I received some really good feedback from the class today regarding the thanksgiving animation. What I presented today was some half baked animation that had no business being played, you know some simple tracks a couple of fade in and thats it. It was nothing special and thanks to the class I have some good ideas to run off of. The difficultly in this animation is imcorporate two complete polar opposite themes, space and Thanksgiving.
The idea the class voted on was like a laser cat animation but with cosmo shooting a turkey out of space that blows up and turns into a cooked Thanksgiving meal. It should come out good, Rob gave the great idea to use the actual explosion of the Death Star from episode IV in the animation which should turn out great. Still on the fence about the song, but the class seemed to agree on like a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving song. If that does not work Ill try to find some other Thanksgiving themed songs but there not as popular as like Christmas songs so it might be a trouble.
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
Cucalorus
Its a shame as I walked out my last screening at Cucalorus this year that it was going to be my last as a film student at UNCW. It was an odd feeling, I remember when I first shook my nerves and took the bold step of volunteering in order to get those free tickets which are a necessity as a college student. My expectations where low that first year and man was I blown away by the size and scope. I can proudly say that this year I walked in with three years experience and they were still able to blow me away.
As I talked about in my last post I see visions as a hybrid between the Virginia Film Festival, in their more classy, conventional take of a film festival while Cucalorus is this wonky adventure where you'll never know what you'll get next. Right in-between classy and wonky Visions lies as quirky, theres a bit of class but also immaturity that may outshine the class which is dangerous duo, a duo thats not afraid to be serious during conventions but not afraid to take a shot of pickle-back jack.
Thats what I took most from all of my experiences from Cucalorus but especially this year because I was for the first time not a volunteer, is that is possible to be serious, fun and weird all the same time, which is more a skill then a habit. For me what doesn't work is the long distance between some venues. I know they have shuttles and buses but is it really worth the trip from downtown to like Jengos Playhouse when you can simply go there for the after party. It is just downtown is so lit up, different, and weird that is difficult to separate yourself from that crowd. With the Wilmingtonians drive theres a good chance you could get in a car accident simply for wanting to see a film. Just my thought.
As for jobs I would like to have, I don't know they all seem pretty fun but I guess being apart of Visual Sound Walls animations. They really transformed Ziggys into something you would recognize and offers such a unique experience that you cannot find anywhere else. I was also lucky enough to meet Johnny Gray who was in charge of the Visual Sound Walls. I was almost lucky enough to be his assistant for the event but his buddy who normally helped him out was able to free up some time. He did say he might need help with animations another time down the line so I gave him my contact information and look forward to hearing from him soon. The job I would not want would probably be the shuttle driver because your all cooped up in this car while everyone else is free to walk wherever they please while you have route like a bus driver. Nothing against bus drivers I just doubt if you asked one when they were younger what they'd like to be when they grow up I doubt its a bus driver.
The one thing I would differently if I was Cucalorus is to hand out awards for several reasons. One, the idea to display your film with no awards or competition was a great idea in the beginning when it was just local filmmakers from Wilmington who all knew each other and really did not want to win anything but have fun making and watching movies. However, where Cucalorus is at now in the International acclaims they are preventing really good films and filmmakers to present to come to Wilmington and inspire filmmakers like at our school. What I am trying to say is that by not handing out rewards you eliminate competition and competition is good because it pushes people beyond what they think they are capable of. If a local filmmaker knows that somebody from Sundance or the TIFF winner is showing a film at Cucalorus I guarantee all us filmmakers will step up our game to show to the world and to ourselves that we belong with that Sundance crowd.
There are a few things that Visions cannot do that Cucalorus does because of our sizes for one, is that we cannot hold a multiple day festival even as much as we would like too. This would benefit us because I know some kids have class on Friday and they cannot attend. Second, we cannot have separate venues because of lack of personnel and films. However, I do think it is possible if we tried you know one at Lumina the other at Thalian it would be tough and you do not want to stretch out or small staff too thin. Which brings me to my second point and that is a large influx of volunteers especially senior citizens. I met a myriad of volunteers of all sorts of ages from young to old. This may not work for us because we are a student ran organization but I know some older students with some grey hair and I do not see why we cannot reach out to them. But receiving the local support that Cucalorus does with the amount of revenue it brings to Downtown each year it will be hard to match that kind of impact for the local economy.
Screenings
Men & Chicken
Actor for Hire
Water Warriors
Shishito Shorts
Chilaca Shorts
Collective Unconscious
As I talked about in my last post I see visions as a hybrid between the Virginia Film Festival, in their more classy, conventional take of a film festival while Cucalorus is this wonky adventure where you'll never know what you'll get next. Right in-between classy and wonky Visions lies as quirky, theres a bit of class but also immaturity that may outshine the class which is dangerous duo, a duo thats not afraid to be serious during conventions but not afraid to take a shot of pickle-back jack.
