Final Blog Post: Film & Animation Class Evaluation

Our final blog post of the year! There's a mix of emotions circling in my brain right now - I'm feeling excited for the future, sad that the class is coming to an end, and nostalgic thinking back to all of the projects we've completed, the friends I've made, and just how much I've improved in film production from being in this class. But, we made it, congrats everyone!

1. Why did you take this class?
    I originally heard about this class through a friend of mine who had taken it a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it. She figured it would be perfect for me, as she knew I had an interest in filming and editing my own videos for YouTube, and she was right. Since my school doesn't offer a solid film production class, I had been looking for a way to improve on my skills without having to pay for a class outside of school that would probably only last a couple of weeks. 

2. In general, what did you like most about this class?
    The thing I liked the most about this class was that we were able to take out equipment if we needed it. I feel like this is really helpful for anyone still starting out with filmmaking and for someone who doesn't have a lot of the equipment needed in order to make a video sound/look good. It really saved me a couple of times, since I don't have my own attachable camera microphone yet or a dolly.

3. In general, what did you like least about this class?
    In my opinion, the tutorials we had to complete (such as the Photoshop tutorials at the beginning of the year) were quite tedious and sometimes hard to follow due to the amount of instructions we were given. It was nice to learn how to do certain things in each of the programs, however, and I did learn a lot. It was just rather frustrating trying to follow the directions, and I was afraid that I would accidentally press the wrong button and the project would be ruined and I'd have to start from the beginning (which I did have to do at one point). But, I suppose that happens when working on real projects as well, so I guess it helped me deal with the frustration of having to redo something.

4. What was your most favorite project and why?
    My most favorite project that we did this year was the fictional short film. I love fictional stories and creating my own worlds and characters with different goals and feelings (I mean, that's basically what I've been doing for the past seven years). It gave me a chance to work on my own and use my imagination to come up with a creative story. I was also able to act as the main character and find out how hard it is to convince a cat to act for you in your film. It turned out quite well, I believe, even though I had to cut some things from the script to make the 10 minute time requirement.

5. What was your least favorite project and why?
    My least favorite project was the ASMF "Sleep Story" PSA, mainly because I'm not a fan of making PSAs, but also because my original idea fell flat and I had to quickly come up with a new idea in order to turn the video in on time. I initially had a storyline for the video, but I had to turn it into the generic, informational, narrative PSA, saying "don't do this" and "try doing this instead". I just didn't have as much fun making PSAs this year than I did making the fictional short, poem video, and final project. 

6. Discuss the overall effectiveness of the instructor (for example: preparation, availability, interest, content knowledge, expectations, etc.).
    I give Ms. Licata a 10/10 in teaching. No, but honestly, she's been really helpful this year to me, and I've learned a lot from being in this class, listening to her video critiques and demos, from her giving us sheets and packets with valuable information on it (that I'll probably save and look back to for years to come), and from her just generally helping me out with something, giving advice, and helping me (and my mom) find colleges to apply to.

7. What are the most valuable things you learned in the class?
    WATCH YOUR FOCUS!!! Is definitely one thing I learned this year, haha. Curse you blurry clips! I'm still working on learning how to focus the camera while looking through the small preview screen/when I'm recording myself. Also, lighting and color correction are very important! Not only can it make your clips more visually appealing, but it can also help with conveying emotions. Looking back on my older videos, I realized I made some of my clips so overexposed for no reason at all, and it doesn't have much of a 'cinematic look' that I probably should have been going for initially.

8. Do you feel that this class will help you achieve your future academic or career goals? How or why (or why not)?
    Definitely! This class has really helped me improve, and I've realized just how much my perspective of filmmaking has changed from going back and watching some of the videos that I made previously. I began noticing major flaws in my older videos that I never thought of while I was making them, and I kind of wish I had a room of people that could critique my personal projects after I finish making them. Although critiques always made me really anxious, they were quite beneficial, in my opinion. But I'm really glad I took this class, as it gave me a chance to change my perspective, meet friends with the same interests, go out and film with real people, and give me the experience need before going and learning more about film in a college class. 

