Video Response: "How to Record Great Sounding Natural & Ambient Audio In-Camera"

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    Imagine watching a film or video with, say, a scene with a person walking outside in the woods, lacking in background noise. The unnatural silence would make the scene a bit strange and uncomfortable, right? That's why having ambiance present in a film is crucial to making it sound more natural and realistic. But, what's a good way of recording ambiance in-camera so that it sounds professional-like, even when you don't have the expensive equipment needed to create it? This video, created by Story & Heart gives a tutorial on how to capture great audio for your films.

    Natural sounds, or more commonly known as "nat sounds", are the best way to add realism to your films. However, there are three different types of sounds that can be heard naturally: Transient Sounds, Evolving Sounds, and Speech Sounds. Transient Sounds are sounds that happen quickly, for example, footsteps, breaking glass, or a high five. Evolving Sounds are ones that are persistent, like the humming of a florescent light. Speech, however, does not actually involve dialogue. It's actually just background conversations, for instance, while sitting in a coffee shop, you can hear others around you talking.

    So, how to you go about recording these sounds? First, you'll need to figure out the distance at which you need to record them. Recording from farther away will make the audio sound more distant and less important. Also, combining sounds and layering them can also help a scene come alive. For example, if you're filming a pro-basketball game, you'll need to have sounds of the squeaking of sneakers on the gym floor, crowds cheering, the ball bouncing, and the ball going through the hoop. Blend all of the sounds together to in post to provide multiple perspectives.

    I really enjoyed watching this video! Anything that has to do with applying sounds to a video is really interesting to me, as it's one of my favorite things to do when creating my own films! I learned a lot from watching this, so I'm really glad it was one of our weekly responses!

Article Response: "The Tech of the Art of the Peanuts Movie"

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    The creators from Blue Sky Studios who recently made The Peanuts Movie, were determined to stay true to the original stories and comic strips created by Charles M. Schultz. However, their main goal was to make the Peanuts world in 3D, while still staying faithful to the 2D world in the comics. This could pose some difficulty while animating, but they were able to create a wave of artistic and technical solutions that made the film a success. 

    To keep the story and characters accurate to the comics, they first needed to research 50 years of Peanuts strips. They paid close attention to the "camera" angles Schultz used, and proportions that worked for particular frames that the characters were in. They also wanted to retain the characters facial expressions in a hand-drawn style. This required a new facial rig, so they created a way for the eyes, eyebrows, and surrounding expression lines to slide around on the characters faces during animation.

    The film also called for replication of the "extreme poses" that's often seen in the comic strips. The studio had to combine its hybrid character rig with a tool called "Suction Cup" in order to give animators additional degrees of freedom while editing different poses. Although, in the comic strips, usually motion lines were used to show fast character movement. Blue Sky didn't want to introduce motion blur into the Peanuts world, so instead, animators introduced 2D motion "pen lines" that seemed to draw across the screen as one of the characters moved.

    Reading about the different methods they used in this movie was quite interesting! It only made me even more excited to watch it myself, so I can look out for the animation techniques used. The Peanuts has always been one of my favorite cartoon series, ever since I started reading the comics when I was little, so I can't wait to see what this movie has in store! 

Weekly Comments #8: DEMOOOOSSSSS

    Demos and tutorials up the wazoo this week. Though, I can't complain, because they're for After Effects which I'm really enjoying working with so far. It's very advanced, and has all kinds of settings and professional editing thingys, it's somewhat intimidating. While I was following the tutorials we were given, I became afraid of accidentally pressing something during editing, because it could mess up your entire project, and you'll have to backtrack and fix it. Gosh, I really hope I'll be able to remember what all of the different tools do and specific settings. It's such a nice program, but so scary. :0

    Oh, we also had a field trip on Monday! We first got to visit the Tri-Main Center (which I was previously there last Saturday for the Super Smash Bros tournament :P) and their animation department. Daemen is such a nice college, oh my gosh. However, they really only offer animation, and not so much film production with cameras and such. That suuuuucks.

