Self Portrait

I had a lot of fun making the self-portrait project even though I am slightly disappointed that I did not get to do the claymation section. I ran into technical issues, because of that and the time constraint I was unable to make something I was happy with. Through these problems, I learned many things that will help me with future projects. One thing I was surprised by was how people liked how smooth the spinning was. I was very conflicted about this because I thought it would be too smooth and it would lose its stop motion appearance. I shot a couple test of this part and I still think I like the other version better because it has a choppier look to it. The version I went had 12 shots per spin and that fit perfectly with the frame rate I wanted to use. I wanted to make it 24 frames per second so that every two spins would be one second. Even though I am disappointed that I did not get to make the claymation piece I wanted to make hopefully I can make it when I take 302 animation next semester. 

Group Installation

As we have met up our idea has evolved from being a scare piece into something that is a mix of anxiety and fear. We will mainly focus on what causes people anxiety and hope to make people feel some of the fear that it can cause, but to a lesser extent because we do not want to harm or make any of our classmates uncomfortable.  My role in the project is to find footage that fits with our goals. I will also be handling some of the moving parts of the project like getting the stuff we need to put on our project.

Revised Self Portrait

My conceptual goal for my self-portrait is to give a view into my mind and show off my passions. My technical goal is to create something interesting and weird with animation. Stop motion animation will be my main focus but I will also use 2D computer animation and paper cutouts. I am still on the fence if I will use real-life footage or not. It mainly depends on how long my animation sequence is by the time I have made the idea I want to make. My ideas from the first post have not changed but have evolved into a more cohesive piece that will flow better together with the use of computer animation. My only concern is that I might be biting off more then I can chew but I think I should be able to pull it off.

Presentation - OK GO

 Ok Go is a music group that formed in 1998. They make experimental music videos that are often shot in one take. They had there first viral success in 2005 with the song A Million Ways. Since then they have produced viral video after viral video. They have ridden this success to many different sponsorships that often revolve around giving money to a good cause.

Cucalorus Reflection

I really enjoyed Cucalorus and wish I had been going to it my whole time at UNCW. Many things were how I expected them to be and others were not. One thing that surprised me was how weird some parts of the festival were. There was this “mime” that showed up at the beginning of two of my blocks. At the first block, I and the crowd were very confused. I was not sure if some random person had just wandered off the street or not and had decided to perform. I meet a couple of the filmmakers. Most of them I was glad to meet but one of the filmmakers I wish I had not. She was weird which I guess is understandable since her film played in the block of weird short films but after hearing her talk and seeing some of her reactions to the Q and A questions it really soured me on her film. Besides that, I had a really great time and my favorite part was seeing the wide range of films that had very different styles and topics. One thing that I learned is that if you have an idea no matter how abstract or weird it may be that you should go ahead and make the film because there are always places it can be shown at. One thing that surprised me was how laid back the festival and all the filmmakers were. They all seemed very happy to share and talk about their work. If I was presenting, I would know now that how people perceive you during a Q&A can change how they view your film. I also learned that you should not do a Q&A if you are not going to answer most of the questions and have a mental breakdown if someone asks you a joke question. Besides that, one filmmaker I really enjoyed this festival. I feel like I learned a lot of new approaches to filmmaking. I also learned some interesting techniques about animation that I think will help me during creating my own animated films.

Self-Portrait Idea

For my self-portrait project I want to make something that appeals to my interest, so i have decided to make something with stop motion animation. Because stop-motion animation can be really time-consuming I am still unsure how much of it will stop-motion and how much will be clips. I already have two sequences planned out that will be stop motion. One will involve me. In this part, I am going to play around with movement and color. The other sequence will involve me animating with clay. This is the part that worries me the most because of how time-consuming it will be but I believe I can pull it off. I think these two sequences will come together to be around 1 minute, so i am unsure if I want to continue with stop-motion throughout the rest of it or use a mix of videos and animation.

1D Response

I learned many things about sound design. One of the biggest things I learnt was just how important sound design is. I am making an experimental film in FST497. The film uses many different types of found footage clips, so sound is very important to linking these unrelated clips together. Before this project I did not really know much about sound design and did not really focus on it that much. This project also taught me many new ways to adjust and fix audio that i would not have known about otherwise. I feel like this project has made me a stronger filmmaker and editor.