9. How could this class be improved?
    Quite honestly, I've been contemplating over this question for a few days now, and I really can't think of any specific way that this class could be improved. Maybe, since we now have the new DSLR cameras, students can be taught more about ISO, aperture, and shutter speed, which I don't remember going over much this year. It was really confusing to me when I first found out about it, and I'm still having trouble remembering what each adjustment does.

10. What would you tell incoming students to help them be more prepared for the class?
      If you're really serious about becoming an animator and/or filmmaker and succeeding in this class, you need to study the material outside of school. Around the middle of the school year, after being rather confused about certain camera controls and such, I decided to start taking matters into my own hands and subscribe to some helpful YouTube channels that upload videos explaining different editing and filming techniques. I went to Walmart and bought a simple, journal-like notebook that I could use to write down important information, and bring it with me to every filming location just in case I need to remember how to do something. I also bought it so I can write down potential video ideas that hit me out of nowhere. But, watching video tutorials, tips, and tricks are definitely something I recommend for incoming students looking for film advice or wanting to learn more about, say, camera ISO, aperture, or shutter speed, for instance.

11. Additional Comments:
      I'm really going to miss being in this class. As the end of the year began to creep nearer, I started to realize just how much I love coming here in the morning, seeing people who are interested in the same things that I am, working on different projects that forced me to leave the comforts of my home and venture out into the world to complete a video, and learning more about the one thing that I believe I'm truly good at in life. I really loved being here, and I wish everyone the best on their future endeavors!

Video Response: "Tracer & Pose Design 101"

[ Link to Video ]

    Pose design in animation is everything. Just one simple pose can show someone who a character is, what they like, what they do, and how they act. In this video, Dan, a professional animator, explains just how important poses can be and the controversy regarding Overwatch (a video game)'s character, Tracer, and her initial pose.

    Before discussing Tracer's original pose, Dan goes on to talk about the basics of posing. Even a character without hands, a face, or even a human-like body (such as the magic carpet from Aladdin) can be posed in such a way to convey different emotions. In any animation you see, you'll find that the characters are always moving from one pose to the next, whether it be dramatic poses or simple ones. But what is it that makes a good pose? A good pose is clear, instantly readable, has proper physicality, is visually interesting, has a strong line of action, and conveys character.

    In Tracer's case, she's known to be friendly, silly, heroic, and caring. Most heroic characters like her are given poses to show what they would look like after winning a battle, as most of the characters did in this game. However, the pose she was given was her standing backwards, looking over her shoulder, with her butt clearly being the main focus. Most people argued that this was "out of character" for her, and that she shouldn't be sexualized like that. Blizzard, the creators of Overwatch, looked at the pose again, and agreed, designing a brand new pose for her. Now she looks more in-character, and although her butt is still rather standout-ish, it's a much better pose than before.

    Over-sexualizing characters in animations and especially video games, has always been an issue, more for female characters than males. Most fighting games where girl characters are involved, they're usually given outfits or armor that shows way too much skin or is clearly overly sexualized. There's nothing wrong with making attractive characters, but having them wearing near to nothing in a fighting game is just not realistic. If a woman is to go into battle, and this applies to anyone really, you wouldn't want any skin to be showing because, in reality, you would be injured much easier! While on the other hand, male characters are shown in full armor, and usually aren't given any super attractive features besides huge muscles.

    This has always bothered me, even though I'm not a huge gamer or animation buff, I don't believe it's right that female characters are more sexualized than males, or are sexualized at all. I'm here to play a game or watch a movie, not watch some girl fight someone else with hardly any clothes on. Truthfully, I learned a lot from watching this video, and I'm thankful that the characters in Overwatch aren't as sexualized as most, and that Blizzard took the time to change Tracer's initial pose.

Video Response: "How Does an Editor Think and Feel?"

