knowlej

Hi! I'm Lej Ventura, a multimedia artist who, without God, is nothing but an empty canvass. AMDG.

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Experimental Animation: Home Sweet Home

So basically we abolished our first story and moved on to this.. this is the summary of the story:

An old wooden house stands on two legs in the middle of nowhere, alone. Different sweets visit the house and the house open its door. Candies, chocolates, and all kinds of sugar enter the house. The house then starts to feel heavy and difficult. The house begins to wobble and collapses, with exploding candy wrappers. The legs get crushed and the house becomes crippled, unable to move as it did before. Then the environment transforms into a stable neighborhood. The house is still and people pass by, walking past the old wooden house. A young girl peeks through the window and she watches the people. She sits by the window staring at the world outside, sad because her legs are gone and she may never walk again.

Our story is about... yep, you guessed it! DIABETES. :)) I think this had some inspiration from a short film called "Alzheimer's Disease". My role here so far is here more on the technical side... preparing the props or buying props... maybe in the later part of the production, I'll go for animator as well. But I don't really mind being on which side so long I could help with the production, I'm happy.:)

Progress for today is... we continued with the props and Ezra, Ann and I went scouting for a baby doll that had a better set of legs for the house.. unfortunately, we didn't find any.. either it was not good enough or it was too expensive (and to think, we're only after the legs.. not worth it.. (-__-)"..). In the end, we went home empty handed.. maybe we'll just make tiyaga with the legs we found at Hannah's house. :)))

here are some behind the scenes photos:

and here's an up-close pic on the house: 

:

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Infographics: Progress Report

That there is our.. well.. that’s actually our draft.haha. Our topic is about Operation Shoebox and we decided that the overall theme/ambience/feel of the infographics should be a bit bouncy and the color theme should be kid friendly. We decided it to be like rainbow-ish pastel so that it would catch the eye of the viewer at the same time… it sends off a happy/hopeful kind of feel. We’re still working on the graphics since… well, actually we started to make the graphics and we were about 40% done but then we thought that it would be better if we had a color theme.haha.

Moving on, I guess our main goal here is to, well, create an informative and catchy infographics that would really persuade the viewers to participate in this project. Operation Shoebox is actually a wonderful project! and although we’d only have it like once or twice a year… the impact of this project is quite heavy. With that said, I think I have pressured myself a bit.wew..hopefully, we could  really give a great infographics. Secondly, (well, this is for me personally) we could use this project to, not only, exercise our passion and love for animation but also make this as some kind of last bonding moments before we graduate. Oh mehn.. I’m being emotional again. (-___-)”.

 Anyway, I just thought recently that after graduation, the possibility of making an animation together as one team [again] is quite slim.wew. I guess we’re really parting ways after graduation… I heard some would go to Manila… others Cebu and others Davao. Nonetheless, before that time comes, hopefully we can make one last (or two) final blast in our animation project/s that would make us always remember the wonderful times we had together in college.

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The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore: A Film Review

"Inspired in equal measures, by Hurricane Katrina, Buster Keaton, The Wizard of Oz, and a love for books, “Morris Lessmore” is a story of people who devote their lives to books and books who return the favor. The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore is a poignant, humorous allegory about the curative powers of story. Using a variety of techniques (miniatures, computer animation, 2D animation), award-winning author/illustrator William Joyce and Co-director Brandon Oldenburg present a hybrid style of animation that harkens back to silent films and M-G-M Technicolor musicals. “Morris Lessmore” is old-fashioned and cutting edge at the same time."

---

The film is really beautiful.. I really found myself clapping when it finally ended. I found a lot of creative symbolism in the film (like the change of B&W person to colored when Mr. Morris gave him/her a book -- symbolizing just how books can add color to our lives) and I think they were cleverly thought of. Aside from that, the animation of each character is really superb! I really like how they portrayed the books to be speaking through the "turning the page" effect. Really creative! :D

But what really struck me here is the scene where Mr. Morris was trying to "revive" the old book. It was seriously moving... I was greatly moved and felt a bit guilty. Maybe because I'm not really fond of reading books -- the hardbound kind. Now ,I'll never see old and dusty as I did before and I think whenever I'll see one I'll always remember this film so maybe I'd go read a page or two of that book. hehe. :))

Overall, I really think that this film deserves its award -- Oscar® for Best Animated Short Film in the 84th Academy Awards®. Truly, this is a beautiful film (even without dialogue) that just shows how magical and powerful books can be. And as I end this blog, I would just like to share this quote from the film (it's one of the things Mr. Morris wrote in his book):

“If life is enjoyed, does it have to make sense?”,

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FOLEY-fied: Larva - "Ant"

The movie or clip we chose for us to foley is one of Mondo Media’s animations known as Larva.  This is the 36th episode of the said show and is entitled “Ant”. The original clip contained lots of sounds that, combined with the characters reactions and the episode’s plot, are really hilarious… like the tear-jerking hilarious! wahahaha! And it was really entertaining. Wahaha!  I noticed that in the original clip, both diegetic and non-diegetic sounds were used to make the scenes really funny and so we tried our best to mimic them.haha.