    Thennn, we went to LCTV and learned about filming a TV show, and took turns being guests, hosts, camera operators, directors, etc. I've already done it before, though, since I took both summer classes this year, and also visit there after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I really like it there, it's always fun. :)

    Also !! What made me happy this week, well, I started playing Animal Crossing: New Leaf !! It's crazy adorable and every character is so nice and sweet, I wish real life was like this, hehe. And we also did elections in class, and I became Secretary! Following in Isabelle's footsteps :0

    Anywho, link of interest: a kinetic typography video, created by populaz. I was looking up tutorials and such for kinetic typography so I could gather ideas for my own video, and this one uses a variety of different fonts and effects, like putting words in circles and using bold fonts vs thin fonts. It's cool to see what other people can do just by using words and fancy effects. Obviously, we won't be able to create something as advanced in such a short amount of time, but it's still inspiring to watch and obtain ideas from! I can't wait to get started!

Weekly Comments #7: I'M ANIME TRASH !!!

    Hello hello! Not much really happened this week. We finished working on our scavenger hunt videos and did a peer review. I like how ours turned out, and I think we got a pretty good grade on it, however, I kind of wish we tried to make each shot a bit more creative. Eh, next time!

    We also had a field trip on Friday to Villa Maria college. I must say, they do have some nice programs, and it's cool that they're working on a new filming/editing class, however, the college itself didn't really feel like a college at all... it felt more like a high school. I dunno, that's just the kind of vibe I got from it.

    Also this week, I started watching an anime. Wait, whaaat, Elaine Stickney watching an ANIME?? Yes, well, the main reason for it was because I was checking out figures on the Good Smile Company website, because I currently have the Link figma + nendoroid. I created a figure photography account on Instagram, because I really love photography, just as much as I love editing videos.

    Anywho, I found one figure that looked pretty cool from an anime called Black Rock Shooter, and I ended up watching it because it was only eight episodes long. It was a strange series, honestly, but the characters were cute, so that made up for it. So, I bought a Black Rock Shooter figure off of eBay and I'm so excited to take pictures of it! :)

    After that, my boyfriend suggested I should check out an anime called Shirokuma Cafe (aka, Polar Bear Cafe) and it's ADORABLE!! :O So far, it's about a lazy Panda who has a part-time job at a zoo, and spends most of his time at the Polar Bear Cafe, where all of his animal friends hang out. It's silly, but I love it so far.

    Link of interest ~ Behind the scenes footage from Inside Out! I was sooo happy when I saw we had to write about Inside Out in an article response this week, because it reminded me of how absolutely amazing the film is (imo)! Here you can see people working on animating the characters, designing them, discussing certain things about the movie, etc. Basically what you would see if you were actually there!

    Hope you have a great week everyone~!

Article Response: "Going Inside “Inside Out” with Pixar Producer Jonas Rivera"

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    Ever wonder what's going on inside someone's head? Inside Out, an animated film created by Pixar, shows just that. Five different emotions, Joy, Disgust, Sadness, Anger, and Fear all live inside the mind of Riley, a young, human girl. The film shows each of the emotion's jobs, what they do for Riley as she grows up from an infant to an 11 year old, and how they each affect the way she perceives things. Recently, Toonzone News interviewed Jonas Rivera, the producer of Inside Out and other Pixar films, about the movie and its inspirations.

    Conveying emotions so that they're easy to understand for the viewers wasn't a simple task. In reality, human emotions tend to blend together, for example, you can be both angry and disgusted at the same time. However, Jonas explains that the complexity of emotions are a bit more one-to-one when you're a kid, because there are things you haven't experienced just yet, so they took advantage of this by having each emotion learn something throughout the story. In the end, all of the emotions learn that it's better to work together, which is how the creators were able to convey the blending of real life emotions. Because of this, each emotion goes through some kind of character development in the movie, especially Sadness and Joy. They're complete opposites, yet, in order for Riley to learn from her mistakes, they both needed to be present.

    In order to make the movie both cartoonish, yet, realistic, they had to do a huge amount of research on the human brain and how emotions actually work. Research is usually required for anyone working on a project - like filmmakers, animators, writers, artists, etc. You need to know a lot about a certain subject if you want to make your project realistic. Likewise, if your film is going to be released worldwide, you also need to know the cultures of different countries, and make sure you include them in it if at all possible. For instance, during the broccoli scene in Inside Out, baby Riley was disgusted by the thought of eating the green vegetable. This is understandable for kids living in the US, however, kids living in Japan don't think broccoli is disgusting, so the joke wouldn't work. Instead, the animators had to create another version of the scene where Riley is disgusted by bell peppers. 