[ Link to Video ]

    When to cut. It's something that most film editors don't really think about or even consider, as we usually just go by what our emotions and brains tell us. In order to make a brilliant cut, you need to make it seem almost invisible, in a way that the audience doesn't even notice it or think about it afterwards. Where maybe even you, as the editor, don't even notice it after watching it through.

    At the beginning of this video, Tony explains how someone had asked him what his editing techniques are and how he knows when to cut. I thought about this myself, as editors, we really just don't know how to answer that question. Our brains automatically tell us how we want the video or film to flow. If an actor is throwing a rock into a lake, we could show a clip of them actually throwing it, and then most likely cut to a clip of where the rock splashes into the water. It all has to do with emotions and common sense.

    The first aspect of editing Tony discusses is the actor's eyes, "the eyes tell you the emotion of the scene". As you're editing, you usually wait for a change in the actors eyes before cutting a clip, as the audience automatically understands what an actor is thinking just by looking at their eyes. Also, another important factor, is the time in which you give the audience to see the actor's emotions. Just four seconds can make a huge difference. For example, if an actor is supposed to be sad, then lowers their eyebrows and gets angry, and then you cut to them knocking something off of a table, you wouldn't cut the shot before they lower their eyebrows. You would need to show the audience that they're switching from being sad to getting mad at whatever situation they're in. (Though, I really liked the comparison between the clip of Luke Skywalker and the clip of Ant-Man in the video.)

    You can utilize cutting in films to convey certain emotions as well. Like if an actor is stressing out about something, you show them walking around or moving quickly, with quick, jarring cuts. Or making the audience uncomfortable, with close up shots that go on just a bit too long.

    Gosh, I really loved watching this video, as it's something that I've never considered before! I've always just cut clips based on instincts and put scenes together based on how they flow and how nice they would look while watching them. The psychology of watching films, and now editing them, is so fascinating to me.

Weekly Comments #16: Final Project

    Final weekly comments? Aw. :(

    Of course, for my final project, I chose to have the most difficult locations to film at, such as an operating room. How the heck am I going to find a fake operating room, with fake tools and stuff? Why did I do this to myself. Because so far, the video is turning out amazing, and I don't want the very last scene to look terrible! Ugh. This is stressing me out so much.

    Anyway, there's really not much to say about this week, besides we did a lot of critiques! I'm really going to miss this class and watching everyones' videos. I've learned a lot just by doing critiques this year.

    I've recently been accepted into Canisius College! I'm officially a Griffin. I really can't wait to go there. We just went there about a week ago to tour the place, and it's so cool because they have these "underground tunnels" - which don't actually look like, well, tunnels, they just look like hallways - that connect every building together so you never have to go outside (especially in the winter)! Haha, I love it. I'm going to be dorming there, which I'm not sure how I feel about that, honestly! One perk of not having any siblings is that you don't have to share a room with anyone. I'm going to have to adjust to that. Hopefully they'll tell us ahead of time who we'll be dorming with so I can get to know them!

    Super short blog post this week, sorry! Link of interest: The Colors of Motion. I recently found this website as I was doing research regarding colors in films and how they effect the audience's emotions. It has screenshots of a ton of different films, each film mashed up into one photo to show the color differences in certain scenes. For example, Fight Club is mostly green/blues, while a movie like The Lion King has bright colors since it's a children's film.

Video Response: "The Science of Rendering Photorealistic CGI"

[ Link to Video ]

    Computers are made to be able to calculate equations instantaneously. The question was, how could we create art, images, and 3D worlds in a machine that’s mainly for calculating? Computer experts back in the day began to realize that math and science can both be used to do this. Math - specifically geometry, 3D coordinates, vectors, and matrices - can help with generating photorealistic imagery, along with computer science and programming, which involves rather advanced codes that the machine can understand. The study and understanding of these codes and commands can be difficult to break down, especially if you’re first starting out with the math and science involved (which is why there is such a great need for computer programmers and coding experts in jobs today). Fortunately, this video describes the use of computer codes in layman’s terms, for those who aren’t experts in this field.

