Making Of: Introduction to “Making Of”

Team ”Steaming”

Can digital media students and animation students create something amazing together? The answer is yes. Today’s lecture was pretty much a mash up of designing, testing, prototyping, failing and being able to work in a team. The first assignment was to build a paper sculpture without using anything else but paper and it had to be able to hold an egg on top of it. The goal was to make the sculpture as high as possible and sturdy enough for an egg to stay on top of it in a limited time frame. We were put in teams of five people and we had to work together to figure out how to make it work. Each of us were making different parts of the sculpture. One of us was working on the base and others were working on the structure of the sculpture. We were solving the problems together by trying out different things. I think we did a good job and I think all of our team members were pleased with the outcome. It was tall enough, sturdy enough and in my opinion it looked interesting.

Here is the photo of the paper sculpture we created.

Our second assignment was to create invention that would keep our egg intact from a high fall. Our team was struggling with this assignment, because we did not really want to do anything similar to rest of the teams. We were making a parachute and so were the rest of the teams. We figured that using foam brick as a ”case” for our egg would be different and it would be light enough for it to float in the air, also it would not weight down the parachute which was made from bubble wrap. At the time it seemed like a good idea so we stuck with it.

Meet our precious egg.

Everything seemed to be going just fine..

Unfortunately our precious egg did not survive and others found it aesthetically pleasing, BUT we did have faith in it. We failed at the second assignment, but I am sure we could have perfected it if we had a bit more time.

Bar Life

I work in different bars. I do not really have a lot of free time. I am either in university or at work. Obviously I had to illustrate one of the bars.

On one of my breaks I sat down and sketched the bar and the menu, as well as the people around me.

I was actually very pleased with these sketches. In a very short time span I was able to capture the essence of the place that I work at and it is probably, because I spend so much time there. I practically know this place like the back of my hand.

Before I had started my bar shift I had gone to Costa Coffee and made some sketches there as well. I am not too pleased with them, I think I was in a bit of a rush and you can tell that by looking at them.

 

Animation 101: Stop Motion A to B

I found introduction to stop motion to be a bit intimidating. I’ve had very little experience with stop motion animation, so I was quite nervous to be in the stop motion room. I was nervous of knocking down the tripod and damaging the camera or the set, so I tried to be very safe.

I think it took me a bit too long to make this animation, because of how nervous I was. Everything was new to me. I had never set up lighting for a set or done much animation before hand. I think for a newbie I had done alright. 

Film Noir

The Maltese Falcon (1941)

What is Film Noir?

Film noir is not easily defined. The actual words come from French and mean “black cinema.” It was in France during the post-war years that the term was used to describe a certain set of Hollywood films that were saturated with a darkness and cynicism that was not seen before.

Film Noir has subsequently influenced the most original cinematic experiments in Europe and continues to affect the most cinema writers today. Lighting is very important in Film Noir. Lighting in Film Noir

movies actively remind you that characters might have a dark side.

Film noir typical characters – femme fatale, private detectives, etc. – It is also popular in mass culture – advertising and fashion photography.

Characteristics

• The contrast of  black and white
• The long shadows and the dramatic
• Ambiguous nerative
• The good side and the dark side
• Deep focus
• Venetian blinds
• Distorted time

Animation Context: Six Thinking Hats

What are the ”Six Thinking Hats”?

Six Thinking Hats is a system designed by Edward de Bono which describes a tool for group discussion and individual thinking involving six colored hats.

Our brain is a very complicated and powerful tool. We can solve one problem many different ways. Edward de Bono suggests that you analyse your decision by wearing six different thinking hats so you can feel confident about your decision knowing that you have considered all points of view.

Hello Manchester

Northern Quarter. All of my weekends are spent here, because I work behind the bar. Can you recognize the area?

Collages I made in Deansgate locks and Media City. I am pleased with the end result. I think they look very playful.

Creative Play: Tram people

Sketch incoming!!

 

Animation Context: Week 3 +Linking Challenge

How many ways are there to approach one subject? Endless? Or maybe it just depends on how creative you are. In today’s lecture we were discussing different stages of learning. How to create ideas? How to generate more ideas?

I think every artist has had hard time coming up with a good solution for a problem or staying creative at some point. For me it is a daily struggle. This lecture was quite helpful, because we were suggested to look into some books that could help us train our brains into generating more ideas and making us think about different perspectives.

Linking challenge

Using images: glitter; feathers; sticky notes; pipe cleaners to generate links to: a a musician; a film; an animation

Feathers

Movie – When I think of  movie ”Just Friends” it reminds me of feathers, because of the ”lightness” of the movie. It is very easy to watch and it does not give you brainstorm. Definitely not a masterpiece but it is a good laugh. Good fun.

A musician – Bjork. Do I even need to explain myself here? Like feathers Bjork is very unique. No feathers are alike, all of them are unique. Another obvious reason would be her fantastic red carpet swan dress. Unforgettable.

Animation – Do you remember Cinderella’s little helpers? And their little cute hats on their tiny bird heads? Yes, that is my first linked association with animation and feathers. My childhood’s memories.

 

 

Creative Play: Introduction to Creative Play