Law's Entertainment Lounge -_-;

Production Bibles!

2007-01-14T12:13:00.000Z

Only 1 assignment left! :D I found the MAA2 Reader quite useful, especially the "A technique for producing ideas" by James Webb Young which I tried and it helped since normally I dont write down my ideas enough just keep them cluttered inside o_O Slightly uncertain about presenting my Taxonomies tommorrow, its been good practise for me in terms of cutout/stop motion even though I'm perhaps more interested in the 3D and I really enjoyed making it and animating my most pride possession (DaddyTeddy).

Production bibles are going well, trying to decide which idea to present, it does say "a fully developed idea for a film that presents a very mundane event [...]" are the others supposidly not fully developed? I found I'm quite good at thinking of stories, I used to do RPG which is about using your imagination to create stories/worlds for other people to enjoy as well as write your own story inside a world someone else has created.

Working on my Negociated proposal version2! >_>

Deadlines

2007-01-11T03:31:00.000Z

Well I'm up late working on Taxonomies!I initially started with animations with images taken by other people but in the end I decided to try to animate something I've wanted to animate for a long time, my teddy bear since I was born, DaddyTeddy. The idea I used of having a still image with various things in it that are important to me was an early idea of mine but I scrapped it since I couldnt get the video to play effectively in the small box but thankfully Miao gave a helping hand :D

Drip Splat Boing I went for something experimental using notice board pins, lots of them to represent a ball of water that drips from the ceiling, it worked out pretty well, I also experimented a little more with stop motion with some pencils and small plasticine ball.

Return to Newport

2007-01-04T15:57:00.000Z

I have returned! Spent New Year in London with MiaoMiao, time to work! For Drip Splat Boing i've decided to use Photoshop initially then manipulate it in After Effects, for the "analogue means alone" the 2nd DPB animation I've decided to use my graphics tablet, since I want to improve my skills with it and also its still hand drawn.

Would have been better if the assignments had been spaced out more rather than have multiple assignments due on the same day but in the words of Reinhold Niebuhr "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference".

Les Bibles de production

2006-12-27T13:35:00.000Z

Well I've started on my production bibles, I've decided to do a How to be Subservient or in this case, how to be a Doorman. I wanted to pick a boring job and make it interesting rather than doing a mundane event like eating, sleeping etc..

for the fairytale I'll probably do a Hans Kristian Andersson (famous Danish storyteller) and I'm thinking about recoding the Emperor's new clothes, perhaps modernising it.

Blogger is proving a pain to access on my computer here in italy, keeps crashing, luckily I managed to get on this time after multiple attempts.

Animation at X-mas

2006-12-23T21:45:00.000Z

Well been 10 days since I last wrote, handed in my essay on Character and Film Narrative in Computer Games, i'm very proud of the essay once I got into it I ended up writing 4,000 words, so I put 1,500 words in the appendix as a sort of background reading, "evolution of a diegetic world", that part discussed evolution of characters into human shapes (anthropomorphise, i think thats a word) Pacman being the first.

The presentation well quite well I think, I am very passionate about games so its a subject that always interests me so I think thats maybe why i found it easier to present it, I also think my research was thorough but presented simply.

The David Smith essay is debatable, the lectures didnt really cover how to analyse a research it was more the research methods (hence the title), almost all stuff I learnt when i did my dissertation on my BA (focus groups, questionnaires etc..) That essay I think I did it well enough but perhaps could have organised it a bit better and concentrated more on analysis, i think at times i concentrate more on synopsising.

The new projects:

Taxonomies - going to try to mix still images with video in a sort of albumbook list of things I like or are important to me
Production Bibles - Been thinking about that recently
Drip Splatty Boing - Hand Drawn animation or cut outs for one, and Flash for the other

Back Soon :D

Been a while - Essay Mania!

2006-12-13T22:56:00.000Z

Well deadline approaches, got 2 days left, kind of!!! :)

the 2,500 word essay i chose to do it on something computer related i had several ideas but was advised to pick Character and Film Narrative in Computer Games. The essay is still not completed im at about 70%, it talks about development of narrative as well as characters in computer games. It also goes into how exactly games are narrative, what types of narrative are there as well as what things computer games has taken from film in terms of conventions.

