Class Evaluation

1. Why did you take this class?
I decided to take both the film and animation class, at the time of making this decision I knew I wasn't very interested in video production. But I decided to take the class any ways to learn new skills and hopefully become a little less shy with my work. I was mainly interested in just the animation class but after taking a year of both I now know that I enjoy film making more than I do animation.

 2. In general, what did you like most about this class?
I really loved being able to see everyone's work. Its amazing how every one has a different style and are able to show this off. I also like the wide range of skill in the class and how were all able to goof around and every one gets a long really well.

 3. In general, what did you like least about this class?
I really dislike being critiqued, I know its good to have other people comment on your work but I feel like well all point out things that are wrong with the film or animation rather than saying what parts we really liked

 4. What was your most favorite project and why?
I think my favorite project would have to be our most recent and last, the final project. it was really fun seeing how people interpreted the given props and dialogue and came up with original pieces of work, no two films were alike.

 5. What was your least favorite project and why?
My absolute least favorite project would have to have been the documentary, It was really boring for me to talk about one topic and try to expand it into over five minutes. I think a lot of people didn't do the best on this because we didn't mange our time wisely. five minutes is a lot longer than it seams when you have to monologue on about some thing

 6. Discuss the overall effectiveness of the instructor (for example: preparation, availability, interest, content knowledge, expectations, etc.).
Every thing was always very neat and organized. from the Google calendar to checking in and out equipment. I think by far Mrs. Licata is the most organized instructor I've had in a long time most teachers cant even plan out a week let alone a month. I also enjoyed how we got to watch different films that we normally probably wouldn't watch, it was a nice break from working on projects constantly.

7. What are the most valuable things you learned in the class?
I believe one of the most valuable things I learned from the digital media class is to not be ashamed of your work. Not every one is going to like your films and that's perfectly okay. Not all of us have the same interest of hobbies and there is nothing wrong with that. If you are proud of your work then don't let what other people say get in the way of that.

 8. Do you feel that this class will help you achieve your future academic or career goals? How or why (or why not)?
For me personally I'm going into the Human services skills, but from working in a professional environment I have learned many helpful skills. I have learned to be more responsible with turning things in on time and also with time management.

 9. How could this class be improved?
 One thing that might make things easier is that if some one uses a camera in class they should have to check it out for the day ( in class) incase some thing breaks or wasn't put away right, you know exactly who it was. it is your responsibility to check the cameras and recorders before you check them out, but a lot of times you may miss some thing.

10. What would you tell incoming students to help them be more prepared for the class?
Manage your time wisely! I know a lot of people have been complain about the deadlines, but if you are to manage your time wisely deadlines should be no problem, also don't wait until the last day to film, cameras are not always available  when you need them to be, there's no punishment for turning some thing in early, however there is if some thing is late.

 11. Additional Comments:
Fishing. All in all I really loved being a part of this class, it was a wonderful experience to be able to work with every one, and I sure will miss every one next year.


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How to Make Your Film Look Cinematic When Your Lighting Setup is Less Than Ideal

The best way to make your films looks cinematic is lighting but what if you don't have the correct lights and set up?  There is ways around not having lights. one of the best ways to have correct lighting is to use natural light. your scene should show emotion based on what the film I on, like a dark ally for a creepy feeling in you film or a field full of flowers for a soft joyful feeling. colors play a huge art in making your film look cinematic. Highlighting a certain object in the back ground can show emphasis on an object with a meaning or make your character stand out so your eyes naturally focus in them.

This article was by far not my favorite, lighting isn't my favorite subject but I do agree with making your back ground seam interesting and have it be able to set the mood for the film. it wouldn't make sense having a scary movie shot in soft happy lighting, it only makes sense to set the mood before filming.

How 3D Printers are Changing Filmmaking

Stop motion, a form of animation that I really love, one of my favorite movies has to be Coroline. 3d printers have been very popular the last few years, and have been showing up in schools and colleges. But did you know that 3d printing can be used for stop motion animation? LAIKA entertainment's 2012 feature paranorman was one of the first stop motion animation movies to use different 3d printed elements. LAIKA has been working very hard to make stop motion easier for animators. they call this process "replacement animation" with is like swapping out different facial expressions, like customizing a character in a game. The face just kind of pops out to replace it with another expression. LAIKA has revolutionized the process by employing 3D printers to create these various facial expressions and limbs in motion. unfortunately its not quit that simple. The team first has to model the character by hand with real materials to keep there signature polished look. After this hand made model is created, it tis then scanned by a 3d scanner to make sure the three dimensional expressions are suited to 3D printing. The entire animation has to be perfectly planned out before any 3d printing is done.