    This article was really interesting to read, especially since Inside Out is one of my favorite Pixar movies. The amount of time, research, and work that went into this movie really shows, and it's what made it such a success. It's not easy to convey something as complicated as human emotions, but they were able to do it flawlessly and made it easy to understand, especially for the audience it was directed towards (mostly children, since it's a kid's movie). 

Video Response: "The Cinematic History of Fake Blood"

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    One main factor that goes into making a film look more realistic is the use of fake blood. It goes without saying that fake blood is mainly used to make someone or something look injured, however, it's also what determines if a film was made for kids or for mature audiences. Fake blood has been used for centuries, as long as there's been a need for bloodied characters. This video, created by FilmMakerIQ.com, not only explains the history of fake blood, but also teaches you how to create your own.

    People first began experimenting with fake blood onstage in a theatre called Le Theatre du Grand-Guignol, located in France during the 1890's through 1960's. It quickly became a huge attraction for tourists because it was known for its gory plays, which included dismemberment and eye gouging. They obviously didn't want the actors to have to use real blood due to sanitary issues, so instead, they used a mixture of carmine and glycerin.

    When TVs came along, one well-known director, Alfred Hitchcock, decided to start using chocolate syrup for his films. Since they were in black and white, audiences couldn't tell the difference. It looked gory and the mixture was gooey enough to look realistic. However, when colored films started being produced, film directors turned to a different base. One of the first colored movies to ever use fake blood was The Curse of Frankenstein in 1957. The fake blood they created was referred to as Kensington Gore, and was made out of golden syrup, water, food coloring, and corn starch. They also added a bit of mint for taste, but you can also use peppermint oil. (Fun fact, they used this kind of fake blood in the famous elevator blood scene in The Shining !!)

    Kensington Gore was used in a number of films after it's creation, but as time went on, it became modified into a different mixture referred to as Dick Smith Blood. This is made using corn syrup, water, ehler red and yellow food coloring (or just regular food coloring), zinc oxide (or non-dairy coffee creamer), methyl paraben, Kodak photo-flo (or non-bleach detergent, however both of these ingredients are poisonous, so you can use lecithin to make it edible), and peppermint oil. Lastly, the video talked about how to clean the blood up - you can use shaving cream to keep the fake blood from staining your skin.

    This video, although rather cheesy at times and somewhat long, did give a lot of useful information for filmmakers wanting to either learn more about the history of fake blood or wanting to create their own (or both, in my case). It's cool to see how far the creation and use of stage blood has come. Before I watched the video, I honestly didn't know how it's use even came about, so it was interesting to see! Also, I'm very glad they showed us how to make our own, because I might just use that in future videos and projects.

Article Response: "9 Composition Techniques That Will Make Your Images Eye-Catching on a Biological Level"

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    Ah, yes, photography !! One of my favorite things to do in my spare time, besides film and edit videos. A picture is worth a thousand words, as they say, but what is it that makes a picture worth a thousand words? It's composition, mostly. It's what makes a photo eye-catching and interesting to an audience. Most photos and paintings you see in an art gallery at least have one of these composition rules present.

    First is the Rule of Thirds. It's one of the most well-known rules and isn't that hard to accomplish. All that needs to be done is having a subject placed along one or more of the four intersections created by imaginary horizontal and vertical lines. Leading Lines are also imaginary lines, also known as vertices, that lead the viewer's eye into your image. An example of this would be railroad tracks. Similar to this, Diagonals are also vertices that lead the viewers eye across the image, rather than into.

    Framing is usually more visually interesting when the frame is natural, for example, foliage or windows, to focus in on a certain subject. Figure to Ground sounds complicated, but it's actually just contrast between one subject and the background, which creates depth. Fill the Frame can be used to get up close to a subject and see all of the little details that you wouldn't be able to see from farther away. Also, "the bigger it is, the more important it is."

