Much better rest last night.
Got up at...11:55. Irritated, as I wanted to go to G01 for some animation. On the way to the 2:00 session, I came across Oscar (with a funky new haircut) outside the library having a smoke with others. Waited a little bit longer inside the library - Luko came out of his lesson. Again he looked tired, and apparently fell asleep (hypothetically) in Jon's session.
In Jon's session today, speaking of which, we were taught the basics of the Puppet Pin tool! This versatile feature allows inanimate objects to get bendy flexibility for the purpose of animation. I learnt a little bit about this ahead of time on the Adobe Workshop website, but not to the extent here. Because of Jon Hunt's fandom to Formula 1, and the upcoming big race, Lewis Hamilton was used as the example demonstration.
We needed to quickly grab a character off of the internet to use for puppet animation. Jon made an emphasis on quickly here as the last group took around 10-15 minutes to use a workable image. Nabbed an image of Mickey Mouse, seeing as his limbs spaced apart enough. Placing pins on him and animating the parts were fine - things got muddy when the left hand (or theoretically right as Jon felt necessary) couldn't be tweened without the ear being pulled with it due to the 'mesh' overlapping onto the hand. Raising the mesh/triangle amount wouldn't help. Further more, the thumb of the hand wouldn't follow along and stay stagnant. It was weird considering the other hand moved fine. Jon suggested to edit the picture back at Photoshop into multiple layers. And Jon was annoyed with the previous group taking so long with their images.
In regards to the issue that me and everyone else was having (China James was using the same Mickey picture too) Jon went through the process of, incidentally, splitting an image up into multiple components (eg. layers) for puppeteering. From the sounds of it, multiple components sounds necessary regardless, just for the sake of making things simpler and further flexible. Mr.Hunt brought up an example, for instance, of a characterised water drop with a bowling ball. Splitting up the image into several pieces really increased the fluidity and dynamic manipulation of the subject as opposed to being restrained to working with a stiff piece of mould.
Finishing up the lesson, Jon took us through how to use the omnipotent camera tool of After Effects - possibly the bread and butter of the program. We were already taught this briefly by Will but Jon gave us a larger approach to it. The 'virtual' camera shared many of the same properties and options a real industry camera would with film size, aperture, lens and so fourth. This would make sense, I suppose, given that After Effects is used so heavily to apply, well, the after effects to a film. Despite turning 4:00 we had the opportunity to play around for a while with the camera function since we were the last group for today. I didn't have long though as I wanted to get to G01 - and also to call back to my dad, as I purposefully missed the call since I was in class. Dad sent a txt this morning at 7:00 concerning my grouchy voice and coughing having heard it from Holly, offering to come down and visit.
Called up my dad again outside of the library on the way back and asked about my preference on seeing him and Holly. Had to be busy over the weekend(s) and so I suggested maybe to visit tomorrow Saturday. Look forward to seeing him. After the call finished, I stopped and...oh yeah. I wanted to see about borrowing a lightbox from the library. Heading home, I stopped and turned 180 at the student village and headed back to the building to enquire - indeed I could! But I hadn't brought my wallet that had my student card. Back I go. Too many times now I keep on disregarding my wallet when I had in fact needed it for something. Got it, and had the light box. Nice! And so I headed to G01 as I can just keep it with me until I get back. Oh, wait. PAPER. Back-track again. Dumped the lightbox in my room, got the heap of paper and headed to G01 for real this time. Familiar faces were working in G01 again, which I'm beginning to like.
As I worked on the walk cycle, I nearly finished it until I bad revelation came about - on Fridays, G01 closes early at 6:00pm. This severely hindered my plan - my previous line-test was good enough, but I wanted to give it more. True enough, at 6:00 on the spot the security guard popped in and, in friendly, courteous manner asked us to pack up by about 5 minutes. I frantically asked G01 Sophie if this place is open over the weekdays, and the earliest it is open in the morning. Q1: It isn't. Q2: 9:00. Both answers I was afraid of. Hmm.
Headed out and...ran back in, almost forgot the paper. Headed back to my house in a strop. So what now? The deadline is on Monday, for (I believe to be) 9:00-9:30am. I do have a lightbox, but I didn't get around to punching holes in the paper. Besides that, I don't have a line-tester. Arguably the most important thing, to me, about producing the animation. The iMacs hooked up to the testers have the software Dragon on it, too, which have necessary exporting functions - both for AVI and MOV. Avi is important for the DVDs I think, which are a requirement for assessment. Anyway - another penny-drop occurred. I over-heard the American student mentioning that not only was the walk-cycle due for assessment, so was the ball bounce exercise. Crap, I completely forgot about that. I've done it - but the iMac that it was on was having no luck on exporting it in anyway without corrupting the file. Of course the studio is closed over the weekend, so I'm pretty much screwed.
Headed back to my house, and shortly thereafter went into town. Headed to Subway, and used my points for a free footlong 'B.M.T' sub and with my student card, a free drink. Payed just 50p, and that was for a donut. Got back and my contained anger petered out a little bit. Read some weekly manga and felt calmed down. Began thinking of some ideas on how to tackle the problem. Dropped a message on Facebook asking people on my course what the time and place for the hand-in is. Checking on UCA a surprise came about - the deadline is Tuesday 16th. It's for 10:00-10:30 as well! Well, that's great! It gives me a whole day not only to finish the animation but also to get them on DVDs.
It's 22:22 now, so I'll be ending this blog here so that I can shave and shower up, then head to bed.
I'll work on some designs tomorrow, print out some storyboard templates and get to work on the essay and Digital animation.
Friday, 12 November 2010
Thursday, 11 November 2010
Lazy Summery No.3
Uh oh, already on the third one? I am pretty tired right now, though, having gotten little to no sleep last night despite heading to bed by 10:30. Scratchy coughs (anxiety, I guess) are a pain but hey ho!
Got up at the best time yet - 6:15am! Nice! And what better way to start off my morning than with a shower. All the housemates would still be asleep so I tried to be quiet even if a shower is going to do absolutely no good on that regard. Whilst washing away, I heard a knock on the door and as I feared, someone wasn't liking the racket. It could of just been paranoia or I am delusional - pretty sure there was one, however. I froze on the spot in the shower immediately turning it off...and turned it back on again after a minute or so as I still had shampoo on my hair. I had to cut my morning shower early. :( Who WAS that, though? I'm guessing it was Yannis.
I glided back into my room, still in a weird semi-drunken state that you get from a night of illness. Dressed myself with some new clothes reeeaaally slowly from the state of mine. Still a little startled from irritating a housemate, I passed the time in half an hour (or an hour?) by reading Animation Survival Kit. Tried to find a section of the book listing the tempo of a walk - how many frames a paced walk should have, indeed. Eventually found it - casual strolling (Which is what I want) is 16 or so frames a step. Well, dammit. Should of planned this out better.
Come 7:00am I strolled upstairs to get myself some much needed tea and toast. I really didn't feel like being awake with a lingering sense of illness simmering within me. Noticed one of the sinks was brimming with unwashed stuff with a bit of paper that at first I didn't notice was a note. ("Are we that bad?" - I first thought) Somebody noted that they'd clean the rest of in the morning. Judging by the zany writing style and 'by the Lemon Monster!' I guessed it was either Georgia, Yannis or Rob. Or Sophie? (She's not like that however)
After peeling off some slight mould from the last couple of pieces of bread, toasting it and preparing the tea, and I paced my way back down in weird, dazed steps. Like a zombie butler. Had some SolapdinePlus to hopefully ease up that stupid throat pain. At 8:00 I kipped out a little bit for an hour, it felt quite nice. Come 9:45 I departed! In windy, bitter cold rain! Luckily I had a hooded coat, so annoyances aside from wet jeans.
Got to Maltings for Jon's lecture just in time. Sat somewhere in the second row, and Luko turned up a little bit after me. The lecture today was on Realism. This was a pretty interesting subject since it is of course so debatable. What is 'realism'? Mr.Weinbren typically starts off the session, like all good lecturers, with a titular question. Most answers had, in fact, happened to cover resulting bullet points on the next side. I liked one particular response by the American student: "Natural flow following a logical path."
Most the slides talked about the French theorists - and one french man in particular, Andre Bazin. He proposed in 1946 that the goal and ambition of cinema is "a total
I couldn't jot down the rest as Jon kept moving the slides forward. The underlying term here, anyway, is Cinea Verite. There's a lot to this but Jon's quote that slipped his tongue summed it up. "Post-modern ironic trick." One of the interesting things he had us do was showing us a photo of a group of 'extatic' children - ones who look eastern european in the 1920s. He asked us - what's going on with the photo? Somebody stated that one of the children were superimposed to the photo, despite Jon correcting that statement. To get the responses interesting, he further asked what's going on behind the camera. Only then did suggestions of warfare (or celebrity on one answer) arise.
The next topic was great. In a...um. It was this: hyper-realism. Example? Disney Land. Disney characters in costumes. Hyper-realism right there. The term here was coined by a Paul Wells. Here are some examples I jotted down: Deers move like deers. Sounds are as they manifest in real-life. Snow White moves like Snow White. Obviously there was actual slides with real examples but I needed glasses and he moved on quickly.
Went on a break, and sat in the lounge with Luko. Poor guy still had a cold torturing him , and couldn't get much sleep. (Because as most students do....he stayed up! Watching something. Forgot.) I discussed this hyper-realism nonsense with Luko, debating that it's just a blowhard way of saying 'really realistic'.
Back in the lecture things moved onto categorising animation realism. Visual realism, aural realism, realism of motion and so on. By this stage the walls of text were past mammoth proportions, so I just listened in and jotted in doodles. We were shown a trailer for Bambi for the example of all this categorising put together (Bumper's foot bumping looks so lewd by this day). Some guy behind me kept putting his feet on my chair, moving it a bit. Pissed me off. The hunch that anyone who gels their hair up is something of an arrogant prick is sadly coming to be true. He openly bitched about Felix's barrage of question and examples though.
