So i have a BA

So I now have a BA from the academy of art university... and I feel good that I now have finished that part of my life. My new goal is to get started at grad school this fall and start working on other part of Forked Up. I dont know how this will happen but i need to finish the story so when I start putting on the ideas up and hope that i get some interest in it. i know that it needs some work but I have a lot of love for the story and I hope that it could one day do as well as Dragon Boy. well here is to a summer of hard work...

Animatics rock!

ok here is the animatic that I made with my friend Ivania let us know what you think! please post comments

first pass at beats ::dances::

So we are now up to our quick beats which are the keys to my story.  So here I have our opening scene where we are introduced to a ordinary hall way with a baby's crib at the end of the hall. intro our fork male (with a tie) and woman fork (bow tie pasta)  and a baby in the crib. we then jump to the conflict two of them pointing blame. we jump to the reveal we have a spork and then our end where we have a neighbor the spoon waving to the dad fork who is looking out from the window... can we say drama? ok so beats are rough thus my art work here is very rough but I wanted to show everyone the idea of that is in my head. I want so bad to make this into a small stick gag that will be maybe 8 shots total with really strong posing which is why i need to get the poses right. It is taking a ton of work because i am still learning about animation and have just my production meeting to work on when it comes to my own idea of what a work flow is .

So after I showed this to my director and with quite a bit of critiques I went with my friend Justin and started thinking of color and maybe some more detail to this world of forks. Again this is a learning possess and if anyone had a better work flow send me a link because knowledge is power. Anyways we started coming up with  some cool concept art that is still in  rough. It is important to remember that you want to make sure that the idea comes off to the animators very clear and to the the modelers that this is the world that i want . the more detail the better the props and it will help spark more of the imagination that helps us relate even though it is a fork.

So here is some sample work from the concept stage.

 So in this one we have a basic blue baby room we are taking from the real world. we are keeping with what we know as students that one we need a crib, we are going with a circle cause in art we know that circle shape is safe and inviting we are going with a soft color palette because we know that it is something that will be warm and inviting. now the odd stuff that you will not see in the "real" world is the Salt shaker on the shelf or the gummy bear... the sugar cube cushion. it is taking a bit of the real and mixing it with of the un-real but still allowing to viewer to know that hey this is a baby's room.

Now this is the hall way that you see in the first beat. I really like that old home feel that so many of us have grown up in. In this shot thumb we can see that we are in an older home and on the walls are photos and a carpet that helps the viewers eye lead down the hall way. one can see the hall of pictures sort of a monument to a family or of achievements that we earn in our life time so this shot will help establish the viewer to feel at home and also relate to the world. but if one looks a bit more closely you can see that the hat rack has a meatball and a ravioli hanging still allowing us to show the viewer that they might just not be in the real world after all. so this is where I leave all of you with a the draw out beats and the concept art for some of the world that I want to show. Please remember that any ideas or thoughts help me look at this story from an another angle and I want to know if anyone else has another way that they might see that will be helpful for me to grow.  thanks again and will blog again soon.
-em

so working on a beats

So one thing I have learned since I was not a producer at the start of this project  and I tend to work in production. The key in pre-production is not just having story and some quick thumbs is not enough. What you need to have is beats. Now what are beats? Robert  McKee (who I am now reading) says: "beat is an exchange of behavior in action/reaction. Beat by Beat by these changing behaviors shapes the turning of a scene." (Robert McKee Story) Now something I had to show was beats for my spoon and fork story.

Now the problem with my the knowable I had was I thought from my animation background oh i need story board which is part of pre-production but are not beats. So here I go making a ton of storyboards and I took them in on the 3/5 cards ready to show and low and behold ACK... my producing work shop thinks I am some crazy undergrad who has lost her mind. Thus I felt I was taking on to much with my pandemic cartoon But Vince sent me to another instructor to help me find the light since he and a few other teachers really like my idea/script (and even the script was written out bad but its a learning proses ) My project comes from my time in Michael Vickners about 1 year ago with 2D animation. Basically I have 2 spoons who fight  because their baby is a spork. well this idea of a utensils world has changed a bit and soon I will show you my up dated "spoon"

