Iron Man 3 rant

Like the title says this is a complete rant.  But be warned : SPOILER ALERT! Okay got that out of the way.  So I was reading the Marvel article for Ms. Licata like a good student when it got me thinking of up and coming movies.  Like Iron Man 3.  Yes there is a third one and being an Iron Man fan I am ecstatic.  However, and this is partly my fault, I went looking for trailers which only confused me more.  So the first trailer I watched creeps me out.  No kidding.  There were so many abrupt cuts from one scene to another.  One scene had Tony lying in his Iron Man suit beat up in the snow saying "There are a lot of people in the world that want to kill me". Another one was a cute scene with him (Tony) and Pepper having a "moment".  Then it cuts to Pepper strapped to some metal restraint with her looking like she was crying and in pain and then it goes to some random dude giving her cheek a kiss!  At the end of it all I was like, "What just happened?"  That kind of seems like a no brainier since the movie hasn't even come out yet and won't until May 3rd 2013.  But still!  And then I (again I shouldn't have done this) read that Pepper will get a suit.  I don't mean like a business suit she wears.  I mean an Iron Man suit!  I don't know how I feel about that.  It would be kind of cool to see Pepper, who is usually on the side helping Tony or one of the other characters out, kicking butt right along side the rest of the boys.  And yet it kind of wouldn't.  Maybe it is just me but I have a hard time seeing Pepper go from this reliable sideline character (who does do quite a bit in both movies don't get me wrong)to this Iron "Maiden" (get it?) all of a sudden.  Oh yeah just as an added bonus, Happy the driver, might die...Just saying.

Bunnyman

So this guy is the voice of...

...this guy.  Need I say more?

Holiday Characters Taken Seriously?

Now we all know the typical characters like Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny etc...most of their stories are cutesy and fun because they are intended for children.  In the new movie Rise of the Guardians they are anything but cutesy. (1) They are taken seriously. (2) They are modernizing these characters in a very real way.  No stupid gags or anything like that.(3)  This movie is also showing kids, according to Peter Ramsey, "it's okay for kids to be afraid.  Its okay for them to know there is bad in the world and someone out there is going to protect them from it".  I think this is a great approach.  Also the way this movie takes story boarding to a whole new level to add another layer into the movie is cool.  I never thought like that.  For my final question...what is world-building?  I have a general idea from the article but every time I read that word I keep going back to movies like Inception.

Marvel

So this week topic is Marvel.  More specifically the movies based on Marvel characters and their comics.  Now a good portion of us have seen the Avengers movie (or you could go to YouTube and just watch all the leaks from people and watch the trailers to basically watch the whole movie.).  This movie not only brought in a lot of money, but a lot of new ideas and concepts that are going into play even now. Some of them are (things I learned) how Marvel might be doing a little t.v. show of S.H.I.E.L.D. to keep viewers interested during the off season. Also how now movie companies are working together.  Like when you think of a certain movie, like X-Men belongs or is known for the Fox company.  Sony has Spider-Man.  Now these companies might be working together.  Different companies working together for a common goal, (just like the Avengers!).  And as an added bonus....people there will be an Avengers 2 and a Iron Man 3.  Just saying. For opinions.  I think what Marvel and the director has done for these characters is great.  Also I like how they enticed the viewer.  By that I mean, in the one Incredible Hulk movie, at the very end we saw Betty's father (can't remember his name) speaking with the one and only Tony Stark!  Or like in Iron Man 2 when Tony was building that huge contraption to make the new element, he used Captain America's shield to level out the pipes.  I didn't notice that at first but my brother pointed it out to me.  When he did I got so excited!  It was like that moment of "Hey I know what they are hinting at!" kind of thing.  Little things like that is what keep people interested in the movies.  It's like saying, "here is this story.  If you like it maybe you will like this one as well" and then they drop the subtle hint at the end of the movie.  They did that at the end of the Avengers movie as well with the villain.  This is a great way to get people to not only see the other movies but give us little hints to the final collaboration when all the Avengers came together.  As for a question...what will Marvel think of next?