I really loved reading about this, stop motion animations is some thing I would love to see more of, I think there really fascinating and to see that there are coming up with more ways to make it easier is amazing. I hope more people will get into making professional stop motion animations with these 3d printers. it was also really amazing to see how they actually work, we have one in my high school that I got to see a couple years ago with my digital photography teacher. we got to see one in action and hold the end results on the villa fieldtrip earlier in the year. digital printers will hopefull make our lives easier in the near future.

Weekly review 1/18/16-1/24/16

Week in review-   This week was a short week, with Monday being off for martin Luther king jr day. Tuesday was a work day and Wednesday our documentary was due, this came up super quick. Thursday we had a pretty long quiz on video techniques, which I don't think I did to well on. Friday there was a lighting demo that I missed because of a stupid stomach that's been going around. I honestly don't think I've ever puked so much in one day.

Some thing i learned-  Waiting until last minuet to change your idea for a huge project is not a good idea. prep work is some thing that really needs to be thought out in advance, it makes things so much easier.

Some thing i want to learn-  how to mange my time better, I tend to wait until last minuet to finish things or come up with a better idea and it sets me way behind.

Some thing that made me happy- finally being done with this documentary, I had so many problems with this project I'm just glad to be done with it.

Some thing that frustrated me-  I've had sooooo much home work this week end, Monday is the end of the semester for Lockport and all teachers give you a bunch of things that are due right at the end. I have honestly spent the last six hours doing home work. 

Link of interest-   http://www.abc.net.au/science/sleep/facts.htm  I know a lot of people are doing there lass completion on sleep deprivation, this link has 40 pretty interesting things about sleep.

You May Never Be as Good at Filmmaking as You Want to Be, & That's OK

Some thing that just about every one does is compare them selves to others, especially in film making and animating. in your eyes you may feel intimidated by some one else or think that there better than you. you may think that some one will always be better than you, but you are your own person you have your own ideas. Many people put them selves down because they think they will never be as good as some one they look up to, and this can eventfully lead to wanting to give up on film making or animating. you just have to always try your hardest and be the best you can be. look to people for inspiration not a comparison.

I really liked this link, it was on a more personal side where many people can relate, me especially. last year in the animation class I was almost embarrassed to show my animations because I had no confidence in them, because I was constantly comparing my self to others, thinking that they will think its dumb of not animated very well. i'm sure many people have been through this struggle but you can only continue to do what you love to do and not let other people's work put you down, look to them for inspiration.

Thumbnails and Planning.

 Planning and creating a story board for your animation is some thing you always need to do before you add in details, or even begin to think about animating. Having a well planed out and well thought story board will help you later down the road. this can save you a lot of time and money. When planning your beginning steps for an animation you don't want to make them very detailed. its better to have just enough detail so you can tell what the movements are. Later in production you can add details and color depending on the animation. to much detail at first makes it hard to go back and tweak small points. when doing this you really want to show the movement and not the detail.

This wasn't one of my favorite articles to read it was very short and not a lot to say. every animator should start off with a story board, new animators and old. this helps you get ideas and lets you add in details later when you are actually animating. its also important to draw different poses of your character from different angles to really know the character completion. different facial positions and expressions are important to draw also to know what your character would look like wither different emotions and when saying different words. It really is important to plan out your animation before animating.

Weekly review 8

Week in review-   This week went by kind of slow.  Monday we had our documentary conferences , to talk about what were going to do for our next big project. Tuesdays Wednesday and Thursday were all shadowing days.  Wednesday Niagara falls came, i think maybe one or two were at least a little bit interested in this program. most of them talked in our demo or were on there phones. Thursday Starpoint came, and they actually seamed interested in this class, they asked questions and talked about there experiences with programs and even thanked us for showing them some cool things.  Thursday we also had an explosions demo in aftereffects. its a lot easier then i thought it was going to be. but this will be a fun project to do since we can get footage of some thing we want to blow up. Im honestly glad were done with shadowing for a while now to work on explosions and the typography project.

