What I Learned in 160

This semester was pretty fun. I didn't like the switch to the new portfolio though... It's too boxy now! Anyway, it felt like we did less this semester compared to 150, but then again the movie project was a lot bigger and had multiple parts to it. I definitely learned more hands-on stuff this semester. I found out I'm pretty freaking good at this stuff! Haha, well, I don't really know about that. It was just a coincidence that during this same semester I was taking Portable Video Production and Intro to Animation (Kelly and Marty suggested it!), and the two big projects of this semester were a video and an animation :).

I remember my first day in 160 lab I said I wanted to do something in production. I kind of just said it because I felt I needed an answer, but now I definitely know I don't want to be in production. Maybe pre or post production. Production is such a pain!

"Take 2 3 4 500 600 700"

"Why aren't you following the storyboard?"

"What was my line again?"

"Stop ad-libbing"

"Wait that guy wasn't there before"

"Was that always there?"

"What was that sound?"

"Out of memory??"

"Hold on I gotta take this"

"They're looking at us weird"

"Sorry you can't have that camera on in this area" Yes, we ffffffffffing can, SIR.

"How long have we been here?

"I'm hungry"

I figured I'm more of a behind the scenes or computer-using guy. Coming up with ideas is always fun, and having someone laugh, nod and agree to your ideas is even better. There's also the frustration from the disagreeing of ideas.

Oh, and I remember I said I'd like to work for NBC on the first day of lab. I realize they always joke about how nobody watches NBC. I also guessed they must not have been doing very well to have Comcast buy 51% of the network... but a lot of my favorite shows are still on NBC and I'd still like to join their team. Maybe and hopefully as a writer for The Tonight Show with Conan O'brien, Saturday Night Live, or Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. I wrote that in order of likeness by the way. If not a writer then I'd just like to assist in their digital sketches.

So anyway, this semester I also learned how useful storyboarding is. I remember in 150 all we did was a shot list for our in-camera edit. I mean that was pretty useful, too, but not as detailed and not as easy to look at. It's nice that even after getting the shots, the storyboard was still useful for editing. Our shots were allll over the place; mainly because we had one person help, so we had to get all the shots where we needed him first. We were able to go back to the storyboard to put the shots in order in our bin in Final Cut.

Final Cut is such a useful program. I first learned the importance of organization, with the folders and the bins and the labeling, which really came in handle with so many shots. Then all we had to do next was to set the in and out points then place them into the timeline. Learning how to unlink audio from video was very useful too, for voiceovers and music.

The animation project was fun. This time it was all me; all my idea and in my own pace. There was no rush, and I was free to change any ideas whenever I wanted to. I take the train for an hour to Hunter and another hour back home everyday I have class, so that's a lot of daydreaming. Whenever ideas for the project drifted into my mind, I wrote it down. Whenever I was bored or had some extra time, I was able to work on the animation a little. It didn't even feel like an assignment for a class.

What helped me the most was learning how to swap symbols. When you swap a symbol with another, it retains the transformations and placement. I was working on another project in my Intro to Animation class where the characters had a lot of lines, which meant tons of different mouth movements. Our Animation professor left out teaching us about swapping (To be honest, it was probably most likely in the reading) so I would have had to drag each mouth symbol in and resize it if I didn't learn how to swap from the Chapter 19 tutorial.

I started working on this class' animation before I got started on the tutorials, which was a bad idea. I set the eyes of my character as separate symbols, since they change so often. I was resizing and zooming in to try to match the original eye symbol precisely, but it never came out perfectly. After I went through the tutorial with swapping, things became a lot quicker and easier.

Well, thank-you, Ghen - assuming knowing that you're the only one who is reading this - for helping me this semester, and thanks for showing Kelly and Marty my work and having them show it in lecture. Because of that, I am confident in sticking to Media as my major :). I should go declare it tomorrow, huh...

By the way, in case you didn't notice, my extra credit blog is under this one!

Speaking with Animation

An animation I like is "Billy's Balloon" by an animator I like named Don Hertzfeldt. He draws everything frame by frame, though, but I can see how most of it can be done with Flash. Since he drew everything frame by frame, his animations are jittery. He could have achieved the same effect by redrawing each different item 3-5 times and setting each set of 3-5 frames as a symbol.

