The Home Stretch

Well, we're nearing the end guys, but I've still got my weekly comments as usual. Let's kick it in. 

Working with voice acting off a script is a new experience for me, and I love it. I think I'm going to have to do more of this in my future with animating. 

I don't know what I did to deserve it, but for some reason my Mac thought it would be a great time to force update when I was in the middle of lip syncing. Lost a bit of important stuff, but nothing too valuable wasted. 

I learned more about being conservative in my art. There's just not enough time to be detailed, and I'm finally maximizing output with visual appeal. 

I'd like to learn some more advanced mouth movements in lip sync that involve the facial shape and jaw. It'd really give that extra punch in the animation I think. 

Short Film Cliches or What I'd like to see less of from stupid "artsy" directors

Short films don't give you a lot of time to develop your setting and characters, which leads to the movie makers going for easy to understand bases and ideas. Unfortunately this gives us a lot of similar ideas as a result, which means a lot of repetitiveness and eventual disinterest.

-Lets get down to drama. Quick, we need to get a gripping tale started and addressed as soon as possible. What do we do?! Did you say post-apocalypse setting? Well if I was making a short film you'd be fired (yes my current animation has that setting too. No I'm not going to apologize.) Going for a dramatic setting is one thing, but if you're going to rely on a cliched environment it's likely you've got some elements that are lacking beyond setting.

-Lets go retro! For some reason people think it's cool to try silent films and black and white because of the unique vibe the give. They are cool, but nonetheless still overplayed. It's in many cases an example that the crew is lacking in something and using these ideas as filler. Don't do that. Use retro concepts with moderation.

-Mind blowing. Ha, more like money blowing. Because I blew my money on the ticket to... ahh screw it. Look, it's understandable people want to make a movie that makes you think. Honestly I don't think we have enough intellectual movies out these days, but good lord will you please not take ordinary ideas and people and try to explode them into something deeper than they are? It's like a biology major writing an essay in his first semester. A lot of it is just overblown words for simple stuff.

Cliches aren't necessarily bad, but overuse certainly isn't good. I love many of these concepts that have become cliche, and wish for the sake of future directors that people try to have other ideas first.

Many people take themselves all too seriously, and as a result will often produce this kind of stuff. Don't ever take yourself too serious in your work. If you can't have fun with it, you'll have tons of trouble being creative with it.

Will these cliches change over time? I feel some will, but there's no telling really. Let's hope for all our sake.

Wait, they're making different styles of 3D now?

3D animation is of course kind of limited in the sense of artistic freedom and expression you really have. Not to say you have to abide by specific rules, but do you really see much variation in how Pixar and Dreamworks present their films? Sure you can be a bit different with how you render. Vector style 3D is one of my favorites, and you can get creative with texturing, but what else is there you can really do? Well Pixar has addressed this and is now developing ways to really let the ideas flow into polygons through different base styles.

-Putting in the personal touch. They're setting it up to where an artist can employ their own individual style into a 3D model and environment. Different linework, paint strokes, you name it. This is all overlain the polygonal structures and presented as the outer skin. On top of that, with just a few frames manually done, the computer can then replicate that style for the remainder of the frames automatically. Convenient.

-Photorealism isn't a style. When we watch cartoons, it's easy to tell each apart by art style. It's incredibly easy to pick apart a Hanna Barbara work from a Warner Brothers production. You see specific nuances and accents that the other guys don't use. In 3D? Not exactly. Sure you can render in different engines and softwares, but there's not too much that differentiates 3D filmmakers in terms of appearance. This is why people constantly think Pixar did Frozen. Now with these new ideas being employed, we may be able to see these same differences in style and execution come to fruition again, and really make movies and shows stand out among the rest.

-Is it really an advancement? In terms of what we're doing with our technology, not exactly. It's kind of an unspoken rule in 3D that it's more superior tech if the output is more representational of reality. When you go to hand-drawn styles, it's kind of going backwards considering the less realistic you get, the more differences in interpretation there are. In the end though, it's certainly a step out there.

I'm really happy to hear about this development and think it's awesome Pixar is doing a push towards the unique abilities of individual artists in comparison to simply trying to look more advanced. We'll be seeing more unique works, and likely be more motivated to see them.

I feel 3D animation has especially stagnated as of late when you really look at all the movies launched. Sure, there's difference in style, but it's not as significant as back in the 2 dimensional days.

My only question is how long will it take until we see this stuff at the movies? I can't wait!

This Week's Recap: The Gauntlet

No but really, it totally feels like a gauntlet running through one project after another. I've never worked this hard in a year!

I liked getting to chose my own project this time. The Independent study has really allowed me to break more boundaries and try ideas I couldn't have done before.

Many problems have punched through of course. Just lots of obligations and mounting stress. And the microreciever on my gamepad is broke! Gah, the injustice!

I learned that there really needs to be a good balance between quality and efficiency in animation, and I think I've finally gotten close to mine working on the independent study. Hope it keeps that way.

