Serious Time #11 Eyelines and Framing = Interesting

Eyelines and framing are used in movies to show dominance and weakness. The article shows this example by a clip from "Silence of the Lambs". This clip is a great example of how camera shots set the mood of the scene shifting from one characters perspective to another showing different motives. For example when the camera is looking down on one and up on another it means that the character that the camera is looking up on is controlling the scene. Another example is when two characters are looking into the camera directly they are in a stand-off fighting for control of the scene. In scenes these happen back and forth usually without the audience even knowing. Just remember there is always so much more that is said than the dialogue suggests.

This article really surprised me! This has to be one of the most interesting ones yet! I never realized how much the camera can tell the story more than the actual dialogue itself. This article also made me want to watch "Silence of the Lambs" which I have not seen yet. I also really liked the fact that this article is very short, sweet, and to the point. Overall great article.

Well I hope you have all enjoyed this weeks Serious Time! Hope you all have enjoyed and I will see all you lovely faces later! Peace!  

Serious Time #10 Physics and Stuff

Physics, only one of the most important parts of animation. Without physics we wouldn't be able to have animation look realistic at all, everything would just be weird and would stand out (most of the time). This is where Ron Henderson comes in. Ron is a physicist that instead of preparing a lesson at Caltech, went to go help Dreamworks with their newest and upcoming movie home. Rob is doing whatever he can to help the movie have as many realistic properties as possible. For example, Rob had to help them make bubbles in the movie, so he gave them a visual reference. He did this by giving the artists a lecture on Bubbles, where one thing they did was make a hydrogen bubble and set it on fire. This showed artists things that they were never thinking about. Rob also worked on Rise of the Guardians, Kung Foo Panda 2, and How to Train Your Dragon 2.

Before we get into anything, lets get something clear. This was boring. I want to hear more about the bubbles, not this guy named Rob life story! If your going to make an article about physics and animation then do it, but don't give it that title when the article is less then half about that. That being said the only interesting part of this article was the lecture on the bubbles. The lecture sounded really cool and interesting, too bad there wasn't more of it! I only learned about how hydrogen bubbles explode into fire and the fluid motion of them, so not a whole lot.

Well anyways that was another Serious Time/Boring Time. I hope you have all enjoyed and I will see all you lovely faces later! Peace!    

Weekly Comments #6

HELLO EVERYONE AND WELCOME TO MY BLOG! AS ALWAYS CAPS ARE WELCOME! WITHOUT ANY FURTHER ADO LETS GET STARTED!

I learned something Iv'e wanted to learn for a while and that's sound. Sound has to be one of the most important factors in movies/ games. Without sound there be no music, dialogue, tension etc. which are all super important. So I'm really happy about learning that. Honestly the only thing I wan't to learn now is cutout HINT HINT. Also it was a 4 day week yay!

AS ALWAYS YOUR LINK OF THE WEEK!
http://www.extra-life.org/
No not a video but something worth your time. Extra life is a gaming charity fundraiser that happens at twitch, which is a livestream website for games, this week they did a big livestream operation in where gamers raise money for the kids. This event happens yearly and is a great thing in the gaming community. I love that the gaming community has the power to do this, it show just how much we can do. Thank you for sticking around for this and I will see all you lovely faces later peace!

For the kids!

Serious Time #9 10 Insights from Creature Animator of Game of Thrones and Guardians of the Galaxy

Nicole Herr creature animator of Game of Thrones, Guardians of the Galaxy, and more gives 10 insights about her experiences in animation. She answers questions from "how long she has been a professional animator for" to "what is the workflow of animating a creature shot". She also explains the process of animating the dragon from Game of Thrones. Nicole said that for the commercial the rig was well thought out and therefore it was very smooth to animate. She also shared the references she uses when animating the dragons. For a big dragon she'll use a pelican and condor and for a small ones she uses humming birds and bats. Nicole also being a mentor gives tips on animating like don't overcomplicate your shot, plan your shot, and remember to always give the creature some character. Lastly, Nicole finishes off by saying "The dream shot is the next one" saying that every shot is a dream shot.

I really enjoyed this article! This is because of one reason, it actually told me things that I already didn't know. Especially when she explains how to plan your shot and what to do and what not to do. I just think that this article is a great change of pace from the usual boring tip articles. That being said I also thought it was cool how many movies she worked on like, Guardians of the Galaxy, Owls of Gahool, Watchmen, and many more. Overall this was a really cool and interesting article.

Well that's the end of this serious time! Hope you have all enjoyed and I will see all you lovely faces later, peace!

Serious Time #8 How to Hide a Lav Mic.

Izzy Hyman explains 7 ways to hide a lav mic. The lav mic. is basically a small microphone that you can wear. Usually you have to wear the mic. exposed but Izzy Hyman shows  ways to hide it. In the video he explains how to hide the mic. with a suit and tie, just a suit, and a t-shirt all using the same method. The method of hiding the mic in general is to first tie a loose knot in the chord of the mic., this makes its so the mic. picks up less backround noise. Next you attach some gapher tape to the chord of the mic. so when you attach it to clothing it wont stick. After that you fold the gapher tape into a triangle with the sticky side on the outside, you do this twice and stick it to the bottom tip of the the top part of the mic. just below the grate, this is so the mic. doesn't pick up any noise from your clothes or anything else for that matter. Then he just shows you how to attach it to different pieces of clothing. For example, to hide it when the person is wearing a t-shirt you just attach it to the inside of the collar. Izzy also explains that if the one who is wearing the mic. a female you can just attach it to the center strap of her bra.