Speaking of which, Felix did also consult Jon on 'uncanny valley' which spoilt the next slide's case. Uncanny valley. Man-made imagery of something so realistic like a human, but...it's not quite there. Some ever so slightly looks off and the entire illusion is broken. Mr.Weinbren brought up a great example of this with a 'technical demo' of a videogame, Heavy Rain. I heard about this game from my older brother. Apparently it really showcases ultra realistic visuals...and boy, did it ever. Shame the actual 'actress' animation looked pretty balls, especially on the face. (the most important spot for believability and empathy) Story looked interesting though.
At the end of the session, I wanted to catch Jon to ask him some questions regarding the essay. Two or three other students jumped up to his side already however, each avidly enquiring Jon if he "heard of this game" or "that game" based on HYPER-REALISM. When it came to my turn (and 1-to-1 by this point) I joked to him being a fan of the pixels and all. With the essay, we can of course start it now as I guessed although Jon brought up that he was going to cover all the questions (that we did each week like realism) before letting us kick off. Still, stuff is gotta' be done before Christmas.
Luko went to Boots for some heart-burn pills - buying 'TumTum' because he was appealed by the name. I headed to Waitrose for some snacks and told Luko I'd see him in G01. Back home I headed upstairs to the kitchen for a drink and Sophie popped up. She was quickly irritated by Yannis's (it was him!) mess and we both agreed that blockading a sink with unwashed stuff is a slap to everyone else. Coincidentally, Yannis popped up. He picked up his notice and put it in the bin. Then, he added an extra plate to his sink of unwashed things. Sophie didn't bring up the issue with him and neither did I - we mutually wanted to hold on to see if Yannis was actually going to do something about it. I headed down to my room after a bit though so never saw. Right now I didn't know if it is cleaned yet.
After a small break I accidentally fell into a resting snooze and eventually headed to G01 at 3:30 or so. There, I worked away more on adding frames to the walk cycle, trying to find methods of making it quicker without initial guidelines slowing me down to almost unproductive levels. Luko wasn't anywhere to be seen though...oops, I guess I let him down by not turning up sooner. Shoot.
Worked away, and come 6:00, checked other peoples walk cycles and/or Character Motivation. One of the girls has done over 100 frames for her motivation already and it is key framed. One of the other students whose name I need to catch (feet on chair, attends street dance) mentioned Ron told him to start again both for the walk cycle and character motivation. Ouch. Nikki's (Philippine student) finished her Character Motivation of an old man. Looked great! When I was eventually the only one left after Nikki's departure, I got a text from my sister if I wanted to talk on Skype. Suggested for about 7:30. Janitor came along at about 6:30 to ask if I'd be any longer in G01, and promptly packed my stuff (and switched off the iMacs) to head off. Apparently I'm not meant to be the only one in G01 or something? What the crap.
Got back home and waited for sister to call up on Skype. I managed to doze off my desk like a lazy sod, and even migrated to rest on top of the bed still fully clothed. Left the volume on my laptop loud to see if she'd call. By 8:20 I got up and started with writing this entry. Gave my sister a call (who wanted to call back in 5 minutes at first) and didn't sound to avid to talk with me due to god-awful scratchy, raspy voice. Told me not to work too hard and take a break. Well, I've been taken to many of them, even today. :(
It's 9:30 as of writing this and I'm just going to shower up and head to bed. I just don't feel appetised or inclined enough to eat dinner tonight. I need to work, lots, for my sake.
Got up at the best time yet - 6:15am! Nice! And what better way to start off my morning than with a shower. All the housemates would still be asleep so I tried to be quiet even if a shower is going to do absolutely no good on that regard. Whilst washing away, I heard a knock on the door and as I feared, someone wasn't liking the racket. It could of just been paranoia or I am delusional - pretty sure there was one, however. I froze on the spot in the shower immediately turning it off...and turned it back on again after a minute or so as I still had shampoo on my hair. I had to cut my morning shower early. :( Who WAS that, though? I'm guessing it was Yannis.
I glided back into my room, still in a weird semi-drunken state that you get from a night of illness. Dressed myself with some new clothes reeeaaally slowly from the state of mine. Still a little startled from irritating a housemate, I passed the time in half an hour (or an hour?) by reading Animation Survival Kit. Tried to find a section of the book listing the tempo of a walk - how many frames a paced walk should have, indeed. Eventually found it - casual strolling (Which is what I want) is 16 or so frames a step. Well, dammit. Should of planned this out better.
Come 7:00am I strolled upstairs to get myself some much needed tea and toast. I really didn't feel like being awake with a lingering sense of illness simmering within me. Noticed one of the sinks was brimming with unwashed stuff with a bit of paper that at first I didn't notice was a note. ("Are we that bad?" - I first thought) Somebody noted that they'd clean the rest of in the morning. Judging by the zany writing style and 'by the Lemon Monster!' I guessed it was either Georgia, Yannis or Rob. Or Sophie? (She's not like that however)
After peeling off some slight mould from the last couple of pieces of bread, toasting it and preparing the tea, and I paced my way back down in weird, dazed steps. Like a zombie butler. Had some SolapdinePlus to hopefully ease up that stupid throat pain. At 8:00 I kipped out a little bit for an hour, it felt quite nice. Come 9:45 I departed! In windy, bitter cold rain! Luckily I had a hooded coat, so annoyances aside from wet jeans.
Got to Maltings for Jon's lecture just in time. Sat somewhere in the second row, and Luko turned up a little bit after me. The lecture today was on Realism. This was a pretty interesting subject since it is of course so debatable. What is 'realism'? Mr.Weinbren typically starts off the session, like all good lecturers, with a titular question. Most answers had, in fact, happened to cover resulting bullet points on the next side. I liked one particular response by the American student: "Natural flow following a logical path."
Most the slides talked about the French theorists - and one french man in particular, Andre Bazin. He proposed in 1946 that the goal and ambition of cinema is "a total
I couldn't jot down the rest as Jon kept moving the slides forward. The underlying term here, anyway, is Cinea Verite. There's a lot to this but Jon's quote that slipped his tongue summed it up. "Post-modern ironic trick." One of the interesting things he had us do was showing us a photo of a group of 'extatic' children - ones who look eastern european in the 1920s. He asked us - what's going on with the photo? Somebody stated that one of the children were superimposed to the photo, despite Jon correcting that statement. To get the responses interesting, he further asked what's going on behind the camera. Only then did suggestions of warfare (or celebrity on one answer) arise.
The next topic was great. In a...um. It was this: hyper-realism. Example? Disney Land. Disney characters in costumes. Hyper-realism right there. The term here was coined by a Paul Wells. Here are some examples I jotted down: Deers move like deers. Sounds are as they manifest in real-life. Snow White moves like Snow White. Obviously there was actual slides with real examples but I needed glasses and he moved on quickly.
Went on a break, and sat in the lounge with Luko. Poor guy still had a cold torturing him , and couldn't get much sleep. (Because as most students do....he stayed up! Watching something. Forgot.) I discussed this hyper-realism nonsense with Luko, debating that it's just a blowhard way of saying 'really realistic'.
Back in the lecture things moved onto categorising animation realism. Visual realism, aural realism, realism of motion and so on. By this stage the walls of text were past mammoth proportions, so I just listened in and jotted in doodles. We were shown a trailer for Bambi for the example of all this categorising put together (Bumper's foot bumping looks so lewd by this day). Some guy behind me kept putting his feet on my chair, moving it a bit. Pissed me off. The hunch that anyone who gels their hair up is something of an arrogant prick is sadly coming to be true. He openly bitched about Felix's barrage of question and examples though.
Speaking of which, Felix did also consult Jon on 'uncanny valley' which spoilt the next slide's case. Uncanny valley. Man-made imagery of something so realistic like a human, but...it's not quite there. Some ever so slightly looks off and the entire illusion is broken. Mr.Weinbren brought up a great example of this with a 'technical demo' of a videogame, Heavy Rain. I heard about this game from my older brother. Apparently it really showcases ultra realistic visuals...and boy, did it ever. Shame the actual 'actress' animation looked pretty balls, especially on the face. (the most important spot for believability and empathy) Story looked interesting though.
At the end of the session, I wanted to catch Jon to ask him some questions regarding the essay. Two or three other students jumped up to his side already however, each avidly enquiring Jon if he "heard of this game" or "that game" based on HYPER-REALISM. When it came to my turn (and 1-to-1 by this point) I joked to him being a fan of the pixels and all. With the essay, we can of course start it now as I guessed although Jon brought up that he was going to cover all the questions (that we did each week like realism) before letting us kick off. Still, stuff is gotta' be done before Christmas.
Luko went to Boots for some heart-burn pills - buying 'TumTum' because he was appealed by the name. I headed to Waitrose for some snacks and told Luko I'd see him in G01. Back home I headed upstairs to the kitchen for a drink and Sophie popped up. She was quickly irritated by Yannis's (it was him!) mess and we both agreed that blockading a sink with unwashed stuff is a slap to everyone else. Coincidentally, Yannis popped up. He picked up his notice and put it in the bin. Then, he added an extra plate to his sink of unwashed things. Sophie didn't bring up the issue with him and neither did I - we mutually wanted to hold on to see if Yannis was actually going to do something about it. I headed down to my room after a bit though so never saw. Right now I didn't know if it is cleaned yet.
After a small break I accidentally fell into a resting snooze and eventually headed to G01 at 3:30 or so. There, I worked away more on adding frames to the walk cycle, trying to find methods of making it quicker without initial guidelines slowing me down to almost unproductive levels. Luko wasn't anywhere to be seen though...oops, I guess I let him down by not turning up sooner. Shoot.
Worked away, and come 6:00, checked other peoples walk cycles and/or Character Motivation. One of the girls has done over 100 frames for her motivation already and it is key framed. One of the other students whose name I need to catch (feet on chair, attends street dance) mentioned Ron told him to start again both for the walk cycle and character motivation. Ouch. Nikki's (Philippine student) finished her Character Motivation of an old man. Looked great! When I was eventually the only one left after Nikki's departure, I got a text from my sister if I wanted to talk on Skype. Suggested for about 7:30. Janitor came along at about 6:30 to ask if I'd be any longer in G01, and promptly packed my stuff (and switched off the iMacs) to head off. Apparently I'm not meant to be the only one in G01 or something? What the crap.
