Today has been very interesting....
Spent my morning off campus sketching people(I needed a break from animating and I've been craving some caricature drawing---not model life drawing). After about 4 pages, I went to the grocery store, came back to campus, chilled and had lunch---it's now around 2 before I set foot in my cube. Working on a close-up shot of Pilot(the cat), lots of in-betweens, slow actions, and subtle eye stuff. Head over to the pencil test machine to test the stack---shoot it, about to hit play---POWER OUTAGE! Somehow the city's power is out or something, at least the entire campus has been hit(according to some students the nearby Starbucks is alright though, so at least that's functional-haha). I pity everybody that came out of the computer labs---lots of painful cries and stories of the casualties involving promising 3D animation or Photoshop artwork. Anyways, it's been different, some people grabbed their discs and headed outside to go animate(or not), I still have some decent light so I can now proudly state that indeed the statement: traditional animation has at least one advantage over 3D----you can animate even when the power is out! What a weird Friday----until my life is a little more illuminated--over and out!
Edit: At 10:18pm. The power is back! After roughly 6 hours of down time. I'll do a post later that'll chronicle the adventure involving badmitton, exploring haunted areas, and Risk. With pictures....
Friday, February 29, 2008
Stop! The Devil....from doing bad things?
Traditional class was pretty sweet...Mike went into excruciating detail about Pose-to-Pose animation vs. his breakdown earlier of straight ahead. He shared a clip similar to this one I found on YouTube(Mike's was entirely rough though, no cleanup) and thought I'd pass it on. I'm at a stage right now where I need some inspiration--this helped along with a dose of Les Triplettes de Belleville. Here's something I found awhile ago for Triplettes, love that dog--he's so brilliant!
Iron Giant Scene
Bruno
Iron Giant Scene
Bruno
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Almost March
March is right around the corner....7 scenes to go...53 days until films are due. Going pretty well, encountering a couple more troublesome scenes, but otherwise I should have all of my animation done by spring break---then onto compositing, alpha channeling each drawing, and music. It's also a whopping 80 degrees outside...crazy! Not a cloud in the sky too...
One of the directors of Mulan, Tony Bancroft, came on Tuesday and the 3D teacher let us go to the lecture. It was a pretty cool lecture, he shared several never-before seen roughs from the film which was inspiring to see. Material included several version of the opening sequence and then how to introduce the unique personality of Mulan. One sequence was rough animation(the scene where Mulan changes into her Father's uniform, cuts her hair, and runs off) but the rest were animatic storyboards(Chris Sanders really helped develop how Mulan was introduced and developed her character a lot). He talked briefly about what it's like to be a supervising animator and then also an animation director.
Last night we(the students--not just freshmen either) had a going-away party for our Story teacher, Kindregan. He's off to Canada to work in the game industry for a bit. We attacked him with silly string, feathered hats, pink balloons/streamers, followed by champagne, pizza, and cake. He was pretty shocked and once he "recovered"(aka. freed himself from the inches of neon silly string) he told us entertaining stories which he made up off the top of his head while people shouted ideas to him. It was bittersweet, he's one of my favorite teachers here and has had a huge impact on how my film is going(along with a handful of other people). He insists everyone keeps in contact with him and he's still grading us, but he's going to be missed by the department.
Alright well, I have class in 10 minutes, probably should head on over. Well another weekend ahead of me and time to confront this stubborn scene head on and conquer the beast....in the mean time here's Pinocchio because I love watching that movie as a source of inspiration(my trad. anim. teacher shows clips from this movie all the time):
One of the directors of Mulan, Tony Bancroft, came on Tuesday and the 3D teacher let us go to the lecture. It was a pretty cool lecture, he shared several never-before seen roughs from the film which was inspiring to see. Material included several version of the opening sequence and then how to introduce the unique personality of Mulan. One sequence was rough animation(the scene where Mulan changes into her Father's uniform, cuts her hair, and runs off) but the rest were animatic storyboards(Chris Sanders really helped develop how Mulan was introduced and developed her character a lot). He talked briefly about what it's like to be a supervising animator and then also an animation director.