I like the jittery effect. It tells you that something is not right. There are many long pauses in between actions. Having a long pause with the jittery effect is very good for adding suspense. It also works well as a foreshadow that something really bad is going to happen, like when Billy sees another toddler in the air.

All the toddlers look similar, and some even exactly the same, so if Hertzfeldt were to use Flash, he could have just made the main toddler into a symbol, then create new instances of it, and resized it. Same with the balloons, except he would also have to rotate them and change the color. He could have also copied the image of the toddler inside the symbol and then pasted it in a new symbol to add hair and clothes for the different toddlers. Also, the movement of Billy and the balloons could have easily been done in a minute on Flash with tweening.

The toddlers have big round eyes. Well, it's common for toddlers to have big round eyes, which makes them cute, and this animation only featured toddlers. In another Don Hertzfeldt animation, called "Rejected," you can see that other adult characters have big round eyes just like the toddlers in Billy's Balloon. You can compare them to the toddlers; as simpletons. His characters' eyes are usually either big and round or are little dots, or in other words: unusual.

There is a lot of empty space around the characters in Hertzfeldts animations. It helps to show how little the characters matter. It works well with how they are simpletons, how they get hurt a lot, and how they say or do something really unusual/shocking but funny. They seem more disposable with a lot of empty space.

Hertzfeldt's style tells the viewers that the animations are going to be unusual. It makes the animations more funny when there are long pauses while everything is shaky. In our world, our pauses would be stationary, but in his it's crazy and jittery.

Production Notes

Oh boy do I have a ton of stuff to say about this project.

Pre-Production

Let's start with the idea. I had no idea what interesting story I could make up in Hunter College, but my partner Joanne said she wanted to do something about the life of a cockroach, which somehow ended up as a spider because it would have been too much like that book about that guy who turned into a cockroach. Well she only thought of traveling through the school, but we didn't have an objective for the spider.

A few days later, we sat down and made up ideas, and somehow a bunch of stuff just came out of my mouth as I was eating a sandwich. Joanne liked most of it so she outlined the ideas and created a storyboard while I wrote up a script. Maybe if I was thinking more instead of eating a sandwich, I wouldn't have come up with ideas that made production a pain :(

Production

When we started shooting, we realized how little time we had so we rushed through a lot of the shooting. This was a very bad idea because once we imported the shots into the computer, we had a lot of problems with continuity. Joanne and I had creative differences too because of the pressure from the time constraints; I kept wanting to change things to what I felt would be better but she wanted to stick to the storyboard. The problem there was I was only there for the textual outline for the storyboard - without specifics - but only she sketched the storyboard. I also tend to become a control freak.

A huge problem was the different number people on the bridge/halls and the lounge area. We shot on different days so the number of people changed. Another problem with the number of people and their positions (since a lot of different people are constantly walking) was that I didn't shoot the hallway scene in one shot. It was EXTREMELY tiring on my legs; I was walking half-crouched, pushing a book from near the beginning of the North building bridge to the beginning of the East building bridge. My legs kept giving out and I had to stand up and stretch a few seconds so that ruined the shot. People were looking and laughing at me and one guy jumped in front of it which also ruined the shot. I got him to help me afterwards with a scared reaction to the "spider" so I spared his life.

I made the traveling scene 300% faster to be less noticeable. I hope it worked... The lounge area was also empty, which was great for the conversation scene, but the shots of the spider approaching the lounge area was when it was full of people so I had to add a fade to black with text saying they all ran away. I hope that worked too.

When we started the conversation scene, we realized we didn't think about how we would shoot us talking to each other. Good thing Joanne has good friends. She called one of them and he helped shoot our conversation scene. Of course we had to direct him and I was pretty anal... until I got tired.

We also should have rehearsed it and memorized our lines. We had to hold the script at our bellies so we can read each others lines. So when I was speaking, Joanne would hold the script, and vice versa. Thank God for shot/reverse shot, huh. I think the biggest problem of all with the conversation scene was the noise from the escalators. We were originally supposed to have it at the lounge outside the library, but there were always people there. It would have been great if we had a controlled environment and extras instead of real students going to class.

Being the writers and directors at the same time was good and bad. The good is that we know what kind of shots we want. The bad is that we come up with stuff along the way, which we thought might be better, but got us confused and missed some shots. We tried to fix it with editing though.