Jedi Mickey

Jedi Mickey Mouse....enough said...

Old vs New?

So I was watching Challenge on FoodNetwork (there is a point why a bring up food) and it showed clips of Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving and it got me thinking of how old cartoons use to be.  I still have this movie somewhere in my house and I remember watching this with my mother and brother around Thanksgiving obviously.  Then I flipped the channel to Cartoon Network and Annoying Orange was on.  Oh my god I frigin hate those guys.  It is so stupid!!! I mean I know the animation in cartoons has advanced but my god is this the best people can come up with these days?  Really?  What happen to the old cartoons like Charile Brown, Cat Dog, Hey Arnold, Doug, As Told By Ginger etc...I use to wake up every Saturday to watch my legit "Saturday morning cartoons".  Now besides Adult Swim (I think Toonami is working with them because they are doing the cartoons on Sunday morning)which thankfully still air good anime shows  I really don't watch that much cartoons anymore.  Most of them seem pointless...well except a few like Phineas and Ferb and SpongeBob...but I mean that square yellow dude has been around forever.  So what happened to all the cartoons that a lot of us growing up with?  Is there a reason for the I.Q. of most t.v. shows to drop in order to increase audience size?  Is it because this stupid mindless-for lack of a better word - crap, is what we as kids/adults are so use to seeing that it has become the new norm for cartoons; the dumber the better?  Heck I would even settle for really old shows like I love Lucy or I Dream of Genie. I watch that on the Hallmark channel in P.A. and it is really good!  So which do you choose?  Old classics or new fresh cartoons.

Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving

CatDog

Hey Arnold

Doug

As told by Ginger

Crispin Freeman

Okay I am not going to lie..this post is just going to be me fan girling over the great voice actor Crispin Freeman.  He has done the dubbing for so many of my favorite characters that I absolutely love him and can usually tell it is him doing the voice within the first few minutes of hearing his character talk.  Yes a lot of them are Japanese animation but this guy has been in a lot of popular movies/tv shows and he deserves some kind of recognition.  Here's to you Freeman! A link for his mention of his many voice acting jobs; http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/01/showbiz/voice-actors/index.html

Went from "Turnip Head" to...

...Prince Justin-Howl's Moving Castle

Red Arrow- Young Justice

Itachi Uchiha- Naruto

Haji-"Blood +"  (my favorite)

Alan Gabriel- "Big O"

Crispin Freeman

Hail to the Voice Actors

So we all know about voice actors.  Anyone who has watched any animated tv show/movie knows they are the people that make all those pictures talk, sing, sigh, sob and whine.  However the job of a voice actor is growing everyday. (Things I learned 1)  Many of them like Frank Welker's (who does the voice of Optimus Prime) and Seth McFarlane who does Stewie are getting more and more recognition.  (2)  These people are getting fan mail now! (3)  Although already popular in Japan, voice actors and dubbing is a trend slowly rising in American culture as well.  (Opinions 1)  I think it is wonderful that these voice actors, these names at the ends of the credits that no one really watches (except my parents) are getting this recognition for giving these characters life.  The CGI could look and feel as real as it possibly can and it still wouldn't be able to do the same without these voice actors giving them life.  (2)  I think it is great that voice acting is coming up in the ranks of American culture and am excited to what new movies that will appear because of this growing industry. One question; why aren't these people given the credit they deserved before?

Mickey Mouse the new Jedi Master?

