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"

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    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 )

Article Response: "What I Wish I Knew When I Was in Art School"

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    It's always nice to learn about other people's experiences in the film industry, as an artist and as a person, because, not only can it be difficult to impress others with your work, but also to prove to yourself that you're not just wasting your time. As artists, we all go through hard times regarding our work - worrying whether we're actually good enough, putting too much pressure on ourselves, and comparing ourselves to others. This can turn into a huge issue, because if you spend all of your time worrying and putting yourself down, you may never get better. (Better, in this case, means proving to yourself that you're talented and that your work is satisfactory, while also impressing others.) This article, written by Jon Williams, goes through his thoughts and experiences on what he wish he knew when he was in art school, and advice to future artists and filmmakers.

    When Jon first walked into his new job at EA's office, he quickly realized that some of his co-workers had not attended a four year art school like he did, but instead were hired professionally out of high school. I've been hearing a lot about this kind of thing recently, where some people are debating whether or not art school is actually worth it. For me, I would say yes, as it gives you a chance to work on various different film projects, discuss/critique them with a group of people, and get a grade for it. That way, you know whether or not you're on the right track.

    He also discusses the fact that the computer programs you will use for film/animation purposes will always be updated and changed. He says he cared more about trying to learn all of the features that Photoshop and Maya had to offer, which can be beneficial, but he realized he should have spent more time building a solid foundation in the fundamental arts, or in other words, studying anatomy, drawing from real life subjects, sculpting, storytelling, acting, etc. He also felt that he spent too much of his time "thinking" about how good he wanted to be, instead of actually working towards that goal. "You don’t have to be the best at whatever skill you’re trying to learn, you just have to stick with it and strive for quality. Realize and embrace that there will always be more skillful artists than yourself." This is really great advice, in my opinion.

    I'm really glad I read this article, as I'm always interested in what people have to say after they experience something that I'm most likely going to go through in the future. He gave a lot of great advice for students, either for those who are still trying to determine whether or not they should go to art school and those who are already there now. Definitely will keep his advice in mind.

Weekly Comments #13: SLEEP = IMPORTANT ???

    This week basically consisted of working on the class competition video and turning it in on time, after I had changed my original idea for it to something quite different. I was rushing to get all of the new shots and ideas that I had for it done, and although it may not be my best video, it was definitely something I've never tried before style-wise. The only problem was, the GRAIN!!! It's so terrible, you know, those little spots that like to pop up when you're filming in a rather dark environment. Unfortunately, there's really not much you can do about it, and what sucks is that you can't really tell on the camera's screen if the scene is going to be grainy or not. So frustrating.

    We also had shadowing this week, which was alright. It's so awkward, though, when they literally won't talk to you at all, or even so much as smile at your jokes. I remember there were two guys that whenever we asked them a question, they either nodded or shook their heads with a blank expression. But the people who actually talked to us and paid attention to what we were saying were a lot more fun to talk to.

    I enjoyed writing about the Van Gogh blog this week, as well. He's such an inspiration, and it was really cool learning about him and some other famous painters, and how their lives and ambitions can relate to amateur artists today. It's so interesting that both Van Gogh and Da Vinci spent most of their lives working, even though they didn't have an audience to present to. That after all that time, they never gave up.

    My link of interest this week: Cinematic Color Grading by DSLRGuide. It took me years to realize just how important color can be in a film, as it can make the audience feel a certain way. I'd really like to learn more about it so I can hopefully become better at it!

Video Response: "Office Posture Matters: An Animated Guide"

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    Going into a field of work such as animation and video production, you'll no doubt find yourself sitting and staring at a screen for long periods of time. Experts have found that the posture we have during this time isn't exactly good for us health-wise, as we're usually slumped over, leaning towards the screen. This three minute video goes into detail on how sitting for such a long time can be bad for us, and what we can do to fix it.

    There are a couple of major problems that could occur if you spend hours each day sitting in front of a computer. Some of them involve spinal, body weight, and cardiovascular problems. It's been proven that people who spend more time sitting than standing have a greater risk of cardiovascular disease, fatal heart attacks, and a shorter lifespan. Even if you take time our of your day to exercise, it's still not enough to reduce this risk. 

    So, what are some things we can do to solve this? First, consider buying an active chair over a passive one (one without back support vs. one with). This can help you keep a mental note to sit up straight while working. Though, if you do have a passive chair, keep in mind that you shouldn't lean forward or backward too much, and make sure your feet are comfortably resting on the floor, as crossing your legs can restrict circulation. Even just two hours of active sitting can improve core strength and burn calories. You should also practice getting up and stretching after 30 minutes of sitting. Not only can this increase your energy level to continue working, but it can also help your eyes refocus after staring for such a long time. 

    This was a very cute and informational animation video that can not only be good advice for people working in the filmmaking field, but also for just about anyone who spends a lot of time sitting in front of a screen each day. I'm definitely going to take this video's advice and work to be more active while film editing and such!

Article Response: "Lessons from Van Gogh: Why You Should Keep Making Films That Nobody's Going to See"

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    We all know the story of one of the most famous painters to this day, how he began painting and sketching works in post-impressionism, that people from his time would find worthless. They called him insane, but that didn't stop him from creating. He sold only one painting during his career, even though he had made over 900 paintings and 1,100 sketches. Long after his death, his works became worth millions, and they had influenced many different painters from the 20th century. His name was Vincent Van Gogh. 

    As filmmakers, we can learn from Vincent's will to continue working, even though the people around him didn't pay much attention to his work. Most of the time, we do certain things for our films, such as copying specific movie tropes, that we believe will help them become noticed or popular. This, however, isn't exactly the best way to go about making a film, as originality is usually what people are looking for. With Vincent, he didn't look at his work as something that could help him become famous, otherwise he would've changed his style of painting to match the style of other famous painters so that people would buy them. Instead, he looked at his work as a creative outlet when he was going through a tough time. He painted for fun, not for fame. Truthfully, creating isn't about how you do it, it's about why you do it. It's about how passionate you are about the thing it is you're creating, that even if it doesn't become a success, you're still proud of it.

    Moving onto the next two videos featured in this article; they describe the life and work of another famous painter, Leonardo Da Vinci. He also struggled with finding a job in which he could use his creative talent, and after sixteen years of hard work, he created The Last Supper, his most famous piece of artwork. Sixteen years is a long time if you think about it, which was full of failures and letdowns for Da Vinci. But that didn't stop him - just like Van Gogh, Da Vinci was ambitious. He always practiced sketching and working on learning more about the art of drawing and painting, for his own benefit, for fun. Almost all well-known people in history had to deal with this waiting game - a long period of time in which they worked to get better at their craft, not just to gain popularity.

    Today, our society is considered to be so fast paced, that most people work just to gain fast popularity. People need closure that what they're doing is worth their time. They don't want to waste time for years and years working towards becoming better at something for themselves and their own happiness, they believe that being popular is what truly brings happiness and pride in your work. This article made me question my own thoughts towards popularity and my own films. When I was younger, I remember only really working on videos because it was fun, but now I seem to only do it for popularity. I will definitely keep this in mind when working on future projects.