Got back home and waited for sister to call up on Skype. I managed to doze off my desk like a lazy sod, and even migrated to rest on top of the bed still fully clothed. Left the volume on my laptop loud to see if she'd call. By 8:20 I got up and started with writing this entry. Gave my sister a call (who wanted to call back in 5 minutes at first) and didn't sound to avid to talk with me due to god-awful scratchy, raspy voice. Told me not to work too hard and take a break. Well, I've been taken to many of them, even today. :(
It's 9:30 as of writing this and I'm just going to shower up and head to bed. I just don't feel appetised or inclined enough to eat dinner tonight. I need to work, lots, for my sake.
Wednesday, 10 November 2010
Lazy Summery No.2
Again, got up at 11:50am. Brushed up, and had some tea and waffles.
Jamie came up to the kitchen for some chicken dippers, and talked about his experience going to the Kinect launch party at London as a guest with PJ and his friend. He had a great time - the ice rink was situated outside of the History Museum, and they were allocated as VIPs - although there were apparently statuses higher than that.
Besides this, Jamie was able to have free cocktails and food (that is a plain burger, cheese and extra toppings cost £1 more) - and of course ice skate around the rink which he certainly did not enjoy. Celebrities were in the VIP lounge, apparently actors of Hollyoaks. Jamie didn't care about the series of the celebs though. Considering Jamie had to shoot for his documentary in Woking most of the day, it's not a bad way to finish things off!
At 2:30 I headed to G01 to work more on the walk cycle. Adding in additional frames to an animation so specifically two-dimensional was pretty annoying, and trying to plan them in with the correct proportions was tricky. Despite that, I added an impressive...7 more frames! With 19 frames needed to be done with each step, I'm really ploughing with progress here.
G01-Sophie was there, and I flooded her with questions regarding her experience with projects over the 1st year. My biggest one was to what extent sketchbooks need to be separated between projects. There is the 30 second animation needing to be done for Principles - can I include it in my current principles sketchbook, for instance? I can see myself only taking up a 1/4 of the book with content - I'm not animating for anyone yet, as much I'd like to. I may just include content within a ring binder.
Questions were being thrown around to a 3rd year student in the room too - he and Sophie causally chatted about how the 1st year is easy-going on demands for projects. Of course they say this, but being put on referral is a bad thing - something I need to avoid at all costs. D:
At about 6:55pm, I packed away after getting my animation line-tested. It's coming along nicely! Even if it's just 7 frames of improvement! Switched off all of the plugs (or I think I did, I checked constantly) and iMacs. Not many people tend to turn their stuff off or put things away when it's near to closing time (7pm). I suppose there is the chance someone would come in to work, but likely not before 10 or so minutes before the end of the day.
Outside of G01, I spied a discussion between 3 or 5 individuals going on in the room next door. Wonder what it's for? Club, perhaps. Oh! Also saw PJ post on Facebook a YouTube video showcasing a riot occuring at the National Demonstration for students today, up in London.
Getting back, I waltzed up to the kitchen - there was Rory! He's alright, phew. He went to the demonstration today. Kit came up to the kitchen. Being a little on the anti-social side, I didn't talk much like a douche partly because of a cough/cold coming on, and also because of the amount of work I need to sort out and organise in time keeping. Kit started a chat, asking my day went. He did most of the filming for the library today - poor guy has been given such a mundane documentary choice by the staff.
Told him about the 'ol potential cold, and suggested to drink lots of orange juice and eat fruit. This would make sense because right now, either of those two things feel like something I don't want to have right now. Actually, my appetite as a whole isn't too high and I feel pretty tired - hence why I'm lazily writing this ahead of time. (and sounding like a grumpy fart).
Got the lecture tomorrow! Should be good - I'll ask Jon for some advice on the essay, and head to G01 afterwards.
Lazy Summery No.1
Oho! The title suggests this sadly isn't the only one to come! Truth be, writing these entries takes up longer and longer as the weeks go by. On average, about 2 hours, and maybe a half on top! The speed it takes is dependant on me, and that's a true fact - however I'm questioning how much commitment is really worth putting towards this blog.
Of course, I really do want to keep track of my days during University, mainly for myself so I can look back at how I developed, but then I'm meant to be keeping updates on a WikiSpace as it is for the course. The biggest nuance is how much time and energy writing up the posts take, though. Frequently I'm only able to go to bed at 12am despite starting to write at 9pm. (Showering and others) That's a stinker, and it messes up my roll.
So that said, I'll be keeping this one short and simple for tonight! :D & :(
Got up at 12:10pm today. That's stupid since I was awake and felt ready to get up at 6:12am, after I had risen to go to the loo. Besides that, spent most of today squandering over the challenges on animation itself, but also checking on the Units and what they needed.
At 2:30 or so, I headed over to G01 to try and finish up the walk cycle. Made two trips back to get the Animation Survival Kit, which I never used in the end, and more importantly, paper. G01 was cramped to begin with but it quietened down. I overheard some stomach-dropping news - we also needed to produce a 30 second animation for principles. So, amongst the walk cycle there are now five projects to try and finish by December 17th - Lip sync, Character motivation, essay, 30 second digital & principle animation. When time management is of the essence, I'm really not the essence of time management. The first thing to hit me was to start time tabling what to do when for the rest of the duration of this term. The girl next to me mentioned how she overheard the 30 second animation too, and felt panic-struck by the workload. She was sweet, and enjoyed talking with me despite my prudent dismissing of her at times (was trying to figure out my animation frames, amongst other things).
From 2:40 to about 4:50, I spent the most part of my walk cycle drawing in...six new frames! It makes little sense but much of it was towards trying to plan in the frames first (which didn't even help much towards the quality). Asked for advice on how to plan in the frames and keep it organised, most of the time people didn't give me a concise answer probably because they were just as confounded but one practical suggestion was to keep keyframe planning on separate sheets. Thinking back, I believe that was my intention but overlapping too many frames on top of one-another faded things too much.
Went to test my animation again with the line tester. Before, I made the mistake of numerically labeling the frames incorrectly which jittered the walk cycle on some frames but I rectified it. With 30 frames now (out of 104 expected) it looked much nicer! Even if still a weird, that sense of character really adds a lot in my opinion:
Of course, I really do want to keep track of my days during University, mainly for myself so I can look back at how I developed, but then I'm meant to be keeping updates on a WikiSpace as it is for the course. The biggest nuance is how much time and energy writing up the posts take, though. Frequently I'm only able to go to bed at 12am despite starting to write at 9pm. (Showering and others) That's a stinker, and it messes up my roll.
So that said, I'll be keeping this one short and simple for tonight! :D & :(
Got up at 12:10pm today. That's stupid since I was awake and felt ready to get up at 6:12am, after I had risen to go to the loo. Besides that, spent most of today squandering over the challenges on animation itself, but also checking on the Units and what they needed.
At 2:30 or so, I headed over to G01 to try and finish up the walk cycle. Made two trips back to get the Animation Survival Kit, which I never used in the end, and more importantly, paper. G01 was cramped to begin with but it quietened down. I overheard some stomach-dropping news - we also needed to produce a 30 second animation for principles. So, amongst the walk cycle there are now five projects to try and finish by December 17th - Lip sync, Character motivation, essay, 30 second digital & principle animation. When time management is of the essence, I'm really not the essence of time management. The first thing to hit me was to start time tabling what to do when for the rest of the duration of this term. The girl next to me mentioned how she overheard the 30 second animation too, and felt panic-struck by the workload. She was sweet, and enjoyed talking with me despite my prudent dismissing of her at times (was trying to figure out my animation frames, amongst other things).
From 2:40 to about 4:50, I spent the most part of my walk cycle drawing in...six new frames! It makes little sense but much of it was towards trying to plan in the frames first (which didn't even help much towards the quality). Asked for advice on how to plan in the frames and keep it organised, most of the time people didn't give me a concise answer probably because they were just as confounded but one practical suggestion was to keep keyframe planning on separate sheets. Thinking back, I believe that was my intention but overlapping too many frames on top of one-another faded things too much.
Went to test my animation again with the line tester. Before, I made the mistake of numerically labeling the frames incorrectly which jittered the walk cycle on some frames but I rectified it. With 30 frames now (out of 104 expected) it looked much nicer! Even if still a weird, that sense of character really adds a lot in my opinion:
Your guess is as good as mine.
Finishing up, I turned off most of the light boxes and switched off the iMacs. Wasn't sure if I was meant to, but I believe that being open-access, we're expected to switch off and pack away what we use. Manjit and another girl were still working away (I'm glad I'm not the only one still working on the walk cycle at this point) but I cleared things up a bit regardless. The girl next to me hung around a while to chat with me and see my walk cycle. I was rather flattered with her patience on waiting for me to pack away - but I was taking forever and she headed home to eat, as I really wanted to as well.
Back home, I decided on a quiche loraine with new potatoes. Whilst preparing, the 'taters, I could hear someone come up. I guessed it was Rory - and there he was! He cooks at about 5:30 − 6:15. He had a lot of shopping. Initially, I was quiet and stern (probably tense from the gravity of the situation) but Rory broke the ice. Good talking with him - he's going to the National Demonstration tomorrow in London with thousands of other students in a protest against cuts on education. Darted out to Waitrose whilst the oven was preheating to buy some milk and sugar. And waffles/crisps.
Quiche was nice! Potatoes could of been in the simmer for a little bit longer, but they were ok.
Yannis and Georgia were up - Georgia calling him a 'fucking weirdo' as she typically does for a reason I forgot. Something to do with his love on lemons, I think?
Thank god I finished this entry. Been holding my bladder in for too long (ONG TMI WTF!?) and I need to organise my time for the next six weeks until Christmas. Stuff is gotta' be done!
Monday, 8 November 2010
Happy Monday! Birthday, I mean!
Actually, I was back on Sunday. Not only was my brother's birthday then, but my dad insisted I be in on Monday for life-drawing. Going through a University night without having to write up a blog entry feels nice, though! I actually got to bed by 10pm! Unfortunately, I couldn't sleep comfortably; paranoia of an oven being left on or sink running kept me awake. The thought of the fire-alarm going off (despite last instances being merely a drill) churns my stomach. Most nights, I have to literally stare at the oven/sink turned off for five minutes just to force my neurotic mind into validating the evidence.