Post-Production

Although it took the longest, I think post-production was my favorite. Editing is like tricking the whole world. Pretty fun stuff. I also liked the feeling of being in control of every frame, but that's only because I'm also co-writer so I have the freedom to do so. I was still able to do some changing to the story like in pre-production, but this time I got to see my work and manipulate it to make it send a whole different message. I think rendering was the most annoying, but since I was on the computer I got to do other stuff while waiting for it to render.

I had to record my voice at home for the spider too, and some lines of myself. I think editing sound was the most fun. Changing the music can really change the whole feeling of a scene. Changing my voice for the spider was really fun too.

In Conclusion

I'm happy with what Joanne and I were able to "fix" with editing. However, I kept wanting to go back to reshoot a few shots. There are a bunch of shots in our video that don't exactly go together.

I'm glad I learned what a pain production is. I think I'm pretty clear now on which aspect of production I prefer if I were to pursue a career in this field, and that is pre-production. I do like the feeling of being in control in post-production, but at the same time it is a ton of pressure and I wouldn't want to anger the writers if I made a huge change.

Editing Analysis

F.R.I.E.N.D.S is one of my favorite shows. It's a sitcom so the lighting is always very well lit and even. Joey is one of my favorite characters. In The One with the Late Thanksgiving, Joey gets his head stuck in Monica's door because of the little chain that stops a door from fully opening.

It started with Joey sticking his head in and apologizing for going to a Rangers game and coming back late for Thanksgiving dinner. There's an exchange of closeup shots of his face sticking into the apartment and medium shots of Monica and Chandler eating dinner inside. This was useful because Joey was using his big-eyed stare to try to apologize, and Chandler warns Monica not to look at him. We can see how big Joey's eyes get and it's really funny.

Then, instead of a close-up of Joey's face, there's a wide shot of his head and the whole door, which was a good idea because it allowed Ross, Phoebe and Rachel to stick their heads in to apologize too. I also like how this shot was wide enough for us to see the back of Chandler and how he sits up straight on his seat as a reaction to the heads popping in. The following shot was a medium shot of him continuing his straightening up to make the shots look seamless. When only Joey spoke again, it was a close-up of his face again.

Even though Chandler and Monica are together, both of them aren't always in the same medium shot. It would only be a medium shot when they both react to something. When only one of them speak, it would be a medium close-up of the speaker. When Joey's head gets stuck in the door, it starts off as a close-up, but then the next shot of Joey is a medium shot since Chandler and Monica are standing there watching him and reacting to his struggle.

So sometimes when it's only Joey speaking, it's a close-up of his face, and sometimes it's a medium shot to see Chandler and Monica's reaction. A really good choice of a medium close-up of Joey was when Monica squeezed turkey grease on the sides of his face, because we get to see Monica's shoulder, the turkey grease tube, and it is close enough for us to see the grease flow down Joey's face as he tries to lick it off his face.

I notice whenever Chandler makes a joke, only he is in the shot so we can really focus on his facial expression. I also like how in the end, when Joey runs into the table of food, he begins to fall and we can see the surprised faces of Phoebe, Rachel, Ross and Chandler followed by another shot of Joey continuing his fall but from a different angle.

MEDP/FILMP 160: Media and Film in a Digital Age Pt. 2

I am now up to the second semester of the Media & Filim in the Digital Age class!
I think I know what I want to major in now: Media.
I kind of fell into it. Freshmen had to choose "blocks," which were all ready set up schedule of classes. The only thing I was interested in was the Media block, so here I am. In other words, I wasn't aiming for anything in media when I chose the Media block.
Well, instead of saying I fell into it, I think I should say the block program steered me into it. I enjoy media a lot every day.

I have two e-mail addresses and I check them daily; sometimes several times a day. I use Facebook like three times a week. I like Facebook because of the networking and the interactivity. You can put pictures in albums for people to see, you can comment on other people's pictures, you can leave a message on their page, and there's thousands of applications for people to interact with each other. It's like having a virtual reality with applications like giving each other gifts, having a pet, buying your friends, or starting up a mob.

I watch TV a lot. What I watch the most is the Tonight Show with Conan O'brien and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. I can't interact with it, but nowadays every show has their own page on the internet where viewers can watch past episodes and comment on them. Late Night with Jimmy Fallon has a lot of user-centered design for viewers to interact with the show more than what the show itself offers. They even have a blog that talks about what will be on the show, or would go more in depth about something Jimmy might have mentioned on the show. Jimmy Fallon has held two contests -- a dance contest and internship contest -- to accept videos from viewers for an oppurtunity to generate content to interact with the show. Like Jimmy Fallon, Conan O'brien held a contest to accept videos of old trashy cars for "Conan, Please Blow Up my Car." He blew it up all right :) It was awesome.