Thats what I took most from all of my experiences from Cucalorus but especially this year because I was for the first time not a volunteer, is that is possible to be serious, fun and weird all the same time, which is more a skill then a habit. For me what doesn't work is the long distance between some venues. I know they have shuttles and buses but is it really worth the trip from downtown to like Jengos Playhouse when you can simply go there for the after party. It is just downtown is so lit up, different, and weird that is difficult to separate yourself from that crowd. With the Wilmingtonians drive theres a good chance you could get in a car accident simply for wanting to see a film. Just my thought.
As for jobs I would like to have, I don't know they all seem pretty fun but I guess being apart of Visual Sound Walls animations. They really transformed Ziggys into something you would recognize and offers such a unique experience that you cannot find anywhere else. I was also lucky enough to meet Johnny Gray who was in charge of the Visual Sound Walls. I was almost lucky enough to be his assistant for the event but his buddy who normally helped him out was able to free up some time. He did say he might need help with animations another time down the line so I gave him my contact information and look forward to hearing from him soon. The job I would not want would probably be the shuttle driver because your all cooped up in this car while everyone else is free to walk wherever they please while you have route like a bus driver. Nothing against bus drivers I just doubt if you asked one when they were younger what they'd like to be when they grow up I doubt its a bus driver.
The one thing I would differently if I was Cucalorus is to hand out awards for several reasons. One, the idea to display your film with no awards or competition was a great idea in the beginning when it was just local filmmakers from Wilmington who all knew each other and really did not want to win anything but have fun making and watching movies. However, where Cucalorus is at now in the International acclaims they are preventing really good films and filmmakers to present to come to Wilmington and inspire filmmakers like at our school. What I am trying to say is that by not handing out rewards you eliminate competition and competition is good because it pushes people beyond what they think they are capable of. If a local filmmaker knows that somebody from Sundance or the TIFF winner is showing a film at Cucalorus I guarantee all us filmmakers will step up our game to show to the world and to ourselves that we belong with that Sundance crowd.
There are a few things that Visions cannot do that Cucalorus does because of our sizes for one, is that we cannot hold a multiple day festival even as much as we would like too. This would benefit us because I know some kids have class on Friday and they cannot attend. Second, we cannot have separate venues because of lack of personnel and films. However, I do think it is possible if we tried you know one at Lumina the other at Thalian it would be tough and you do not want to stretch out or small staff too thin. Which brings me to my second point and that is a large influx of volunteers especially senior citizens. I met a myriad of volunteers of all sorts of ages from young to old. This may not work for us because we are a student ran organization but I know some older students with some grey hair and I do not see why we cannot reach out to them. But receiving the local support that Cucalorus does with the amount of revenue it brings to Downtown each year it will be hard to match that kind of impact for the local economy.
Screenings
Men & Chicken
Actor for Hire
Water Warriors
Shishito Shorts
Chilaca Shorts
Collective Unconscious
Tuesday, November 10, 2015
cucalorus Animation & Mini Bake Sale
After my mishap with the Four Ups and the Bake Sale the Vision staff came down on me hard and appropriately. It is getting towards the end of the semester and I began to slack an dI have to remember my responsibilities and duty to Visions but more importantly to my peers.
In a stroke of genius irony, I am honored to host my own mini Bake Sale to help make up for the unfortunate weather that moved our previous Bake Sale to a slow Friday. Anybody who is looking for extra help can help out or just trying to sell some baked goods.
On the menu, Hot Choclate, since we cannot sell coffee, and brownies with no peanuts.
As for Cucalorus, Grace and I came up with a clever animation that will help promote Cucalorus, Visions6, and UNCW. So don't forget to buy your tickets Cucalorus is from the Nov 11th-15th. It has been a pain trying to replicate the background design for the Cucalorus poster's. It appears they used a gradient and a variety of textures overlapping each other in Illustrator. With a little trial and error, I feel like I have come up with an effect that should fool human eye.
In a stroke of genius irony, I am honored to host my own mini Bake Sale to help make up for the unfortunate weather that moved our previous Bake Sale to a slow Friday. Anybody who is looking for extra help can help out or just trying to sell some baked goods.
On the menu, Hot Choclate, since we cannot sell coffee, and brownies with no peanuts.