The lesson was at 10am today. I went to bed at 10pm, so...I got up at 9am! That's not right at all. Granted, again, I had little in the way of comfortable sleeping so I felt pretty drowsy. Couldn't wash my teeth - I forgot to bring my toothpaste (and, well, washing bag). Not even a mouth-rinse was possible.
Whilst preparing the morning tea, Jamie appeared in his pyjamas. Did he have a lesson this morning? No, not until 2:30pm, in fact. Even then, it's apparently a half an hour session based on handing in the essay. He was chuffed with this written result, ticking the word-count in at about 1004. The minimum is 1000.
On the way out I stupidly dropped one of my toast onto the floor.
Made my way to B123 - the life drawing studio conveniently next door to Animation's usual room. One of the guys in my class followed my lead - and started doing so as he came out of his house at the student village. No talk? :( There, everyone was waiting. For who? For Sue. She's one of the teachers we haven't seen since our induction week - and she works closely with the 3rd year students. 10 past 10, she burst into the scene with coffee/tea in hand. Gracing us with her high-cultured accent, the first of her words was telling us to prepare our easels with a board in a ring around the subject.
And so we did. I tried to aim for a spot next to Oscar but people (despite my haste) already settled. Instead, I stood into position north-west, next to a student with long flowing hair (and often glasses?). Sue trotted around to check everyone's easels, seeing if they were in position and nagging to go in closer. I was having difficulties figuring out how to heighten my easel. I didn't think you'd twist the bottom screw at first since it was so tightly fixed, but after Oscar demonstrated, apparently so. I asked Sue for advise as well. Her answer was to move in closer to the model. (...)
Forgot to get some newsprint/A3-A2 paper and thus had to borrow Oscar's (abundant) supply.
The session started, and for the most part of life drawing we drew the model in quick poses - from 30 seconds to 10 seconds. Essentially, Sue wanted us to draw the figure with singular, confident lines. Scratchy/hairy mark making (forgot the specific term she used a lot) was a large no-no, and it was something that a lot of students, judging by Sue's consistent critics, had a hard time to overcome. Who can blame them? The energy and passion to do detailed and precise work is an instinctive goal in terms of illustration - and with animation, drawings need to be precise and accurate, at least that's why Richard Williams loves his job. Going off track there, scratchy lines is often the result of the mind unsure of what is wants to process on paper. I...think.
I just barely held up my paper up with left over masking tape (Again, forgot) and the poor guy next to me was having it worse with his work frequently loosing grip and falling off. What's more, I quickly ran out of news print and since Oscar was on the other side of the room I didn't have balls to march over there in front of everyone's view for more.
We had a few breaks - two small ones and a lunch. After the first break, Sue was fairly late getting back and we were all pretty much there. The model herself got things going and just stripped naked into a pose - all of us instinctively belted up and started sketching. Sue arrived and noticed our head-start, asking the model to change pose. We just started, mind you.
During the lunch, I headed over to the Workshop store in Farnham for some masking tape (that I owe the guy next to me) and Subway. Before doing so, I headed back home to get my wallet. On the way there, I met with Sophie and we passed by Kit. Sophie asked if Kit had done his essay - he was on the way to drop his in, in fact. He had done 500 words so far and Sophie gave Kit some encouraging words. After getting back, met Sophie up in the kitchen. She was really relieved to of gotten her essay done and dusted.
Munched my sandwich and headed back to B123 - late by about five or so minutes with Oscar already there to remind me. Sue was about an extra 10 minutes before she got back. On the last break, Oscar popped over to his place to grab the rest of the newsprint - and I showed TMwAH where the University shop was. He needed a display board for his exhibition in Brighton - hopefully selling some work in the process. Put off slightly by the price, he (and I) dropped the plan on last-minute shopping and moseyed on back.
As we finished our session, Sue mentioned liking my drawings and how I was "sticking to the brief". EW, not that old-walnut again. I swear it is the teachers versed more into Fine Art (as is the case with Sue) that push more towards keeping to the rule. Still, I was fairly appreciative of Sue's taking to my life drawing despite their messy, unclean look in my opinion. When checking my work throughout the duration of Life Drawing, her responses were almost always "good" - this surprised me considering the majority of the time she's pointing out something with everyone else's work. I look forward to the next lesson in Life Drawing.
Tottered on home with Oscar and TMwAH. When I got back, Sophie, Georgia and Yannis were hanging out in the communal hall. Sophie nearly close to literally - she was quirkily sitting on the banister. I asked if she was coming over to Street Dance, and she shook the head. At 5pm, Sophie was heading back to Brighton in order to shoot her documentary based there. Asked Yannis was coming and...I don't think he heard me? In any case, ate a doughnut, and whipped on the duffel coat. Headed on out to Street Dance.
There, I was about a minute or so late but...no one was there. Dan and Katerina, the two instructors, welcomed me. Dan casually asked how I was doing and such, and my responses were stuttered all over the place. I thought, what's going to happen if I'm the only one? Do I have to learn all this alone? Luckily however, Becky and her friend arrived telling Dan about Sophie and Ben's absence. Then, the fellow from animation (and last week) turned up shortly thereafter - with two other girls following him momentarily. Dan did a warm up with me and the other guy - namely, the routine taught last week. I did it with him at first, and...UGH, sucked at it. Then the other person tried it, did a bit of a better job at it.
Cracked on with the exercises. Amongst the obligatory stretches and pull-ups, we did dance exercises with Katerina! Of the dance exercises, some were easy to pick up and follow as she did it, whilst others were more apparently there to take the piss. My ego deflated before even starting to learn the routine proper. The actual dance routine this week was actually fairly straight-forward which was great, as I associated her's with being tricky (from first impression, I guess) In juxtaposition from last week's rather effeminate choreography (too bad Becky wasn't there), this was a rather butch serving on manoeuvres with fists covering the face, stamping, chest thrusting and the like. The chest-thrusting, despite practicing, I am still yet to get even get somewhat right. When we practiced with music, the build-up threw me off a little bit.
The dance routine was pretty much complete, but how to demonstrate it? Once again in groups - but fortunately it wasn't solo this time, we had the instructors once again backing us up. The catch? It's street dance so to drive the point home, we did a simulated STREET DANCE OFF. Each group of 3 with the instructor in front. If this was for real, my ass would of been busted big time. I fucked up partway through, but kept going. We had a round of applause, and watched the others. They faired alright as well, but the margin of experience was still pretty jarring against the instructor.
Finishing up, we headed back home. Popped by Sainsburys, although I didn't get anything, instead just waiting for the others. I went departed from the others near home to go to Waitrrose although Becky and her friend came along to wait for me. I think I took too long for them, about 15 minutes, as when I finished the duo had disappeared outside. Oh well! Scanned up and down, looking through the window into Waitrose to see if they were anywhere there. Guess not, so carried on home.
There, I rested for about half an hour and got on with cooking. (I waited for Rory to finish upstairs, as well) Bought some diced steak that came with a section of kidney too - but no kidney for me! (despite Yannis's approval) Waitrose was out of stock on purely diced steak packages, but for what I wanted it still worked out cheaper to get the combo instead of a full-on cut. Whilst frying the steak, I experimented a little bit in mixing the process of Niku-jaga into the Stir-fry. So, in went a little bit of the dashi broth, along with mirin and sugar. After trying to be patient with simmering away the broth, I poured as much of it into the bin as possible. Fried up the rest of the vegetables and noodles.
Tasted yummy! In fact, I could taste the essence of Niku-jaga all around the stir fry. Even with the black bean sauce mixed in, the flavours all resonated pretty well. I was surprised.
Headed to sleep at about 11:40. There was more that happened in-between, I'm sure, but eh. I actually finished up writing this blog on Tuesday the following day, as I was too tired/lazy to finish the rest.
The lesson was at 10am today. I went to bed at 10pm, so...I got up at 9am! That's not right at all. Granted, again, I had little in the way of comfortable sleeping so I felt pretty drowsy. Couldn't wash my teeth - I forgot to bring my toothpaste (and, well, washing bag). Not even a mouth-rinse was possible.
Whilst preparing the morning tea, Jamie appeared in his pyjamas. Did he have a lesson this morning? No, not until 2:30pm, in fact. Even then, it's apparently a half an hour session based on handing in the essay. He was chuffed with this written result, ticking the word-count in at about 1004. The minimum is 1000.
On the way out I stupidly dropped one of my toast onto the floor.
Made my way to B123 - the life drawing studio conveniently next door to Animation's usual room. One of the guys in my class followed my lead - and started doing so as he came out of his house at the student village. No talk? :( There, everyone was waiting. For who? For Sue. She's one of the teachers we haven't seen since our induction week - and she works closely with the 3rd year students. 10 past 10, she burst into the scene with coffee/tea in hand. Gracing us with her high-cultured accent, the first of her words was telling us to prepare our easels with a board in a ring around the subject.
And so we did. I tried to aim for a spot next to Oscar but people (despite my haste) already settled. Instead, I stood into position north-west, next to a student with long flowing hair (and often glasses?). Sue trotted around to check everyone's easels, seeing if they were in position and nagging to go in closer. I was having difficulties figuring out how to heighten my easel. I didn't think you'd twist the bottom screw at first since it was so tightly fixed, but after Oscar demonstrated, apparently so. I asked Sue for advise as well. Her answer was to move in closer to the model. (...)
Forgot to get some newsprint/A3-A2 paper and thus had to borrow Oscar's (abundant) supply.
The session started, and for the most part of life drawing we drew the model in quick poses - from 30 seconds to 10 seconds. Essentially, Sue wanted us to draw the figure with singular, confident lines. Scratchy/hairy mark making (forgot the specific term she used a lot) was a large no-no, and it was something that a lot of students, judging by Sue's consistent critics, had a hard time to overcome. Who can blame them? The energy and passion to do detailed and precise work is an instinctive goal in terms of illustration - and with animation, drawings need to be precise and accurate, at least that's why Richard Williams loves his job. Going off track there, scratchy lines is often the result of the mind unsure of what is wants to process on paper. I...think.
I just barely held up my paper up with left over masking tape (Again, forgot) and the poor guy next to me was having it worse with his work frequently loosing grip and falling off. What's more, I quickly ran out of news print and since Oscar was on the other side of the room I didn't have balls to march over there in front of everyone's view for more.