Last night we(the students--not just freshmen either) had a going-away party for our Story teacher, Kindregan. He's off to Canada to work in the game industry for a bit. We attacked him with silly string, feathered hats, pink balloons/streamers, followed by champagne, pizza, and cake. He was pretty shocked and once he "recovered"(aka. freed himself from the inches of neon silly string) he told us entertaining stories which he made up off the top of his head while people shouted ideas to him. It was bittersweet, he's one of my favorite teachers here and has had a huge impact on how my film is going(along with a handful of other people). He insists everyone keeps in contact with him and he's still grading us, but he's going to be missed by the department.
Alright well, I have class in 10 minutes, probably should head on over. Well another weekend ahead of me and time to confront this stubborn scene head on and conquer the beast....in the mean time here's Pinocchio because I love watching that movie as a source of inspiration(my trad. anim. teacher shows clips from this movie all the time):
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Walk the Walk
And Maya only crashed twice! I love you Maya....I stopped working on this after the second crash.
Quick walk cycle as I get back in the groove with animating Lt. Dan. He walks very nicely to the song, "All things just keep getting better" by Widelife. haha. I plan on doing more so stay tuned...
Sunday, February 24, 2008
There's no business like show business...
So the Oscars are tonight and so a few caricatures are at hand:
Best Actor category was the one I went for. I didn't go for the actual actor, more for the character they played, so the guys include: George Clooney, Daniel Day-Lewis, Tommy-Lee Jones, Viggo Mortensen, and Johnny Depp. Just done for sheer fun and practice(that background was thrown in there in 2 seconds flat just because I didn't want white). I've only seen one of these movies that's nominated(bet you can guess or else I'll give ya a shave!), but a lot of people around here are voting for "There Will be Blood." Anyhow, time to go make some dinner and work on critical studies homework.
Best Actor category was the one I went for. I didn't go for the actual actor, more for the character they played, so the guys include: George Clooney, Daniel Day-Lewis, Tommy-Lee Jones, Viggo Mortensen, and Johnny Depp. Just done for sheer fun and practice(that background was thrown in there in 2 seconds flat just because I didn't want white). I've only seen one of these movies that's nominated(bet you can guess or else I'll give ya a shave!), but a lot of people around here are voting for "There Will be Blood." Anyhow, time to go make some dinner and work on critical studies homework.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Dreamworks Guest Lecture
Dreamworks came tonight and gave a lecture on Story and also discussed their story trainee program(only offered to graduating students). So to start things off Dave Pimentel was at CalArts in the early nineties, went onto Disney as an animator(up until Home on the Range), and is now at Dreamworks where he's worked on several of their features, but switched to story instead of animation. He's now the Head of Story on an upcoming project called "How to Train your Dragon" and he's very excited about how it's coming. He structured the lecture around what he called, "The 5 Points of Great Storytelling":
1) Great Character: Every great character has flaws and is very relateable. The audience wants to like them and watch their story. And on a side note, not always under serious circumstances. You need to draw your audience in.
In order to achieve a great character you need to ask yourself the following questions constantly:
-What is the character doing?
-Who is around them? Secondary characters always have some kind of impact on the main character.
-What kind of attitude does the main character have?
-Why are they in their situation?
-How do they feel about it?
-Is there a twist as to who's who or what your character is?
-How do you lead the audience into your story?
He then showed us several examples from various films that showed how they answered all of these questions. Films included-Full Metal Jacket, Some like it Hot, Cast Away, and Happy Gilmore.
2) Great Setups: What's going to happen to the character. Don't just give your story away, allow your audience to guess and put the facts togethers. Every story has a great setup and these bits of information lead the audience down the path of the character's life. They're like sign posts telling the character and audience to watch out or to get ready. Character arcs can be introduced through these setups. The film clip he showed was from Iron Giant when Hogarth is sharing various comic books with the Giant while they're both inside the barn. The setup here is the "Superman" identity and the phrase, "You are who you chose to be."