Some thing i learned-   Well, Thursday we leaned about explosions, yay. this is some thing i wanted to do for a while, and when i heard we were eventually doing this project i just couldn't wait. Again its a lot easier than i thought it was going to be.

Some thing i want to learn- Id like to learn more bout my new camera, so many settings i have no idea what they mean. I'm going to end up reading the little book that comes with it front to back.

Some thing that made me happy- I'm just about done with my typography project, just want to make a few adjustments. Bridge didn't crash on me for once, yay. I also got a camera a few weeks ago so i don't have to worry bout signing one out anymore.

Some thing that frustrated me-  Saturday we brought my great grandma to the states from Canada for a visit, and on the way back to bring her home the boarder people stopped us and made her walk up into the building to be scanned and have all these background checks done, because she has a dual citizenship and her passport doesn't say that she lives in Canada. She's 94, can hardly walk and it was freezing outside. They gave her such a hard time an were beyond rude to us all. On the way home they yet again stopped us, saying that one of the carpets were folded over in they trunk. So they pulled us aside again and tore out every thing in the trunk, went through every little nook and cranny of the car. On top of that my mother had had her daily medication and vitamins in a small container in her purse. Well they thought she was trying to sell drugs in Canada so another two hours go by with them searching the car again. Apparently its illegal to carry medication in any other container than the one it comes in, if she didn't have the Walgreens app on her phone we would have been detained over night in Canada until they could verify that they were hers. Not a fun day.

Link of interest- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gb6xGKxRpP8 this link it so a Photoshop tutorial that i thought was really cool. This adds a smoke effect to your image, an makes it look like your image is make of smoke. This person has many photoshop tutorials, some better than others. i always liked to play around with photoshop and there are tons of tutorials out there to do amazing things in this program.

Keys to creating complex transitions.

Transitions, some thing I personally don't like. I find most of them kind of cheesy, even know they are very helpful. Transitions are often over looked or underused. Transitions connect two parts of a story. Make sure that the subject in your videos are lined up perfectly and that the lighting is the same in both parts of the transitions, to make a seamless transition from one clip to another. Sound is very important. even if you footage isn't the best or don't fit very well together the right sounds can totally change that to make the transitions better. when the perfect sounds and clips are put together it can really seam amazing. this helps make the transitions fluid.

This wasn't one of my favorite articles, there wasn't very much information provided and when I watched the first video to me it was like there was no transitions at all. the transitions he was talking about was one clip fitting with the next clip, I don't really consider that transitions, more like clip alignment. There was a lot of amazing shots in the video some that make you wonder how they accomplished that with out breaking the camera or how close they must have been to some what dangerous things to get the right video needed.

Weekly review 7

Week in review-  Tuesday and Thursday we had 10th grader shadowing, and its not very fun. Wednesday there was a typography quiz and a notebook check. I'm also about half way done on my typography project, hopefully ill be able to finish in time.

Some thing I learned-  typography is a lot harder than it looks, especially with adobe bridge hating me. I ended up starting over and my second project is coming together much better.

Some thing I want to learn-  I really want to learn how to make explosions, I think this will be a super fun project and cant wait until we can start them

Some thing I enjoyed-   I did enjoy finishing my tutorials finally, and starting in my type project, once I got the hang of it

Some thing that frustrated me- shadowing, shadowing is no fun. most of the time no one says any thing not even a smile a giggle or a hello, like there scared of us or some thing. I cant wait until shadowing Is over.

Link of interest-   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOi5P1qxrM4 this is a link to a tutorial on how to do a simple typography project, this helped me out a lot because I wasn't even sure where to start off,

The peanuts movie.

Honestly I was never a big fan of the peanuts movies, every year my family would always go the extra mile to call every one and let them know that the movie is on, so its been like a family tradition that I'm not a part of. It is nice to see that they kept the original character designs from when it was 2d, into a 3d animation.  Each character looks exactly the same, just in a more 3d style. before they are able to animate in 3d, they drew out every scene in a comic book strip to make sure every part is just like they want it to be before they go ahead and animate it in a 3d animating program. They must also make fully rigged designs of each character, from being able to move there joints to changing facial expressions. The style of this 3d animation is amazing, like the different shades of colors in there faces really give it a nice touch. the snow in this movie is amazing looking it really looks fluffy and cold, and even has small sparkles in it like real snow would have, the characters may be some what simple but they really paid attention to small details that really adds to the over all animation and makes it look fantastic.

