1. Why did you take this class?
I took this class because I wanted to get experience in the field of Digital Media and film-making to give me a head start in college and my future career in film-making.
2. In general, what did you like most about this class?
I loved the projects that we could write ourselves because they gave us the most freedom and creativity to work with what we wanted. Examples include the fictional short, independent study, final project, etc.
3. In general, what did you like least about this class?
I really didn't like the time we were given to complete projects. I understand that there has to be deadlines to get work done, but I feel that they hurt more then benefited as instead of helping the quality of our films it hurt it.
4. What was your most favorite project and why?
My favorite project in the class was the independent study. We had the most time to work on it out of all the projects because of how the break we had was scheduled. This made the quality of my film a lot higher because of how much time I had to work on it.
5. What was your least favorite project and why?
My least favorite project would have to be the video poem. It felt really shoe horned in as busy work with the independent study. Instead of the video poem we could've just had more time with the independent. I also felt it was really hard to give them a unique feel compared to animation, but I guess that was the challenge for it.
6. Discuss the overall effectiveness of the instructor (for example: preparation, availability, interest, content knowledge, expectations, etc.).
I thought that the instructor was very effective, taking into account all of the stuff that we had to do all in one year as well as how much we learned in the year is insane. I think the way she taught us the programs, though long, was definitely needed and very helpful for the future. She was also very helpful when you needed it with trouble shooting and so on.
7. What are the most valuable things you learned in the class?
I think the most valuable things that I learned in the class would have to be the knowledge on the adobe suite as it will almost definitely be used in my line of work. Another valuable thing that I learned in this class is time management, as procrastination is truly the devil.
8. Do you feel that this class will help you achieve your future academic or career goals? How or why (or why not)?
Definitely, this class has given me a lot of the tools I need to become successful in my career path. The class taught me how to use adobe products, editing techniques, and shooting techniques. All of these will be used and not forgotten in my line of work.
9. How could this class be improved?
I think that cutting some of the projects would really help, as then instead of having to try and focus on two or three projects at once students would be able to focus all of their time and effort on one making the end result a lot better. I also think that some of the projects, especially the final, should be allowed to go longer then five minutes. The final should be your best work in the class but having only five minutes really limits the story telling and build up that you can use.
10. What would you tell incoming students to help them be more prepared for the class?
I would try and warn them about procrastination, being a victim to it myself I can definitely say that it is not fun and can really stress you out.
11. Additional Comments:
I think this class is very helpful to students looking for a career path in film (or animation) and is probably the best decision I have ever made in high school. The class is hard and unfair at times, but overall it was a joy to be a part of and I don't regret any of it. Now finally, I would like to say thank you to Miss. Licata for letting me into the class and giving me a taste of what comes in the future, it was a pleasure and an experience I will never forget. Also to the classmates as it was a blast to work with all of you. Hopefully this isn't the last any of you will see of me though, who knows maybe the next time you do will be me on the red carpet on my way to the Oscars. Anyways that is all I have to say for now, but this isn't goodbye just a see you later! Oh and one last thing, CHECK THE GOOGLE CALENDAR!!! :)
Sunday, June 5, 2016
Sunday, May 15, 2016
Serious Time #70 Overwatch and Butts
This article/ video talked about good pose design in the new game Overwatch, specifically the character in the game Tracer. This video talked about a controversy with a pose in Overwatch that some believed over sexualized the character, but it was mostly changed and taken down due to it being deemed "out of character". The video then talks about the basics and principle of good pose design. He brings up that it should be readable by just the silhouette, that it should have a good line of action, and that you should be able to tell what the character is feeling. The video then takes you through a series of tests seeing and demonstrating what the best of the poses being shown are and why. The video then explains that the old pose for Tracer was just visually boring and didn't fit her character at all, but instead just there for eye candy. He then also brings up the point that the most sexualized character in the game, Widowmaker, hasn't seen any controversy yet. Why? Because her poses and physique fit her character. Widowmaker is seen as the character who uses her looks to take advantage of others, while Tracer on the other hand is this fun loving character always looking for a new adventure. This justifies and shows why this works for Widowmaker and not for Tracer. The last point brought up is the new pose for Tracer, compared to the other one it is way better. It is a lot more visually interesting, it gives off emotion, and over just fits with her character. Whether you agree with this or don't, you just can't deny the better pose design.