The Research Essay for Monsieur Smith, I did it on "Violence exposure in real-life, video games, television, movies, and the internet: is there desensitization?" by J.Funk which discusses the possibilities of children become desensitized to violence by continious exposure to it.

The presentation I'm still not organised, 20 minutes is a LONG time. I found a demo of a game called Fahrenheit which uses Film Conventions, perhaps ill show that in class.

Le Life Drawing

2006-12-03T19:41:00.000Z

Just organising my drawings so far. Unsure how many sketches we're supposed to have done, since you could submit a small sketchbook or a 100 page poundland one! I'm happy with my drawing it's improved drastically during the course, Life Drawing classes have helped but I think also the fact i've put aside time to practise and try to read tutorials or books has helped me on my way! I've gone from newbie->adept I think! Although almost all my drawings are just copies of images or characters I liked. I did a lot of trying to draw from 3d Images in 2D which I was told is difficult but I didn't want to fill my sketchbook full of rubbish just for the sake of filling it up, it's a mix of computer game characters, anime & cartoons.

Next mission, eSSAY! :) Hopefully try to finish the 2,500 essay this week or get well into it! :D

MA Animation in the works!

2006-11-29T16:22:00.000Z

Started to finally get focused! Laptop died so i'm having to survive with scraps when my brother decides to be generous with the internet ;)

Essay - As i said before decided i need to stick to what I did this course for, to find a job in computer games and not get too sucked into other peoples avenues despite it all being very interesting. My essay title is "Evolution of character animation in computer games" although a lot of reseach is based on the physics of the programs so I might just swerve a little and do an essay on whether computer games can be considered art.

Drawing - Again redirected myself towards my goal and my "observational sketches" are almost all of anime characters or computer game characters, I've started collecting lots of concept art from games and trying to copy and sketch them. The few Life Drawing lessons gave me a little more confidence in my ability and also how to do rough sketches of the body and then add detail.

DripSplatBoing - still not decided, probably going to do something with photoshop/after effects.
Taxonomies - I liked the "6 weeks in *****" one of the abstract videos with minimal lines to describe a journey. Also was thinking of audio songs that include lists Sloppy - Trainspotting theme tune, Baz Luhrman - Sunscreen. Hopefully Fridays audio lesson will clarify how to make good audio.

Masterclasses

2006-11-20T16:43:00.000Z

All very interesting so far, in order of preference;
1) John Williams
2) Sarah Cox
3) Other blokey

John Williams was easier to relate too since he was younger and had actually attended UWN in the last decade ;) Took note of what he said about "concentrate on your strengths" and about not being too ambitious. It made me think how frantically I'm trying to learn to draw, trying to catch up with people who have done it for years -__-;. I don't think I really know my strengths yet, not in terms of animation, I'm still testing the water.

I have wanted to work as a Computer Games Designer and I chose MA in Animation with the hope of going on the Computer Game industry but now I'm not so sure, Animation seems to be so diverse =/ I realised I've started to wander and I need to concentrate on exactly what I want to do, as Miao said I can learn drawing as a hobby, i should spend time on my strengths! :)

What are my strengths o_O ..

It's been a while

2006-11-20T16:41:00.000Z

It's been a while since I posted, after the eventful 50 images presentation I had a visit from my parents followed by a degree ceremony the following week and yesterday my 21st birthday. No rest for the wicked obviously. I'll split up my thoughts into different posts to make it clearer! :D

50 Images v 2

2006-10-26T19:21:00.000+01:00

Scratched my initial selection for the 50 images project, it was mostly images of family or locations I had taken. I was thinking I liked them because they referred to specific eras or events that bring me positive memories or locations that are so far from the everyday that they seem a little sureal. Miao said all photos have memories and I should maybe just have 1 for my family, despite the 50 images supposidly being a "personal" assignment it did make me realise my initial analysis was a little thin. It is hard to tackle this 50 images assignment and stay away from superficial things in common/connections between the images.
I've started collecting the images again using the revolutionary Google, using words that I think define areas of interest for me; comedy, fantasy, power, surreal etc.. I know what interests me but the assignment from what I have deduced is about analysing your own aesthetic, or thinking beyond the simple like/dont like. Even after speaking to several fellow MA Animation students I'm still a little confused, it seems so easy yet at the same time so hard to make myself convinced that my images will be taken "seriously". Perhaps i'm better suited to stricter guidelines.