We had a few breaks - two small ones and a lunch. After the first break, Sue was fairly late getting back and we were all pretty much there. The model herself got things going and just stripped naked into a pose - all of us instinctively belted up and started sketching. Sue arrived and noticed our head-start, asking the model to change pose. We just started, mind you.
During the lunch, I headed over to the Workshop store in Farnham for some masking tape (that I owe the guy next to me) and Subway. Before doing so, I headed back home to get my wallet. On the way there, I met with Sophie and we passed by Kit. Sophie asked if Kit had done his essay - he was on the way to drop his in, in fact. He had done 500 words so far and Sophie gave Kit some encouraging words. After getting back, met Sophie up in the kitchen. She was really relieved to of gotten her essay done and dusted.
Munched my sandwich and headed back to B123 - late by about five or so minutes with Oscar already there to remind me. Sue was about an extra 10 minutes before she got back. On the last break, Oscar popped over to his place to grab the rest of the newsprint - and I showed TMwAH where the University shop was. He needed a display board for his exhibition in Brighton - hopefully selling some work in the process. Put off slightly by the price, he (and I) dropped the plan on last-minute shopping and moseyed on back.
As we finished our session, Sue mentioned liking my drawings and how I was "sticking to the brief". EW, not that old-walnut again. I swear it is the teachers versed more into Fine Art (as is the case with Sue) that push more towards keeping to the rule. Still, I was fairly appreciative of Sue's taking to my life drawing despite their messy, unclean look in my opinion. When checking my work throughout the duration of Life Drawing, her responses were almost always "good" - this surprised me considering the majority of the time she's pointing out something with everyone else's work. I look forward to the next lesson in Life Drawing.
Tottered on home with Oscar and TMwAH. When I got back, Sophie, Georgia and Yannis were hanging out in the communal hall. Sophie nearly close to literally - she was quirkily sitting on the banister. I asked if she was coming over to Street Dance, and she shook the head. At 5pm, Sophie was heading back to Brighton in order to shoot her documentary based there. Asked Yannis was coming and...I don't think he heard me? In any case, ate a doughnut, and whipped on the duffel coat. Headed on out to Street Dance.
There, I was about a minute or so late but...no one was there. Dan and Katerina, the two instructors, welcomed me. Dan casually asked how I was doing and such, and my responses were stuttered all over the place. I thought, what's going to happen if I'm the only one? Do I have to learn all this alone? Luckily however, Becky and her friend arrived telling Dan about Sophie and Ben's absence. Then, the fellow from animation (and last week) turned up shortly thereafter - with two other girls following him momentarily. Dan did a warm up with me and the other guy - namely, the routine taught last week. I did it with him at first, and...UGH, sucked at it. Then the other person tried it, did a bit of a better job at it.
Cracked on with the exercises. Amongst the obligatory stretches and pull-ups, we did dance exercises with Katerina! Of the dance exercises, some were easy to pick up and follow as she did it, whilst others were more apparently there to take the piss. My ego deflated before even starting to learn the routine proper. The actual dance routine this week was actually fairly straight-forward which was great, as I associated her's with being tricky (from first impression, I guess) In juxtaposition from last week's rather effeminate choreography (too bad Becky wasn't there), this was a rather butch serving on manoeuvres with fists covering the face, stamping, chest thrusting and the like. The chest-thrusting, despite practicing, I am still yet to get even get somewhat right. When we practiced with music, the build-up threw me off a little bit.
The dance routine was pretty much complete, but how to demonstrate it? Once again in groups - but fortunately it wasn't solo this time, we had the instructors once again backing us up. The catch? It's street dance so to drive the point home, we did a simulated STREET DANCE OFF. Each group of 3 with the instructor in front. If this was for real, my ass would of been busted big time. I fucked up partway through, but kept going. We had a round of applause, and watched the others. They faired alright as well, but the margin of experience was still pretty jarring against the instructor.
Finishing up, we headed back home. Popped by Sainsburys, although I didn't get anything, instead just waiting for the others. I went departed from the others near home to go to Waitrrose although Becky and her friend came along to wait for me. I think I took too long for them, about 15 minutes, as when I finished the duo had disappeared outside. Oh well! Scanned up and down, looking through the window into Waitrose to see if they were anywhere there. Guess not, so carried on home.
There, I rested for about half an hour and got on with cooking. (I waited for Rory to finish upstairs, as well) Bought some diced steak that came with a section of kidney too - but no kidney for me! (despite Yannis's approval) Waitrose was out of stock on purely diced steak packages, but for what I wanted it still worked out cheaper to get the combo instead of a full-on cut. Whilst frying the steak, I experimented a little bit in mixing the process of Niku-jaga into the Stir-fry. So, in went a little bit of the dashi broth, along with mirin and sugar. After trying to be patient with simmering away the broth, I poured as much of it into the bin as possible. Fried up the rest of the vegetables and noodles.
Tasted yummy! In fact, I could taste the essence of Niku-jaga all around the stir fry. Even with the black bean sauce mixed in, the flavours all resonated pretty well. I was surprised.
Headed to sleep at about 11:40. There was more that happened in-between, I'm sure, but eh. I actually finished up writing this blog on Tuesday the following day, as I was too tired/lazy to finish the rest.
Friday, 5 November 2010
Try again?
Once again I'm down this weekend - this time even on Monday despite having Life Drawing class. It's my brother's birthday.
This morning in bed was quite nice, I actually felt comfortable this time round. (Incessant itching and pyjama shorts in a constant twist last night was irritating though)
That is, up until 7:30 when this sounded. (Note: not my Uni)
Really, now? I sat their for a few seconds in a daze, then suddenly threw on a pair a of jeans and scuttled out of the house. It's a really disconcerting sound to use, but I guess it was designed in mind to freak everybody out of the building. Yannis traced behind me, going out bare-footed in hustled confusion.
Sophie, Georgia, Kit and just about everyone else grouped up with me and Yannis, where us two (and someone else) were the first to arrive at the designated point. Rory really didn't look too happy. James joined with us as well.
The alarm had stopped, and everyone saw it as the time to head back.Was it, though? We had gotten a newsletter this week, almost entirely composed of what, as immature bastards, we did wrong - one of such notice was how the fire drill "was extremely disappointing." It was, yes, but beside that the students didn't know where the assembly point was, went back in before told to and best of all, some hid from the staff. There are two drills planned through out the course year - I'm wondering if this is really the second one, or a retry? Hopefully the former.
My lesson wasn't until 12:00, but now that I was up, I got dressed and washed up. Headed upstairs to see Sophie (in her PJs) and Rory there. Sophie didn't have a lesson at all today, yet felt she couldn't even go back to sleep. Impressive considering she and most other housemates were up until about 4:30am.
Sophie noticed I was going to have some waffles, and asked if I have syrup or chocolate sauce with them. Neither - my mouth is but a dry wasteland. Besides that I sort of mumbled a rather crass outburst, something really incoherent like "these are just American sweetness gay." Not sure why, maybe still annoyed by the sudden wake-up call.
After both drinking and eating, I rested until 11:00. Got my bearings together and headed on over to Jon Hunt's class. There was an issue though - when prompted to open up last week's projects as a base example for 'masking' techniques...mine wasn't there. In fact, each week I noticed my folders on the network kept disappearing. When asking Jon at one point what the reason for this was, he asked if I changed computers. ...yes. It seems work is local to a system, and it isn't saved to a joint network. (Which the Macs and...most PCs are) Furthermore, he guessed that other students must likely of deleted my work, and scolded me for not saving my shiz to a USB dongle. I have one, just...yeah, I was confident my work was safe. Guess not!! It got me rather down. I still not sure whether to believe that students really have deleted my work - there just isn't any valid reason to. I'll check the other PCs in the undercroft next time.
That aside, we learnt the basics of masking in After Effects. I've seen 'Mask' numerous times in Photoshop, Illustrator and the like but never quite figured out what its purpose was, or how to use it. Now I can see - it's a way of erasing specific spaces of a piece. I think. We were tasked with finding a banner (just a simple one) off of the internet - something which I somehow had great difficulty in simply tracking down. We'd give it a transparent background and save it as a .PNG to which we then apply a transitioning mask on After Effects. I lagged behind here, due to said delay on just finding an appropriate clip art of a banner. What's more, I converted the image incorrectly into After Effects - I should of left a box unchecked, despite Manjit advising to tick-it upon asking. Eventually got a masking effect going.
Moved onto another technique - we were explained the basics of green screening, with a YouTube video featuring a god-awful Kermit the Frog (KEYING GREEN, 5 STAR!!!) impression teaching us. The next exercise had us use a video footage of an owl amongst a green background (with a pink X) - using a dark forest background, we had to remove the green using masking and an effect plugin called KeyLight. Most students finished this within a matter of minutes, but since we were tight on time I couldn't even understand the gist of KeyLight's variables. At 2:00, we headed off. The next group was waiting outside (cramping up a narrow corridor, it was amusing to see), and asked what we did. Tried to quickly tell them all roughly, even if I was blocking the door to a man.
Upon quickly popping into my room, I charged on over to Subway feeling in the mood for a 'B.M.T'. My lust was enough to warrant a Facebook update with me checking into the fast-food chain. (Which later Jade Midson decides to like, wha'?) Whilst waiting in line, two other fellow students from my group queued up behind me. Up ahead in line also was one guy that I swear is in Sophie's documentary group...his voice is unmistakable. I wanted to reach ahead and ask, but I couldn't leave the line. I ordered a footlong B.L.T, and the guy filled my sub with bacon....oops! NO! I meant B.M.T. They could of given it a better name. Headed home, and when quickly cleaning some plates up in the kitchen, Rob and Sophie commented on knowing I went to subway despite the food being in my room. Like an idiot I forgot for a second I left an update on Facebook. Enquired Sophie about the familiar guy in Subway - upon describing his coat and 'that voice', Sophie quickly told me it was indeed her friend. He's a sparkling gay, so to speak, so he's easy to distinguish from our grey, conforming society.
I didn't have that much time, so I chomped away the tasty sandwich, and with only a few minutes before 3:00, drank the rest of the coke on the way to W104. Left the donut, I'll eat it later. Fortunately, I was far from late. Whilst waiting outside, I told my concerns on having little to no work for showing to Andy Joule (due partly to loosing my work of Digital Skills) - Erika reassured me that it is the idea that counts, above all else.