This video/ article was really good. I thought overall this was very interesting to learn about, especially when it has to do with Overwatch. But this did have a lot of great points brought up and was really great to see why some poses work and others don't. I especially like when the video plays the little game with the poses as it taught you the principles in a fun and easy way. I agree with the pose getting replaced, the old one just was so boring, butt or no butt is was still boring. Since this video focuses on a game that I really like I didn't really didn't dislike anything about the video. The video was also very straight forward and I have no questions regarding it. Overall very good and interesting article.
This video/ article was really good. I thought overall this was very interesting to learn about, especially when it has to do with Overwatch. But this did have a lot of great points brought up and was really great to see why some poses work and others don't. I especially like when the video plays the little game with the poses as it taught you the principles in a fun and easy way. I agree with the pose getting replaced, the old one just was so boring, butt or no butt is was still boring. Since this video focuses on a game that I really like I didn't really didn't dislike anything about the video. The video was also very straight forward and I have no questions regarding it. Overall very good and interesting article.
Weekly Comments #38
This week was pretty stressful to be honest. We are starting to get to the due date for the final project and I still have another day for shooting planned Monday, due to having to end early on the weekend shoots. I have the camp scene done and one of the big fight scenes done and now just have a couple more things to do for tomorrow. The practical effects in my video so far I think look pretty cool as well. But overall as long as I finish all of the shooting by tomorrow I should be able to finish on time. Also another big issue I have been having is time as mine is probably going to be longer then ten min. I honestly think that we should be able to have at least ten min. for the final project, but whatever. As the year comes to a close I am only really looking forward to graduation. This week, though stressful, was overall pretty good.
Here is the Link of the Week:
Here is the Link of the Week:
So many of you have probably seen this already, but I am posting it anyways. This is the new assassins creed movie that is coming out this fall starring Michael Fassbender. It follows a different story line then the games and honestly looks really cool. In all of Fassbender's roles so far I have not been disappointed by one yet, hopefully this isn't the first. He is staring to become one of my favorite actors and I really hope he is great in this movie. The only thing I really don't like about this trailer is the music, but it is just a trailer so it is not that big of a deal. Honestly if the Warcraft movie and the Assassins Creed movie suck this year then I think they should just stop trying to make video game movies because if they screw those up there is no going back. 2016 is either going to be the start of a new notable genre in movies or the death of one.
Friday, April 29, 2016
Serious Time #68 The Birth of Photo Realistic Rendering
The earliest forms of CGI started in the the early 70's. It definitely wasn't perfect and took a lot of hard work. Through the many years though it has progressed more and more and continues to do so every day. How did this all start? With a lot of math, engineering, and computer science. This includes geometry, vector, 3-D coordinates, and matrices. The math and science combined is the way they make the algorithms for the computers.
These algorithms, in lamens terms, are how we get the computer to produce what we want. This is what gave birth to the first ways to render, rasterization and ray tracing. The main difference between rasterization and ray casting was that rasterization was object centric while ray casting was image centric. Rasterization uses rays that intersect with the camera which then projects the image onto a grid showing where the pixels go for the render. This method issues though like, visibility issues with objects overlapping and how to simulate shadows, reflection, refraction. All of this could be solved though through ray casting. Ray casting casts rays from the camera into the whole screen, one ray into each pixel in the grid, all of these rays would then be checked for intersections which if they had one would take the first of the two.
The problem with ray casting though was how much time it took as you had to check every ray for intersections. They solved this problem and the shadows, reflections, and refraction's by modifying this formula and naming it ray tracing. Ray tracing uses a combined use of different property rays to simulate shadows and light reflection, as well as refraction. Basically if it was a reflection ray it would bounce off of an object, if it was a shadow ray it would cast shadows based off of location and shape, and refraction which angles the ray through an object. All of these rays came from the light source that was in the shot of the room the objects were placed in.