Rasterization is taking a vector image (such as a simple triangle) and converting it into pixels and dots to display in a video, on paper after printing, or storing in a bitmap file format. Projections, which correspond with rasterization, is the presentation of an image on a screen. The computer can calculate a 3D object and it’s “light rays” that are sent towards an imaginary camera, aka the movie screen. This is how we can see the 3D object. On the other hand, ray casting (also called ray tracing) presents 3D images on a 2D display, by tracing the light paths through pixels on an image plane. This basically means that the light rays would be coming out from the imaginary camera to hit the objects, instead of the objects creating rays themselves. It’s an alternative process to rasterizing, and many game designers and programmers question if rasterizing will ever fully be replaced by ray casting. The problem is, ray casting is a lot more complicated than rasterizing, and usually takes a longer time to render objects completely.

The three major issues with rasterization was how to create shadows, reflections, and refractions. Fortunately, thanks to Turner Whitted, he designed a technique called “recursive ray tracing”, which makes primary rays come out of the camera, hitting the surfaces of the objects, which then turn into secondary rays. Shadow rays come into play by drawing a secondary ray into the lights (such as a light bulb or sun) that are in the 3D space. For reflections and transparent objects, we can simply draw a reflection ray, which can land onto other objects and reflect off of these objects onto others, and so on. This probably sounds incredibly complicated, but it’s actually quite simple if you understand how each ray can affect an object.

    Even though the creation of shadows, reflections, and refractions in 3D space made an object look more real, we needed illumination to truly make it photorealistic. There are two kinds of illumination, direct and indirect. Direct illumination is when the light directly hits and is reflected by an object. Though, in the real world, if you were to hold a bright blue ball in your hand, you would see that the color would reflect onto your hand. This was difficult to show in 3D space, as ray tracing only focuses on the main source of light, instead of the light bouncing off of other objects and lighting up a 3D room. Indirect illumination added more realistic lighting into the 3D scene, and a man named James Kajiya built on the basics of ray tracing and created a mathematical equation based on the law of conservation of energy. This helped to bounce light off of more than one object. The trade off was that just because it didn’t handle transmission and sub surface scattering well, it was still a much better representation of light in reality.

Compared to the CGI of the 1960’s, 70’s, 80’s, and so on, today, I’m sure we can all agree, we now create beautiful and breathtaking images with CGI, but how are we able to accomplish this today? Moore’s Law explains how CGI has gotten much easier and faster to render over the past 20-30 years: “The number of transistors in a dense integrated circuit has doubled approximately every to years.” To balance out this law, Blinn’s Law was created, which states: “As technology advances, rendering time remains constant.” This basically means that the more technology improves, the more we throw at it, the more we ask it to render.

CGI, in my opinion, is very different from other kind of art forms, as it can take an extremely long time to master and understand the specifics, and it’s also the most complex and technical. Although other art forms can include the use of science and math, CGI really delves into the subjects, using advanced calculations that most people would never understand (like myself). Though, just like every form of art, it’s improving every day. People are finding new ways to create characters and worlds in 3D space, just like, for instance, pop music has changed immensely over the past 10 years, and artists have found more ways to be creative when it comes to their art. In conclusion, I believe it’s an amazing tool to use when it comes to storytelling and entertainment.

Weekly Comments #15: Roses & Thorns

    Hello friends! Happy April, even though it doesn't exactly feel like it, due to the crazy weather we've had the past few weeks. Curse you, Mother Nature, for ruining my chances of filming outside!! Ugh. Why did I have to make 90% of my entire poem video have to be shot outside? Sighs, guess who won't be turning that in on time...

