...it gets more milage!
Monday, September 15, 2008
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Destructive Creativity
Its a hard thing being involved in a animated film. Its wonderfully creative...but energy draining and I spend most of my time working all nighters. Which should not be romanticized...right now it is taking all my energy to complete a sentence let alone type.
Why then do I post this message, making an animated film has filled my life with terrifying stress. No sleep has meant that I've been missing classes, forgetting assignments, turning in poor work and lets not forget the lack of sleep.
***But lets think of the positive.***
I've been able to shoot more footage. Mostly zombie related scenes...I figured out how to make brains and innards out of thick embroidery thread. I literally gutted one of my dolls. I figured out how to make layers of skin that looked shredded.
This all sounds quite gory but as I was making all of these things I was absolutely disappointed with the image. It didn't look real enough to me. Until that is my brother entered the kitchen for a drink and exclaimed: Ewwww!
He even knew what I was trying to portray without having to explain to him all the details.
Hopefully I will be able to cover the cost of developing this reel of film.
I have several gorey pictures but I need to get them off of my camera. (That means in a weeks time I should get around to it)
Why then do I post this message, making an animated film has filled my life with terrifying stress. No sleep has meant that I've been missing classes, forgetting assignments, turning in poor work and lets not forget the lack of sleep.
***But lets think of the positive.***
I've been able to shoot more footage. Mostly zombie related scenes...I figured out how to make brains and innards out of thick embroidery thread. I literally gutted one of my dolls. I figured out how to make layers of skin that looked shredded.
This all sounds quite gory but as I was making all of these things I was absolutely disappointed with the image. It didn't look real enough to me. Until that is my brother entered the kitchen for a drink and exclaimed: Ewwww!
He even knew what I was trying to portray without having to explain to him all the details.
Hopefully I will be able to cover the cost of developing this reel of film.
I have several gorey pictures but I need to get them off of my camera. (That means in a weeks time I should get around to it)
Monday, April 07, 2008
How crafting saved my life...
...I mean my sanity.
I didn't start crafting until the fall of 2007. I wanted to make an animated film but I didn't want to use clay since I've heard from other students how difficult clay animation can be for first time animators especially when you think about the amount of lights we must use for film animation.
I set my sights on creating a cast of cloth dolls (wired for movement) so that I could create my zombie masterpiece.
The first problem.
I hadn't sewn anything since I was 12 years old. Even then I didn't know how to use a sewing machine and I couldn't follow a pattern.
The second problem.
I don't like to ask for help. My family is absolutely stubborn and autonomous, growing up in that environment left me with the feeling that if I wanted to do something like film-making for instance, I had to learn how to do it myself.
So instead of hiring or collaborating with someone on the doll work I learned how to sew by hand and machine over three months time. Instead of working with some fellow film production students on the lighting, set production or camera work I ended up taking up each one of those tasks.
*You can sense how autonomous I tend to be.
Before I started my animation I had little interest in my academic career. Film-making had become a depressing process for me personally. I loved watching films but I struggled with the technical issues. Production work was offset by the theatrics of crew members. The grind of production destroyed not only my energy by my desire for filmmaking. When I discovered this new creative outlet I felt like I had come to life for the first time in two years.
Suffice to say I have a better appreciation for my sewing machine, the resilience of muslin and my family who supported me through my crash course into stop-motion animation.
As I said earlier...crafting saved my life.
[The film is still in the works. I am editing my footage now for a future screening.]
I didn't start crafting until the fall of 2007. I wanted to make an animated film but I didn't want to use clay since I've heard from other students how difficult clay animation can be for first time animators especially when you think about the amount of lights we must use for film animation.
I set my sights on creating a cast of cloth dolls (wired for movement) so that I could create my zombie masterpiece.
The first problem.
I hadn't sewn anything since I was 12 years old. Even then I didn't know how to use a sewing machine and I couldn't follow a pattern.
The second problem.
I don't like to ask for help. My family is absolutely stubborn and autonomous, growing up in that environment left me with the feeling that if I wanted to do something like film-making for instance, I had to learn how to do it myself.
So instead of hiring or collaborating with someone on the doll work I learned how to sew by hand and machine over three months time. Instead of working with some fellow film production students on the lighting, set production or camera work I ended up taking up each one of those tasks.
*You can sense how autonomous I tend to be.
Before I started my animation I had little interest in my academic career. Film-making had become a depressing process for me personally. I loved watching films but I struggled with the technical issues. Production work was offset by the theatrics of crew members. The grind of production destroyed not only my energy by my desire for filmmaking. When I discovered this new creative outlet I felt like I had come to life for the first time in two years.
Suffice to say I have a better appreciation for my sewing machine, the resilience of muslin and my family who supported me through my crash course into stop-motion animation.
As I said earlier...crafting saved my life.
[The film is still in the works. I am editing my footage now for a future screening.]
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