Luko happened to pop out of the room ahead, and talked about the tutorial itself. Apparently he was only the 4th one out despite it being about 10 minutes past 3pm, meaning Andy has the same hyper-slow pace for reviewing as Ron does. Despite this, Luko felt his 1-to-1 with Andy went pretty well and saw the whole thing as fairly lenient. He advised me and Oscar to "sit near the front" if we want to stand a chance of leaving on time, as it is where Andy supposedly starts. Because I feared on having little work to show, Luko instead suggested I sit at the back, since at least there will be time for me to develop some ideas in accordance to the review. Becky passed by.
Eventually we all headed in regardless if everyone else was not out by this stage, and sat three rows to the back. Got on with working on another scene, looking for some inspiration. I asked Manjit next to me if she had any ideas on animations that utilised paper - eventually she remembered one song, JCB. Talk about nostalgic! I remember when this song rattled up the UK for a week before being forgotten almost immediately. There was also another animator in mind - Don Hertzfeldt. His animations in mind are mainly for absurd humour but there are a few instances where creativity hits a high mark - especially the final moments on Rejected, linked there. Oscar quickly noticed the animation, having loved it.
Almost literally out of the left field, Andy Joule did his 1-to-1 with me earlier than anticipated - I think I was 3rd or 4th! Regardless of this I took in a breath and opened up the scene I produced last Friday (and the one made thus far) to explain to Andy my ideas and where I want to take the animation. Obviously, a storyboard would be necessary (I somewhat cheated, could hear him suggest this to a student beforehand) and Andy agreed. Despite some clear issues with me maintaining a steady flow on my talking, and one or two instances or sounding like I was coming up with ideas on the spot (but I really wasn't) Andy seemed very much content with my proposal, and said that he looks forward to seeing how my animation develops. I was actually talking to him longer than he wanted, and broke himself away from me (as necessary in terms of time). After he reviewed Manjit, she headed off for work at 4pm. She works at a chippy in Farnham! I first mis-assumed it was the transit-chippy just outside Waitrose. Whoops.
Before heading off, I checked on China James to see how he was doing, going as far as to kneel down to his level. He has some firm ideas for Digital animation, but wanted Andy to review him sooner. China James has a habit, according to Jon Hunt, for turning up to the wrong groups constantly. In this case though, he wanted to get the 1-to-1 over and done with since he was invited to a Sushi party at 2pm. It was past 4pm when asking him this, but attempts to be reviewed in an earlier group only resulted in Andy Joule demanding James to come to the correct one. He felt gutted, and he wasn't even reviewed by Andy yet. I tried reassuring James that the party is maybe still going, and his friend won't mind if he didn't make it. When I reminded him to text her friend, a response later lit James' face a little. Maybe the party was still going?
Before leaving, Jame's also mentioned being constantly pushed by his parents to do well and keep on top of things at University. He was forced into giving his mother his login details for MyUCA. Besides this, he gets frequently called during his time at Uni (he lives at home still) if he's kept up to date with the work load and such. It's stupid - University is the best time for James' to freely explore and be himself. His family is living in the UK, so if they become bewildered that their son is under influence from his peer's work ethic, well, tough tits. Also, James's stressed how he is a slow learner, putting it towards lack of proper socialising as a child, being sucked into a world of his own. I assured him that not only are most artists/animators/religions within a world of their own, he really isn't as slow as I am on picking things up. Street dance, oh my god.
On the way out with Oscar, we saw Felix sitting in the corridor on his own. He must of come early ahead of his group. Asked him how he found manipulating the green screen with KeyLight in digital skills - said he found it fine for the most part. Heading towards the student village, Oscar commented on James' restrictive family. He told me how one time, when his mother was teaching young children in Primary School, she had one Korean pupil - the pupil had blisters and pains on her fingers. This pupil's mother apparently had her practice the piano on an extensive basis each day. UGH.
When home, I popped into Sophie's room. It was full of books, and she was busy typing away on her laptop - presumably the essay due in next Monday. Because Sophie was going to head home for the weekend like me, I told her I won't be back for Sunday so I can't clean the kitchen this week. She assured me that she'd clean it up on the Sunday she gets back, and gratefully nodded my head followed by a hearty thanks. Got a text from my dad saying he'd be over by 6:00. With an hour to go, I relaxed, planning to pack up at 10 to 6. However, by this time I could hear my dad talking outside - he was leaving a voicemail addressed to me. I quickly opened the window to call him out, telling him I'd meet him. Rory passed by, who gave my further some surprised looks. Dashed outside, and told dad I'd be as quick as possible. CRAP! Frantically packed up as quickly as possible, tossing in some black jeans and shirt for my brother's birthday (and some fresh pyjamas.) Quickly did extra checks on all the switches in my room to see if they were turn off, and everything unplugged. Charged out, and my dad was happily waiting patiently the whole time.
We went to Waitrose in Farnham to do some shopping for tonight. Got one of this Indian meal packs, and waited at a checkout. Despite using a basket, we queued at a trolley till - basket lines are often stretched far back. We changed checkout due to potential time it'd take for the former, and upon waiting in the latter, James Allen (in a checkout next to ours) and I exchanged a hello. On the way back home, we stopped at a pub mainly because my dad had wanted to piss badly.
Got back home, and quickly had a rest on my bed with fireworks clapping outside. I wore a coat over a thick jumper in a warm car on the journey back, so I felt sick. Some resting fixed it up though, and headed next door to greet my sister Holly (and Iggy the dog).
I'm over the weekend including Monday, for my brother's birthday. Need to let Andy Joule know of this, and I should of done beforehand in the tutorial. Was probably afraid of an upfront scolding though.
This morning in bed was quite nice, I actually felt comfortable this time round. (Incessant itching and pyjama shorts in a constant twist last night was irritating though)
That is, up until 7:30 when this sounded. (Note: not my Uni)
Really, now? I sat their for a few seconds in a daze, then suddenly threw on a pair a of jeans and scuttled out of the house. It's a really disconcerting sound to use, but I guess it was designed in mind to freak everybody out of the building. Yannis traced behind me, going out bare-footed in hustled confusion.
Sophie, Georgia, Kit and just about everyone else grouped up with me and Yannis, where us two (and someone else) were the first to arrive at the designated point. Rory really didn't look too happy. James joined with us as well.
The alarm had stopped, and everyone saw it as the time to head back.Was it, though? We had gotten a newsletter this week, almost entirely composed of what, as immature bastards, we did wrong - one of such notice was how the fire drill "was extremely disappointing." It was, yes, but beside that the students didn't know where the assembly point was, went back in before told to and best of all, some hid from the staff. There are two drills planned through out the course year - I'm wondering if this is really the second one, or a retry? Hopefully the former.
My lesson wasn't until 12:00, but now that I was up, I got dressed and washed up. Headed upstairs to see Sophie (in her PJs) and Rory there. Sophie didn't have a lesson at all today, yet felt she couldn't even go back to sleep. Impressive considering she and most other housemates were up until about 4:30am.
Sophie noticed I was going to have some waffles, and asked if I have syrup or chocolate sauce with them. Neither - my mouth is but a dry wasteland. Besides that I sort of mumbled a rather crass outburst, something really incoherent like "these are just American sweetness gay." Not sure why, maybe still annoyed by the sudden wake-up call.
After both drinking and eating, I rested until 11:00. Got my bearings together and headed on over to Jon Hunt's class. There was an issue though - when prompted to open up last week's projects as a base example for 'masking' techniques...mine wasn't there. In fact, each week I noticed my folders on the network kept disappearing. When asking Jon at one point what the reason for this was, he asked if I changed computers. ...yes. It seems work is local to a system, and it isn't saved to a joint network. (Which the Macs and...most PCs are) Furthermore, he guessed that other students must likely of deleted my work, and scolded me for not saving my shiz to a USB dongle. I have one, just...yeah, I was confident my work was safe. Guess not!! It got me rather down. I still not sure whether to believe that students really have deleted my work - there just isn't any valid reason to. I'll check the other PCs in the undercroft next time.
That aside, we learnt the basics of masking in After Effects. I've seen 'Mask' numerous times in Photoshop, Illustrator and the like but never quite figured out what its purpose was, or how to use it. Now I can see - it's a way of erasing specific spaces of a piece. I think. We were tasked with finding a banner (just a simple one) off of the internet - something which I somehow had great difficulty in simply tracking down. We'd give it a transparent background and save it as a .PNG to which we then apply a transitioning mask on After Effects. I lagged behind here, due to said delay on just finding an appropriate clip art of a banner. What's more, I converted the image incorrectly into After Effects - I should of left a box unchecked, despite Manjit advising to tick-it upon asking. Eventually got a masking effect going.
Moved onto another technique - we were explained the basics of green screening, with a YouTube video featuring a god-awful Kermit the Frog (KEYING GREEN, 5 STAR!!!) impression teaching us. The next exercise had us use a video footage of an owl amongst a green background (with a pink X) - using a dark forest background, we had to remove the green using masking and an effect plugin called KeyLight. Most students finished this within a matter of minutes, but since we were tight on time I couldn't even understand the gist of KeyLight's variables. At 2:00, we headed off. The next group was waiting outside (cramping up a narrow corridor, it was amusing to see), and asked what we did. Tried to quickly tell them all roughly, even if I was blocking the door to a man.
Upon quickly popping into my room, I charged on over to Subway feeling in the mood for a 'B.M.T'. My lust was enough to warrant a Facebook update with me checking into the fast-food chain. (Which later Jade Midson decides to like, wha'?) Whilst waiting in line, two other fellow students from my group queued up behind me. Up ahead in line also was one guy that I swear is in Sophie's documentary group...his voice is unmistakable. I wanted to reach ahead and ask, but I couldn't leave the line. I ordered a footlong B.L.T, and the guy filled my sub with bacon....oops! NO! I meant B.M.T. They could of given it a better name. Headed home, and when quickly cleaning some plates up in the kitchen, Rob and Sophie commented on knowing I went to subway despite the food being in my room. Like an idiot I forgot for a second I left an update on Facebook. Enquired Sophie about the familiar guy in Subway - upon describing his coat and 'that voice', Sophie quickly told me it was indeed her friend. He's a sparkling gay, so to speak, so he's easy to distinguish from our grey, conforming society.