Next up,
3)Conflict
4)Tension
These were together because they go hand in hand. Both drive the story. One cannot exist without the other. Conflict is opposing forces against a character. Tension is the strain or result of the conflict. Story moves through conflict. Thrusts the story forward-a quick example he describe was from Star Wars how Vader kidnaps the princess--if these events hadn't taken place than Luke and co. would have never gone anywhere, everything would have come to a standstill-certainly no conflict or tension. Tension keeps the story interesting and keeps the audience guessing "What's next?" Often times this brings up the scenario where the character might be ahead of the audience(Momento for example) or where the audience is ahead of the main character. Dave Pimentel then shared the clip from The Incredibles when Helen is approaching the island in her jet. That entire sequence is a great example of this. The sequence is chalk full of conflict and tension--even tiny moments, like when Helen is debating about changing into her super-suit holds some kind of conflict. Overall, this sequence was setup by everyone involved to not be easy. Helen just doesn't arrive peacefully onto the island, instead she discovers her kids snuck aboard and later, missals attack the plane while Mr. Incredible helplessly listens to the radio in Syndrome's 'prison'! Basically bringing up the concept that an action, etc. that's too easy=boring to viewers. The other film clip he showed was from The Apartment where the main character is heading up to the boss thinking he's getting a promotion, after facing the boss he realizes that he's in trouble, but in the end there's a twist when the boss offers the trade---Theater tickets for the main character's apartment keys.
And, finally:
5) Payoffs: Every story has them. They can come in positive and negative forms and within the story as well as in the ending. The audience is always expecting a payoff during the movie. They want justice! If you don't, the movie will fizzle and your audience will burn you alive! The film example he shared was again from the Iron Giant, at the end when the army is basically attacking the Giant and then the Giant sacrificing himself for the town..."Superman" choice over "Atomo." The other example he showed was the ending tension in Se7en between the two detectives and the criminal after Morgan Freeman opens the package.
That was the lecture pretty much. It was a good reminder of the lecture Mark Andrews gave at the beginning of the school year and it was cool fitting my film into these questions and points. Anyways, the second talk afterwards was really applied towards the students that were graduating this year and honestly I am impressed. At least for the story trainee program(they didn't talk about the animation department) it sounded like a lot of fun. You get to work on projects they give you from a "vault" that holds the companies rejected ideas. You get this script, re-work a couple sequences, and then pitch your sequences to all of the Directors, Producers, Heads of Story, etc. of Dreamworks at the end of your 24-week job-among other duties like helping on an actual production. Dreamworks also hosts lots of workshops for the artists and everyone who came sounded very enthusiastic about the future projects at Dreamworks(they're really aiming to re-focus the company and work on stronger films that are not that 'Shrek-like' formula-even though they are doing more Shrek sequels.) Well, I'm off to go thumbnail out a scene or two for my film since I get to start animating the second half of my film tomorrow!
1) Great Character: Every great character has flaws and is very relateable. The audience wants to like them and watch their story. And on a side note, not always under serious circumstances. You need to draw your audience in.
In order to achieve a great character you need to ask yourself the following questions constantly:
-What is the character doing?
-Who is around them? Secondary characters always have some kind of impact on the main character.
-What kind of attitude does the main character have?
-Why are they in their situation?
-How do they feel about it?
-Is there a twist as to who's who or what your character is?
-How do you lead the audience into your story?
He then showed us several examples from various films that showed how they answered all of these questions. Films included-Full Metal Jacket, Some like it Hot, Cast Away, and Happy Gilmore.
2) Great Setups: What's going to happen to the character. Don't just give your story away, allow your audience to guess and put the facts togethers. Every story has a great setup and these bits of information lead the audience down the path of the character's life. They're like sign posts telling the character and audience to watch out or to get ready. Character arcs can be introduced through these setups. The film clip he showed was from Iron Giant when Hogarth is sharing various comic books with the Giant while they're both inside the barn. The setup here is the "Superman" identity and the phrase, "You are who you chose to be."
