Setup Example!

My thesis is done in the basement of my on-campus apartment so... it is ghetto-fabulous. I was doing this shot

And I thought to myself, "I should really show everyone what I am working in. That's always one of the big things that interest me about animated projects, especially stop motion." And so I give you an image of my set (during the same shot). Please excuse the quality. Since my camera is in use, I am using my iphone.

All in all, I do love my set. Especially my lighting rig. Made out of conduit and pipe, hanging from the ceiling by screws though the boards. Sounds ultra safe, right? I have it that way so it can be taken down at ease, when outside influences would require it.

I have 13 shots lefts and two and a half weeks to finish animation. If after May 6th I am still animating, expect a blog post where I curse myself for all eternity for not either getting more shots done in my allotted time or not starting earlier.

I have people working on my compositing and I have little sound work to do (three days worth, maybe) since my piece is so dialog driven (and I've had the final recording of dialog since the beginning). Now many would argue that sound should be almost half of your film and I guess I would to, but not on this schedule when I am the vast majority of the labor. I am not a sound guy. I can work with sound but that isn't my passion by far. Let's not forget I did technically work on getting that recording for six months so, yeah, plenty of time was spent on sound.

I should do a timelapse... I think I'll do one on my last shot. My last shot is REALLY hard for me and will take a couple days anyway. Just need to borrow a friend's camera and computer during it.

That's it for now. Obviously I am in a much better state of mind than I was last post. Next week is email LA week. I need to get pumped for that.

Ridiculous

Not blogging for almost four months is (insert title). So, if it bothers me so much, why haven't I??? Because things have been terrible for me.

Now of course I still have my health and no one has died and blah blah blah so I couldn't have that much to be upset about, right? Well, yeah kind of. I may be in a "bad" place but that is only relative. I should probably shut up and take it but it still hurts... Anyway, the crises of my life has been making it really hard to stay focused and work. Especially when it comes to animation...

I am not sure what I want from animation anymore. I mean, I use to just nerd out about it and get really excited about working on movies or tv shows that everyone will see. But with things that I have lost in the past few months... that doesn't seem as important anymore. So what am I getting out of it? I have sacrificed my time, money, energy, relationships, etc. for the sake of animation and what do I have to show for it?

Had I known what I would lose, this is not the path I would have gone down. But it's too late now. I have plans to move to LA with some the coolest cats I know and I am not going to let any more people down.

Hey, there is still one thing I can always look forward to. The Future. I don't know what this journey of animation will bring but it will probably be the most exciting roller-coaster ride I could ask for.

And if it isn't... I always have the memories of what could have been.

That sounded pretty pathetic right? So enough of that. How about some screen shots????

I'll cheer up in a few weeks. Maybe. Eh, it doesn't really matter. I've got work to do no matter the mood I am in.