Now here I am with understanding a bit about animation and rigging but I have several story ideas and so How do I show that to producers with getting it across very fast a quick (I will have to do this if I come back for my masters when I write my thesis) So I go over to Bob with my friend Justin and with big eyes ask what is a beat? I know about story boards that are written from a script since I have done that but I was a bit lost in translation. First he asks me, Do you like story? I think I lit up cause I love a good gag or story and enjoy writing them out in my note books.  Then he says good Can you draw? I told him i can get my point across but that i am still working on it. He said  good. Then he said do you want to make your short?  I told him it would make me happy to make a short but that I needed help with it cause I don't know it all. I am willing to learn as much as I can but one thing I will say now is I am Human and I know where  I have weaknesses at and getting everything off the ground with Pre-Pro and seeing the whole picture is where I am lost Because I have been so focused on getting my animations to flow well.  So first he says since you don't have too much knowable in pre-pro let me give you a crash course.
1. Have a story/ idea/script
2.character turnarounds
3. have some beats
4. Color
5. Make a call is it in 3D or 2D (i think we all know what i said here)
6. since your the producer and the director you make wear many hats and get a time line set up and coffee and your close friends who you trust to help you.

ok so i have 1, 2, 4, 5,6  I was missing number 3 so I told him what are beats.  Becuase I thought from scipt we make boards to get the idea going... yeah he said but you dont want to drag out your idea to producers you dont want someone to take up a ton of your time with there idea and all kinds of detail you want to sell it quick and that is where beats come in. So my home was in 5 shots can you tell your story?
1. You first must have you intro set up the an r stage where your story is happening at.
2. Introduce your antagonist and protagonist
3. From that jump to conflict because where is story with out conflict?
4. Then then show the reveal
5. End it.

I sat for a few minutes with this aw struck look. OK I knew exactly how to board this. Since I like my story and I want to see it as a short I know that.
1. The american dream home with a hall way the leads to a room we can see a baby crib at the end. on the walls we have photos hanging showing off awards and the american family
2. Then we have our two  "spoons" which have been changed to "forks" with the baby crib in the middle sort of becoming the line that divides them.
3. we can see them pointing at each other both are angry finger pointing.
4. we get to see what is in the crib and it is a baby spork.
5. dad fork is looking out the window and the neighbor spoon is waving....

So I put these down on boards as well as sent my self a 2ND package so that i can have it timestamped the idea and changes. I took these into the Producing meeting and it was like night and day.  So what have I leaned. One that I do have a good ideas, this is one of 12 that I could see actual make some cute shorts. two that I really am enjoying reading Robert McKee cause I am getting more ideas for how to put my story's better together. Three that Justin Chris and Gio and  Ivanna are awesome people who are willing to help me so we have a small team but I know we can do it.  Hopeful in the next blog you will see a producing lay out and some concept art and the turnarounds of my fork, spork, spoons.  along with our color pallet. i really think we can have this going very soon but pre-pro dose take a long time to get off the ground and a lot of love. so Maybe I am a producer because when I love and Idea and I feel it is strong i want to see it fly. so With that passion I will leave to get back to work. Will blog again soon.
-em

Ps. If you are interested in script and story writing then check out Robert McKee Story. it is a good read for those who want to tell story.

back from spring break... but there was so much rain

Well hello again.  So here I am back in the city by the bay ready to get back into school and work after a very wet spring break, but I guess that is my luck; since I am done with school this May. So this means it is back to the hustle and bustle of the flow of  Ideas to start coming out of my brain. yup to those who know me can see me shaking my head. as soon as I get my file ,copy written, I can start talking about the short me and my class mates are working on. :) i am really happy about the idea and with our director Vince we will hopeful get a ton of feed back and hopefully get this short film off the ground and maybe I can pitch the other ideas if it goes well. I am praying that we will be able to submit this short to a few Native American film festals since I do have some Native american roots. (quite a few) But wish us luck I will start keeping a daily record of our work and pipe line and hope it can help others who inspire to make some indie shorts.  anyways I need to hit the hay I have a lot to do and so very little time.

first their was gab!

Hey guys so Let me first say that this is a first for me a blog... I am more of a person who writes down my ideas down in a Utrecht sketch pad and try to make my animation shorts work. But on advice here I am writing down my thoughts for others to read.

NORMAN!

So let me start to say that I am an animator I am right now working on a
student collaborative that is dealing with our S.F Giants. So I am an animator with a really odd type of hobbies...
One of these hobbies is to write down short gags. I know so you think so she  likes a good joke... no I enjoy taking situations that all of us have heard about and then create short gag films in 3d. Making the viewer feel for my charterers and this is why I will be posting and hoping that i get feed back. Now with graduating I have a ton on my plate but I hope that can use this as a chance to see what the viewing population thinks of these short stories. I am hoping to one day produce my shorts and pitch them. So guys hope you like the ideas!