Last Project Evals

Class Project

I think the class project came out nice. I liked that it had a very strong sports theme. I really like for films to have a story of some sort rather than just having images that look cool. My favorite part was the stadium when the stars and sprinkles appear as the sound of a cheering crowd can be heard. I also liked the part where different clicks and chimes match up with images of curving orange lines. The movies quotes are entertaining as well. I thought the red coloring around the heart was cool during the adrenaline section of the film. It would have been really great if the red could have just been in the heart with the surrounding area still black and white. I was told this is difficult to do because the image must be outlined exactly to look good. I do think the ending shot should have been something that wrapped the piece up better than just another shot of the shot putter. I thought the four different sections were done well and helped to give the film structure. Kaitlyn and I worked on ambient sound. We added tracks of crowd noises were the film had lulls. I couldn’t have imagined what this project was going to turn out like back when we were creating and exposing the film strips in class. I was really excited when I got into the editing lab and saw that the project had a sort of theme and story line. I think the class did a great job. A lot of people contributed to a very short work and yet it still came out making sense and with a good flow to it.

Collage

For my collage I started searching through you tube videos just trying to get some idea for a one minute video. I finally found a clip from a Family Guy episode where Brian is doing physical training, and at one point runs up a mountain. Then I started thinking about the kinds of videos that had already been created for this class. It seems our class enjoys films involving car crashes. This was when I started thinking about people’s fascinations with car crashes and I pictured not just the usual hold up on the highway when people slow down to gawk at an accident, but hordes of people actually running towards the scene of an accident. I started gathering clips of people running through streets. I tried to get just few people running, a group running, and masses running to make the video all the more absurd. Then I looked for clips of loudspeakers and reactions on peoples faces that I could work in as either reactions to the beginning sound of a crash and then for the ending when the people reach their destination only to find that they were tricked and that there is no car crash. I didn’t find everything I needed in a format I knew how to use. I should have allowed myself more time to work through these editing lab difficulties. I still think I was able to put together a short video that showed what I was trying to go for. I can always go back later and figure out how to get my Simpson’s clip from Youtube with Bart being a deviant with a megaphone which would make the video message clearer. Also, as said in class a better build up of people running would improve the film.

My scary face using negative filming

My scary face using negative filming

My scary face using negative filming

My scary face using negative filming

Grits and Bubbles

I've gathered a bag of grits, bubbles (I don't know if they're ok to use on film or not), worry dolls (tiny men made out if wire and fabric), beads, and ribbon to use in our hand processing assignment. I doubt my hodge podge of random objects will be quiet as freaky looking as this negative film.

start stop animation

I found this clip of start stop animation and thought it was a good example of the same type of thing we did in class tonight.

Q-tips and Clothes Pins

We watched several shorts in class yesterday that were very interesting. Before we even discussed the Norman McLaren work I was thinking it reminded me of the part in Fantasia when the string dances to the music. The tongue used in Jan Svankmajer’s Dimensions in Dialogue was a little too gross for me, but the idea of the short was very unique. After watching Kaboom I was very excited about doing the Multi-Plane Animation assignment. I’ve been gathering items to use from around my apartment. My roommate will think I’ve gone crazy when she comes home from work one of these days to find me playing with clothes pins and Q-tips like a kid would with Barbies. I’m going to fill a bookbag full of small objects from Happy Meal toys to jelly beans to soap; whatever will fit.

Elements Project

For my Elements Project I’m working on the water and wind. I’m trying to animate a fish swimming and a tornado spinning just to see if can do it. I just realized that my pink fish is going to appear huge when projected on the screen because he takes up the whole frame when I draw on my little film strip. I really want to see if my animation will look like a fish swimming and a tornado spinning. I’m using sharpies because they’re the easiest for me to draw small details. I am also going to throw in some other techniques. Between my roommate and elements project partner, Meghann, we have a pretty good assortment of nail polish that I definitely would like to incorporate some of them into my strip. I also like the idea of salt creating little boxes when painted over. Maybe if I scatter them through parts of my animation I can make it appear as if bubbles are floating through the water and debris is flying out of the tornado. In choosing to do an animated strip I made my work somewhat tedious, but I’m so curious about the final product that I don’t mind. I understand that if any other group is also doing a rather literal interpretation of the four elements then we will be watching several fishies swim across the screen, but none will come out exactly like mine. I haven’t even started on the wind element even through I’ve planned it out. Meghann and I have also discussed how we would like to transition from one element to another. I’m probably going to work on my strip after class because every time we go to class I get to thinking about what I can do to make my project more interesting.