the importance color gives to the mood of every scene, and principles of animation. I've known that color can give moods, but I never realized how often it's used in animation. After this I'll never look at movies the same. It's opened up my eyes to see the many different harmonies in every scene. The twelve basic principles of animation that we've learned really helped me understand animation broken down and I will always keep it in mind when I animate in the near future. 

   As for what I'd like to learn, I just hope I can learn how to use color harmonies to my advantage. It's easier to learn them on paper than it is to actually achieve a propper combination that sets the correct mood for the viewer. 

   What frustrated me this week has been blog posts for sure. I've gotten used to Animate Pro for the most part and ultimately the way the class is orginized, but I'm still not the best at blogging. It's a little difficult writing your own opinion when you've been writing about other's all of high school. But I definitely understand that this will prepare me and hopefully I'll get the hang of it. 

  I've found a video demonstrating the twelve basic principles in a series of short animations. It's basically what we've learned already but provides different and simplistic demonstrations. 

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CBMQtwIwAQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fm.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DbHfDEsNLg34%26autoplay%3D1&ei=PJwcVKDIHIadugSryoGABw&usg=AFQjCNH8etWkUNRwgbFJdcCd6xNZSpVGmg&sig2=X7s5Rgt6w0jzr1glUcZw-A

  

   

Weekly Comments

This week I've already learned a lot about animation. Learning about the history and modern animation have been very interesting and I'm looking forward to learning even more; especially how to animate. I'm having a little trouble reverting from my paint software to Animate Pro. Drawing on it is difficult to get used to, but it's worth the time and frustration.  

6 Tips From Recruiters

  This article provides first hand tips from animation recruiters. It gives you six to do and not to dos of demo reels. Such as, what to provide in your reel, how long it should take, how to be unique, knowing your audience, confirming everything works, and to be aware of trends. The article also gives many examples of quality demo reels from several animators. 

   I found this article to be very insightful and altogether useful for my future. This article could provide knowledge and help for many animators starting in the field. The use of examples and direct advice from recruiters makes the article very informative. 

Games Embracing Film Imperfections

   A new video game, The Order, may just be revolutionary for how we view video games today. Video games are becoming more like films along the years, making them more realistic and natural. This new game takes a much larger step in gaming experience.

   The game was designed to feel as it were being filmed with cameras. Games leave out the seemingly minimal imperfections of film, but now it could be embraced. Lens curvature, vignette, chronic curvature, lens dirt, etc... are all flaws that make films that much more real. This movie-like technique will also help bring moods to the gamers by using camera angles, mood related lighting, and various other methods often used in movies. "We wanted to show gamers what the next generation of gaming would be like", said the CEO and creative director at Ready at Dawn, hoping this will start a new way of viewing video games.

   I find that the use of filming styles in video games could be a large improvement for the industry. I've learned that different media fields can use similar techniques to advance. And that certain minor flaws can make things seem more realistic to the viewers. 

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