I'd really like to learn how to better clean up my art and motions in flash. I'm sure I'll get better over time, but I'm sure there's some kind of method involved to help at least.

So I went to the movies last night and saw Noah. When I first heard about it, I was entirely skeptic about any success and the whole idea sounded like a failure waiting to happen, but lo and behold, what came of it was actually a very entertaining movie with some very lasting visuals. Most notably: The Watchers. These guys were my favorite part. I think they were animated in some kind of CG stop-motion combo, but I'm still not sure. Either way, it's cool as hell.

Unfortunately I can't find any video of them just yet, so you all will have to stay tight, but the film did feature some excellent animation effects nonetheless.

More Pro Level Advice: Pixar Version

The webpage won't load in it's standard formatting for me, and it's making me angry, but I'm determined not to let my grade drop for some minor inconvenience!
So, Pixar. Really, what do I need to say? It's all been covered and there's nothing I can add that will do much a difference for their reputation. So it's a good thing we're covering things to learn from the heads instead.

-Prepare or die. Usually something doesn't go best on its first run. As a musician that's an extremely truthful proverb. Animating isn't something to just waddle into. You've got to have an idea of what you're doing before you actually go and pull it off. If you got a complex scene ahead of you, do not go straight to the final rendition. Develop it! Practice! And make it easy for yourself with smaller loads. You'll thank yourself when the outcome is better.

-Always refer back to your basic knowledge. You need to have your settings at your ideal. Keep paced and don't lay back or go too fast. You'll either get poor quality or nothing done at all. Remember that while the animator is responsible for the majority of the work, your software has quite a few ways to help you out. Don't be afraid to use them.

-The animator is a scavenger and a predator. Use anything that will help you in your work. Walk cycles, anatomical structures, and even models alone are within your reasonable reach to use. Just be kind and don't totally rip off and steal what you please. That's just being a bad artist. Be picky with how the project looks. Something doesn't look right? Pluck it out. Don't look back. It's your work.

Animating for the pros really isn't too different from what we as students do. It's all about good time management and using your skills to their best. What you learn will stick. It's a very odd environment for an artist to be in, but the smart ones are rewarded.

While it's a great idea to pick up tricks and ideas from others (with respect and permission of course), I personally prefer to do everything myself. It's not an elitist stance or anything, I just feel I can better learn and develop my skills by doing it all from my head. It's a good challenge for an animator and really gets you thinking and problem solving. Good ideas come from an engaged mind.

So we've gotten tips from 2D and 3D animators. While we haven't done it, stop motion still interests me to some degree. Are there any pros in that field with advice to give?

Budgeted Fliming: Garage Studios

Even though I have a job, as a teen I can't be expected to afford much anything to help me produce a film. Especially not the studio itself. Thus many film on location. But it seems you can always work with what you've got, even out of your own garage, and Joey Shanks shows how. 

-Thrift shoppin. Yep. You can find a good amount of stuff you need at your local Salvation Army or Goodwill. Be sure to look for cables (preferably loose and right angled) and ankle weights so you can better hold down objects and set pieces. 

-Let there be light. And by light we mean color. (Sorry Kevin.) Get yourself a Philips HUE wireless bulb, and smash that sucker open. The end result gives you color control over your stage that will blend in with the lights. That way you can have cool, color oriented scenes, like the green tint in The Matrix, or that orange/brown in many westerns.

-Control your environment. You may not have a whole building to command, but you can still exert some amount of influence over your stage. First off, get unwanted light out of the picture and block whatever windows you need to. Weather can be a bit of a problem too, but if you have a big enough garage (and clean enough for that matter) you can always just move your project inside. 

I personally really enjoy learning all these life hacks of independent filming. I don't know if I'll ever reach that point in my studies, but if I do, at least there'll be some cool tricks I'll know to employ. 

While a lot of this stuff seems kind of obvious, I think many still forget about these ideas and can't think realistically when trying to film or set up a stage. When people get a project going, we often forget the big problems until we run into them. It's a good idea to address everything head on. 

So a garage can be a great idea, but what about a basement? Sure storage is the same, but are there even more tricks you can pull off in one comparatively? 

Welcome back to Spring, kind of

The last thing I needed to see what one more snowfall this weekend, but as it melts away, I'm glad to see this winter pass us. Good lord was it bad.

I really liked lip syncing and the theory behind specific mouth movements for words and phrases. Without the jar app it'd likely take me another week to get close to done.

I'm not happy with lacking the proper off time to have gotten more work done out of class. Usually I can at least get something significant done with, but not for this week I suppose.

Learning timing certainly helped me. When you get down to the individual frames of audio that Flash divides, sometimes you gotta make a change.

At this point I just want to learn how to more efficiently draw in Flash. It gets tedious when I need to whip out the brush for every new scene, and they usually take more time than the actual animation.

So, time again for some good old video goodies.
Something that involves lip sync, AND references Ghostbusters? Double score.