    This whole week has just been full of stress and hard work. This year, I've noticed, I've been though a lot of ups and downs, where I won't have any homework or major assignments for a week and I can relax, and then the next week my teachers decide to throw everything at me all at once. Then comes the part where I'm freaking out, trying my best to get everything in on time but nothing is cooperating with me (glares at Mother Nature), and I hardly have any time for myself. Yeah, I probably just sound like a whiny baby right now, but gosh, sometimes life is hard.

    On a lighter note, a little bit ago, last month, Ryan and I were on LCTV for an interview with the founder of Asha Sanctuary to talk about our documentary and commercial. It went well, I'd say. I was pretty nervous, as I usually am for things like this, but it was fun. I'm actually going back next Wednesday for an interview for the LCTV scholarship. Wish me luck! :0

    Link of interest: The Magic Ingredient That Brings Pixar to Life. This TED Talk with Danielle Feinberg goes into detail about how animation, art, and science intertwine. It's not only informational, but also quite inspiring; how when she was little, someone told her that she could never make a living by creating art, and yet, here she is now.

Hoping this week goes well for everyone!

Article Response: "7 Tips For Drawing Realistic Humans"

[ Link to Article ]

    If you're someone like me who doesn't know anything about anatomy, physics, or drawing realistic people, well, you should probably consider learning, as it's something that's rather critical in the character creation world of animation. However, if you're just starting out, this article should be rather helpful, as it contains simple tips that are geared towards people who don't know much about anatomy.

    The first pointer takes the line of action into consideration, which can give a character life and make their pose appear more natural, instead of looking stiff. Drawing the line of action first can help you build the character around it, allowing you to indicate the emotion you're trying to convey. Next, consider the height of your character, and remember that their legs should be about the same length as the torso. A simple way to keep track of this is by using the character's head as your outline for how long the torso and legs should be, for instance, "For a tall, stereotypical hero, this could mean drawing the body 8 heads high. So, 4 heads for the torso and an additional 4 heads for the legs." This technique can also be used for the shoulder width of the character.

    The fourth tip explains the structure of the face and forehead, and how you should be leaving a bit of space for the forehead, instead of drawing the eyes too close to the hairline. Also, you should keep in mind that necks flow diagonally to your shoulders, instead of straight down (because anatomy just isn't that simple). For the sixth tip, they talk about drawing mouths, and specifically, smiles. Sometimes people will draw open-mouthed smiles in the shape of a banana, however, the corners of your mouth can only move sideways, not upwards towards your ears. Lastly, you can easily use gridded boxes to sketch out a head. This way, it can be easier to visualize a character's head from different perspectives. 

    I found this article to be rather helpful, especially for someone like me who really only doodles for fun instead of learning more about it for a future job or career. Also, I do like that they included pictures to further explain what they're talking about, instead of just having us assume we know what they mean, as I'm much more of a visual learner than anything. All in all, definitely a very helpful resource for anyone looking for simple and quick drawing tips!

Video Response: "Joel & Ethan Coen - Shot | Reverse Shot"

[ Link to Video ]

    One particular aspect that goes into making a movie or short film interesting are the shots you use, either during dialogue scenes, or in general to show the character's actions. One of the most famous shot-to-shot sequences is the shot/reverse shot, used as a quick way to record dialogue between two characters. Joel and Ethan Coen are considered the masters of this, and for good reason. What separates their shot/reverse shot sequences from other filmmakers, is that they tend to keep them simple but precise.

    Most filmmakers tend to record dialogue scenes from an over-the-shoulder point of view, while in the Coen brother's film scenes, the characters each get separate shots, meaning, they shoot a lot of singles. They also tend to shoot on wide angle lenses. This way, they're able to zoom/dolly in up close on a subject or a part of them, say, to exaggerate a part of an actor's face. This can make the viewer feel somewhat uncomfortable, but it can also make the scene rather funny. This can also exaggerate the actor's movements, as the wide angle lens usually creates more of an effect on a person's actions.

