Animation

I hate Adobe Flash. Not only do I hate Flash, but I have zero interest in animation.

It all started when Flash became popular on the web about 45 years ago. I noticed that it was sluggish, cumbersome, and difficult to navigate. Although one could click around inside the Flash window, god help you if you clicked your browser's "back" button.

Then one day, a very powerful entity (probably Hulk Hogan) invented Google. Unlike search engines that made you beg them for the pleasure of being part of their elite database and would still reject you, Google did this revolutionary thing, they scanned the pages for content and then added them to their database so that people could find it. Guess what, all that content encapsulated within a Flash file was unsearchable. This was the terminal blow that Flash needed to make the world wide web a better place.

I have made a few Flash (and Shockwave) animations in my day. Each time, I felt like I was being punished. Re-exploring Flash at my advanced age makes me feel even worse. I don't enjoy anything about animation. I'm sure some people do, I'm not one of them. The only wisdom I have gained is that the software is even more counter intuitive than it was a decade ago. I do have a finer appreciation for the art form now, actually, I should say, the artists are who I appreciate. Anyone who will put up with this software has the patience of Job. I'm glad I have the option of focusing on film-media in the curriculum, because this animation business is lousy.

Now, in case you may have been curious, here is one of my earliest animation assignments back from 2002 or 2003, I forget. It was a visual interpretation of a haiku by Jane Reichhold, called "Autumn Winds."

"all night
autumn winds being heard
behind the mountains"

I agree, haikus are pretty silly. Come to think of it, why do they even have titles? They're three lines. Anyway...

http://m2j.us/movie1.php

Now, after seeing this masterpiece, my professor told me that the the moon should be visible at all times. Why? I don't know. She also said that the haiku text should stay in the foreground. I'll bite on that one. Finally, she said that there was no real climax, that it needed (as she put it) "more of a bang."

http://m2j.us/haiku.php

I delivered to the best of my ability.

Luckily, the uses for Flash have become scarce. Soon we will all remember Flash as a thing of the past, or just a took to animate, but export to movie files that will be embedded on webpages and displayed via built-in media functionality thanks to HTML 5.

Production Notes

I didn't find the process of shooting and editing to be anything except fun. I had a blast, it was like goofing off and getting to capture it and show other people just how good at goofing off we can be.

The big challenge was audio, but that was because we were dealing with people being in the locations that we shot in and had a camcorder with that one dinky mic on it. Those dinky mics done do us wrong sometimes.

I discovered something important about myself though, I hate pre-production. I understand why it's necessary, but Jiminy Cricket is it annoying. It's like “write this, write that, now do it slightly differen.” I left off the “t” in “different” because the voice inside my head that tells me to write is British and doesn't do well with pronouncing that letter.

Clearly the solution here is to make documentaries, but really bad ones. Documentaries with virtually no direction at all. Documentaries about store clerks or mediocre baseball players, the ones that never used steroids, but then only batted like, .206.

I was happy with the final product, I wish I had more time to shoot though. I can see the advantage of having a closed set now. People are so annoying, they see you shooting at they look at the camera, like right at it. Or they do that friggin' thing where they duck, but slightly, so the top of their head is in the camera. Seriously, I'm clearly doing something, go around me. I should do a documentary about those people, I can interview them afterward and ask them why they're such bastards.

Editing Analysis

Originally, I was going to say that the editing of the movie "Memento" was one that I think was defined by its edits. Similar works have used the same presentation, such as "Irreversible."

We are first shown the end of the story. The last few minutes is revealed to us, then we are returned to some time before this last few minutes. Once we catch up to where we started, we jump back again, eventually leading us to the beginning of the story and effectively changing the beginning to the end and vice versa.

The cuts are obvious, but for this unique style of story-telling, they do not need to be seamless. The location of where we start and stop each sequence is what is really important, thus revealing events to us in a way which make the previous sequence so much more entertaining and impact-full.

HOWEVER, I'm supposed to find a piece that is short, as the overlords of this blog have willed so.

So, I remembered this music video from ought two, Michelle Branch's "Goodbye to You."

It follows the same style of cuts, telling a story by starting us off at the end and working us back to the beginning. So lucky you, you get to see a Michelle Branch music video. I hope you enjoy 106.7 Lite FM



So you see, if this story were chronological, it'd just be a boring video about a girl who leaves a guy and joins a bunch of young hobos, then pawns stuff and gets a car and then lets a fish go. Because they reverse the order of events, the car and fish are extremely important. That fish is extremely important.

What Do I Hear?