I didn't have that much time, so I chomped away the tasty sandwich, and with only a few minutes before 3:00, drank the rest of the coke on the way to W104. Left the donut, I'll eat it later. Fortunately, I was far from late. Whilst waiting outside, I told my concerns on having little to no work for showing to Andy Joule (due partly to loosing my work of Digital Skills) - Erika reassured me that it is the idea that counts, above all else.
Luko happened to pop out of the room ahead, and talked about the tutorial itself. Apparently he was only the 4th one out despite it being about 10 minutes past 3pm, meaning Andy has the same hyper-slow pace for reviewing as Ron does. Despite this, Luko felt his 1-to-1 with Andy went pretty well and saw the whole thing as fairly lenient. He advised me and Oscar to "sit near the front" if we want to stand a chance of leaving on time, as it is where Andy supposedly starts. Because I feared on having little work to show, Luko instead suggested I sit at the back, since at least there will be time for me to develop some ideas in accordance to the review. Becky passed by.
Eventually we all headed in regardless if everyone else was not out by this stage, and sat three rows to the back. Got on with working on another scene, looking for some inspiration. I asked Manjit next to me if she had any ideas on animations that utilised paper - eventually she remembered one song, JCB. Talk about nostalgic! I remember when this song rattled up the UK for a week before being forgotten almost immediately. There was also another animator in mind - Don Hertzfeldt. His animations in mind are mainly for absurd humour but there are a few instances where creativity hits a high mark - especially the final moments on Rejected, linked there. Oscar quickly noticed the animation, having loved it.
Almost literally out of the left field, Andy Joule did his 1-to-1 with me earlier than anticipated - I think I was 3rd or 4th! Regardless of this I took in a breath and opened up the scene I produced last Friday (and the one made thus far) to explain to Andy my ideas and where I want to take the animation. Obviously, a storyboard would be necessary (I somewhat cheated, could hear him suggest this to a student beforehand) and Andy agreed. Despite some clear issues with me maintaining a steady flow on my talking, and one or two instances or sounding like I was coming up with ideas on the spot (but I really wasn't) Andy seemed very much content with my proposal, and said that he looks forward to seeing how my animation develops. I was actually talking to him longer than he wanted, and broke himself away from me (as necessary in terms of time). After he reviewed Manjit, she headed off for work at 4pm. She works at a chippy in Farnham! I first mis-assumed it was the transit-chippy just outside Waitrose. Whoops.
Before heading off, I checked on China James to see how he was doing, going as far as to kneel down to his level. He has some firm ideas for Digital animation, but wanted Andy to review him sooner. China James has a habit, according to Jon Hunt, for turning up to the wrong groups constantly. In this case though, he wanted to get the 1-to-1 over and done with since he was invited to a Sushi party at 2pm. It was past 4pm when asking him this, but attempts to be reviewed in an earlier group only resulted in Andy Joule demanding James to come to the correct one. He felt gutted, and he wasn't even reviewed by Andy yet. I tried reassuring James that the party is maybe still going, and his friend won't mind if he didn't make it. When I reminded him to text her friend, a response later lit James' face a little. Maybe the party was still going?
Before leaving, Jame's also mentioned being constantly pushed by his parents to do well and keep on top of things at University. He was forced into giving his mother his login details for MyUCA. Besides this, he gets frequently called during his time at Uni (he lives at home still) if he's kept up to date with the work load and such. It's stupid - University is the best time for James' to freely explore and be himself. His family is living in the UK, so if they become bewildered that their son is under influence from his peer's work ethic, well, tough tits. Also, James's stressed how he is a slow learner, putting it towards lack of proper socialising as a child, being sucked into a world of his own. I assured him that not only are most artists/animators/religions within a world of their own, he really isn't as slow as I am on picking things up. Street dance, oh my god.
On the way out with Oscar, we saw Felix sitting in the corridor on his own. He must of come early ahead of his group. Asked him how he found manipulating the green screen with KeyLight in digital skills - said he found it fine for the most part. Heading towards the student village, Oscar commented on James' restrictive family. He told me how one time, when his mother was teaching young children in Primary School, she had one Korean pupil - the pupil had blisters and pains on her fingers. This pupil's mother apparently had her practice the piano on an extensive basis each day. UGH.
When home, I popped into Sophie's room. It was full of books, and she was busy typing away on her laptop - presumably the essay due in next Monday. Because Sophie was going to head home for the weekend like me, I told her I won't be back for Sunday so I can't clean the kitchen this week. She assured me that she'd clean it up on the Sunday she gets back, and gratefully nodded my head followed by a hearty thanks. Got a text from my dad saying he'd be over by 6:00. With an hour to go, I relaxed, planning to pack up at 10 to 6. However, by this time I could hear my dad talking outside - he was leaving a voicemail addressed to me. I quickly opened the window to call him out, telling him I'd meet him. Rory passed by, who gave my further some surprised looks. Dashed outside, and told dad I'd be as quick as possible. CRAP! Frantically packed up as quickly as possible, tossing in some black jeans and shirt for my brother's birthday (and some fresh pyjamas.) Quickly did extra checks on all the switches in my room to see if they were turn off, and everything unplugged. Charged out, and my dad was happily waiting patiently the whole time.
We went to Waitrose in Farnham to do some shopping for tonight. Got one of this Indian meal packs, and waited at a checkout. Despite using a basket, we queued at a trolley till - basket lines are often stretched far back. We changed checkout due to potential time it'd take for the former, and upon waiting in the latter, James Allen (in a checkout next to ours) and I exchanged a hello. On the way back home, we stopped at a pub mainly because my dad had wanted to piss badly.
Got back home, and quickly had a rest on my bed with fireworks clapping outside. I wore a coat over a thick jumper in a warm car on the journey back, so I felt sick. Some resting fixed it up though, and headed next door to greet my sister Holly (and Iggy the dog).
I'm over the weekend including Monday, for my brother's birthday. Need to let Andy Joule know of this, and I should of done beforehand in the tutorial. Was probably afraid of an upfront scolding though.
Thursday, 4 November 2010
Trans-Media Picture Show
Got up a nice time of 7:15. Felt really tired through-out the morning though, for some reason. Pretty sure I got some good sleep last night...didn't I?
Headed over to the White building, hoping that was the right place for the lecture. This week isn't in the Maltings, separating us back to individual courses, but will return to so next week. Initially I had heard that the lecture was in the John Luard building, but it seems it wasn't the case. Everyone was waiting outside of the room in the White building. Farideh and Jade were there, and I talked with them whilst waiting. The Man with Awesome Hair turned up shortly before going in, I forgot what we had discussed, however.
Sat down, roughly in a middle row of seats. Farideh and Jade were behind - Jade had a new hair styling too. Looked kind of nice. Whilst we waited for the lecture to start, somewhat cheesy but surprisingly fitting music was playing - a typical orchestrated Hollywood piece with an uplifting sense to it. It was in fact a DVD menu, featuring a tree going through the seasons. About 10 or so minutes in, the lecture got underway, and Jon Weinbren almost immediately kicked off the movie, having us watch 30 minutes of it. The movie in question? Big Fish! I heard of it, and its good reception, but watched anything of the movie.
From the opening introduction (Oh, Tim Burton?) up to it's stopping point - Edward Bloom determined to leave the town of Specter. I was really drawn into the film, and this notion of an idealic tale hits a hidden spot within me. I need to watch the rest at some point, maybe loan the DVD of it from the library.
Jon stopped the movie on a note suggesting that it's almost like he interrupted sex. I see what he means but, well, alright. He asked for thoughts on the film, and as per usual no one wanted to respond save for Felix and the student from the US.
The main basis of the lecture today was on the concept of Transmedia storytelling. Media-studies professor Henry Jenkins once wrote an article reflecting on Kinder's assumption.
To explain it first however; Transmedia storytelling is when, according to Wikipedia:
"content becomes invasive and fully permeates the audience's lifestyle. A transmedia project develops storytelling across multiple forms of media in order to have different "entry points" in the story; entry-points with a unique and independent lifespan but with a definite role in the big narrative scheme."
I can't really put it into better wording. An example is for instance Star Wars - we have the films, the games, the books, the toys, the comics and so fourth.
Jon foretold us that this term would become highly important to us as animators within the next 10 years. Mr. Weinbren also asked us for examples of where advertisement in animation can be spread across in terms of formats. I stupidly said corn fields, as I heard the 'advertisement' but missed the 'animation'. Still, Jon was really keen on that example. Somehow.
I'd explain the rest of the lecture but I couldn't jot down all the notes at the time. The powerpoint slides were mainly WALLS OF TEXT, and Jon had to rush through it as well thanks to Felix barraging the lecturer with examples and questions like a fucking Siamese cat wailing the most noise for attention from the teacher. He even deemed it necessary to point out to Jon, who after saying 'ATM machine' that "the machine is redundant." True, but we're not on some faggy elitist message-board here, and sounding the sirens for the Grammar Police (even to a teacher) is really setting a low benchmark amongst all the other peers around him.
Before the break, student next to me - Clev, I think his name was, spied my random, incessant doodling and gave a good remark to them. I appreciate that, but pssfff. I've got a long way to go on accurate proportions.
Having finished, I headed over to Waitrose with Luko. Picked up some items for the stir fry (Out of normal stir fry vegetables, so went ahead with sweet and crunch) and Luko got some Essential Waitrose loo rolls. On the way back, Luko headed to the library in order to renew a book - one on Animation workshops or something. We spent a good few minutes trying to remember the word 'renew', until it suddenly came back to Luko naturally mid-sentance. Near 92 we chatted further, commenting on the upcoming Carnage party in Guildford. I heard about it a few weeks back, but this week our letter box got stuffed full of advertisements for the party. Basically, if you wear the OFFICIAL CARNAGE T-SHIRT, and pyjamas, you get in for free or maybe half price. Luko said he wouldn't be turning up in pyjamas if he'd attend, boring sod. :( 'Till next Thursday, my friend.