As for Cucalorus, Grace and I came up with a clever animation that will help promote Cucalorus, Visions6, and UNCW. So don't forget to buy your tickets Cucalorus is from the Nov 11th-15th. It has been a pain trying to replicate the background design for the Cucalorus poster's. It appears they used a gradient and a variety of textures overlapping each other in Illustrator. With a little trial and error, I feel like I have come up with an effect that should fool human eye.
Virginia Film Festival
Only thing better than free tickets is free beer but that's not what I took away from my unforgettable experience at the VFF. The only other film festival I have ever been too is Cucalorus and it is in my opinion that Visions lies right in the middle between VFF and Cucalorus. VFF offers a template of how to host a prestigous film festival at a prestigious university in UVA, while Cucalorus shows you how fun it is to act weird. Visions has the ability, capacity, and manpower to surpass them both.
VFF had a timeless style to it, that was both simple and extravagant. They really showed, especially during their bumpers how a little animation can really make the seem feel alive rather than a static sponsor. They used the same animation and applied it on the sponsor page to make a normal eye saw into something cinematic. Do not tell anyone but we are totally going to rip this off for Visions.
I met some really interesting people as well at the festival, the boy who plays Louie on the FX hit show, Director of Outreach Diane, as well as the Clarence who was in charge of developing a commercial of for the festival.
VFF had a timeless style to it, that was both simple and extravagant. They really showed, especially during their bumpers how a little animation can really make the seem feel alive rather than a static sponsor. They used the same animation and applied it on the sponsor page to make a normal eye saw into something cinematic. Do not tell anyone but we are totally going to rip this off for Visions.
I met some really interesting people as well at the festival, the boy who plays Louie on the FX hit show, Director of Outreach Diane, as well as the Clarence who was in charge of developing a commercial of for the festival.
Monday, November 2, 2015
Sound Effects
Sound Effects for the animation were harder than I thought. It was easy to find a bunch of material by using freemusicarchive.com, bensounds.com, and YouTube but it was difficult to find the right sound for Visions6. At first I thought of using a background song but I did the animation first so it is difficult to find a song that matches the animation. Next time I am going to find the sound first and do the animate in rhythm with a song.
Ironically, I was looking for a suspenseful, slow for background sound to represent space and after hundreds of audio files the sound that fits best is the actual sound recordings of space, go figure. If you have the time you should check it out, the sound is pretty mesmerizing and the video where I got the sound is designed for meditation. It is really some trippy stuff. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyOZEBIH18I
Still do not know if it will fit perfectly for the current animation but I am definetely going to highlight the file to use in the future. It is a long file so we can snip and pick different parts for different animations to give variety while still coming from the same source.
Ironically, I was looking for a suspenseful, slow for background sound to represent space and after hundreds of audio files the sound that fits best is the actual sound recordings of space, go figure. If you have the time you should check it out, the sound is pretty mesmerizing and the video where I got the sound is designed for meditation. It is really some trippy stuff. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyOZEBIH18I
Still do not know if it will fit perfectly for the current animation but I am definetely going to highlight the file to use in the future. It is a long file so we can snip and pick different parts for different animations to give variety while still coming from the same source.
Visions Spokesperson
Zoe Michelle and I decided to have a spokesperson for Visions6 to have a figure people can associate with Visions6 and to use for publicity to make announcements. One idea is to have the robot which we have currently been using. But we came up with the idea of an Alien Astronaut because he fits the characteristics of this year visions, resilient, resourceful, and laid back which is perfect for our beach community campus and to have a more personnel character. We could have him like surf the solar waves in the galaxy and it shouldn't be too hard to swap him into the current animation bumper we just have to give him a jet pack
The pros and cons of both characters are plentiful. For the robot in theory he represents more of Hollywood then he would an independent filmmaker. You know the technical, mechanized, and relentless production of the Hollywood system is similar to a robot. We could make him into a villian? However the robot has a lot of potential as well because he would be able to do anything has arms, rockets, guns, saw, pogo stick, wheels you name it he has it which will make him fun to animate and plug him into anything.
As for the alien astronaut, MTV already uses an alien for their spokesperson so people may think we are just ripping off them. However like stated previously an alien robot matches our traits for this year Visions and would resonate more with our local area. We were also thinking of for the final animation we could have the alien astronaut named Maverick (clever, right?) be awarded the Visions6 pin like they do in real like while he already has the Vision logos from the past.
In the end it will be up the class to see which angle they want to go. The alien is a little new but we haven't revealed the robot to the public so their shouldn't be any confusion. I am cool which whatever character, I love them both. It would be tight if we could somehow incorporate them both and have a Robot vs. Alien like Hollywood v. Independent. Till Tuesday though.