So I open the link for this article and the first thing I see is Mickey Mouse giving this guy a bro hug.  Nothing out of the ordinary there, (how odd is that?) but then I look again.  Mickey Mouse is holding a light saber...What just happened?  (Things I learned;) Apparently Disney bought out Lucasfilms for the property of Star Wars.(2)  This is their second company take over next to Pixar. (3) Disney will start releasing their own Star Wars movies around 2015.  (Opinions) (1)  I think that if Disney does do Star Wars movies...it won't be the same and you will have a lot of trolls.  And for good reason mind you!  (2)  And the guy Lucas who was rich to begin with is now filthy stinkin' rich...WHAT?  That's not right.  And one final question; the next time you think on all the Star Wars characters think of Mickey Mouse as Darth Vader holding a light saber....exactly.

Halloween Photos?

  Okay now I know this is a little late but just deal with it; it is a cool article and for me any reason to celebrate for ghouls and gore (and candy of course) is always good in my book.  So here we go!  This article was fun not only did it show some awesome photos but also give some helpful tips of when and where to shoot a photo.  Like if it is getting late and your camera has flash, go indoors and if you can, adjust the flash of your camera up towards the ceiling to get a good pic without the evil "red-eye" effect you always get with straight on shots.  Also there is a part about shooting an object's silhouette.  Can't imagine what that would remind me of  *coughs...backlighting....coughs*  There is even a tip on how to shoot a friendly or not so friendly ghost walking amongst the tombstones.  Read it!  You'll like it!

http://www.techhive.com/article/2012970/five-tips-for-shooting-great-halloween-photos.html

guess what part of the video scavenger hunt this was...

would this be considered a urban evolution?

Premiere Elements

  Okay so we have been using Premiere in our class for a while now.  And when we first started using them I looked up a few tutorials because well, I was bored.  I came across something that was called, "Premiere Elements".  It wasn't what I was looking for so I kept searching but it always struck me as to what it was and how it was different from the Premiere program we use at school.  From what I have gathered the difference is the shortcuts and maybe the name of a few menu items.  Like the "Timeline" in Premiere CS6 is called "Sceneline" in Elements.  And Elements has a simpler capture method the Premiere although for me that has remained to be seen.  Just thought I would point this out.

http://www.techhive.com/article/2010170/adobe-launches-photoshop-elements-11-and-premiere-elements-11.html

Apple and the Incredible vanishing CD drive

  Okay so Apple is coming out with new upgrades or versions of their technology every five minute's it seems.  So what is the newest upgrade for the Apple computers?  (1)The vanishing act of the CD drives.  You know that little slot on the side of the computer that you can insert CD's in for your computer to read? (2) That they are doing it, so it seems, for a more sleeker and saves space---it creates more work for someone if they want to rip a CD or even make copy's of CD's if they want to. (3)  This might also push people to look at iTunes stores for their music instead of actual CD stores.  (opinion 1)  I think this kinda sucks.  I mean what if you don't have or cannot afford to get a external drive.  Or you have no need for iTunes (someone who doesn't own an iPod.) then what?  (opinion 2) If they are doing away with the drives then they should include an external drive with the computer as a bonus.  People are gonna pay a lot of money on Apple gear anyway, why not right?  So here is my question;  What do you think is best?

Hurricane Sandy

All right we all heard the media hem and haw about Hurricane Sandy and how terrible it was.  This article just shows how much the media can have an effect on things.  In essence make a mole hill out of an ant hill.

3 things I learned:
  1. Media will do a lot of things to hype up the news
  2. If it is too good to be true it usually is...with photos I mean.
  3. That Photoshop skills can really go along way especially in the media field.

2 opinions:
 1.  I think that it was stupid for the media to edit photos like that just to freak people out.
 2.Although I am against the media trying to manipulate a potentially harmful situation like that...I am impressed by the Photoshop editing work they did.

1 Question:
 1.  How much damage did this hurricane "really" cause?

6 Filmmaking Tips From Joss Whedon

Once again, thank you Ms. Licata for giving us an article that rocks.  Not saying the last articles weren't good...it just...well...sigh....I'm going to shut up now.  On with the article!

