Fall/Spring Recap at RCC Animation

I had a wonderful year at RCC Animation. I learned a lot but was able to forge my own path and try out my own "style" with every assignment. The first semester (traditional animation) came out a success. My short film (along with a handful of other very amazing films) was chosen to be part of the RCC Animation Showcase and in June, we all celebrated our hard work! The link to my final Fall semester film is below:

Final Film Fall 2015

I'm really proud of it. It still needs work, the polish isn't a full polish, but it's MINE and that in itself is what makes it worthy.

I shifted gears in the spring semester and took Storyboarding 101. Coming up with story and characters, figuring out camera angles, backgrounds, design... This is why I love film as a whole, not just animation. The creative process going in to achieving a cohesive piece is (almost) the best part of the film industry. You get to be free to create and try without the restraints of "I did all this work but it doesn't look good and now have to start ALL OVER!". I did a final short film for that semester as well. Sad to say, it did not come out as successful. I attempted to use new technology to put my piece together and ended up running out of time. My own fault. I think the idea I had was good and would have turned out pretty great had I focused half as much as I had the semester before. Lesson learned.

This next semester will be all about the production pipeline. I'm not entirely sure what that entails, but I'm eager to begin. There is a short film required for the final of that class as well and I'm already coming up with ideas and characters (and no doubt bugging my friends for their opinions!). I don't want to be caught rushing for time. It's about quality this time around. The idea is solid, the characters are getting there, and now it's time to buckle down and make some movie magic!!

The journey continues!

The First Project

Last week was the introductory phase of the class. We've all been there. The teacher talks a bit about what work they've done and swapped stories about their journey. Then we dive into animation history. I will say this now: if I can't get a job in the animation field, I would LOVE to teach animation history. There's so much more to this beautiful art form than just Disney/Pixar. Will (Kim) has also been sharing short films each class. Some are from big name people in the industry (Chuck Jones, Ub Iwerks, Walt Disney) and some are from his time at CalArts. It's amazing to see the creativity and broad spectrum of what the word animation can mean. It's not cut and dry; and honestly, the word animation doesn't define what an animation CAN BE. It can literally be anything: abstract shapes, cartoony robots, a jazz singer's biggest fan, or a singing/morphing face. I use the word a lot but it truly is inspirational to see what can be achieved with some imagination and gumption.

The second half of the class is the students working on projects. In all animation classes I've taken, the format is generally the same: you learn your principles which correlates with an exercise like the bouncing ball or the pendulum swing. This class is no different BUT I did find it interesting that the first project to turn in was a flip book that could be ANYTHING. That's exactly what the teacher said. Make it ANYTHING. He was more interested in seeing what your mind came up with and less interested in you following the rules. It was terribly freeing! I chose to do a morphing droplet, an idea I had toyed with at the Animation Academy at Disney's California Adventure. Today was the turn in date in which we shot our flip book pages. I have to say, I was quite pleased with how it came out. I didn't use a lightbox in drawing the shapes and forms but instead employed the paper roll method. I was very happy to see my arcs were pretty much all spot on. I shall post it here as soon as I can. MOTIVATION!

Round 2

My last post was in 2013 and I cannot believe it's been that long! It feels like only yesterday I was toiling away in class 6, trying to make something of a useable reel. I will admit that I had burnt myself out by graduation time. The reel I had wasn't great but it was "good enough" and I think that's hurt me in the long run. I've applied here and there but haven't gone full throttle and now I sit here wishing but knowing the only thing stopping me is me.

So the scoop: I decided to go back to RCC and start/finish the animation program they have. There is finally a solid certificate program in place and I'm very excited to be going back to the drawing board (literally!). The instructor is Will Kim  and it looks like he's a fan of mixed media which is AWESOME because it means getting to dabble in more than just maya and makes you/your work/your reel that much stronger.

Hopefully this is a sign of good things to come! I can't wait to get started.

Silence Is Golden

Who needs words when you have Charlie Chaplin?

Blink And It's Gone!

Class 5 was an utter blast. Mentor Drew Adams really helped me hone in on my skill and create something that looks somewhat like animation.  The two person dialogue shot ended up pretty nice, if I do say so myself. It most definitely needs polish and more work but I like where it's at.  Here we go! Two person dialogue:

I feel like the dialogue and mouth shapes came out very nice. It took awhile to get it to this point but that's what the point of the class is! I'm already on to Class 6 (last class!!) which will focus on polishing shots and getting the reel together.... which means, soon friends I will be heading out to the "real" world! How exciting an adventure this will be! The latest mentor is Mark Oftedal. Currently, he is a freelance animator but got his start at Pixar (PIXAR!). Here's a link to his reel : Mark's Reel . Did I mention he totally animated my favorite scene in Toy Story ? (YOU! ARE! A! TOY!) I feel extremely blessed to be on this journey and being able to meet and get feedback from some amazing people :)

Worst. Week. EVER.

Wheeew!

It has been awhile! Poor neglected blog :( Anywho, since the last post I have finished up the pantomime shot and moved on to the one person dialogue shot.  Actually, at this point in time I'm almost done with the dialogue shot but there is a little progression reel below.  I decided to use a line of dialogue I had thought of last go around at Class 4.  It's Jimmy Stewart from The Philadelphia Story.  My thought with the line was that the character was a zombie who is reluctant to eat human flesh :) And you know that I love when my teachers agree with my off the wall ideas :D It makes me haapppeee! So! Here we go:

Finishing up the pantomime shot :) Not too shabby

Blocking for dialogue: first go around!

Revised blocking! ...nearly time to hit spliiine :/