This was a cool and very useful video and I will probably use this method next year in the video class. I really liked this video it wasn't boring so I was engaged the entire time watching it. The only problem I seemed to have with it was the fact that its just one set up applied in a bunch of different ways. Don't get me wrong I'm not hating on the video, I just think that it would've been nice to add a few more setups that is all. Overall very useful/helpful video.

Well that does it for this serious time! Hope you have all enjoyed and I will see you lovely faces later,  peace!    

Weekly Comments #5

HELLO EVERYONE AND AFTER A ONE WEEK BREAK I'M READY TO GO! CAPS ALL THE WAY! NOW WITHOUT FURTHER ADO LETS GET TO THE BLOG!

This week was very interesting, and by very interesting I mean we only had class for 3 days. That being said we didn't do to much. We just critiqued and worked on our animation exercises. But it's okay especially because we'll be visiting the college Villa Maria so I'm excited for that. I'm glad I got an easy job this week, all I have to do is close and open a door. Overall pretty solid week.

NOW AS ALWAYS HERE IS THE LINK OF THE WEEK!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptc7rGXp284&list=UUbKWv2x9t6u8yZoB3KcPtnw
This is a follow up BTS for the animator vs animation if u haven't seen that click this!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VufDd-QL1c0&list=UUbKWv2x9t6u8yZoB3KcPtnw

WELL THAT DOES IT FOR THIS WEEK! HOPE YOU ALL ENJOYED AND I WILL SEE ALL YOU LOVELY FACES LATER!

Serious Time #7 Tips From Rockstar

Ian Bowden, former art director of Rockstar gives some tips to game artists. Before he states any tips he reminds everyone that what he does in't all fun and games it's mainly a job. One of the tips that Bowden gives is to watch trends but be original, watching trends is great so you know what your audience likes but you don't want it to be the same that's no good. Another tip he mentions is to always carry a sketchbook, be observant and take inspiration from the real world. A couple more that he mentions are experiment new ideas and being humble. One interesting tip that he mentions for mobile games is to keep the quality level the same and not be lazy just because its a smaller screen.

This article was very factual and a little interesting. Its very factual because of all the tips he gives but sadly I already knew half of these tips. The only tip that was interesting for me and the one that more people should follow is to not be lazy about the quality of mobile games. This is so true, people should not make the quality lower just because of a smaller screen. The thing that I'm wondering is why this guy left Rockstar, it seems like he had great art direction that's all I'm saying. This was part of the animation side of Digital Media because it gives tips on art and animation. Overall solid article. Oh almost forgot I also really liked how he mentioned how he always carry's his sketchbook with him because I can relate to that, being a magician I always have a pack of cards on me.


WELL THAT ENDS THE LAST SERIOUS TIME OF THE WEEK! I HOPE YOU HAVE ALL ENJOYED! AS ALWAYS I WILL SEE ALL YOU LOVELY FACES LATER! PEACE!

Serious Time #6 An Interesting Concept For Animation

Scientists are starting to study movies and how the human mind notices and doesn't notice things. This means they use eye tracking data to see what you are looking at and what your not. When they had people watching Iron Man 2 they found that everyone was looking at what was real and they weren't paying attention to what wasn't. For example, when the car was crashing everyone looked at the car not the CGI in the background. This is a part of visual perception, which is what the movies special effects team used a lot in that movie.

I got to say overall this was a pretty solid article. This article was short sweet and to the point. I like that in an article it doesn't bore you. But I do have to say that it doesn't take a genius to figure out why the eyes were looking at the car. I mean seriously if a car is blowing up I would look at the car not the background. I know it goes deeper then that but still come on people. That being said that was the only obvious point that i saw in the article, which also means I didn't learn a lot in this article. This is relevant to the video side of Digital Media and is relevant because it talks about how movies do certain things to capture the audiences eye.

WELL THAT IS THE END OF THIS SERIOUS TIME. AS ALWAYS I HOPE YOU HAVE ALL ENJOYED! I WILL SEE ALL YOUR LOVELY FACES LATER! PEACE!

Weekly Comments #4

HELLO THERE! WELCOME TO THE WEEKLY COMMENTS WHERE CAPS ARE ALWAYS WELCOME! WITH OUT FURTHER ADO LETS DO THIS!

We didn't learn to much this week honestly because everyday was a work day basically. I guess one thing I learned this week was how to use FPS to see how long a animation is and etc. I really want to learn key framing its just seems like it'll be so much easier, frame by frame is just to long. The ball and tail frustrated me so much this week, it's just so time consuming using frame by frame. I really enjoyed all the work days this week it was really useful.

AND AS ALWAYS YOUR LINK OF THE WEEK!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npTC6b5-yvM
THIS VIDEO ACTUALLY INSPIRED ME TO TRY THIS MYSELF AND LET ME TELL YOU ITS DIFFICULT!

WELL THAT'S IT FOR THIS WEEK HOPE YOU HAVE ALL ENJOYED! AS ALWAYS I WILL SEE YOU LOVELY FACES LATER! PEACE!