3 things I learned:

1. This man started Buffy the Vampire
2. He directed Serenity
3. The man directed The Avengers...need I say more?

2 opinions:

1. I think it is really great he is giving tips to people in or who are thinking about going into the film industry.
2. He is an amazing writer.

1 question:

1. Why is he still an "underdog" after doing such great movies/TV shows?

P.S. don't worry...Hulk will smash anything in Whedon's way.

Dawn of the Dead Article

First off I just want to thank Ms. Licata for using an article on Frankenweenie.  Thank you so much...really want to see the movie.  I am a huge fan of anything Tim Burton.  Okay fan girl moment aside the requirements for the article post;

3 things I learned:

1. The movie was based off an real life experience of Tim Burton
2. The movie was, 28 years prior, released as a live-action short by Disney
3. The kids in the movie were based on children Burton went to school with.

2 opinions:

1. I think the line up for the voice actors for the movie is great.
2. I really think that Tim Burton's animation style, stop motion, is amazing and shows his attention to detail and creating a different personality with each character.

One question:

1. When can I see this movie?

P.S.  In the article it said,  "It basically is an animator moving a puppet at 24 fps."  Fps!  You guys remember those?

First Actual Post!

Do you know something?

This is the first time in a long time that I have actually posted anything on this site.  I had to actually remember what the requirements for these post were.  I know right; how bad is that?  ANYWAY... what I liked about this week. Um...the fact that we didn't have many demos this week.  The fact that we will be actually starting our first "Photoshop Project" is awesome to hear.  Especially if you spent the last two weeks of school going over demo's.  Grrr....hate demos.  So what did I not like; the fact that I was slightly behind, (I am on track now though.)  DEMOS!!!  It was like an hour of grinding my head against a cheese grater but it has to be done.  I meant the demos not the head and cheese grater thing.  You know what I mean.  Hardest part; finding "Space" for the compositions, fixing all the little and fixing the tiniest details on the "Retouch" exercise. Easiest part;  the color theory, and the masks.  I am really looking forward to doing that "Worth 1000" project!  So excited!  Until then!

P.S.  I know what I am doing for the "Worth 1000" project a bearcat!  I call it!  Mine!  Okay that's it.  I also might do the plant and animal and the urban revolution.  Still debating on that though.

Expressive Robot?

Ok so now we are talking about the realistic robot that can show emotions and facial features just like the humans that created him.  I know this technology exists but I didn't know it could be so life like.  I mean did you see that little guy!  Such a cute face. Although I will admit while I was reading this article all I could think of was that one Rocky movie where they are giving that old man his birthday cake and a robot comes out with all this weird sixty's seventy's music.  (At least I think that was the approx. year).  And on its screen it said "Happy Birthday Paulie".  This was also on Family Guy but that's a different story for a different post.  All in all good article, informative, kinda interesting....that's it.

3d Printer

So I am writing this because we now have to write about the articles Ms. Licata posts for us plus our own basic post, (i.e. what did you learn this weak?  What was the hardest thing to do....)  So I read the article about the 3d printer, and honestly...I'm not that surprised by their existence but I am surprised that normal households own these things!  $350!  Same as a Kinect (copyright)?!  Seriously how do people afford these things.  Then again this is coming from someone who is jumping up and down with joy when she gets a dollar from her mom to spend on lunch and snacks.
I will admit I got kinda lost when they were mentioning how the money worked and how much they were making and on and on.... Didn't quite follow.  All I know is that they are making three if not four times the amount of money they were expecting to!  That's a big deal!


(P.S.  I would love to own one of those things.)

Test Post

Do not be afraid. 

This is a test post to test this account.

Again this is a test.

Do not be afraid.

Thank you and have a nice day.

ANIMATION AND ALL ITS GLORY!

1. What I liked most about this class was learning how to work in Adobe Flash and Cheetah 3D to create my own characters and breath life into them via these programs.