As I collect images from the internet as well as the huge bank of images I have saved on my various PCs over the last 5 years for no reason apart from the fact I liked them I do start to slowly realise some connections. Just from the first 15 I'm starting to notice that all the images have a specific subject/object that is the focus of the images, not many are cluttered and the "magical" colours I mentioned in my Negociated proposal that I use in my work also seemed to re-appear in images I like, a lot of blue/teal/violet.

Random blogging, ended.

a Photo everyday

2006-10-19T11:20:00.000+01:00

Found this cool video, it's from a supposidly new trend "take a photo of yourself for a year", I thought it was quite ingeniously done, very original.

Link 1

Update:

Found another one, this one is more serious but same sort of thing, I wonder who did the original.

Link 2

Life Drawing

2006-10-18T23:37:00.000+01:00

I'm making progress on my Life Drawing, I think it's either I have some undiscovered drawing talent or I just convinced myself I can't draw. MiaoMiao's been helping me a lot as well as asking advice to Monsieur Dolf and even Nathaniel when he overcomes the initial "get someone else to draw it for you" when I asked what I needed to improve. It's quite easy when you draw everything initially as shapes no matter what it is.

MiaoMiao claims in Animation you don't need to be able to draw perfectly, but I think it would help especially if I want to go into character design and will need to be able to draw concept art before trying to create it in 3D. Both Leoni and the ginger tutor I can't remember his name were positive to the speed at which I improved despite Leoni thinking I was a BA student. She was dubious as to whether I drew my later attempts myself but I think tutors realise that I am keen to learn even if I don't know as much as the other MAs in terms of Life Drawing. The movement session was the best so far, although my first attempt at drawing a skeleton last lesson was quite successful, shockingly! :)

Wheels on the bus go round & round

2006-10-18T23:25:00.000+01:00

The quote "Presentation is the key - it can make an average idea appear great, and vice versa" from the MAA1 Handbook sprung to mind after watching this animation a half or so after. The animation link is here, the visuals of the animation are very poor, but the sound really just amplifies the visuals. It starts of as an innocent flash for kiddies but then turns down a very dark path but due to the childlike animation it makes it funny not cruel. Maybe that is why some animators in flash movies stick to very simplistic animation for very dark subject matter (shooting people, etc..) it makes it almost acceptable since it is not depicting reality.

Take a look and tell me what you think! :)

50 Images!

2006-10-18T23:07:00.000+01:00

Finally seriously started 50 images, was thinking about the "stream of consciousness", "do you know what that means Los?" asked my brother, "a series of ideas?", "No, I'm doing my school work atm, ooo a shiny bottle of coca-cola". Well I decided to write down on paper the first 50 words that came into my head, I also wrote down the room I thought them in.

Lounge: feet, gay, power, intelligence, disc, fear, pizza, bag, clothes, arms, wire, router, blook, pride, feeble, interpret, irrestitable, pipe, introvert, extrovert, incest, rollercoasters, wibble, index, religion, Russell, space time continium, rapier, scissor sisters, bear, box, flame, archer, spam, hate, duck, answer, question, light, pillar, skateboard, peg, dry, yawn, night, seat.

Reading back my list out loud one set of words read "introvert, extrovert, incest", to which my brother answered "I'm locking my room tonight", I politely chuckled then 2 minutes later suddenly realised what he meant.

Poundland, Heaven for a thief?

2006-10-04T14:49:00.000+01:00

Saw a guy steal from Poundland.

Discuss

Let's begin

2006-10-04T13:16:00.000+01:00

The prospect of having a blog I actually update regularly instead of every 3 months is both daunting and mind boggling! Hopefully if all goes well this blog will document my ideas regarding my MA in Animation as well as little anecdotes I feel like posting.

Enjoy!