Another show that has exclusive content online is Heroes. They have side-stories of different characters through their website, which includes online comics and webisodes. Webisodes are short episodes that are exclusively shown online. I don't view the comics or webisodes, but I do view the full episodes because I often miss a lot of things on TV.

Artist Statement

People always talk about something funny they saw, heard, or read. I've always wanted to be the reason for that "something funny."

When I was younger, I used to draw little funny pictures to make my friends and classmates laugh. I would keep a drawing and show it to as many people as I could, because I liked the feedback. Since then, digital media has evolved and has become a large part of life. Also, since then, I've learned to write with more intelligence. I am now able to do more than just simply scribble a funny picture or barely-legible words on a sheet of loose-leaf paper. Not only that; I am also able to show my funny creations to the world -- anytime, anywhere.

I remember when Xanga.com was a popular blog host. I would post anything I thought was funny that crossed my mind while I was daydreaming. I daydream a lot. It's really fun. I forget almost all the stuff I daydream about as soon as I realize I'm daydreaming, though. But for the stuff I do remember, I'd post it on my Xanga blog through my writing, images and animations I create and/or edit, photographs and videos. The feedback was great. Textual, abbreviated laughters are great.

I love to laugh, and I love to make other people laugh. It's something anyone and everyone can enjoy. It's pretty much my motivation as a media artist. I believe that if something looks beautiful, interesting or abstract, a memory of it would only give someone a little smile. A memory of something funny, however, would make someone laugh and then turn red and embarrassingly tell the stranger next to them that they just remembered something funny, but the stranger wouldn't care because he/she already thinks that person is weird.

I hope I can make people laugh through my work. I believe that no matter how serious a topic might seem, I can add humor to it.

What I Hear

For this week's blog, I walked for a WHOOOLE hour, in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, from 21st ave. and 62nd st. to 86th st., and then back to 62nd st., and tried to remember everything I heard.

I heard a lot of my own footsteps, cars passing by – some with music – and birds chirping in the background. The footsteps were consistent, since they were mine and are always under me. On the other hand, the cars and birds were inconsistent because the sound perspective of the cars started on one side and ended on the other, and there weren't birds on every block. Not too many trees grow in Brooklyn...

I remember hearing different footsteps of a family getting into their minivan, then one of the doors sliding, and then two doors slamming. They were talking about something too, but not loud enough for me to hear.

I walked under a tree with berries on the ground. I heard squishes under me because I was making juice out of them. It sounded like my shoes would probably be dirty by that time, but I won't go into that because I couldn't hear what color it was. No one was around to hear my profanity, but I sure was. It was definitely a soundmark of annoyance.

I heard the audio of someone's TV through their window. I couldn't tell what TV show it was because it was too far away. My hearing is kind of bad because I used to listen to music too loudly. There's usually nothing good on in the afternoon anyway. 

There was also a dog that suddenly ran up to the gate in someone's driveway. It was pretty close to me so it attracted my attention. It surprised me, too, but it didn't bark. I guess I kind of felt like I had automatic gain control, because I prepared myself for a loud noise but the dog didn't deliver. If weird tingles in my head made a sound, I think I would have heard a loud tingly sound.

One of the things I remember the most was something that was loud and smelled really bad, very close by. I know I'm not supposed to talk about smells, but saying something is loud and smells bad probably evokes a memory, which is a funny trick.
It was a gas truck. 

Yepp, nothing immature there.
The engine was very loud. It was like an extended, rough honk. I don't really know how to describe it. I guess if Transformers were real and they could growl, that's how it would sound like.

Most of the walk was pretty much my own footsteps, wind blowing, birds chirping, cars passing by, and one airplane passing by. There weren't many people around because it wasn't a commercial avenue.

As I approached my doorstep after my arduous trek, I could hear my sweat splashing off the pavement. This was an easy walk. It was a piece of cake. I could do this in my sleep, and I would have done it if I didn't have to pay attention to what I heard.

Oh, note to Sarah: Remember to read my Medium of Exchange blog entry below, please :)