As you may have already guessed though their was another issue with this way of doing things and that was the fact that it didn't look to realistic because this method only uses direct illumination, this means that light only reflects directly from the source, which is not realistic at all. Realistically the light should bounce off of everything in the given space, this was called indirect illumination. James Kajiya fixed this though with something he made called the "Rendering Equation" which was an algorithm for computers to produce indirect light. The algorithm was very long and complex though making it subject to change, the Monte Carlo integration was the first to try this. Throughout the years we also have improved rendering time significantly, this refers to Moore's Law. Moore's Law is the statement that the number of transistors in a dense integrated circuit doubles every two years. Blinns Law balances this out though stating that when technology advances rendering times remain constant. In lamens terms all together this means, the more machines are capable of the more we throw at them.
All in all I feel that CGI is an amazing tool that just shows what we can all accomplish when we put our minds to it. I do think that CGI is different from other art forms because although it can be done very well or very poorly, a lot of it is made from math and science which other art isn't. Whether you agree or not you have to admit that CGI is an amazing tool, created by pure imagination.
These algorithms, in lamens terms, are how we get the computer to produce what we want. This is what gave birth to the first ways to render, rasterization and ray tracing. The main difference between rasterization and ray casting was that rasterization was object centric while ray casting was image centric. Rasterization uses rays that intersect with the camera which then projects the image onto a grid showing where the pixels go for the render. This method issues though like, visibility issues with objects overlapping and how to simulate shadows, reflection, refraction. All of this could be solved though through ray casting. Ray casting casts rays from the camera into the whole screen, one ray into each pixel in the grid, all of these rays would then be checked for intersections which if they had one would take the first of the two.
The problem with ray casting though was how much time it took as you had to check every ray for intersections. They solved this problem and the shadows, reflections, and refraction's by modifying this formula and naming it ray tracing. Ray tracing uses a combined use of different property rays to simulate shadows and light reflection, as well as refraction. Basically if it was a reflection ray it would bounce off of an object, if it was a shadow ray it would cast shadows based off of location and shape, and refraction which angles the ray through an object. All of these rays came from the light source that was in the shot of the room the objects were placed in.
As you may have already guessed though their was another issue with this way of doing things and that was the fact that it didn't look to realistic because this method only uses direct illumination, this means that light only reflects directly from the source, which is not realistic at all. Realistically the light should bounce off of everything in the given space, this was called indirect illumination. James Kajiya fixed this though with something he made called the "Rendering Equation" which was an algorithm for computers to produce indirect light. The algorithm was very long and complex though making it subject to change, the Monte Carlo integration was the first to try this. Throughout the years we also have improved rendering time significantly, this refers to Moore's Law. Moore's Law is the statement that the number of transistors in a dense integrated circuit doubles every two years. Blinns Law balances this out though stating that when technology advances rendering times remain constant. In lamens terms all together this means, the more machines are capable of the more we throw at them.
All in all I feel that CGI is an amazing tool that just shows what we can all accomplish when we put our minds to it. I do think that CGI is different from other art forms because although it can be done very well or very poorly, a lot of it is made from math and science which other art isn't. Whether you agree or not you have to admit that CGI is an amazing tool, created by pure imagination.
Sunday, April 10, 2016
Weekly Comments #37
This week was pretty good. I got a lot of work done on my star wars project and was also accepted into the college I wanted to go to.Still though there is still a lot to be done for the project that I am racing to get done. It also doesn't help that I am starting to get sick but it hopefully will pass overnight. My school lock in was also this week, it was fun but I feel like I might have rather just worked on my project and slept, but whatever.
Here is the Link of the Week:
Here is the Link of the Week:
So this week Star Wars decided to drop their next upcoming movie Rogue One. Was it good? Hell to the yes. This trailer is exactly what a trailer should be, showing a little but not a lot. What I am getting at is that trailers these days show way too much of the movie almost spoiling everything for you before you see it. That being said though I mainly loved the trailer because it was STAR WARS! Definitely check it out if you haven't yet.
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