Thursday, May 21, 2015

The Immaculate Compendium of Junior Year

○ My Emagine Experience

  

The Human Condition 


- The Human Condition was a 2D animation which I created primarily for the Emagine Media Festival. It was meant to be a "Dystopian" landscape which was very surreal and  different. I had alot of fun making this and I felt that it was pretty well done for the week and a half that I spent working on it. I liked the multiplane animation and thought that I was really cool, and I enjoyed making it.

Heavyset Gentleman


- My first quarter project was a 3D character who is a man wearing bikers clothing including a helmet and boots. I decided to make this project mostly because at first I had wanted to make a 3D model of a heavier man.I eventually got to this Motorsport man with a helmet and a larger gut which was enjoyable. I thought it turned out pretty well for my first Organic Model.

Overall Experience with Emagine

- I found the emagine awards ceremony very interesting as I placed with my 3D Organic model the heavyset Gentlemen. The ceremony was very enjoyable as normal and it was a chance to see the best that local highschoolers can do. I hope that next year I can get a top three placement or a Pixel, I feel that with what I have learned over my Junior year I can do well next emagine.

○ Storybook Animation 

  • Beginnings

- I chose this book because I had remembered enjoying it as a kid, I had also thought about choosing "Go Dog Go" as that was one of my favorites as a child. I also chose "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" because it would allow me to a type of 2D animation I could try without much drawing as much of it was based off vectors of the alphabet. Overall I thought that this was a good choice for my book.

  • What I learned

- I learned many things about the pacing and the movement of multiple vectors. I also learned how to use After Effects for more fluid animation as I had typically worked with Maya and other 3D softwares. I feel that this allowed me to explore new realms of animation and learn a lot about myself. The hardest part was keeping interest in the animation as time went on, I ended up on a hiatus for a bit and worked on a 3D model of a Spitfire Plane instead; yet in the end I finished my storybook animation and feel it ended up pretty well.

  • Final Result

Here is my final storybook animation, I felt that it came out pretty well; however it still lacks a proper narration and some of the movement is choppy or to slow. I feel that overall it is acceptable and took much more time then expected yet it was still a learning experience and taught me a lot in the process of making it. 

○ Greenscreen Final

  • General Premise

- The idea of having John Pace high-five me  and explode resulted from the serendipity of the creative process by throwing ideas at a wall and hoping one sticks. We came to like the idea and it soon became our final greenscreen project. 

  • Scope and goal

- The goals of the project were to finish it in the short time allotted due to John being gone half of the hours due to theater. That limited the scope of the project; yet we still learned alot and had a good time making the project.

  • Process

- We followed the typical process of creating a greenscreen project by filming, keying in after effects, and adding the effects to the original video. It was not very hard as most of the challenge came from the time restraints. I would have liked to do more with our greenscreen project but in the end it came out pretty well for the simple edits which we made.

  • What did I learn ?

I. I learned how to use Keylight and basic green screening, also the importance of making sure the camera is in focus and that you have good lighting when you film.  What I learned that could carry onto later projects and in life is to not procrastinate projects, as that makes you rush what could have been much better. Also it is hard to film when your partner is in a different hour half the time.

  • What would I change

- I would have enjoyed more time and structure to the project as it could have allowed more creative ideas to come to the table and be worked on. I would also like more time to work with John as his predicament with theater took many hours of work time away. ...... Fix the blurry camera and stuff....

  • What would do the same

- I would keep the project similar and be sure to include someone exploding. I would also most likely continue to work with John as our creative minds work pretty well in conjunction. I think that there we a lot of positives to this project that were over shadowed by the lack of time and the amateur  greenscreen edits which occurred. 

  • How will this enhance my next project

- I now know how to Keylight and make greenscreen edits in After Effects. I also have a better understanding of time management and how to use that in favor of improving my projects. I learned a lot from this project which could improve my future work.

  • In conclusion

- Overall I feel that the greenscreen project was a good learning experience where I learned how to make edits for special effects and apply them to real film. I also learned a lot about the basics of film and how that could improve upon future projects I could make. I enjoyed working with John for this project and I felt that even if it was far from perfect it was good.


○ My E-Communication experience

- E-Communication has had a positive impact on me as it has allowed me it differentiate myself from other people of my age. It has allowed me to work with technology and software that I would have otherwise never had a chance to use. I learned a lot this year in animation from 3D to stop motion, and I feel that what I have learned will benefit me in the future with the arts and make me a more rounded person. 

Thursday, April 2, 2015

The eMagine Media Festival

Every year the Olathe Northwest E-Communication program hosts a media festival which many of the youth from the Kansas City area can participate in. As a member of this program I am expected to enter something of my work into the festival in hope of obtaining an award for my labor.  This year I have created a  2D multiplane animation of a surreal and weird place that I have labeled "The Human Condition". I hope to do well and any placement would be an achievement for me.

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Quarter 3: Childrens Book Animation

Third Quarter: Children's Book Project

  • Background Information

For our Third Quarter project we as a class are animating children's books for 
The Children's Mercy Hospital. The book that I have chose to animate is "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" by Bill Martian Jr. The book is a simple story about the Alphabet letters, that climb up a coconut tree and proceed to fall out then go home to their families. I feel that this animation should turn out fine, and is something new for me to try.

  • Pre-Production 

  • Storyboard

The storyboards of this animation are very rough. I had made them just to give myself a brief idea of how I want each of the letters of the alphabet to enter the screen.  The storyboards while being quite rough will benefit me in the creation and the voiceover segments of the animation.  

  • Voiceover

The voiceover for this animation has been pretty successful for at least the rough draft. I may need to edit parts of the speech where there is static or other interruptions in the background of the recording. Other then that I feel that the voiceover will work fine for the rough animation which outlines what I will be doing for the first minute of my animation.

  • Rough Animation

This is the first minute or so of the rough animation which I have created to show my brief ideas. The Lime-Green and Purple line at the bottom is being used for the "floor" for now, and will be removed later in development. Also the intervals that have been labeled "Transition" will be replaced with a short animation of the coconut tree becoming more warped. 

  • Finished




After a few months of work this is the final production of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.