   Center Dominant Eye means cropping a photo so the subject's dominant eye is in the middle of the photo. This can give the illusion that their eye is following you. Patterns and Repetition can easily attract viewers to an image, and breaking the pattern or interrupting it with some other element can make it even more visually appealing. Lastly, Symmetry is having one side of a subject mirror the other side. Humans are just naturally attracted to both patterned and symmetrical images, which has been studied many times before in the past. Something about them just keeps us interested.

    Most of this was review for me, however, I did learn a bit more about certain techniques that I haven't heard of, like Center Dominant Eye and Diagonals. I might try these out in future photos! Maybe even in videos? If it can work with photos, why not with films? I'll have to test it out sometime.

Article Response: "ILM Animator Erik Morgansen on What Type of Animator Should I Be?"

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    Usually, there are many different branches that stem off from a specific field of work. For example, if you wish to become a filmmaker in the future, you first need to decide which job in the industry that interests you most. There are hundreds of different paths you could take: animating, script writing, camera operating, directing, producing, acting/voice overs, editing, set designing, etc. Then, if you were to go into animation as your career, what type of animation would you choose? 2D? 3D? Maybe even gaming? The Animation Mentor Crew interviewed Erik Morgansen, an Industrial Light & Magic animator and mentor on advice for people wondering what type of animator they should be. 

    When applying for a job in an animation studio, you need to be able to prove to them that you're absolutely serious about taking the job, and that you'd be ideal for the project that you'd be staffed on. Bringing in sample works of projects you've done in the past are essential. You need to first recognize if the type of project they're working on is considered more realistic, cartoonish, fantasy, etc, and then bring in examples that match the style of the project. For instance, if it was an animation about dragons, you would want to include animations and drawings of creatures you created yourself that shows your knowledge in weight, physics, and character performances. However, it depends on what kind of studio you want to apply for, like animation, VFX, or boutique studios.

   What if you don't know what type of animation you're good at? Try some things out! You could work on creating short films, taking animation courses, watch tutorials online, etc. Getting some sort of mentorship is rather important, and watching tutorial videos made by experienced animators can also help a lot.

    In Erik's opinion, what most amateur animators tend to struggle with the most is the way certain muscles are supposed to move, for example, eyelid muscles are rather quick, while hips have bigger muscles that move more slowly. Also, the direction the character's eyes are pointed in. It's one of the clearest things that gives the audience information about what the character may be thinking or their intentions. It's best to know your character well enough and understand the situations they're in in order to animate them correctly.

    This article, however somewhat long, was interesting and gave very thorough information on the subject, although it doesn't really apply to me since I really have no interest in going into animation. Filming and editing is where I'm most comfortable. Still, though, a very good read for anyone looking to get into the animation industry.

Weekly Comments #6: BOO !!!!

(More Halloween stuff, because even though it's already over, 

the spirit has not left me just yet.)

    Oh man, this week, THIS WEEK. Pretty great week, I'd say. Man, Monday seems like it was only 6 days ago... [COUGHS] Anyways, earlier in the week we were given an assignment to create a 60 second movie trailer out of the clips and sounds that were given to us. It seemed difficult at first, but I managed to finish it in just a few hours. Oh gosh, those voice recordings were sooo bad...

    We learned a heck ton about the portible cameras; what we're allowed to take out, how to put batteries in, where the power button is... y'know, all the important stuff. Then on Thursday, we started filming clips for another assignment, a shot scavanger hunt. We were all put into our own groups to work on the clips with, and it was funny because I was really the only one who really knew how to use the camera (psh, animators). Nah, nothing against you animators, I've had past experience with those types of cameras so it was pretty easy for me. It was fun!

    On Friday, SkillsUSA hosted a Halloween party in the foyer, which was pretty cool, kinda wish there was more food, buuuut, whatever. I was sad, though, because I didn't wear a costume to school, so I felt left out. :( I didn't know we were allowed to.

    However, overall, my Halloween was pretty awesome. I ended up going to the mall with friends, dressed as Harley Quinn dressed as a furry. It was interesting. I ended up buying a bunch of stuff and wasting all of my money as usual! Oh, Elaine, you so smart.

    Also, link of interest, the Suicide Squad Trailer! Mainly because I'm veryyy excited to see it, and I think they chose a really great actress for Harley !! I can't waitttt. Also can't wait for the Deadpool movie ahhhhh

    Hope you all had and have a great week! :)