Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs ALL IN YOUR FACE!

Is it a bird, a plane! No it's a meatball! Here are six design principles of animation that I observed in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs!

1.Squash an Stretch:
Squash and stretch is the idea of something... well.... squishing and stretching! When you think of this principle just think of a ball when it hits the ground squishing and when it comes back up stretching. They used this principle a lot in the movie. Two things that I found in particular in this movie was when this girl news reporter kicks the main characters eyes and the eyes then squish. Another thing I saw in this movie was when the monkey was ripping the gummy bears heads off they would stretch in the process.

2.Anticipation:
Anticipation in animation is when you see the character react to something before it happens. An example of this would be if someone is freaking out about a train going right toward them but the audience doesn't see the train that is anticipation. One example in the movie of this would be when everyone is looking at the sky because everyone is freaking out looking at the sky and you don't know why until you see the cheeseburgers are actually raining from the sky. Another example of this from the movie is when their having a ice cream/ snowball fight, when the characters wind their arms back ready to throw that's anticipation.

3.Staging:
Staging directs the audiences to the story being told. Additionally it is a shot that lets us know what is happening in the whole scene. One time they use this in the movie is in the beginning when the main character starts up the lab and it starts showing machines everywhere and scientist posters. this immediately gives you the idea that this guy is really smart.

4.Follow Through and Overlapping Action:
This principle makes things look more realistic and gives the impression that characters follow the laws of physics. They do this in many ways. One example is floppy ears and how they move when the character jumps. They use this in the movie a lot but a part specifically is when the father points at the store sign and when he stops his arm falls and flaps for a moment.

5.Timing:
Timing is how fast or how slow something happens. This is very important to animation especially when your trying to make things look realistic. This can be applied to a ball falling all the way to reaction timing. One example of this in the movie is how the airplane pilot reacts right away to the monkey touching his mustache.

6.Exaggeration:
This movie is a great example of exaggeration. Exaggeration is pretty self explanatory but is used in animation to make characters less dull. A great example of exaggeration is Ren and Stimpy and just how over the top they act and how their facial expressions are, Spongebob is a great example of this for that same reason. One example from the movie for this is the face of the main character after meeting the girl news reporter. His face is so exaggerated in this scene like his eyes being big and his mouth being wide making this a great example of exaggeration.

Well guys that's it I hope you have all enjoyed this little explanation. Have a great day and as always I will see all you lovely faces later! Peace!

Serious Time #5 Stop-Motion

Stop- motion has been a animation art for many years. The studio Laika uses stop animation in their major pictures. Laika has been responsible for movies such as Coraline and Paranorman and now their most recent, The Boxtrolls. The thing Laika wanted to do different with this movie is move out of that scary and creepy setting. Travis Knight, the lead animator of Laika and also the CEO of the company, says they wanted to do something different and not have creepy and scary their default and signature thing, so they made The Box-Trolls. Being lead animator and CEO is not all as caught up to be. Travis Knight calls it a balancing act, giving time for one thing but also having time for another, hours of animating then hours of meetings. The article also goes into how he decides to animate by hand and cg, what he re-shoots etc. Additionally in the article Adam says he knows what the next film is and says that we will dig it.

I am actually surprised at how interesting this article was. I myself wasn't looking forward to The Boxtrolls because of the reason that its a different style then Coraline and Paranorman. But now I might actually see it. I personally like how Laika has told their stories and also putting a message behind them. Being a Tim Burton fan though I do have to say I'm still a little bit disappointed, I really liked Coraline and I really want them to do a project like that again hopefully in the future.One thing I have to mention is that the article didn't bore me and that I was reading the entire thing instead of just skimming through the article, I like that. One thing I learned is just how hard and long it really takes for Laika to produce a movie because of how much they have to do. They have animating then meetings repeat everyday, I would honestly be tired of it probably. One thing I wonder is what their next project is. I really want to know and hope it has them back to their old style. This relevant to Digital Media because of the fact that it's a company about stop-motion.

