End of year reflection (Animation)

Hi every one this is James. I'm about to give you my reflection on animation class.

I have learned many things about technology in this class. One thing I learned was how to  use the green screen. I learned how to do this during a project we did called chromakey using a video tutorial on  the internet. Wale watching the video I was able to follow along and replace the green screen background.  This skill is important because if you are going into convergence you need to know how to replace the green screen background during post production. some challenges i faced along the way  were the fact that we were about to start a new project soon a a result I did not have much  time in class and had to come in after school to finish it. Another challenge i faced was the fact that the video was using an  older version of what I was using but after asking a few questions i was able to work around it.my final result is shown bellow.



Some of my strengths are the fact that I  am  very determined to complete my work  and keep my grades up,  and the fact that I'm not afraid to as questions when I need help. One of my weaknesses is the fact that I can become confused if I cant find something in the program I'm using of i  can't figure out how to fix something if the program  doesn't work right or if I make a mistake. I have improved this is by  re reading the part of the directions I'm on or if I make a mistake i will use trial and err to  correct my mistake. I will take what I have learned with  me to convergence class when I am editing I will know how to use the green screen for example.

I have also learned a few things about collaboration from this class. one example is the final  V.F.X. project we just completed. This particular project was actually a group project. through this project I was able to improve my collaboration  skills through  planing with my group members during class as well as outside of school.  this is important because in school as well as in the real world you need to know how to collaborate with groups of people. Also, during this project i was able to  improve my communication skills. i was able to do  this by communicating with my group during class as we worked to  finish the project.  this is important because weather you are working on  part of your final for school or working on  a project for your career you need to  know how to  communicate with others. I will talk what I have learned with  me into convergence class by knowing how to communicate well with other members of my group.

I have also  been able to  improve my project management skills thought the year, one example would be my  street explosion project. Due to the fact that I was gone one day  I had to work hard during and after school to get this project done.  in this way  I  was able to improve my project management skills by working extra hard and coming in after school to complete the project. I  will  use this next year to plan  out my timeline for getting projects dome on time. My final result is shown below

I have also been able to improve my leadership skills using our final V.F.X. project by leading my part of the project and working with other members of my  group to help them  get their parts done on  time and helping them  out when  the they  needed it.

Over all I have leaned a lot from  this class that I will take with me next year.

Professional article review James Riddle- Acting and animation

In this article the main idea is that an animator is really an actor with a pencil. The animator must make the character believable. the viewer must be able to "feel" the character's emotions. Also, to make the story, and character believable, the character must have a reaction that is believable to the viewer.

The author believes that good animation comes from good acting. He believes that in order for an animation film to be great, the "actors" must be believable. The audience must connect with the characters and the story as it unfolds.

The author does not support his claim with evidence. However, he sites the "principles of animation" to support his claim that animation takes more than just moving the character around. He suggests making a character the viewer can "feel."

The author makes a good argument as to how to make animation believable. He suggests techniques that would help to make the characters more believable so the film will resonate with the audience.The weakness is this is an article that seems to be completely based on the author's opinion. There is little support to back up his opinions.

The author believes that in order to be successful in animation, one needs to be a good actor. The animator must connect to the audience by bringing the characters to life with consistency and feelings.

The applications for me as a future videographer are that as animators, we must develop are characters in a way that is believable to our audience,

This is a clearly, well written article which I had no problem understanding.

Overall, I think this was a good article. It gave advice on how to make a animation film believable and enjoyable by audiences. I will take the author's recommendations to heart and try and apply them to future projects.

Meir, Doron A. "Acting and Animation." Animation Arena Helping You Break into the Animation, Video Game and Visual Effects Industry with Advice and Interviews with Professional Character Animators, Game Designers and More. AnimationArena.com, n.d. Web. 23 May 2017.

Final sophmore reflection (Video)

Hi everyone  this is James. I'm  about to give you my final reflection for sophomore video class.