    The Coen's editing style is also quite different and more distinguishable from other film director's. Most of the time, the 'rythem' of their editing is nonverbal, and usually from facial expressions. The Coen's goal is to have the viewers empathize with the characters. They frame wide enough for you to see the environment, and put the lens right next to the characters at their lowest points. That way, you can see what they're seeing, and be close enough to almost feel what they feel.

    This video was certainly interesting, however somewhat confusing at some points. I understand it can be quite difficult to explain shot sequences and editing techniques, but I believe it would have been easier to understand if they had included more examples from other directors and their film styles to distinguish between the Coen's style and other's. I do like that they explained the effect that this has on the viewer psychologically, though, as that's something I believe you should pay attention to when creating your own film.

Weekly Comments #14: Don't Use Cats As Actors

    Another week over and done with! Gosh, it's all going by so fast, I feel like I hardly had any time to relax this week. My cats are so lucky. Did you know that domestic cats need at least 12-16 hours of sleep daily ??? That's probably why a bunch of people had their cats in their sleep story videos. Honestly, I don't know why I didn't, I mean, you would just expect me to. I'm the crazy cat lady, for god sakes!

    Speaking of cats, my fictional short is coming along great! Unfortunately, I had to cut out a few things from the script, as it would have made the video too long, so hopefully it won't end up being confusing. We probably won't, but I hope we have more assignments like this in the future! I absolutely love coming up with fictional stories and making videos out of them, I mean, that's basically what I've been doing for the past 7 years. I've never had to film myself as a character though, which has been a bit of a challenge for this video, as the camera can go out of focus at random points.

    I'm so very excited to show the finished product to the class, I believe this may be my best project yet this year. :) Anyway, I have to keep the weekly blog short this week - lots to do, so little time!

So, link of interest: One Last Time Music Video Behind the Scenes. I love love love watching behind the scenes footage, no matter what it is. It gives me a chance to see what it would actually be like to be on set. I did a review on this music video not long ago, and I personally really liked the POV being from Ariana's friend, whose following her. However, the special effects were totally cheesy, like they were just taken off the internet.

    Anywho, hope you have a great week ahead, everyone!

Article Response: "Left or Right? Why a Character's Lateral Movement On-Screen Matters in Film"

[ Link to Article ]

    Recent film studies primarily explored by Cleveland State University have shown that viewers, whether they know it or not, have a preference for when it comes to characters moving from either left to right or right to left. As an amateur filmmaker and movie enthusiast, I've been realizing that basically everything that is said or done in a movie is usually done for a reason, because everything in your film matters. Even something as small as a character or object moving one way or the other? It seems so, as it can effect your perception or feelings towards that character. It all has to do with psychology.

    The video featured in this article, by Now You See It, goes more in depth into this theory that a person will presumably like a character more if they're moving from left to right, than a character moving from right to left, and it's exceptions. They first give an example of a girl sitting in her living room, and a boy walking past her window from right to left, looking in for a brief moment. She gets up and walks across the living room from left to right to look outside to check it out. They then mirror that same clip so that they're walking in the opposite directions, and it just doesn't seem to flow as well as the first clip. However, not only can moving from one side to another affect the chance of you enjoying a movie, as a character can go right or left, up and down, or backward and forward.

    Usually, when a character is advancing towards the camera, this means that they have power or are aggressive, while on the other hand, a character walking away from the camera can be perceived as weak. Movement towards the right of the screen can indicate time passing, progress, and normality, while moving to the left can signify moving back in time, innormality, and regression. A perfect example of this, as stated in the video, is the Lord of the Rings, and how during the scene where the characters are on a long voyage, they continuously move to the right of the screen, to show progression. Same with the movie Rocky, especially during the scene when he runs up the stairs in triumph to celebrate his accomplishments.

    When I first watched the video, I thought it was a little silly, I mean, something to small and frivoulous as a character's movement affecting how someone preceives a movie? I wasn't sure what to think of it, but I suppose it is quite interesting. Of course, these 'rules of movement' can be altered, I'm sure, depending on what you're trying to convey on screen.

(move your finger from side to side in front of this gif :3 )