Weekly Review 6

Week in review- Oh my goodness, Just about every day this week we had an after effects demo, and tutorials. Monday there was a fieldtrip to Daemen, but I didn't go, I went last year and I'm not interested in that college. Most of the tutorials are fairly easy so far but the one type one I keep messing up and have to redo it. Its quite frustrating.

Some thing I learned- This week we learned quite a bit about after effects and I'm likening it so far, One thing that is kind of odd is you have to preview different effects in a different program, but  its fun to see all the different things you can do to a video clip.

Some thing I want to learn- In the future id like to learn more about computers,  maybe take a computer class or two in college. I have never been good with computers at all

Some thing that frustrated me- Well most of the day Sunday my computer was being wonky, and wouldn't connect to my internet or only connect for a few moments, Luckily my boyfriends going to college for computers and he fixed it right up. Good thing because I know very little about computers.

Something that made me happy- Finishing a tutorial Is always wonderful, only one more to go and I'm all caught up. (I think) I also got to see the new hunger games movie, mocking jay part two over the week end, it wasn't as good as I was hoping it to be, in my opinion it seams like each movie gets a little bit worse. Not to mention the popcorn wasn't good.

Link of interest- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juPPR53K9M8    I thought this video was quite interesting, It shows a bit of the green screen work in the hunger games movie, It talks a little bit about how the actors did random movements and was later animated in to look like they were using this holographic table thing.

Inside out

        I really really wanted to see this movie when it first came out and I hear a lot of good things about it. they really did put a lot of small details into this film, for instance joy is some what in charge of all Riley’s other emotions to show that children are kind of care free and happy. The fathers main emotion is madness, to show his competitive nature and when watching the game. on the other hand the mothers main emotion is sadness, to she that's she is still a bit uneasy after the move. every one has different emotions some stronger than others. Another thing I liked about this film is there take on memories, your long term memories go into Rem when you fall into a deep sleep and settler there way into the long term memory, while short term memories kind of just get flushed out right away

 

        Over all I liked this article, I wish it was more in an information state rather then question and answer, I feel like the characters were designed very well and showed off there specific emotion very nicely. I cant wait for this movie to come out on to dvd so I can see the full movie. some thing I really likes about this movie is the characters them selves, each one is either very likeable or not so much and that's clear to see, the textures on the characters also made then stand out even know they remind me of some kind of sour candy. This movie is like a one of a kind, not many other movies deal with certain emotions as there own being, so its a first.

Weekly review 5

Weekly review- On Monday this week we had a premiere demo and also got to listen to the group sound effect scavenger hunt. Tuesday we finished up out quest trailers and handed them in. Wednesday our second group project, the shot scavenger hunt project was due and today (Thursday) we got to watch every ones project, our group did pretty well and got most of the shots correct. tomorrow e get to go on a field trip to Villa Maria college along with the graphics class and fashion class. later in the day we we will get to watch the animation class's flour sack animation. for me this was one of the more difficult projects so it will be interesting to see how well they did.

Some thing i learned-  i learned that its hard to get a clear shot, thats not super shakey with the schools dollys. Theres not to many great surfaces to roll the dolly on. It was also cool learning about different shots and how to do them, some are quite difficult like the extra credit one but the end result it really cool.

Some thing i want to learn- I need to learn how to be more confident in my work, even when filming I'm afraid of failing or, no one will like my ideas or not see it the way I see it.

Some thing that frustrated me- some how i managed to pull a muscle in my leg, and its a bit sore to walk up or down stairs. The marking period for my high school also ends Friday and my english teacher told me i owed two things that i know i handed in, so i had to redo them. i'm glad i asked her, i was certain i didn't owe anything.

Some thing i enjoyed- i think its really cool to see others people's work, and i cant wait to see the morning classes animations. Saturday morning i'm going with my step mom to get her new puppy. i hope her other dogs like him, Im a bit worried because she has two full grown dogs (husky and a husky-chow mix) so i hope every one gets along.