2. My favorite project was the 3D short because it was my first time doing a full set of characters, let alone in 3D, and all in all, I was very proud of my work despite being a greenhorn.

3.What I liked least about this class was the math worksheets that we had to do to get our math credit.

4. My least favorite project was the audio driven animation; I did not like it because I did not like it.

5.My future plans after graduation of this class is to go to Video class.  If you mean graduation from High School is to attend Daemen College for BFA in Animation.

6. I absolutely feel this class will help me with my future goals.  It will help me hit the ground running.

7. My advice to "newb" students would be; DO YOUR STORYBOARDS AND YOUR BLOGS!

ANIMATION AND ALL ITS GLORY!

Okay so I like playing flash games and have been curios on how they are made.  I think it involves some kind of coding but I have no clue how to do that and applaud the ones that can.  So I just post this for anyone to see and maybe explain it to me if they understand any of it.www.youtube.com/watch?v=djHD30qlL-A

ANIMATION AND ALL ITS GLORY!

Since one of the songs was from Portal ( I myself have never played the game) I post this.  Don't get the game at all but still... whatever pleases people.

ANIMATION AND ALL ITS GLORY!

FINISHED PROJECT! Yeah baby!  So happy!  Now I don't have to stress about it anymore.  On top of that we also had to take a exam for our animation class.  It was alright.  There were some questions that we wouldn't know, which Ms. Licata told us before hand so she took this into consideration.  Some were about camera angles, lighting and some other good stuff.  I passed with a 76 I think.  Which means I don't have to take the video test next year!  And that was hard according to Ann Marie and Ms. Licata.  So I am glad about that..........that's it for this week.  Have a nice weekend!

ANAMATION AND ALL ITS GLORY!

Worked on project today!  All I got done was the chorus.  Darn!  Need to get my butt into gear!  Well anyway I will have to keep working and keep my fingers crossed until then.  I also already have a free trial of Flash but the timer has run out and I am not sure if I have to uninstall and re-install........or if it will even let me.

ANIMATION AND ALL ITS GLORY!

Okay for this music video the hardest part is figuring out what I am going to do for the chorus and the instrumental parts.  I am trying to stay away from repetitive animations sequences but it is getting hard to do so.  So I will see how things turn out.

ANIMATION AND ALL ITS GLORY!

Update:  Ms. Licata has graciously given us an extra day to work on our final project.  Which means that instead of it being due this Friday it will be due next Monday.  How epic is that?  Words can't even describe how elated I am.  Well there is one phrase that can match my feelings.  "Thank you Ms. Licata!  Thank you oh so much!"

ANIMATION AND ALL ITS GLORY!

All right.  This week has just been "work, work work."  I feel like this week has been like that scene in Cinderella when the mice sing about how much work Cinderella has to do that day.  Haha.  Okay bad joke.  The final project is due next Friday.  That is one week people!  Oh golly...  Well, I will just have to put my nose to the grind stone and push through.  With the end of the school year closing in fast I am wondering what I am going to do?  Do I stay at BOCES  and go for the Video Class here or do I drop BOCES and stay at my school to take a drawing/painting class to hone my skills that would greatly help me if I go to Deamen?  But then I heard from a classmate that goes to BOCES as well that if you get perfect attendance for two years in a row here you get a $4,000 dollar scholarship!!!!  How could anyone pass that up?  Weigh the pros and cons I suppose....

ANIMATION AND ALL ITS GLORY!

So.....what else for this week?  Oh I know what!  I will post a picture of pluto and its moon charon and point out which one is which.  This is for you SERENA!

Okay the big one is PLUTO! The smaller one is its moon Charon.  Hope people get this. Serena I mean you!

ANIMATION AND ALL ITS GLORY!

So I finally got the music to sync up with my animation, or vice versa depending on how you look at it.  Am so happy that I don't have to deal with that any more.  But now I face a new problem.  At a certain point in the animation, one of my characters moves diagonally across the screen and when it does another arm appears in the corner when it is not supposed to.  Does that make sense?  Cause then when it plays Error 1009 pops up.  Don't know what it means....Ah well.