Next up,
3)Conflict
4)Tension
These were together because they go hand in hand. Both drive the story. One cannot exist without the other. Conflict is opposing forces against a character. Tension is the strain or result of the conflict. Story moves through conflict. Thrusts the story forward-a quick example he describe was from Star Wars how Vader kidnaps the princess--if these events hadn't taken place than Luke and co. would have never gone anywhere, everything would have come to a standstill-certainly no conflict or tension. Tension keeps the story interesting and keeps the audience guessing "What's next?" Often times this brings up the scenario where the character might be ahead of the audience(Momento for example) or where the audience is ahead of the main character. Dave Pimentel then shared the clip from The Incredibles when Helen is approaching the island in her jet. That entire sequence is a great example of this. The sequence is chalk full of conflict and tension--even tiny moments, like when Helen is debating about changing into her super-suit holds some kind of conflict. Overall, this sequence was setup by everyone involved to not be easy. Helen just doesn't arrive peacefully onto the island, instead she discovers her kids snuck aboard and later, missals attack the plane while Mr. Incredible helplessly listens to the radio in Syndrome's 'prison'! Basically bringing up the concept that an action, etc. that's too easy=boring to viewers. The other film clip he showed was from The Apartment where the main character is heading up to the boss thinking he's getting a promotion, after facing the boss he realizes that he's in trouble, but in the end there's a twist when the boss offers the trade---Theater tickets for the main character's apartment keys.
And, finally:
5) Payoffs: Every story has them. They can come in positive and negative forms and within the story as well as in the ending. The audience is always expecting a payoff during the movie. They want justice! If you don't, the movie will fizzle and your audience will burn you alive! The film example he shared was again from the Iron Giant, at the end when the army is basically attacking the Giant and then the Giant sacrificing himself for the town..."Superman" choice over "Atomo." The other example he showed was the ending tension in Se7en between the two detectives and the criminal after Morgan Freeman opens the package.
That was the lecture pretty much. It was a good reminder of the lecture Mark Andrews gave at the beginning of the school year and it was cool fitting my film into these questions and points. Anyways, the second talk afterwards was really applied towards the students that were graduating this year and honestly I am impressed. At least for the story trainee program(they didn't talk about the animation department) it sounded like a lot of fun. You get to work on projects they give you from a "vault" that holds the companies rejected ideas. You get this script, re-work a couple sequences, and then pitch your sequences to all of the Directors, Producers, Heads of Story, etc. of Dreamworks at the end of your 24-week job-among other duties like helping on an actual production. Dreamworks also hosts lots of workshops for the artists and everyone who came sounded very enthusiastic about the future projects at Dreamworks(they're really aiming to re-focus the company and work on stronger films that are not that 'Shrek-like' formula-even though they are doing more Shrek sequels.) Well, I'm off to go thumbnail out a scene or two for my film since I get to start animating the second half of my film tomorrow!
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
The BIG 100!
This post marks the point where I've made 100 posts--so to celebrate hitting the triple digits here's a quick memory sketch of an event that took place while I was standing in line at the local Vons on Monday. There was a mom and two kids(two brothers no older than 8) standing in front of me buying things for a last minute birthday party(a small balloon on a stick, a card, and then a magazine*for the mom I presume*) and then this scene took place where the kids started mimicking Davy Jones and repeating "Do you fear death?" to a very worn-out audience(the mom) before one of the boys proceeded to try and climb the counter. Had to sketch it once I got back to the dorm.
On a side note: Dave Pimentel from Dreamworks is coming on Friday to give a guest lecture. Should be interesting--he has a blog too so until then time to get back to working on the film!
On a side note: Dave Pimentel from Dreamworks is coming on Friday to give a guest lecture. Should be interesting--he has a blog too so until then time to get back to working on the film!
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