Link of interest-http://emptyeasel.com/2012/08/12/how-to-be-a-more-confident-artist-and-grow-your-art-business-too/ This link shows a few steps to help you become more confident in your art work. I lack confidence in my art, films and snimations big time, and this always effects the final result.

THE CINEMATIC HISTORY OF FAKE BLOOD

This video gives some history on fake blood and shows different ways to make it. Stage blood has been around for a very long time, stage blood began being used in a theater in Paris France. This theater featured plays that were very gory, including dismemberment and even eye gouging. this theater was widely popular until the early 1960's when the audience began going to drive in theaters instead. At this theater the fake blood they made was made up of equal parts carmine and glycerine. This formula is one of the easier ones to make, and is quite effective. Its important to make sure that the fake blood is relatively the same color when shooting different days. Many black and white films began using chocolate syrup as blood because it was dark and showed up really well in black and white. Also easy to use and already prepared. Not to many black and white movies had a lot of gore, just a quick glimpse of something, if anything. In the year 1952, the court case Joseph Burstyn, inc v. wilson came to play, this case resulted in films being protected by fee speech. large studios began using wide screens, surround sound and epic productions. while on the other hand independent moviemakers were using blood sex and monsters to lure people in. another type of fake blood used is kensington gore, which is made up of golden syrup, water, corn starch food coloring and a bit of peppermint for a better taste. this type of fake blood was first used by Hammer Film studio, and specialized in gory reboots of classic horror icons that featured a lot of blood.

This video was quite long but had a lot of history in it, i enjoyed this video because it shows how far gore has come in movies. Its also cool to see how to make different types of fake blood depending on what kind of effect you need, its better and cheaper than halloween blood. i would have never thought of using chocolate syrup in a black and white film, but it actually looks really good.

Behind Marvel’s marvelous trailer titles

New movie trails have to be good, this is what basically determines if a person wants to see this movie or not, on several occasions I've seen movie trailers, and they ended up being not as good as the actual movie, or the parts in the trailer where the only good parts, sure you want to make the movie look good but you don't want to over do it with the trailer where the movie almost seams boring compared to the trailer. Another important part to a movie is the title, you want the title to really pop, so when some one sees this movie in a store they know exactly what it is and don't have to try and figure it out. Color can set the mood of the film too, based on the colors of the title you can determine on your own what kind of movie this is or what it is about.

This article was not one of my favorites, it was quite boring to be honest, not to mention I know little to nothing about marvel. This article mostly explained about Fede Ponce and his experience making marvel trailers. it was interesting that they usually work on the trailer 2-3 years before the movie is out. The trailer starts off with an idea which is turned into a sketch which then is turned into a 3d version.

8 Habits of People Who Always Have Great Ideas

People who always come up with great ideas haves several habits that they use when coming up with an amazing idea. Creativity depends on many different things from experiment to time limit. Most people look else where for inspiration, if your sitting there thinking to much about what to do for a video project or an animation an idea will never come to you. I had this problem when I trying to think of some thing good to do for the PSA project, then I randomly thought of some thing good when I was watching a movie. Making slower decisions can also help you to come up with better ideas, having a longer time to think about some thing is much better than needing to make a decision about some thing the very next day. A very creative person must be very interesting, involving, exciting, satisfying, or personally challenging, this allows some one who is passionate about creativity to be more, well creative. Creative people make things from scratch, instead of building off an existing idea. come up with some thing totally new, be original. A creative person is one who is willing to take risks and try new things. I need to work on trying new things, I would much rather take the easy way out than to take a risky path. Learning from past experiences is another important topic, if you know some thing will end badly why retrace those steps? learn from your mistakes and weaknesses.

Overall I really enjoyed this article. creativity is now my strong point, I had the hardest time last year coming up with an idea for the 2d and 3d shorts, id rather have guide lines to follow than having to come up with some thing all on your own. This article helps you think out side the box a bit and learn how to get in touch with your creative side. Any one who is having trouble with creativity should look over these 8 habits of creative people.