ANIMATION AND ALL IT'S GLORY!

This week is all "Work Day".  Which is a good thing because we (in my opinion, this may not be true for all but...) need all the time we can get to finish this final project.  I mean this is our final project!  So it counts a lot towards our grade and I would like to do really good on it!  Do we get points off if we don't finish the whole song?  I mean we have enough time to do so but still, on the off chance we don't do we get deducted points?  Hmmm....  Oh well.  Other than work days we don't have much to do.  I feel like a drone.  Programed to do something over and over again.  Never doing anything new.  It is mind numbing....  Slams head on desk, "Grr.  Am not a robot!"  Rubs forehead; ow.

ANIMATION AND ALL IT'S GLORY!

Here's a list of animated films I like;

• Princess Mononoke
• Spirited Away
• Howl's Moving Castle
• Laputa: Castle in the Sky
• Whisper of the Heart
• The Cat Returns
• Ponyo
• Kiki's Delivery Service
• Thumbelina
• Pokemon 2000
• Pokemon Spell of the Unknown

Okay this is really random but I was watching "Mary Poppins" on DVR yesterday.  I watched the scene when Mary Poppins is pulling things out of her carpet bag.  How the heck did they do that?  I mean this was 1964!  Although I could definitely tell the difference between the animated scenes and the live scenes.  A green screen would be great!  Poor animators back then! hahah! okay I'm done.  More for next week.

ANIMATION AND ALL IT'S GLORY!

I saw the promo for Tim Burton's new movie, "Dark Shadows".  And of course it has Johnny Depp staring in it; not that I mind.  I thought the movie looked really funny with some romance and dark humor.  Did everyone see the end credits where it says, "Coming out in..." and someone got glomped?  Never mind I just thought that way interesting.  What else for this free blog?  Here are some pictures of the movie.

Epic face!

Peek-a-boo!  I see you!

ANIMATION AND ALL ITS GLORY!

Okay have a problem.  When I am listening to my final project just on flash itself the audio and the images I have set up works.  When I play it in test mode, its off by 3-4 seconds which are crucial!  How, if anyone knows, do I fix it?  Help would be really appreciated.  Other than that the project is moving slowly but surely.  Although its been like 2hrs of grinding my head against a cheese grater.  Miss. Licata said that if you don't have patience for this and hate doing the same thing over and over again this may not be the career for you.  I hope not.  I don't want to go through this class with the possibility that I wasted Ms. Licata's year teaching me.  GAH! okay end of rant. Keep fingers crossed for good weather!

ANIMATION AND ALL ITS GLORY!

http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to-lip-synch-flash-animation-298667/

ANIMATION AND ALL ITS GLORY!

just something to look at.

ANIMATION AND ALL ITS GLORY!

Week goals;
1. finish 3-d short; check
2. watch 3-d short that scared the crap out of me. Check (thanks Jerry...)
3. work on audio driven animation project...ehh sorta.
4. work on 11 sec. animation (lip synching) project; yep.  Although I keep forgetting to bring my flash drive so I can scan the character that I have drawn into the computer so I can use for the project.
All in all it has been a very good week.

ANIMATION AND ALL ITS GLORY!

So today our 3-d animated shorts are due! Oh crap.  I am not sure If I will be able to finish in time to meet the deadline.  Oh I hope I can.  But then I could turn it in Monday and get the points off for lateness but have it completed.  What's better? Turning in an unfinished project on time or a completed project late?  Hmm I will try to get as much done as I can!  Keeping my fingers crossed.  Anyway here is what I have for my extra post;  look up in the sky! Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No! It's a bat! Haha thought I was going to say Superman or some kind of marvel hero huh? Nope close.  Actually close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenade's.  Two very different things, (i learned that the hard way).