Week 4 Final !!!

And We call this a FINAL  ( APPLAUSE)   woo woooo

....... well kinda  haha

This last critique was well on it's way. 

I'm relieved to report that the review went well. The major notes were hit and  still getting a laugh. Now I can crawl in a corner and let it all out.  Less headaches, More chillax

Now comes the last stop of fine polishing. This is the most tasteful part for me, where I take all the final notes and anything my peers can give me to wax this piece up .  Little things that were mentioned to kick it up a notch. more posed poses, pops and penetrations, better shaped lips. 

Yes some facial poses were pushed a tad too much. just as I feared.  Breaking the characters model.

BUT THAT'S OK!  in my past experience I've noticed the workflow of pushing too much and backing it up until the medium hits, is always the way to go for most projects.  This is normal, so now my mission is to find those spots to blend and tweak.

Big Note for the week 

working with two characters in a gag, the audience eyes will be moving back in forth between who is acting and reacting. No one can see both characters at once so each character must have a pause while the other is talking. 

Today I am catching up on my normal life, resting, resetting, and planning my next shot.  I am studying many of suspense film and drama pieces, looking for cameras angles and new ways to tell stories.  Right now the TV shows Daredevil and Maddogs are the two I'm currently watching. Both are unique and the action and intensity is something that intrigues me.  Even though I have shown Malcom some of the audios I like, I feel like there is still more, something tells me to keep searching just a bit more.  Today am watching some films that might fit that bill, they are 13, Snowpicker, The Town, and Out of the Furnace. 

And for my next trick I'm gonna bring the tears because I want the challenge of breaking a character emotionally. This I've heard from many of animators is the toughest thing to do.  Sounds like just the idiot idea for me. 3  big motives have made this decision for me.  

1.  I rarely see any shots on demo reels that get deep inside a characters eyes. I can maybe recall one maybe two shots I have seen that were done beautifully. Those moments stop you in your tracks and are the essence of what makes animation so special to the world.

2.   Ted Ty ( legend ) did a talk last year at  CTN  a two part lecture called Boo Hoo, explaining emotion, character, inner struggle, posing in emotion. Everything that leads up to an impact.  This inspired the hell outta me to really tap into the notes that came from that lecture. Not only is Ted an unparalleled animator and the sweetest guy you'll meet, but his passion and enthusiasm pours out in everything he talks about. The lecture on crying and emotion brought the house down in November.

3.   I'm an idiot and a junky for challenge 

So here we go.....  I feel like Gandalf at the end of two towers. The battle for Comedy is over... The battle for Sorrow is about to begin....  

Easter Week of Work

I've overslept these past few days and knocked out half of my time away from the computer. I've needed lots of sleep, but I just felt the need to journal my class. I have spent most of the weekend searching for my new clip for my new animation piece. This again I believe is the most difficult part of starting a scene because I have an idea and sometimes your idea could not work with what is already there. A simple search for the saddest scene in cinema increases the chances that someone already has animate this. I've been at it all day to find an intense or sad piece that works within 6 to 7 seconds. There are a few but nothing within that amount of time to make any sense. When understanding that you only have that much time, you need to make sure that within the first frame of the shot you already are telling 95 % of the story. Dam this sucks, the more I search the more determined I am to make this the best I can possibly make it. I'm trying to break out of the box that many animators put themselves into once they start blocking a shot. I want to try new things with the camera, new ways of telling stories, give them something that's not to be expected. I feel I got to do this in order for my work to stick out but it's so difficult to find the shot that works for emotional moments. Now that I think about it, it's not the search I'm pissed about it's the amount of time I have to do it in. I know time is not on my side and my schedule has backed me into a corner I need to be very careful with how I use each hour of each passing day. I had to skip out on going to movies with friends and exercise in order to find this piece. Not to mention the fact that I want to get as much work done as I can. This is my last class for a while and each week is critical. I hope I don't go insane, as I'm doing this I'm trying to stay motivated and stay healthy. Sometimes giving a 120 thousand percent catches up quick! To give you an example, I'm writing this as I'm sleeping in my car during lunch break.

WEEK 3 CRITIQUE

Last nights review just hit! BOOM !   I'm on my way to finishing, Polishing has begun, I finally got what I've always been wanting notes, notes, and more notes. At first I was beginning to get let down that I just seemed to be doing everything right and I"m thinking IT's A TRAP
But right off the back My instructor told me, "No more praising now you're gonna get it!"

