Personal projects

I can relate to David Firth 10 fold:

as we've seen David Firth is struggling to produce his feature length film because of a copious amount of other projects that he has going on, i am exactly the same! here is a list of what projects i have going on:

UNI:

Visual Language

Context of practice

Applied Animation

Personal Professional Practice

Each with various briefs attached

Personal Projects:

Episode 2 of 'are you ok?'

modelling the ruined house of woodly

modelling the windmill

animating a short story which name has not yet been thought of

water colour mountains

constant drawings and concepts

SOCIALISING!

of course if i was constantly buried in the computer i would actually go insane, so i need to find a good balance of completing the work but still having fun as well!

So i completely see where David Firth is coming from when he says that he is struggling to complete everything!

one of my favourite quotes of his:

One day I will finish everything I have started and then have a little sleep. Then I will start a set of new projects and keep people waiting again. I shall repeat this until I die.

Following on from my last post

You already know i don't like blogging...

But here is an example of  blog that i am very frustrated with!

http://meadowman.blogspot.co.uk/

David firth, the soul of all my inspiration, is working on a feature length film called 'Meadow Man' which i cannot be more excited about, but from reading his blog, its taken three years to get to a point where he is saying "it might take a few years" ...

there are many reasons why, David Firth explains:

I must admit, I haven't been very good at updating this blog. This post will consist of a series of excuses. Let's start with a quote:

"It doesn't matter how slowly you, so long as you do not stop"

I don't remember who said that, or if I quoted it properly, but it fits. I have not stopped making The Meadow Man, but I am not doing much to it at the moment. Let's try and understand why:

1. I needed to make some money so I did some freelance stuff.

2. I dedicated a few months to the Meadow Man then needed to make money again.

3. I went a little bit insane.

4. I took a break from my work and went on a travelling adventure to America.

5. Now I am back without a place of my own and all my stuff in boxes.

6. I need to make money again.

7. Global financial crisis.

8. I need to re-write it.

9. I wasn't lying when I said it would take forever.

So all you need to know is that I still will make it, but I need money, workspace, a team of robots and a load of other essential life elements to prevent me from going insane again. Duke Nukem Forever came out eventually and so will The Meadow Man - hopefully it won't be a big steaming pile of shit like Duke. I promise it won't.

Right now I am currently doing a lot of writing and having the occasional meeting. Not for The Meadow Man but for other exciting projects. One day I will finish everything I have started and then have a little sleep. Then I will start a set of new projects and keep people waiting again. I shall repeat this until I die.

As you can see there are real reasons why he cant move forward with the projects he has on, but i wanted to share this as an example as to someone else who struggles to get excited about blogging, if i realise the frustration that i am feeling towards David Firths blog i might think that i might be causing such grief!

I don't like blogging...

I don't like blogging ...

i don't like blogging...

WHY?

Because with every module so far my marks have been held back with my critical analysis, because i don't really go into detail about the 'Whys' and 'Hows'.

Today we were doing our motion drawings, and i was getting just as frustrated with them as i am with blogging, i was focusing in little things and trying to do to much detail in a small space instead of getting the real picture.  as my drawings developed i was recording the most important lines which worked very well.

If i take this as an example, then my blogs might be a bit better, including information about the bigger picture instead of the little details. 

Life of Pi!

Last night i watched the fairly resent hollywood film Life of Pi.

The film was enjoyable, and the narrative to compliment, but what i wanted to point out is the incredible visuals that the film encompasses!

The company involved in the visual effects is a huge company called R&H who worked on many well known hollywood films.

There are just a few elements that im going to write about due to the sheer scope of the film:

Shot breakdown:

960 shots in the movie 

690 visual effects shots

446 Rhyme & Hues shots

53% went to Los Angeles

20% to Hyderebad

17% to Mumbai 

7% to Kuala Lumpur

3% to Vancouver

this is the breakdown of shots and where they went around the world to be completed!

The studio wanted to make the water/ sea an actual character in the movie, not in terms of being a part of the movie but the feel of the movie, when the main protagonist showed emotions they would try and reinforce those emotions with how the sea was represented.

What i liked:
The magical visuals, similar to that of avatar, but also the relationship between the tiger and the boy, and finally the twist at the end which made to choose what you want to believe.

i liked these because they relate to my practice, i like to give 'not so human' characters an actual personality, and also i love to make the audience THINK! wether it be good or a bad kind.

What i disliked:
sometimes there was a few farfetched scenes and situations, and the water was sometimes looking like a bath tub rather than the whole ocean, which is a shame due to that being the production teams main ambition.

What i will take away from it:
Being as though their main task was to make the sea look vast and powerful, i am going to stick to my future targets and keep going without cutting corners or finally finishing.

Paranorman

Just finished watching the film after wanting to research into it, the visuals were incredible, things to note (and research):

• if any 3d software was used
• how they managed to created the effects on the girl, lightning etc
• overall facts and statistics