Weekly Comments 4

Weekly Review- This week was a bit slow, Monday Tuesday and Wednesday we had premier demos.  After the demos we got to listen to some peoples sound stories, some were really amazing and you could just imagine what was going on. Unfortunately some of my audio got cut out some how, i handed it in with out listening to the exported file. Thursday we handed in our first group project that we have been working on for the past two week, the sound scavenger hunt project. Every one was put into a group and had to figure out how to recreate sounds, every one was given a part to do. Friday was mostly a work day, i was able to finish all four of my premier demos and even work on blogs. Next year our class will have to wear class uniforms or shirts, luckily we don't have to.

Some Thing i Learned- this week i learned a lot about premier. Some new tools we learned about are the ripple edit tool which allows you to move every other clip down after a clip id deleted. The rolling edit tool, keeps the duration the same but alters the length of clips next to the selected clip. We also learned about the pen tool which is very helpful wen adding key frames, you can also adjust audio levels with the pen tool.

Some Thing i want to learn- next week Tuesday we are going to have a camera demo, and i cant wait. once we learn a bit about the camera we can get into producing and editing our own films! Our first big project is the PSA project, prep work is due Wednesday he 28th.

Some thing i enjoyed- i really did enjoy working my way into the tutorials, i enjoy learning new things about video editing, much more than animation. (No offense) Over the weekend i also got a new pet, its called an axolotl, they are amphibians but they never leave water, so there kinda like a plant fish lizard.. thingy. The also have the cutest smile and always look happy. They eat frozen blood worms which is kind of gross. His name is chrome.

Some Thing That Frustrated Me- This week was quite easy going, so nothing really bothered me, i suppose the premier demos are a bit tedious. I also had to present a project in statistics all alone in from of a good twenty people, i hate public specking i get so nervous.

link of interest- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT8lw1Rl-WM this link is to a psa that i thought was very good. This psa is simple but a very emotional one and i think they got there point across very well.




ps- my step mom has recently got a new puppy, just have to wait a few weeks until we can bring him home, but no one can decide on a good name for him, she was thinking about naming him Gunner any one have any ideas?

How Virtual Reality Could Change the Way We Watch Movies

In the next few years movies could be shown with virtual reality headsets like the oculus rift or the Samsung gear vr. unfortunately there is no standard technology or off-the-shelf gear for capturing 360 degree 3D video yet. Inventors are doing there best to get the technology up to par, we already have all the basic principles we need. building some thing with a full 360 degrees of video requires a camera or even multiple camera with several different sensors in each. This makes the cost of these virtual head sets very expensive over $350. These headsets will change the future of movies and gaming. they allow the player or watcher to feel like they are right inside the game, allowing them to look around and move as if they were actually inside of the game.
 

Action Scenes

What makes a good action scene you may ask, well a good action scene will always show exactly what is going on instead implying that some thing happened. Wider shots and loner movements also allow you to see every thing that is going on rather than a close up. A clear since of space is important too, this helps you to focus on important things rather than the back ground. Emotion is super important in an action scene, show how the characters are feeling and what is going threw there mind, show why they make that decision. Another element that is really important is character development. having characters that don't fit in in with the over all story may make your action scenes seam out of place, the more attached some on is to a character the more they would root for them in a fight, hoping they make it out alive which makes the viewer want to continue watching the film.

~Weekly comments 3

Weekly review- this week we finished up the worth 1000 project, they look really good up on the wall, some people handed in several different projects. on Friday we watch the movie Hugo, over all I enjoyed the movie, and had some funny parts. The colors and the camera angles really made the movie great.

Some thing I learned- One basic thing I learned this week is how to resize a photo in photo shop. you can also see what percentage you increase or decreased the image size by.

what I want to learn- id like to learn more shortcuts in photo shop. I always go into the drop down menus and try to navigate around.

Some thing I enjoyed- I did enjoy watching a movie in class, photo shop is fun and all but it can get to a point where it is annoying and it was nice to take a break from it.

Some thing that frustrated me- well since I'm considered the "artistic one" in the family, family members are always saying "Andrea could do that" now I have to do my cousins history project, which he has to make an Indian long house out of twigs and things. he's more musical than artistic

Link of interest-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAhBz8F2N9E This is a link to a simple Photoshop animation. the gives you the basics of how to begin an animation. this helped me because I had not the slightest clue as to where to even begin.