  .......I LIKE THAT

Time for the juicy part of class. I see how Marlon teaches. I'm feeling his workflow and it is very interesting. Once blocking, story, staging, and splining are set. he sets up his critique in small sections of the scene,
My shot is 302 frames, so maybe 50 frames a piece? nAAAAAA
Instead Marlon focuses on each beat of the shot, notes about what can be improved and what you can do to lead into the next beat. This is the same way Malcon had explained to me about the energy . curve liek previously mentioned.
Then he'll put all the pieces together to get an overall feel of how the shot can be plused and presented.  In my this case I have a piece that is pushed more into the cartoony realm of physics and my biggest note was to find the spots that can be  exaggerated, like big vowels and posing.
-more head jesters
-bigger antics
-wide eyes. Etc...
And it's freaking exciting I have a more stylized shot!
The biggest challenge I'm sure will be how to properly break and model Jack's rig
I need to  keep him on model and push just enough to keep it from looking crazy. One of Marlons biggest notes is to keep the character on model and he gives us a chart with model sheets in order to do this. I'll be doing a lot of emailing with him this weekend I'm sure.  Also I have acquired Hotel T and T 2  for reference. I love to study other animations as well as great films, get inspired, then work my ass off.  I also got permission to start on my next shot.  Dam, not even 4 weeks in and I got the green to think about my next shot. Can't slow down now, My previs classes I had produced a total of 2  strong shots because I took my time. I heard legends of people who have produced 3 during one term. Sounds Next Gen son!!  The Challenge intrigues me. I never thought I would get through this shot so fast but Marlon's flow is speed,  teaching me to be faster and to push forward when things work. My time at Reel FX I got pushed into the deep in with shots for my first feature and yes the crunch is real and if you don't keep up it will trample you with attention and not the good kind. This class is teaching me time management and persistence.  Can't slow down now.   I am currently looking for my next piece and this one's going to be more serious and intense ,but for now I'm going to enjoy this week, breaking my character, getting feedback, adding some fun and searching for my next shot. Stay tooned

The Road to Critique Week 3

Today I just kinda want to talk about my review from last week! As I'm watching Marlon explain to me what he likes and doesn't like, he will begin to act out moments! He's really grabbing some great expressions that I never thought I could use. I started to think that one of the real reasons I like online schools I can actually interact with my instructor see him act out scenes and show me what  he's thinking, versus someone having to type it all out on the computer.

I've notice time and time when trying to get feedback a lot of people don't write critiques because it takes a while, to explain. you can't really understand what that person is saying the less you see him and let's be real depending on the level of your skills as an animator most people won't waste time to even tell you what you need because the work sucks or either you're in the very beginning stage and most people just want to say get in a school or keep practicing. And I've also notice the only things written in the comments but every once in a while whenever taking the class you might get a few students that really take there craft seriously, want better quality stuff each week. These are the lions, the grinders, THE ANIMATORS. This is where the instructor makes a connection with that student, and you know who the tops are. These guys will get the more in debt instructions, it's more interactivity with the instructors, It's more excitement and energy put into really helping you grow as an artist. I'm starting to see that with Marlon, I really enjoy the one on one time, But I want to pick his brain more for things that I don't know. Some instructors might give you a simple critique and say see you next week that's my golden opportunity to stop them and say what about this, what about that? I need to learn something from this class not get a pat on the head job! Ask your mom for that.

WEEKEND 3

So Week three of the grind I'm still continuing to polish my animation. The second half of the shot what a great notes from last week, a few changes but for the better! It seems to be funnier and I've also looked at the shot as a whole. Some one or few notes I got were basic things such as hitting walls, pops, and eye shapes. The weekend has been a focused concentration of splining and body mechanics. A big challenge that kept coming up in my mind was to keep my characters stylized throughout the shot, physics and weight come up as I'm timing each pose. But I'm often thinking about the way the characters would feel in this world. My animation is slightly more exaggerated and am cranking the toony part of it up just a notch. I'm also taking into account the peak of interest within the shot. One of Malcon Pierces first notes he shared with me was the overall beat of the shot, where are the most important beats and where are the supporting beats leading up to the peak. Almost if you would draw a stockmarket graph over the acting. Where are the main points of interest? This has helped my approach to working on shots since I have taken his class. The anischool student work demo just dropped the other day and I have been watching it many times over. I was floored by a lot of amazing shots that this school has been producing and quite frankly it's probably one of the better school reels I've seen in a while. The other online schools reels haven't impressed me that much and I feel that the quality is lacking, I've heard from many students, that classes lack time for questions and critiques, instructors are not as enthused or motivating, feedback is difficult outside of class, and forums and feeds for critiques are quiet and abandoned. Whatever the case, I'll simply say what every higher up always crams down your throat, " The work speaks for itself ". And right now Anischool is intercepting the ball. As far as the characters, the shots, the acting, it's all adding up and looking great! Just gives me more motivation to keep pressing on with my shot to make it the best I can. It's always great to have motivation throughout the day. Besides the movies, music, podcasts with artist. Demo work will do the trick.

 Take a look for yourself

 

Week 2 of Progress

Wow what a rush!!!!

So I have fell behind just a bit with my up to date progress.  So here comes the goods.