I hope you have all enjoyed and I will see all you lovely faces later! Peace!

Weekly Comments #3

HELLO ONCE AGAIN! AND WELCOME TO MY BLOG! NOW LETS GET STARTED!

This week in the class we learned about physics and how to make an animated object look believable. We did this by completing exercises, such as animating bouncing balls and now were onto bowling ball and balloon exercises. I'm still looking forward to learning how to animate walking and running animations. One thing that frustrated me this week was having to basically start over my project right before the deadline, therefore handing it in unfinished. I understood why it needed to be fixed but I just wish I had more time to complete it. Whats strange about it I'm also glad that it happened just because the fact that this was a relatively small project and not a big one. I mean imagine how bad it would be if this happened to me later this year. Now I have less of a chance for this to happen for this reason because I have learned from my mistakes.

NOW THAT THAT IS OVER HERE IS YOUR LINK OF THE WEEK!
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-_6iqTxwYc
A GREAT VIDEO THAT A FRIEND SHOWED ME THAT WAS MADE FOR A ANIMATION COMPETITION. THIS ONE SHOULD WIN!

WELL THAT BEING SAID MY WORK IS DONE HERE. ALL OF YOU GUYS HAVE A GREAT DAY AND I WILL SEE ALL YOU LOVELY FACES LATER! PEACE!

Yay Documentaries! Everyone's Favorite... Not! Serious Time #4

At the Toronto International Film Festival's 2014 Doc Conference, documentary filmmaker Michael Moore gives a 13-point Manifesto for Documentary Filmmaking. These tips for Doc Filmmakers range from "Don't Tell Me Stuff I Already Know" to "Make Your Films Personal". The article also goes through how cell phone cameras is one of the worst/ best thing that ever happened and that everyone isn't a filmmaker. Moore also gives some examples of good documentaries, one of them being "Shameless Propaganda". One more great point that Michael Moore makes is to trust your emotions and use those to know how your audience might feel. Michael Moore is excited to see what is to come in the future for documentaries but also taking a moment to blame funders and distributors and also themselves for bad documentaries.

Oh my god please spare me of reading something like this again! I have to say this has to be the most boring thing that I have read in a long time. This article was terrible not just because it was boring because it was stuff I already knew. I honestly didn't know that captain obvious wrote articles! I mean seriously "Don't Tell Me Stuff I Already Know"? "Make Your Films Personal"? How much more obvious can you get? Everyone who is in the film business should already know this stuff! Which makes me not blame Michael Moore for these boring facts, I blame some of the directors today. Lets face it some of the movies people make these days are terrible. For example, Transformers 4 or as I like to call it, garbage robot fight simulator 2014. That being said Michael Moore probably thought that he had to remind the people the basics on making a movie, so I thank him for that I guess. But anyways back to the task at hand, I believe that Documentaries are one of the things that are killing the film industry, but also helping it. Now don't get me wrong I love me a good documentary, trust me I have watched plenty of them, but the problem of the fact is that people aren't following these tips. By doing this the director of the project is just digging a grave for themselves, which is something I have been seeing too much of lately and am personally sick of. On the other hand documentaries are also a great source of education, learning, and are also sometimes interesting. I don't know, take it as you will but the fact of the matter is that this is a boring but also needed article, plain and simple nothing more and nothing less.

Well now that that's over I will now watch some paint dry! Surely more entertaining then this. Just an FYI I was actually considering naming this Boring Time. Hopefully I will never have to read something like this in the future. And on that note I will see all you beautiful faces later! Peace!  

