Here is my favorite and smoothest animation, a worm guy. I decided to convert it to a gif, so it keeps playing! For this, we learned how to manipulate and bend 2D objects, and use a null. Isn't he just a cute worm? Possible Future Disney Animator, right here. I said this is my smoothest animation, although the more I watch it, the more noticeable that bump that means the animation cycle is repeating becomes. I kind of want to smooth it out more. But hey, I still like it.
A Pen
This one isn't a moving animation, but it teaches a skill required to be a modern animator: 3D modeling. Everyone's pen looks a little different, that's because we base it off of our real life pens. For 3D modeling, we learned a lot: polygons, booleans, texturing, and lighting to name a few. Most of the time, I was having trouble with Maya, but this pen didn't turn out so bad. It looks like a pen you would see in a 3D animated movie, and that is good enough for me. However, some parts should be more transparent, but I've finished it.
A Ball
Here is a remake of something I made in Freshman year, and something I was drawing on paper long before that: A Bouncy Ball. Only this time, I used Adobe After Effects for the first time. I learned how to use keyframes for animation, instead of just drawing every single frame. It definitely looks more realistic than my Freshman animation, the squish and stretch method is a bit more subtle. It stops when it reaches its highest point though, and that does annoy me a bit. All in all though, I like it.
A Panorama
This is probably my most majestic animation. We studied Bambi, and learned that Walt Disney used a panorama machine for the opening shot. This made the forest move with the camera, while the sky stayed still, like looking out the window of a moving car. Instead of a big machine though, we used layers in Photoshop, some of them longer and traveling faster than others. The only problem I had was this (and it was very minor) is that I can't draw. So the grass in just a brush option, the moon and sky aren't blended very well, and the wolf was attempted. But the most important part of animation is appeal, so I added music to complement the night sky. I was also going to add trees, but ran out of time. But I still really like it.
A Story
This one has its own blog post about the whole process of making it, and I really like it. I may be, well, not good at drawing, but I definitely hit the appeal principle. This was putting everything I learned in Adobe After Effects together to create a short film. Although a few things could be improved, like opening the setting a bit more, I'm really proud of it.
This semester, I took video production, and we've focused more on the journalism side of video. Here are 2 projects I made:
ONW 1 in 200 Interview
This is a news interview of my friend, Lizzie. This took 2 classes to film, 3 to edit, and I chose not to revise. Some challenges I faced was finding a good location in the building to film. I found a well-lighten hallway, yet students occasionally passed through. However, I learned how to use white balance. The feedback was positive, and I was praised for the creativity of the interview. This is probably my best video of the semester.
Feature Story: The Culture House and The Arts
My most recent project is another shot at the whole feature story thing. This took around 2-3 hours to film, 3 classes to edit, and 1 to revise. Some challenges I faced were finding subjects and classrooms to film in. I wanted to interview teachers, but obviously teachers have to teach, so I didn't interview my first choices. But the very nice receptionist helped guide me, so props to her! Some feedback I received was that the subjects were looking in the wrong direction while the camera was rolling, but it was on me because I didn't realize this. Lesson learned: YOU direct YOUR interviews. Obviously I wasn't going to re-film the whole thing. When I was revising though, I noticed a few jump cuts from when I was cutting the interviews, and covered those up with b-roll. I really like this one though.
Now how did I use this time to film, edit and revise?
How I used my Time
Of course, the first step was the concept. You can't just walk into somewhere with a camera and start filming random stuff, you have to plan out how you are going to use your filming time. In my freshman year, I would storyboard, but this semester I used writing. I would write out my interview questions, describe b-roll I could get, and voiceover.
The next part is filming. I would interview my interview subjects, and film my b-roll. Just in case I didn't have enough b-roll, I would film some more.
Then I would edit. I would try to get my video in the time limit, and cut my interviews so that it flowed without me asking questions.
When I was done, I would rewatch it, export it, and upload it to YouTube. We watch all the videos in class, so I know what to revise through feedback. Then I would export and upload the final project.
Strengths
I think I was doing the best as creativity. I knew cool shots to get, and how I would get them. I was also good at cutting videos just right, so that the b-roll was interesting and the interviews flowed nicely.
Improvements to Make
Definitely need to improve my use of the camera. I still don't feel comfortable holding and operating a camera, with things like the tripod, white balance, and focus.