Week 1  Review Got a great reaction from my instructor loved the layout out, the characters, the audio, and the background.   DID NOT EXPECT that! Honestly was a big surprise.
I haven't felt the thrill of getting a good response from a shot in about 2 years, took me right back to the walls of Reel FX when the room would be filled by your peers and each would compete to get the best reaction.  Laughs were a plus, and since comedy is something that I have been taking care to learn it has also been on my hit list of things I need to include in my work.
I was informed that these were good ingredients to make a great shot.  Recieving something that just works is like a shot in the arm of adrenaline. It will be hard to sleep tonight.
I would say week one accomplished! But I will take this as humbly as possible because my next stage is to take this into spline...  OH Shit...  NOW???    As much of a shock as it felt to get a positive reaction it was suceeded by the surprise that this will now be heading to spline mode.
I'm starting to see Marlan's point in when something works why the hell wait? push forward!

In a work environment my feature experience has shown me that an animator is given quota through the week.  This can be up to 4 to 5 seconds of footage with up to 3 shots depending on your speed and skill. INsane Right ??  But this class is taking me back to those good ol' days of quanity and quality!
As the more meaningful notes are coming. I feel that this class will teach me speed and Consistency.
You're  just one week in son, here's the ball now lets get running!  the next week will be the beast

WEEK 2   Review is done and in the books
big big surprise again this week my shot still got a laugh still feels fresh and is working fine.
I'm shocked and Humbled and almost a loss of words for this because I'm so used to getting No's and changes things not working.
but I'm very surprised yet I still live in suck ville. I will remain careful and humble through this course. If I keep up the pace and do this job right who knows.

So the start of class was a little different today,  we went in reverse order.  And since I carry the F bomb of  my last name this saved me for last. I could use that time to animate my shot as Marlan goes through everybody else's work but I actually sat down to watch these reviews of my classmates it taught me a lot about what I can do to improve my own shot. You can easily learn from other peoples work and not just your own. the nature of the beast anything that you  in animation can always be plused. It's an ongoing effort to learn new things and tricks.

One big thing I think people forget or don't utilize to there advantage is watching other classes or reviews that are made available to you. Figuring if it's not my shot how is this going to benefit me? I was on of those idiots.  had my first job I would always miss meetings and dailies due to the fact that my quota need to be filled and I use that extra hour to help me finish as fast as I could I made the rookie mistake of not taking the time to use to my advantage with other animators. I wasted a lot of time a lot grinding and burning oil instead of  growing as an artist to get better.  Hard F'n lesson and one that always bites my ass on bad days. but you can only go forward and learn from it. Take time to study and learn from your peers. Our director on Free Birds Jimmy Hayward would say, " We learn faster from each others mistakes, than from our own "  Our team always needed to be on the same page with the film and our science had to be tight!  

So as I gathered my notes for the week. The reaction was still positive and the energy was still high. Dam just makes me want to try harder for next week! The second half of the shot splining is next followed by much long needed rest after this week has been constant grinding.  I look forward to see how this shot will play out in it's entirety and the next lesson that will be learned.  

Keep your game Tight!

First Review

So today is the day of truth, my first review with the squad, I am patiently waiting for this class to start and surprised with the amount of work I have accomplished over the past few days the set, the background, the characters, coming up with a story.
As I was blocking it all out the story just came to me today I finally sat down to write each character and what's happened a minute before the season started.
My hopes are not high because this is the beginning process. Now is the time to see if my shot gets a laugh, my idea gets through or  most importantly everything makes sense.
I know the animation is very rough, the camera is probably off and  the scene itself is limited to what I could've done in the past couple of days, but the amount of work I put in suffices.
We'll see what happens tonight, I'm excited to learn and to step into the ring with the captain and animsquad creator himself,
Marlon  P!
I've learned from the past to not get your hopes too high, this is a pitching point and your idea to the director or your coworker. to see whether the scene is working or not.
It's a 50-50 chance, if the instructor suggests changes and fixes it doesn't work doesn't mean that you're bad.  It's only because the scene is not working.
We must  learn to switch out and adapt new ideas in order to make a great shot.  Let nothing be precious to you don't keep your guard up in defence, learn, work together with your fellow animators and leads to bring the best collaborative resources to the table.

Listen and Learn from your instructor... Let it Go

The New Shot Day 2

So when setting up my new scene and blocking for animation
I've come to the conclusion of what the story is for these two characters
I wrote a short outline for these two guys ,  simply

Tom and Jack
Tom and Jack have been working a job they both don’t like.
Jack is fed up with the job just as much as Tom.
Problem is Tom has sweet talked Jack along into this job with him, reassuring this would be a good move He is also the motivator and would say anything to sell him on the idea this job would pay off Jack on the other hand is fed up with the job and when he see’s Joe not happy he uses this moment to taunt him he enacts Tom false glamor and reprimands him.