From a small sample of my life, this weekend was, for me, full of media. I attended a concert Friday night, and after it was over, met some friends who were at a different concert. After that, we went to a bar, where there was loud music playing. Following that, we went to a friend's place, who was playing music in the background the entire time. Friday was a bombardment of music, both live and recorded.

Saturday, we went to a wrestling show. This of course is both auditory and visual. After the show, we went to a party, and again, music was present in the background and we all discussed some current events.

Even between events, the topic of conversation was music, movies, wrestling, photography, etc. Then again, what is meant by, "media?" For example, when talking about events that have taken place in our lives with our friends, is that a form of media. It's communicating information verbally, therefore a verbal medium. In a way, based on the nature of "media," it's unavoidable.

Tonight, the hype is the True Blood finale. Again, media is omnipresent. In this case, not only is it a conduit, it's the main attraction, like the wrestling show and concert.

I guess what I've learned from writing this blog is that media is not only the most powerful and influential force on this planet, it should be hailed as our new god based on it's divine influence, power and presence. So, new religion: Media-ism?

No.4

This blog is the last for the semester. In this blog you'd like to hear from me about the
course. What worked for me, and what didn't, whether in the lectures or the labs.

I felt like the lectures and hands-on labs sometimes did not match up quite as well as they should have, but when they did, it was a big help. Personally (not criticizing the teaching, but the method of doing so), I think that trying to show a lecture class how to use Photoshop is such a waste of time. Watching Photoshop on an overhead projector without being hands-on is virtually impossible to learn. The lab is really where that needs to take place.

On the flip, I think a lot of what was explored during the lectures was essential and surprisingly necessary. I was surprised at how many students were not aware of simple things, such as the process of registering a domain name. When I was a mere 18 years old, I already had a domain name, by the time I was 21, I had several (the main one now being m2j.us).

I was shocked at how shy all of the aspiring artists were when it came time to do some hands on exercises, such as lighting. Perhaps it is an age thing, despite looking deceptively young, I'm old.

I enjoyed speeding through my work and being able to lend Fivel a hand helping out my fellow classmates. I'm also glad he lent me a dollar that one afternoon where I was jonesin' for some Pop-Tarts® and all I had were large bills. I look forward to attending the follow-up class next semester.

Finally, to end things on a high note, here's a cartoon I once made during a period of time where I may or may not have had the munchies.

Design I Like

A design I am fond of is a t-shirt that is meant to represent and market the World Wrestling Entertainment superstar Randy Orton. At some point in Randy Orton's career, his shirts began consisting of a gas mask. Although it never really made any sense why, it is recognized as his symbol on WWE merchandise. Later in his career, Randy Orton gained the nickname, “The Viper,” presumably for behaving in a reptilian-like “cold-blooded” way. References to his antics in the ring such as, “the Viper is coiled and ready to strike,” became common expressions of the announces. After a few iterations of Randy Orton shirts, we arrived at this design. It is part of the WWE's “Top Rope” selection, which basically means they shirts aren't silk-screened and cost twenty dollars extra, but that isn't the point. The design we end up with is the now trademarked gas mask, with the addition of snake eyes. Of course, we add cool chains for effect as well.

The very top of the gas mask shows the beginnings of a lobotomy being performed on the gas mask occupant's head. This is because Randy Orton's character is that of a loose cannon, somewhat of a psycho. At some point, he was diagnosed with I.E.D. (intermittent explosive disorder).

So the cool thing about this shirt is that it captures everything, the viper references and the insanity association, while maintaining the gas mask meme.

What I See

A movie that comes to mind which used very specific framing and composition was the movie Unbreakable. The basis of the movie is that of a comic book story, but told which much subtler characters and more realistic obstacles. When watching this film, I noticed that many of the scenes were comprised of only a few shots. Rather than have cuts (such as a reverse angle for a conversation between two people) the camera would remain in place, continue to focus on one party, or even pan back and forth (sometimes there is even a long, slow, zoom – beginning from far away). This was done to try and emulate the way that comic books present stories. Looking at a page of a comic book, one can see that the story is typically divided into frames. The usual number of frames on an average comic book page is roughly six. The film was cut in a way that could be replicated on a page of a comic book. This effect is pulled off very well and is consistent for the entire movie.

The other fine detail is the use of color. Main characters are typically wearing bright/radiant colors that contrast the shades of gray to the extras in each scene. This makes the movie almost have a cartoonish appearance, but it is done well enough that it still maintains the film's subtlety and legitimate “real life” comic book story telling.