Summary
This semester was a good one, and I liked journalism more than I thought I would (even though I still prefer Entertainment). I would take more control of my interviews though. Next semester, I would like to unleash my creativity and have fun making the short films. Well, see y'all 2017!
And now, I will just talk about this article here. Isn't it really cool? I've heard about how the team of Zootopia had animated every hair on every mammal in the movie, but this article goes really in depth. To make all that fur, they used a program called XGen. Watching the video, you can see how layered and detailed the hair on the koala is. Each strand is in a certain direction. The animators went to zoos to see real animal fur, and that's how they knew precisely how to model it.
The article goes into other aspects of Zootopia, like the vegetation.
Here's a little something I did: How to Start a New Project in After Effects, and the wordy title says it all. All you have to do is open the program, create a new composition, and then import your footage. Yep, it is really easy. It is import to make the compositions though, because those act as scenes for your video, and you can organize them. Hope this helped, and good luck starting out!
It is my first short film that I made in animation class! So watch it and enjoy, then read this. It was a major project, pretty much most of our Quarter grade. So we took a few weeks to make it. The story was probably the easiest part for me to make, since I have experience with plot planning. In the image below, you can see the original concept. The introduction and credits had to be cut, however, because of deadlines.
And the storyboard:
Then I drew our epic anti-hero, Adrianna:
....in Photoshop:
Later, I decided to add expressions:
I didn't sketch the guards on paper first. I just drew them straight from Photoshop. "He looks like a mii." -Actual feedback I got.
Then I drew the backgrounds. There was supposed to be a lot more, as you can see in the storyboard, but *sigh* deadlines.
Then I drew our very sacred orb. I used a picture of an opal as reference. I used some Photoshop effects to make it glow. For the screenshot, I gave it a black backdrop so y'all can see.
But then *spoiler warning* dun Dun DUN...Adrianna is frightened by the bell and breaks it. The glow effect is deleted and I separate it to pieces.
For the final image, I made the title:
Yay! Now everything is done in Photoshop and I can import it into After Effects.
After this I found all the audio files. Here are the links to them:
Okay, now I can start animating. For each scene, I made a composition, and ended up having 12 scenes. As you can see, they are all lined up on the timeline. Inside each of those bars, I used what I knew to make the scene. Here is scene 6 (a.k.a. the one where her arms reach for the orb, but the bell rings):
I have the layers for both her arms, with keyframes for the movement.
I did this for every scene, in different ways. Scene 2 was a panorama, and Scene 4 was a walk cycle (Scene 3 was deleted). After every scene was made, I just lined them all up, added sound effects, and exported it.
Personally though, I feel that it was underdone, and I would like to fix it one day. Yet there is something we learned called appeal. Appeal is story based, and you can get away with bad drawing if your story is good enough. That is what I was aiming for, and I feel like I hit just that. So I guess I'm proud of my first short animation.
Hear ye, hear ye! Gather thou citizens, and observe ye first structure in Maya! I'm such a nerd...
So here is our first true project in this new program. Before we made this castle, we had a little tutorial project to play around with it, and then we were tasked to make this monstrosity.
How Thou Art is Created
First, we started with the columns. We used the cylinder tool to make, well, a cylinder. Then we made another slightly wider, shorter cylinder for the top. We had some creative freedom, so I used the cone tool to make the spires at the top. Once we were finished with that, we merged it all together and duplicated it 3 times.
Then we made the walls. This part was very simple. First we aligned the columns evenly, so that every wall would be even. Then we used the rectangle tool to make one wall. After that, we duplicated it 3 times and aligned all the walls just right so that the castle is a square from the floor plan view. For creative freedom, I put the little top things on it.
And then we had to cut a door in one of the walls. This is the part I struggled with the most, so it's not perfect. I made a wider rectangle into the side of the wall, and then used a boolean to try to make it cut. Instead of cutting all the way through though, for some reason it cut half-way into the wall and caused some lighting error. I couldn't fix it.
Finally, we colored it. I right clicked everything and selected Blinn. Because of the lighting error, I could not give it a stone texture, and could only make it white, gray, or black. I decided to make is black, and called it shadow castle. Shadow Castle is an evil magical castle. Only when looking at the right angle, can one find the entrance. Hey, when you make a mistake, make it part of the act!
Update on ye 11th of November
I fixed my castle! I somehow made my whole castle disappear by attempting to zoom out, so I started over. Here is a screenshot:
The orchestra at ONW will be going to Carnegie Hall! Of course, this was huge news, and at the same time I had a project for a feature story.