The pros and cons of both characters are plentiful. For the robot in theory he represents more of Hollywood then he would an independent filmmaker. You know the technical, mechanized, and relentless production of the Hollywood system is similar to a robot. We could make him into a villian? However the robot has a lot of potential as well because he would be able to do anything has arms, rockets, guns, saw, pogo stick, wheels you name it he has it which will make him fun to animate and plug him into anything.
As for the alien astronaut, MTV already uses an alien for their spokesperson so people may think we are just ripping off them. However like stated previously an alien robot matches our traits for this year Visions and would resonate more with our local area. We were also thinking of for the final animation we could have the alien astronaut named Maverick (clever, right?) be awarded the Visions6 pin like they do in real like while he already has the Vision logos from the past.
In the end it will be up the class to see which angle they want to go. The alien is a little new but we haven't revealed the robot to the public so their shouldn't be any confusion. I am cool which whatever character, I love them both. It would be tight if we could somehow incorporate them both and have a Robot vs. Alien like Hollywood v. Independent. Till Tuesday though.
Fonts
For the call for entries I need to find some fonts to put into the animation. I am going to use some of the fonts that Devin used for the Call of Entries poster to keep the theme consistent. For Visions I am going to continue to use the title we used the logo. The problem I am facing is finding a font to use the title Call for Entries.
I went to adobe type kit and downloaded so new fonts. It was an extremely painless process and I actually had to stop myself from downloading every font they had. I highly recommend using Type Kit. The fonts that really caught my eye were Opus Mundi, Uppercut Angle, Pargi Jakarta and Balloon. I really like Balloon and Opus Mundi because they have different options for the same font which opens up the possibility to differentiate from headers and text. Opus Mundi for instance has A Gradient, Italic and 3-D shadow. While Balloon has a Balloon URW font that can be both bolded and regular along with a 3-D option as well. Its funny the fonts are so similar but so different its hard to decide.
Some benefits also to downloading fonts are that their numbers are the same too which is not the same for the regular fonts that are installed onto the computer. This is essentially because we have to display the dates and we use this & instead of and for the title in Visions, it looks better.
I went to adobe type kit and downloaded so new fonts. It was an extremely painless process and I actually had to stop myself from downloading every font they had. I highly recommend using Type Kit. The fonts that really caught my eye were Opus Mundi, Uppercut Angle, Pargi Jakarta and Balloon. I really like Balloon and Opus Mundi because they have different options for the same font which opens up the possibility to differentiate from headers and text. Opus Mundi for instance has A Gradient, Italic and 3-D shadow. While Balloon has a Balloon URW font that can be both bolded and regular along with a 3-D option as well. Its funny the fonts are so similar but so different its hard to decide.
Some benefits also to downloading fonts are that their numbers are the same too which is not the same for the regular fonts that are installed onto the computer. This is essentially because we have to display the dates and we use this & instead of and for the title in Visions, it looks better.
Animation
The vote was close but in the end the class voted for the robot 6-4 with the galactic orb coming in second. I am just gonna do the robot animation for know and keep the galactic orb on the back burner. It could still be used for the final bumper or the robot flying through space, it has potential.
The mask were harder than I thought, especially with the timing. It has been difficult timing up the speed of the robot with the speed of the mask but with trial and error it comes together. Now I just need to the call for entries dates along with the logo. I figure I am going to have the robot do like a fly by to hide the last frame then reveal the next image. Sound effects and the final look of the robot are going to come last.
For the background I made three separate star animations duplicated them a bunch of times and moved them around. In the end, a cool space background that feels like its alive and active. I am gonna a different version of the same animation but have a star instead of the robot. Should be an easy process just have to swap symbols after the animation is complete.
animatics
I have to come up with a few ideas for animations for Call for entries. Instead of going through the pain of making three animations I am just gonna do a few animatics to present to the class to figure out the angle we are trying to go for this year. Going back to the robot as our spokesperson the first animatic is going to depict him flying in space while his jet stream leaves a trail behind which becomes our logo. Pretty easy animatic but the animation will be difficult with sound effects and applying plenty of mask.
Sort of hit a dead end on the next two ideas thank god, I ran into the animator from last year Visions, Adam who told me about Video CoPilot. Video CoPilot is a fantastic site with free tutorial teaching complex animations through Adobe After Effects. So many great tutorials it was hard to dwindle the list down to two.
In the end I decided to do the galactic orb which is an animation of flying through space sort of like Star Wars light speed but ending in an orb that will have visions underneath it. The other option is a light animation where we will have the Visions title eclipse a light behind it. The camera will pan to the right allowing different light rays to break through.
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