Back home at 92, I packed my stuff for the stir fry tonight away in the fridge. Georgia and Yannis were up in the kitchen as well. Kit too, I think. Headed to my room and about an hour later I...rested, and then shortly flat-out fell asleep. Before I knew it, I was having all sorts of dreams. One of more nightmarish imagery on Evangelion Unit 01 taking on horrific forms (please do/do not watch the series), and another of me in PJ's room. Everyone was going to head out to do something but I suddenly felt lazy, rolly-polly'd onto the floor and demanded to kip out on PJ's bed. How tired must I of been? I think the dream carried on further where I caught up to everyone outside and then dropped to the floor to sleep again.
During the times I was awake, I eventually got up at 5:15. It was almost black outside, but how long did I sleep for? I didn't catch the time before, but I must of gone to bed at about 1:30 or so. It's stupid laziness on my part, but I must of been pretty tired to dream so much.
Stumbled up stairs to the kitchen, still in a slight daze. Told Sophie and Rory that I just got up, and they spread tales and tidbits on sleeping during the day. Sophie mentioned heading to sleep and waking up tired still...yeah, that's a real stinker. Got on with the stir fry, which took about a whole hour and a half to fully cook. Georgia, Rob and Yannis were up in the kitchen by this stage (Rory and Sophie absent), and offered Yannis some of my stir fry. In exchange he let me have some of his garlic bread. It was nice, even if bitterly lemon in flavour. Yannis has a bottle of lemon flavouring, and almost no meal of his - no matter what it be - goes by without some of that poured on. He couldn't finish all of the stir fry, and to be fair, it is fairly spicy.
Kit mentioned that Yannis looks more like an Egyptian than a Greek, and Yannis retaliated by stating how Kit appears to be more Norwegian/Icelandic. Actually, Kit sprung to glee on that remark since he himself believes to be of that origin - maybe even a descendent of Vikings. Kit's a pretty tall guy, maybe about 6. 5ft.
Yannis was also feeling irritated by back pains, specifically, he had a trapped nerve he believed he got from skating. Rob did not help Yannis out by making him laugh consistently, which sparked stabs of pain. Subsequently, Georgia moaned about an item she had wanted on eBay - an arrow for a violin. (which she seems to play??) Since Yannis seems to have little in the way of money management, he heatedly enticed Georgia to buy the item. Georgia did take a shot at bidding, and almost won. Someone else outbid her on pretty much the last five seconds.
Sophie and the gang have headed off to Becky's. They're going to drink there before going to the SU bar, which is doing a hip-hop night. Also, I read the e-mail for the Digital Skills time tabling tomorrow - it's fine, except for the tutorial with Andy Joule later on. WHAT? I thought last week was the last tutorial for Digital Skills! Did that guy bullshit us with misinterpreted information or something? Whatever, I haven't particularly got much work to show for Digital Skills yet - maybe aside from the stuff done with Jon Hunt.
Besides that, I'm heading home again this weekend, getting picked up tomorrow. I'm staying Monday to celebrate my brother's birthday, which I feel like I shouldn't be doing in regards to my studies...
There's life-drawing to take place on Monday all day, too. I mean, crap, why is it I refuse to look at my time-table so much? I think what I'll do is put in all the dates for sessions, regardless if they change. I need to reinforce my time structure and work commitment as well. As it stands, I'm a mess.
Anyway! Shower time!
Headed over to the White building, hoping that was the right place for the lecture. This week isn't in the Maltings, separating us back to individual courses, but will return to so next week. Initially I had heard that the lecture was in the John Luard building, but it seems it wasn't the case. Everyone was waiting outside of the room in the White building. Farideh and Jade were there, and I talked with them whilst waiting. The Man with Awesome Hair turned up shortly before going in, I forgot what we had discussed, however.
Sat down, roughly in a middle row of seats. Farideh and Jade were behind - Jade had a new hair styling too. Looked kind of nice. Whilst we waited for the lecture to start, somewhat cheesy but surprisingly fitting music was playing - a typical orchestrated Hollywood piece with an uplifting sense to it. It was in fact a DVD menu, featuring a tree going through the seasons. About 10 or so minutes in, the lecture got underway, and Jon Weinbren almost immediately kicked off the movie, having us watch 30 minutes of it. The movie in question? Big Fish! I heard of it, and its good reception, but watched anything of the movie.
From the opening introduction (Oh, Tim Burton?) up to it's stopping point - Edward Bloom determined to leave the town of Specter. I was really drawn into the film, and this notion of an idealic tale hits a hidden spot within me. I need to watch the rest at some point, maybe loan the DVD of it from the library.
Jon stopped the movie on a note suggesting that it's almost like he interrupted sex. I see what he means but, well, alright. He asked for thoughts on the film, and as per usual no one wanted to respond save for Felix and the student from the US.
The main basis of the lecture today was on the concept of Transmedia storytelling. Media-studies professor Henry Jenkins once wrote an article reflecting on Kinder's assumption.
To explain it first however; Transmedia storytelling is when, according to Wikipedia:
"content becomes invasive and fully permeates the audience's lifestyle. A transmedia project develops storytelling across multiple forms of media in order to have different "entry points" in the story; entry-points with a unique and independent lifespan but with a definite role in the big narrative scheme."
I can't really put it into better wording. An example is for instance Star Wars - we have the films, the games, the books, the toys, the comics and so fourth.
Jon foretold us that this term would become highly important to us as animators within the next 10 years. Mr. Weinbren also asked us for examples of where advertisement in animation can be spread across in terms of formats. I stupidly said corn fields, as I heard the 'advertisement' but missed the 'animation'. Still, Jon was really keen on that example. Somehow.
I'd explain the rest of the lecture but I couldn't jot down all the notes at the time. The powerpoint slides were mainly WALLS OF TEXT, and Jon had to rush through it as well thanks to Felix barraging the lecturer with examples and questions like a fucking Siamese cat wailing the most noise for attention from the teacher. He even deemed it necessary to point out to Jon, who after saying 'ATM machine' that "the machine is redundant." True, but we're not on some faggy elitist message-board here, and sounding the sirens for the Grammar Police (even to a teacher) is really setting a low benchmark amongst all the other peers around him.
Before the break, student next to me - Clev, I think his name was, spied my random, incessant doodling and gave a good remark to them. I appreciate that, but pssfff. I've got a long way to go on accurate proportions.
Having finished, I headed over to Waitrose with Luko. Picked up some items for the stir fry (Out of normal stir fry vegetables, so went ahead with sweet and crunch) and Luko got some Essential Waitrose loo rolls. On the way back, Luko headed to the library in order to renew a book - one on Animation workshops or something. We spent a good few minutes trying to remember the word 'renew', until it suddenly came back to Luko naturally mid-sentance. Near 92 we chatted further, commenting on the upcoming Carnage party in Guildford. I heard about it a few weeks back, but this week our letter box got stuffed full of advertisements for the party. Basically, if you wear the OFFICIAL CARNAGE T-SHIRT, and pyjamas, you get in for free or maybe half price. Luko said he wouldn't be turning up in pyjamas if he'd attend, boring sod. :( 'Till next Thursday, my friend.
Back home at 92, I packed my stuff for the stir fry tonight away in the fridge. Georgia and Yannis were up in the kitchen as well. Kit too, I think. Headed to my room and about an hour later I...rested, and then shortly flat-out fell asleep. Before I knew it, I was having all sorts of dreams. One of more nightmarish imagery on Evangelion Unit 01 taking on horrific forms (please do/do not watch the series), and another of me in PJ's room. Everyone was going to head out to do something but I suddenly felt lazy, rolly-polly'd onto the floor and demanded to kip out on PJ's bed. How tired must I of been? I think the dream carried on further where I caught up to everyone outside and then dropped to the floor to sleep again.
During the times I was awake, I eventually got up at 5:15. It was almost black outside, but how long did I sleep for? I didn't catch the time before, but I must of gone to bed at about 1:30 or so. It's stupid laziness on my part, but I must of been pretty tired to dream so much.
Stumbled up stairs to the kitchen, still in a slight daze. Told Sophie and Rory that I just got up, and they spread tales and tidbits on sleeping during the day. Sophie mentioned heading to sleep and waking up tired still...yeah, that's a real stinker. Got on with the stir fry, which took about a whole hour and a half to fully cook. Georgia, Rob and Yannis were up in the kitchen by this stage (Rory and Sophie absent), and offered Yannis some of my stir fry. In exchange he let me have some of his garlic bread. It was nice, even if bitterly lemon in flavour. Yannis has a bottle of lemon flavouring, and almost no meal of his - no matter what it be - goes by without some of that poured on. He couldn't finish all of the stir fry, and to be fair, it is fairly spicy.
Kit mentioned that Yannis looks more like an Egyptian than a Greek, and Yannis retaliated by stating how Kit appears to be more Norwegian/Icelandic. Actually, Kit sprung to glee on that remark since he himself believes to be of that origin - maybe even a descendent of Vikings. Kit's a pretty tall guy, maybe about 6. 5ft.
Yannis was also feeling irritated by back pains, specifically, he had a trapped nerve he believed he got from skating. Rob did not help Yannis out by making him laugh consistently, which sparked stabs of pain. Subsequently, Georgia moaned about an item she had wanted on eBay - an arrow for a violin. (which she seems to play??) Since Yannis seems to have little in the way of money management, he heatedly enticed Georgia to buy the item. Georgia did take a shot at bidding, and almost won. Someone else outbid her on pretty much the last five seconds.
Sophie and the gang have headed off to Becky's. They're going to drink there before going to the SU bar, which is doing a hip-hop night. Also, I read the e-mail for the Digital Skills time tabling tomorrow - it's fine, except for the tutorial with Andy Joule later on. WHAT? I thought last week was the last tutorial for Digital Skills! Did that guy bullshit us with misinterpreted information or something? Whatever, I haven't particularly got much work to show for Digital Skills yet - maybe aside from the stuff done with Jon Hunt.
Besides that, I'm heading home again this weekend, getting picked up tomorrow. I'm staying Monday to celebrate my brother's birthday, which I feel like I shouldn't be doing in regards to my studies...
There's life-drawing to take place on Monday all day, too. I mean, crap, why is it I refuse to look at my time-table so much? I think what I'll do is put in all the dates for sessions, regardless if they change. I need to reinforce my time structure and work commitment as well. As it stands, I'm a mess.
Anyway! Shower time!
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