What is a Feature Story?
A feature story is like an interview, which you saw with my ONW 1 in 2000 post. Only, it is a bit more in depth. I had to include a main interview (my good friend, Brenna), and an interview from another source (the orchestra director Mr. Martin). Aside from that, I included b-roll. The difference though, it that this b-roll has natural sound (usually called nat-sound). Yes, I did include Brenna plucking the Mystic Messenger theme. And instead of just two voiceovers, I had to include three (one for the beginning, middle, and end). They are played on the news all the time.
Brenna and Mr. Martin
I interviewed two people: Brenna Regan and Mr. Martin. They both play the violin. Brenna is a sophomore in concert orchestra, and had to audition for a spot to play in Carnegie Hall. The audition is because the stage can only hold 100 people, yet the orchestra has about 170 players. As you can tell, she is very excited. Not every orchestra can perform at Carnegie Hall!
Every 3 years, the orchestra goes on an out of state trip. They haven't gone to New York City yet, and Carnegie Hall had a few open spots for April. So Mr. Martin contacted a few companies, and because he is an great orchestra director, they are able to play there.
Shooting the Video
I had to go to Brenna's house over the weekend, but I didn't have a proper video camera and tripod. I don't know if you could tell, but I filmed this whole video on my phone. It was hard to hold it steady, so the video is a bit shaky. For the interview with Mr. Martin though, I had to get a pass to miss a little bit of 3rd hour. I could've probably gotten a good camera, but instead decided to keep the video consistent. I hope it doesn't bother you too much. As for the lighting, that was a little tricky for Brenna's interview. The room I had to film in was dark, even with the light on. So I had to open up the curtain. It was a bright day. We had just learned about three point lighting, so I tried to incorporate that, yet the only light I had was too intense, so I had to go with the flow.
This made it my most difficult filming session, but I hope it's at least okay. Yet, Mr. Martin's office had good lighting, so there is still that.
I like this video, what do you think?
Two years of video experience can really make a difference. I just recently rewatched Horse Girl Chase, and cringed a little. So I'm glad I am improving.
Edit: 11/10/16
We had to Make a Written Feature Story Too!
Check it out!
How does an average high school orchestra get the opportunity to
perform at one of the world’s most renowned performing venues? Through
devotion, practice, hard work, and even more practice. String instrument
players pull their bows across their strings at anywhere from staccato to
legato, causing rosin particles to fly into the air. They count the beats in
their heads: 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and, faster, slower, keeping up with the
conductor’s baton flying in front of them. They occasionally glance down at the
complex, classical sheet music, to make sure they are on the right measure.
Arms tiring, sweat beading on their forehead, yet they refuse to stop playing
until they are either cut off or make it to the end of the piece.
All of this happens in the orchestra room of Olathe Northwest, as they
prepare for the big day in April: when they will travel to New York and play at
Carnegie Hall. Since the orchestra is so large though, not everyone could play
there. The stage can only hold 100 players, yet the orchestra, advanced and
concert combined, has around 170 players. The 40 players in advanced orchestra
were the only ones guaranteed to go. As for concert orchestra, though, they
needed to audition. Their audition songs were excerpts from “Sentimental
Sarabande” by Benjamin Britten and “Paint it Black” by The Rolling Stones.
Brenna Regan played these for her video audition, and to her surprise
and elation, made the cut. “I screamed when I saw [the audition results] and I
don’t usually scream,” she said. This goes to show how thrilled she was to be
playing at Carnegie Hall.
When asked about what she would do to prepare for the big day: she
replied, “Probably practicing more. I have not been good about practicing.” Now
that she has something to practice for, she will be on her violin all day.
And let’s not forget about the orchestra director, Mr. Martin, who has
lead this group to many medals and trophies. He answered the question, how does
an orchestra make it to Carnegie Hall? “There was an audition process. I talked
to a couple of different travel agencies about the possibilities, and one of
them had a festival,” he replied. So he sent in a video of the advanced
orchestra from a previous concert, and got the incredible reply saying that the
orchestra was accepted.
Mr. Martin also has hopes that the orchestra will not only give an
amazing performance, but also learn about the greatness of the situation. “I
hope students just get a sense of how awesome of an experience, what a unique
opportunity this is to be able to perform at Carnegie Hall,” he stated.
The performance isn’t until April, but already, there is a strong
sense of fear, excitement, and most importantly, hope in the orchestra room.
