personal development plans

28 October 2009

Brushing up..

I've decided I want to use Illustrator and After Effects for my brief and so I needed to brush up on After Effects as I haven't used it for about a year.Doing this I made a quick simple,not so great,walking animation.The straightest legs you have ever seen!

PS: If you're wondering why it is 16 seconds long when it should only be about 5/6 seconds long...I forgot to cut it down when I was editting.

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27 October 2009

Fantastic Mr Fox - Film vs Book

Yesterday (26/10) I went to the cinema to watch Fantastic Mr Fox which was originally, as everyone should know, a children's story written by Roald Dahl.Now,being a fan of the books by Roald Dahl I had high expectations for the film but ended up leaving with mixed feelings for it.

Firstly,while I was watching the film I noticed alot of differences between the film and the book with regards to the storyline which at times was abit confusing because you'd think they'd follow the story of the book?Nowhere in the book does it mention Mr Fox having a Possum for a 'sidekick' when he's on his chicken robbing sprees.Nor does it say Mr Fox has 1 little fox cub with a cousin visiting,it says he has 4 little fox cubs.

I found it quite amusing that in the film they used words children would find too difficult to understand and also has the Rat prancing round with a knife...KNIFE?!Does this not give out the wrong example to children?In the book the Rat does not have a knife and run round like he owns the place fighting with Mr Fox.In the book the Rat runs from Mr Fox because he's scared of Mr Fox.Then, there is the death scene of Rat which I'm pretty sure some 5 year old watching this scene was sat there crying his eyes out.

Apart from this the film was all in all...good.The animation style was actually quite amazing as it was made through Stop Motion and looked very impressive.For example in alot of the film you'll notice little things like the wind moving the fur of the animals.

The voices,who included Bill Murray(Ghostbusters) and George Clooney(Oceans 12/13),were played remarkably well and added to the mood and feel of the film which was abit like Black Humour.The most comical features of the film were the farmers Boggis(Fat),Bunce(Short) and Bean(Tall and Skinny) who try to kill all the animals on the land after Mr Fox goes too far and his Possum 'sidekick' who goes into a trance everytime Mr Fox is speaking to him.

What this film does show, that the book doesn't, is a slight case of morale.Mr Fox basically deceives Mrs Fox and lies to her and goes behind his friends and families backs to do his robbing sprees.Mr Fox then makes a mess out of everything for everyone and has to fix it all himself.As the saying goes..."What goes around,comes around"...and the film emphasises this well.

I still have mixed feelings over the film unlike the book.I'd maybe have to watch it once or twice more to make up my mind about it.I would recommend going to watch it if you like Stop Motion and if you're a fan of Roald Dahl to give your comparison between the film and the book.

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geek pr0n

by the way folks, i had to go into college today and do some admin stuff [no rest for the wicked - even over half term!] and what did i see when i poked my head round the door of C17? - only a room full of luvverly shiny new toys:

... as if you weren't excited enough at the prospect of returning to college after your week off!

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in a league of your own [geddit?!]

i know that, in this day and age, competitiveness in the world of education is frowned on and we're all meant to get a lollipop just for turning up. but, in the spirit of 'politically correct non-competitive competitiveness', i've started doing a ~~monthly~~ ~~bi-monthly~~ 'whenever i can be arsed' league table for the second year PDPs - just to let them see how they're all coming along with their PDP targets for the year.

like many of my half-arsed schemes, it has inadvertently proved hugely popular, so i thought i'd extend it to your first-years PDPs as well. if we are to draw a footballing analogy, then the second years are the premier league and you lot are battling it out for the chance to join the big time, or be ignominiously relegated to the 'south manchester amateur has-been division B'.

so "play up! play up and play the game!" as someone [rudyard kipling?] once said.

in my managerial capacity, i shall of course be adopting a gruff scottish accent and shouting encouragement from the touchline, clad in a sheepskin coat and clutching a mug of bovril and a half-eaten pork pie.

[you get one point for a studio log entry, one point for a review and a half point for anything else, which disnae quite scale those exalted literary heights]

league standings as of 27th oct 2009:

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http://www.movshare.net/video/hqak8rt1sldse#

26 October 2009

ASTRO-BOY.(2009) - REVIEW

I have just recently seen Astro-Boy. the CGI Animated movie that has just been released in the United States. it is based around a long-running series in Japan of the same name by Osamu Tezuka. The film begins in a city called Metrocity, a city that floats over a junk-filled infested earth which i hope i remember was because of pollution. that right there reminded me of WALL-E when the world itself was turned into a wasteland. The Movie follows by introducing the main character Toby Tenma (played by Freddie Highmore) who is the son of Dr. Tenma, a famous scientist (played by Nicolas Cage)

Despite its slow start in the film, i really felt that Toby and his father are not really bonding as a father and son would, after all with a busy dad like him I wouldn't be surprised if he got upset and turn disobedient which is what he did. As the story unfolds, a tragic death of Toby occurs during a science experiment gone wrong and so Dr Tenma decides to try and make a robot in the lickness of his lost son by a strand of hair found in his hat. Dr Tenma sees that he is not the son that he once was before he died and everytime he sees it, it reminds him that Toby is dead and never coming back and so he kicks him out which was pretty sad to be honest. Pretty Dark, don't you think?. So instead he escapes into the Land below which is the corrupted earth that was left behind and befriends kids who doesn't really know he's a robot so he hides his identity in order to fit in with the group.

Well not really seen the Anime series of Astro boy but i have always heard of it and its quite an iconic character in Japan but the Anime looks very different from this movie which i think was a good idea so that it will be able to appeal to the US and European audience, I'v been waiting to see this movie for weeks when i saw the trailer and I have to say ..i was very impressed with the results. the Movie actually reminded me of a lot of movies from Disney's Pinochio, Wall-E and A.I. which brought back memories of how good thoese movies was.

The actors who voiced the characters did a very good job and made the characters very interesting to watch. The action sequences in this movie, was totally a spectacular, exciting race of adrenaline when you see Astro-boy flying through the city and discovering his powers when fighting off spaceships. The Visuals was top-notch and it really brought the animation to life. the movie had a morale message to which i could totally relate to which was about not being able to fit in and finding yout path in life which really warmed my heart and was a touching icing on the cake when i watched it.

I totally recommend this movie if u want to kill and hour and a half because you will be totally entertained for sure.. keen on watching... watch it on this website

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25 October 2009

Why not?

I have just been sitting on the couch with my pen and paper trying to find inspiration for the You Brief

I ended up resolving to a self doodle. As you do.

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24 October 2009

Testing 1,2,3

Since Saturday is generally sport day, our TV is on either football or rugby for most of it.....but since i'm not really into either it's a good chance for me to bugger off to the other room and do something else. So this afternoon I thought i'd experiment on trying to replicate the sketchy animated look from that previously mentioned video that inspired me.

This is what I came up with.....i'd say, overall, that I was pleased with the look of the final test.

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Quick sketches

I was waiting in the car in Asda carpark today, whilst my mum took her usual 2 hours to roam the aisles!! I found a pen and paper, and just started drawing people! They arent anything spectactular, but it killed some of the time!

When I got home, I remembered the little trick that Stiobhart had taught us, about colouring in our sketches! I have had a quick mess with them and thought I would throw the before and after up on here!

The girl in the blazer and blue jeans is my wishful thinking of me - I wish I had BIG curly hair!!!!

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