BAM sometimes when staging and working out a shot the idea comes to you. This one made enough since to apply a motive and give these characters Personality! I haven't approached a shot so carefully and established before. The reason being is because my last trip to CTN I received tons of great feedback from the BEST in the industry. But there were two notes in particular that froze me like a deer in head lights.
NUMBA 1# " What's his problem?" ...... THAT's it!! after I showed off one of my shots The animator looked at me and said what's his problem? uhhhhhhhh ? what? He asked me why is he acting like this? "Because he is angry. Yeah but why is he motivated to get angry. What happened to him ? " Literally just caught me of guard. "You can't tell me can you?" I shrunk. The reason he was making is that giving a simple backstory to your character can motivate the way he or she acts out a shot. My character was angry but why? Does he hate working, does he have relationship problems, did his wife leave him, is he a lonely guy, does he not like talking to people, is there a grudge he is holding against someone, Did he just get cheated on a deal, or did he eat a bad sandwich just now? Tedious I know, but you would be surprised how just a little story can give your character so much appeal Not just the way he acts but how he acts
 NUMBA 2# " The character feels like they have to move more than they should move " This one left me dumbfaced but now the more I analyze it, I believe it heavily relates to #1 in a way each movement is for a reason. More meaning your character isn't a puppet that has to deliver lines and move around like many work I see nowadays. Your character has purpose and reason for every little thing they do. In order to make that feel natural, they have to be given reason to. Just in the expression alone can tell what someone is feeling something but look further and it can be for a totally different reason. What is there motive?

These two men are angry, but do you think it's for the same reason ?

Who the hell is this person and why is they acting like this ?   -Ali G

ANIMSQUAD JOURNEY

So this time I decided to do a documentary type style video on making my short for animation. Many friends and family who are in the dark about this process don't realize how much time and patience goes into animating a simple scene for a few seconds. This will be my time to shed light on the subject by the only way I know how. Posting Random Jibber Jabber. I hope I stick with it or fail Big either way it should be a bomb maybe I'll learn something. HERE WE GO so I'm gonna start off with week one finding audio clips!

 I think finding audio for an animation is probably the longest most stressful thing you can do WHY?! one is the shot going to be memorable to anybody that watches it ?
What was the last video you watched recently? Do you remember what it was about? Could you tell me who was in it or what it was advertising. You don't have actors to act what you have in your head, your constrained to the material that's available to you Youtube, TV, and Netflix etc. Probably what most of us do on a daily basis for entertainment. Three has this already been done before? Animation students multiple like the devil nowadays. What are we looking for that is outside of what everyone is choosing. It's like what's in fashion these days, the challenge is finding something new and fresh. Just make sure your not animating something somebody already did before you.

 Now they have a certain establish set of rules and what you can do in an animation for instance choosing audio needs to have substance and material in something that just isn't mellow. meaning voices need to have range. Example: High and Low tones, whispers to shots, gasping breathing, crying, stuttering, a sentence read by a professional actor doesn't need all these things to necessarily be good. The Point is if the words that are being spoken tell the story you are trying to portray.

 There was an instructor who gave an example from a previous student who did very awesome and is at Blue Sky..he then recommended that you find an audio clip similar to the selections he chose. The problem is that all the audio clips that were in the demonstration were all Chris Pratt from Parks and recreation. So you could have guessed the semester following was a Pratt Party. Pratt performance has substance he has range he has goofiness and funniness and comedy with good timing, this is gold for animators.

 Normally you would hear from seasoned animators in order to find a good audio clip you need to search hard this will take you anywhere between hours to days to possibly weeks just to find the best clip. So I put on my Indie Hat and crack my whip because I'm about to quest for some audio gold. I decided to go with two people interacting with one another because I don't have that on my demo and I figured I need to be challenged. I figured lets get some couples fighting because the only thing I have to really to work with or man and a woman. and I have real world man hours in the realm of fighting. Like with my girlfriend (not really)

 So after 4 days I got two 5 seconds clips. Dam! Then I found one funny clip from a YouTube movie that I thought was pretty hilarious just to give it some spontaneity and some spice to my selection. Wouldn't you know it my instructor chose the silly over Matthau and Lemmon. I had two stories lined up, but this one, this one is just silly! I could've pulled it from anywhere, but my Teacher Marlan knows best, he is the man, I Respect the Hell out of them so we gonna do the one like a boss.


 Already starting to set up the scene I have a story in my head that I think might make sense the end of the audio clip tells the viewer that they are in fact in a waterpark so that limits my settings to someplace of the waterpark that has something to do related to a waterpark and two people that are interacting with one each other the other not saying something but one talking in and leading the action of the shot Time to set some staging and blocking for this new shot starting of spring term of Adam squad.