Week 10: A Very Spontaneous Gorilla

So we were supposed to be spontaneous this week--that was the prompt for our flipbook. So we went to a museum and were supposed to find our favorite room and animate something there. As I admitted to my animation professor in class, a walk cycle isn't exactly spontaneous. But I did make the spontaneous decision to teach myself walk cycles this week, and I did decide to make a walk cycle from scratch--based on a youtube video of a gorilla--come hell or high water. There's a lot of mistakes with this cycle--ones I don't feel like pointing out--but considering this is  my first effort with walk cycles, I feel pretty good about what I did this week.

This week's flipbook is dedicated to my dad, because I was listening to a bunch of 1970s protest/political activist songs this week, most of which my dad showed me at some point, and one that stood out was "The Pretender." The lyrics I used in this video are my favorite, and I thought they would be pretty funny/ironic when applied to a gorilla walk cycle.

USC Alphie Results: Animators Win Grand Prix

Yes, the USC animators, collaborating on just one entry (Aha Moments under the direction of Jabril Mack), conquered the USC Freshman Short Film Competition, beating the dozens of other live action entries submitted by the rest of the cinema school. That said, all the other entries were amazing--most incredibly funny, and some surprisingly thoughtful and emotional. It was a great competition.

Week 9 Color Exploration to "My Body is a Cage"

(Please listen with audio, as the music enhances the meaning of the film.)

So the theme this week was color, and the color I was assigned was yellow. While people typically associate yellow with its positive connotations--such as sunshine, energy, happiness, youth, and enlightenment--there is actually a darker side to the meaning behind the color. Yellow can also represent loudness, decay, cowardice, age, waste, and sickness. I was very interested in the fact that yellow means both youth and old age/decay/sickness. I also wanted to incorporate the loudness of yellow, making it feel like my character was screaming or moaning. Enlightenment and cowardice were also contrasts I wanted to work with. I thought following the life span of someone who could not come to terms with their aging process, body, or mortality--and who faced both their birth and death with gracelessness and fear--would be an effective means of exploring each of yellow's connotations through my character's facial evolution and expressions.

Miscellaneous symbolism: Upon their death my character reluctantly receives enlightenment as signified by the growth of long hair that halos their face. When you see the character at 30 with a mohawk, the orange tears he cries are actually the male sign (O-->). This represents his inability to accept his adult form or the gender roles society imposes upon him. The opening and closing doors illustrate the rapid speed at which life passes him by. Doors of opportunity open for him, but he is too caught up in his imminent death to notice. The doors then close for him forever.

This is probably my favorite animation so far. In this short film I am telling a story that is actually important to me, in a style that is very much my own. I hope I can continue to tap into the source I used for this in the future. I think it actually helped that I did not use any pencil work in this animation, so my lines were bolder and more free. I enjoyed this loose, flexible style.

Week 8 Rectangular Color Scheme to "Tangled Up in Blue"

This week's challenge is dedicated, of course, to my twin sister. This may not be her favorite song anymore, but I thought she'd enjoy an animation about Dylan. I like the characters in this piece, but next week I want a real story and not just reactions, and I want to animate a more realistic character--maybe even use sources. I keep jumping to cartoons without exploring the 3D realm.

I actually stayed up so late making this, that I was still shooting it at 9 in the morning though I started work at 5 the night before. I was so exhausted that while the file was converting to Quicktime around 12, that I just laid down on the classroom floor and slept. Forget that I was using the room containing the graduate students' cubicles and that many of those cubicles were occupied at the time. I was so tired that sleeping on the floor in front of strangers without warning seemed perfectly normal. I was only hours later when the adrenalin hit to keep me up the rest of the day that I started facepalming myself.

Reference

Aha Moments! A Frosh Animation Collaboration, Amalgamation, Alphie Application

A short film for the Alphies--a USC Freshman film competition. Jabril decided the USC animators were going to enter this generally production-dominated competition, and directed this film created with the aid of most of the freshman animation class. We made the film in 2 weeks, and learned a lot about the complex collaborative process needed to make an animated movie in a timely manner. It was also incredibly fun.

That said, this took two intense weeks to create. TWO WEEKS, production students. Not one weekend. Especially not the ONE WEEKEND RIGHT BEFORE the SUBMISSION DEADLINE.

My Contribution to Jeremy the Hipster God

Jeremy O'Houlihan: Hipster God

For a general cinema class I'm taking, the large student body is split into around 8 groups. Each of these groups is required to give a half hour presentation to the class this semester. These presentations will be given a theme by the instructor. We had to come up with interweaving stories using photos taken by our peers the week before. The locations in these images will tell the story.
My group combined our stories by having all of them orbit around the character Jeremy O'Houlihan--a hipster photographer who chases ghosts, is forever alone, and likes images of empty spaces because they represent his soul.
Two of my fellow freshman animators were in my group, and we decided to make an animated film combining 3 separate stories about Jeremy. We came up with our concepts animated, and edited them in one night, so both Camille and I haven't slept in over 24 hours. But it was worth it, because our video is hilarious, and the animation isn't half bad.
Please enjoy! (For full enjoyment, please watch full-view.)

Week 5: Rhythm and Pattern

When I made this Tuesday I knew my teacher wouldn't like it all that much--she desperately wants me to stop using characters. But after animating dead grass and ant-infested dirt last week, I decided this week I'd animate what I wanted.
By the way, this animation is dedicated to my father, because his birthday occurred upon the day I began this. The content doesn't match him, but he wanted my flipbook dedicated to him, so there it is.

Nirvana Poster

A poster I made this week for a 5-minute challenge film led by Will Merrick and Scott Breitbarth, with the help of a bunch of other USC students. I wish I had had more time to make this, as my painting skills were super rusty, but I think it worked out alright. I'll leave a link to where you can watch the movie when it gets posted.

Here some of my process:

Week 4 Texture: "Watching Experimental Animation is Like . . ."

. . . watching grass grow. Then something predictable happens.
My instructor is experimental, and my character animation annoys her to no end. SO HERE IT IS. AN EXPERIMENTAL ANIMATION BY YOURS TRULY.
Sorry the end is blurry--I filmed both halves separately, and someone had really screwed with the focus on the down shooter.

EDIT: I got an A++++!

Week 3 Tone Exploration: Kafka in Wonderland

My third week animation assignment to work with tone and shade, neglecting lines. The original idea was Alice in Wonderland, but then I went Kafka, because Franz Kafka is THE MAN.

These are the events intended to be seen in this animation: Alice comes closer and we see that she is actually a giant, her apron becomes the backdrop, a mushroom grows under the mystic orchestration of the smoking caterpillar, who is consumed by smoke and darkness, becoming the Kafka-esque caterpillar who as he puffs on his cigarette has his face become transformed into a skull.

I still need to work on walking cycles--the one I created on my own here makes her look like a stomping demon. I think I should plan these books better, making less pages with better art.

PikaPika! Light Animation Workshop at USC

If you look REALLY closely, you can see me squatting, grinning, and making the "Live Long and Prosper" sign with my left hand. I show up behind the orange guy with the big nose falling backwards--who is actually aspiring summer blockbuster director Will Merrick--who I animated.
It was a great time, and it gave me a new perspective about whether there are any limits when it comes to animation.

Experiments: "And Along Comes Alice"

Some things I tried along the way--some of which failed. This is really for my benefit and reference.

Week 1 Line Exploration: "This Crazy Thing Called Love" or "Sex, the Epic"