Whats with all of the Hullabaloo?! Serious Time #3

So one question I would like answered right now is, whats with all the Hullabaloo?! Hullabaloo is a project that is an animation project being made by James Lopez, Rick Farmiloe, and other experienced Disney animators. The thing about this project is they are using hand drawn 2-D animation. This is important because as the years are moving by the animation industry is beginning to change, using more CGI animation then anything else. So the goal of Hullabaloo is to start bringing 2-D animation back. That being said he did start an Indiegogo campaign to help raise money for all these animators. But don't worry they already have exceeded the amount needed to be raised by 292% with 11 days still left on the campaign. So what is Hullabaloo about? Well Hullabaloo takes place in a steampunk styled world and focuses on a female protagonist named Veronica Daring who is in search of her missing father. Well that pretty sounds good to me.

So we obviously know that this was more geared toward the animation side of the class. Now anyone who knows me knows that I love the How To Train Your Dragon movie series. That being said I also love the animation in it. But my friends also know that I am a hardcore Disney fan. That being said I am super excited for this! If they can make me feel the way i felt when I first watched Aladdin then it could very well top the How To Train Your Dragon movies. It won't top Aladdin, but it could very well be second on my list for top animation. Aladdin for me showed just how much you can do with 2-D animation which having animators from Disney making this sets the bar pretty high for me. I also gotta say I love this idea with a steampunk world, it will show what Disney can do with its 2-D style. I mean look at Bioshock Infinite if the style in the movie looks anything like that games style then its game over. I mean what else can I say, who knows it may even top Aladdin, probably not, but maybe, just maybe :). That being said, don't disappoint me!!! Live on 2-D animation! Live on!

On that note I will see all you lovely faces later! Peace!

WEEKLY COMMENT #2

HELLO ALL OF YOU LOVELY FACES AND WELCOME TO MY BLOG! WHERE OF COURSE AS ALWAYS ALL CAPS ARE WELCOME! UNTIL... 3... 2... 1!

We learned some pretty cool stuff this week. We mainly learned about design and color principles, and how important they are to the animation process. I am really hoping to start actually learning how to animate, but all good things come to those who wait! Finishing my character made me very happy this week, I'm already starting to piece together the story behind him.

WELL NO CAPS IS OVER NOW! AS ALWAYS HERE IS THE LINK OF THE WEEK!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7eBRItF_4Q&list=UUCvCHN9DaKn8ON5VxDZmyhQ
SOME GOOD QUALITY MAGIC HERE! SO GREAT HOW MAGICIANS CAN MAKE PEOPLE QUESTION REALITY!

WELL GUYS SHORT WEEKLY BLOG THIS TIME! WILL BE POSTING ANOTHER SERIOUS TIME LATER IN THE WEEK SO LOOK OUT FOR THAT! BUT UNTIL THEN I WILL SEE YOU LOVELY FACES LATER!

Serious Time #2 Some Great Tips from Animation Recruiters

This article was exactly what the title states, these are some great tips from animation recruiters. These tips range from being aware of trends to only having 30 seconds to make a good impression. The article is short and to the point and is easy to follow. For example, one of the tips were make sure your demo reel links work. Furthermore, the tips also go into just being simple, to not lose your audience, being unique because recruiters don't enjoy watching the same stuff. Make an impact, you want them to remember you, but don't be offensive and know the company that you are sending the reel to, like they say you have 30 sec. make them count. Also don't be cliche you should always try to be different, don't follow the trends. One more tip worth mentioning, be motivated. what i mean by that is don't stop animating just because one reel didn't work, keep trying eventually you'll get somewhere.

Just like the article my opinions are to simple, I liked it. You know it's a good article when you watch all of the videos and read every word on it and most importantly that you want to for that matter. This article is more toward the animation side of the digital media class but still it was very helpful and entertaining especially the videos of the reels. I just believe that you got to keep trying to get somewhere. "The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place, and I don’t care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward; how much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done!"- Rocky this quote is the very definition of what I believe in. Never ever give up, there is never a reason to do so. I agree on everything that was said in this article, it's all very true. I learned some new forms of comedy and how you can grip a viewer from only a 30 sec. reel.

And on that note this concludes Serious Time # 2. I hope you have all enjoyed on how I viewed this article. Next blog will be later in the week, but until then i will see all your lovely faces later. Goodbye.