 Over the school year I have learned how to do a lot of different things. For example i learned how to use the cameras along with how to  set up the tripod during my first project. I learned how to do this by watching my  teacher give us a demonstration. This is important because you need to know how to set up recording equipment if you want to film some thing. One challenge I faced during this was preventing my mind from wandering. This is something that i have learned how to control over time.
 Also, this is something that only time can help me with, another weakness is quickly setting up the equipment, a lot of our equipment needs to be repaired and to be honest it can  take a wile to get the camera and tripod set up correctly. I have improved this with  practice over the year.

One important skill I have learned this year is collaboration  .  I learned this during ur short film project  when  me and my group were going to film over the weekend wee all did a  poor job of planing and I was not able to get a hold of the people I needed to  get a hold of.  As a result we were not able to film  over the weekend. This experience has helped me improve my  collaboration skills  with other people. this is important because weather you are planing a project for school or a vacation for your family you need to know how to collaborate with others. I have improved this by planing events in advance for the project and by learning form my mistakes. Also, I will use this next year when  I am working with my  group members.

Throughout the year e-comm has helped my  communicate with others. for example in my last project we tried a second time to  film  over the weekend, we were able to find a time that we thought based on our analysis that we would be able to film  unfortunately  some last minute events came up with one of my camera man as a result we did not have enough people to film.

School in general has helped me improve my  project and time management skills for example, for my short film  project due to the fact that we had several  setbacks due to  apathy from  my director I had to come in after school and edit on my own. We also  did not have all the voice overs we needed as a result.

As a result of most of our projects being in groups I have been  able to improve my leadership skills. For example, during my  short film project m  job as sound director was to control the microphone and help the camera man  get the audio we needed. leader  ship skills are important thought life its self. Whether you are leading a group project or are teaching some one how to do something you need good leadership skills and you need to be able to  prevent your self from becoming irritated when  things go wrong.

Over all I have enjoyed this class and I will take what I have learned with me next year

professional project review of CGI Animated Short Film HD: "Spellbound Short Film" by Ying Wu & Lizzia Xu

Hi every one today I'm about to analyze a short film. This is a story about jealousy and sibling rivalry. A young girl is jealous of her older sisters awards and achievements. she becomes so jealous that she keeps writing one thing in her diary "I HATE MY SISTER". Eventually  after so much  hatred is pored into  her  diary  a monster appears that cannot be controlled, its only purpose is to  kill the older sister. this is evidenced by the fact that the only thing it says thought the story is "kill Sunny" which is the name of the older sister. suspense builds as Sunny is dropped off form school and walks toward the house unknown to fact that a monster is in the house. Eventually the younger is able to  defeat  the monster by rearranging the wording in her diary to say  that she forgives her sister.

the story is animated in 3-D I don't know about all the programs that were used  but according to the creadts  I've used some of the listed programs at school. However, I do  know this at video time 0:22 you can  clearly  see that one side of the room  is brightly lit up  whale the other is not. Keep in  mind the you tube video time clock is shown in minutes: seconds. Another  example would be at 1:09 the creature looks as if its going to  enjoy what its about to do.

some things I would include in my own  work  are the creators attention to detail, for example at 1:09 if you pause the the video and analyze it you can  see that the window casts a shadow along with  the creature which casts it's own shadow. you can also see the creature  is some what reflective as evidenced by  the fact  that you can see light on it as well as a crude reflection  of the sun  and the protagonist which the creature is looking at.

One element I have already learned is the principles of squash and  stretch which are applied when  the smaller creatures move.
one thing I thought the creators did well was the fact  that  the animation  was smooth.

One thing I think  The creators could have done better was make it a little easier to understand what the smaller creatures were saying.

Over all I think this was a good story, was well put together and was obviously worked hard on.

Spellbound. Dir. Ying Wu and Lizzia Xu. Perf. Sunny and Regina. Spellbound. N.p., 5 Aug. 2016. Web. 21 May 2017.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_B2UZ_ZoxU