Article post I'm tired and I can't think of a title

What I learned:

• If this wasn't said enough, they're so different but alike in many ways. They were around in different periods but produced the same kind of entertainment that was new and unique in their time
• They both appreciated new technology and they played a huge role in revolutionizing children's  entertainment with Walt building the theme park and Jim Henson experimenting with making puppets look more believable
• Its almost like they knew they didn't have forever to achieve their goals so they did as much as they could everyday to make sure they did, I think everyone should too! 

My opinion:

• I think Jim Henson and Walt Disney weren't 'praising individuals' because maybe they didn't want their praise to get in the way of the employees ability to decide if their work is good or not. They should be able to know that their work is amazing and they don't need to hear it from somebody else. They don't need to be completely dependent on someone else's opinion.
• I honestly get this weird feeling about Disney because all those rumors over the years like people getting killed at their theme parks

My question is did they have a different career path when they were younger or did they want to do this their whole life

Weekly comments 9/28 doot doot

Things I learned this week:

We're finally getting actual animation things  now but mostly the basic stuff in flash like drawing and making shapes. Then we learned about making an object a symbol so you can animate it. This week was mostly a work week so we didn't learn as much as we did previous weeks phew

Things I would like to know in the future:

I'm really excited we're learning flash and now I'm learning more things than I was taught before. I hope we get to learn how to put sound effects in our 2D logos because my design has an angry pizza that's biting and growling (this needs no explanation) and I think it'll look a little strange if it didn't have any noise. If the pizza monster part isn't weird enough.

Something that frustrated me this week:

Oddly enough nothing really annoyed me this week other than having way too much homework which made me have to stay home from certain things so I could finish. Teachers always say the homework they give won't take long but that is a huge myth. Also my little brother got GTA V which just makes me mad because he's 11 years old and theres boobies and swearing and some naked dudes butt on that game? ?? Ew??

Something that made me happy:

I finished my character drawing the day it was due and I didn't even bring in my sketch until the day before bc I was stupid about the dates. Anyways it turned out really nice and I even made changes to it before I handed it in and it looks even nicer. Another thing that made me happy was getting my pearl jam tickets in the mail! *breathes heavily* Pearl Jam is my favorite band in the werld. Also my dad came to visit the falls with his girlfriend and my little sister and I went out to eat with them and I just miss them so much so I had a swell time with them woo

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This is an interview with John Kahrs who created the short film "Paperman" and he describes how they used motion copy and paste, by pasting the 2D drawing over CG which produces the unique effect of a 2D drawing looking 3 dimensional. He felt he loved the drawings of Paperman from pre production and wanted to find a way to include the drawings with the short film! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZJLtujW6FY

Tips on making a snazzy storyboard

Things I learned:

• Avoid drawing a flat stage but instead draw grids and vanishing points because it adds more depth and make your scenes look more interesting 
• Give your shots some life. The article says if there is a noise off screen you should draw your character maybe looking towards it and drawing an effect that'll indicate a noise coming from that direction
• Labeling your characters makes it a lot easier when making a storyboard especially if you're dealing with multiple characters in one scene

My Opinion:

• I like that the author tells us why they like making a storyboard and touches on the subject of seeing your imagination come alive.
• They also tell us why making a storyboard is helpful because you can look at it after and see if there's anything that can be improved 

My question is how long does it take to finish the storyboard and do they draw the entire movie or only draw the most important things and leave out smaller scenes to just be done on its own

Film scores becoming more epic every movie

Things I learned:

• The first full movie score was composed by Max Steiner in 1933
• Alfred Hitchcock requested that the shower scene in Psycho to be unscored but it was scored anyway and without the music it probably wouldn't have been such an iconic scene
• The score impacts the movie deeply because film makers who use infrasound in horror films will induce fear into the audience even when nothing is happening on screen

My opinion:

• Infrasound seems pretty extreme since it gives people heart palpitations or anxiety 
• Simple sounds and music creates different emotions in us and that's what makes it so astonishing. 

A question I have is would The Lord of the Rings trilogy be as amazing if it didn't have the film score

Weekly comments 9/20!!!1! !

Second weekly comments posty thingy. Ahem

Things I learned this week:

This week we learned about design elements and design principles, all the ingredients for a great picture. Things like balance, proportion, space, unity, value, and texture. And we had a quiz on it. 

We also learned some interesting things about colors, like how color is reproduced (ooh la la). And different types of color combinations like complementary, analogous, monochromatic, and some new ones like split complementary and triad. Ms Licata loves giving us tests so there will be a test about color theory next week :)

 Things I would like to know in the future:

I'm really looking forward to flash and I did learn flash briefly in 9th grade from my teacher Ms Bloom (she is the best everrr btw she's the reason I wanted to be in this class) and I made a cool animation of an alien walking across the moon!! Of course I forget how to use flash so I'm excited to learn how to use it again. 

Something that frustrated me this week:

Nothing really frustrating happened to me this week until yesterday when I was trying to do my article blog posts at home last night and the keyboard was typing complete gibberish no matter how carefully I typed. Turns out my brother spilled water all over the keyboard and thought, "it wasn't that big of a deal" so he didn't tell anyone. LIVES ARE AT STAKE HERE. OF COURSE IT'S A BIG DEAL. 

Something that made me happy:

I actually got some good grades this week. Even in trig! Finally the teachers are recognizing the cool, funny, attractive person I really am inside. Just kidding but I'm so happy about my trig grade. And my thaumatrope that I messed up so many times? I actually got a really, really awesome grade for that too. Thank you Ms Licata. Virtual high five.

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So we've been learning about colors and I found this interactive color scheme designer that helps you choose colors whether is analogous, triad, complementary, or monochromatic colors. Could help a lot in the future especially in film.  http://www.colorschemedesigner.com

Smart and efficient film making :)

Things I learned

• Famous directors like Steven Spielberg used the forced perspective technique to film shots in his movie by using a wide lens and placing a model ship close to the camera. 
• Film makers aren't afraid to be conservative with their movie shots and they use this forced perspective technique to film certain shots that would actually require a lot of resources and time.
• Forced perspective was used way back when The Return of the Jedi was filmed. 

My opinion

• Something I like about this article is that these directors use the environment to film their shots. The sky and sounds provide a lot of effect to the shot.
• It actually does require a lot of precision to make the perfect shot when using this technique. In the article it states "If the model is the slightest bit off, the illusion is ruined and falls apart."

My question for this article is how much do they edit a shot filmed with forced perspective

Animated films overcrowding movie industry woah

Things I learned:

• I was well aware that too many animated films were being made. And I learned that 13 new films will be released in 2014. It seems these studios come up with good enough movie ideas to be created and released just like that. It doesn't mean they are good ideas.
• Titan A.E and The Iron Giant were called "box-office clunkers"? I hope clunkers means "amazing movies I adored as a kid".
• A third Smurfs movie is being planned. But I guess we don't have a say in what movies we want being made and what we don't want. As long as these movies are making a good enough profit they'll keep making movies about talking inanimate objects.

My opinion:

• John Lasseter of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios keeps a good attitude about the whole situation and says, "I'd much rather be in a healthy industry than be the only player in a dead industry". Meaning he doesn't mind putting in more animated films even when there is too many.  At least it's not for 2D animation films.
• Something I disliked was as soon as one animation film is successful then others jump onboard and try to create the same kind of magic that's already been made. 

My question, since animation studios keep making sequels for weak movies, are they making a Turbo 2?

Weekly comments 9/13 :))

So this is my first weekly comments post. For those of you who haven't tuned in to my amazing blog already my name is Clara. I actually like this blogging thing because we can  communicate with our classmates and teacher and have a better understanding of eachother. and I can now become the blogger I was born to be.

Things that I learned this week:

In animation class we learned the basics of adobe illustrator. We learned how to make straight and curved lines with the pen tool (oooh) and how to adjust paths like joining and averaging points or adding and deleting anchor points (ahhh).

We also learned some interesting facts about the history of animation and the process of making an animated film. 

Things I would like to know in the future:

There is so much I'd like to know since I'm still learning how to use all these software programs. Something I'd like to learn in this class is maybe some shading techniques and editing a character's structure in a software program. Emotionally I want to learn how to be less self conscious about showing my artwork to people because I rarely do show anyone my artwork! Woah!

Something that frustrated me this week:

The only thing that frustrated me in digital media was making the thaumatrope. I know it was so easy peasy for everyone else but for some reason I can't understand the simplest of directions and I messed up all 10 thaumatropes I made. Yay!!

Something that made me happy this week:

Small achievements really do make me happy so naturally I was very pleased I finished all my homework due from the days I was absent. Also the weekend is happening, woo. So now I can finally sleep in and play video games. 

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Hey all you people. Here's a cool thing that shows different kinds of body language for when you're designing a character pose. http://nematodeinspace.com/gallery/bl.png