Anyway, a wide variety of materials were used to create the sound or maybe even just mimic them. My old bicycle, an old book, a stick from the walis ting-ting and my leather belt are just some of the materials we used.  But I think the best material we used is our own voice. Hahaha. We had to dub what the characters were saying though they didn’t really have an understandable language.haha. It was fun to make since the characters had such funny reactions in the original clip. I actually dubbed one of the characters there (the red one.haha).

While making our foley, I noticed that foley is like finding the perfect substitute or alternative. Like in this foley experience of mine, in the original clip there was this Ant Giant who was swinging his spear/stick and producing some woosh2x sounds but we couldn't find such kind of spear/stick so to substitute that, we used a single stick of the walis ting-ting and rapidly moved it… and tadaaa! We had the perfect sound! Hahahaha. Anyway, I would just like to say that this experience is truly something! There was a point during the production that I thought to myself that this could be the last time or maybe count downs where these groupmates of mine – these awesome friends/barkada would be spending the night here sa bahay to make school works since graduation is approaching and we will go our separate ways na. I try to cherish moments like this with the funny cicumstances that come along with it and amidst the stresses and our goal to finish such school works. Wew. I’ll miss these people. :(

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Our Audio Drama Project

Our audio drama is a parody of one of the key turning points of the movie Twilight. We parodized the scene where Bella confronted Edward being a vampire in the forest. Meryll played as Bella and a new friend named Dan played as Edward, the script was translated by Meryll, Aira and Toni, recording was done at Peyt’s house using only a headset microphone, Soundbooth and laptop so the sound quality was not that high and the editing was done by Chicke.

My personal contribution is that I directed the audio drama, organized the script and did a bit of editing. We had fun recording since firstly, it’s Bisaya and I didn’t understand it that much but I find it really funny especially when delivered by our voice actors.hahaha! But what fun is recording, the opposite is to  the final output. Wew. I have t o say this honestly. I am not that satisfied with the output and feel that we could do better if given the chance. The narration is a bit off.. maybe it’s good narration but it doesn’t suit the way the voice actors delivered their lines. In fact, that’s not really how I pictured the narration to be (-____-)” maybe I should’ve told our narrator how I wanted to be sana. Wew. I just didn’t expect it to be like this. The voice actors need also a bit of improving in their acting though some parts are good, some are a bit off too and really needs improvement. Nonetheless, I think we still did a good job! We had fun doing the audio drama and it has given has a new experience for us to be wiser the next time we do it.hehe.

I realized that in sound production, there’s a big difference between doing live recording and editing the recorded sound. You must really picture out how you want it to be right then and there during the recoding because if the recoding or voice acting is not good, even background music or sound effects won’t make up for it.

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This what I have for my blogging assignment # 4. Honestly, this quite interesting. haha.. or maybe I'm just saying that because I am being biased since I'm quite into video stuffs than photography, layout etc; video editing was a hobby of mine and it's actually what got my into the multimedia arts field. By the way, I attached a picture as a guide for the camera movements.. it's from the book Video Basics 6 by Herbert Zettl.  Anyway, here's my actual blog.haha.:

9 BASIC CAMERA MOVEMENTS

1. Pan – To pan is to turn the camera horizontally, from left to right or from right to left. To pan right means to swivel or move the camera clockwise so that the lens points more to the right; to pan left means to swivel or move the camera counterclockwise so that the lens points more to the left.

In making a film, you may apply this movement when…

...you are following a subject or you wish to show the distance between two objects; pan shots also work great for panoramic views such as a shot from a mountaintop to the valley below.

2. Tilt – To tilt is to make the camera point up or down. A tilt up means to point the camera gradually up.; a tilt down means to point the camera gradually down.

In making a film, you may apply this movement when…

…you are following a subject or you wish to show the top and bottom of a stationary object; with a tilt, you can also show how high something is (example, the slow tilt up a Giant Sequoia tree shows its grandness and enormity).

  3. Cant – To cant is to tilt the camera sideways. You can cant the camera either left or right. When you cant right, the horizon line will be slanted uphill; its low point will be screen-left, its high point screen-right.

In making a film, you may apply this movement when…

…you want to show the perspective of dizzy or nauseous character as he/she is about to be unconscious; of course, you have to add a bit special effects (i.e. blurriness) to make this shot more effective.

4. Pedestal – To pedestal is to elevate or lower the camera on the center column of a tripod or studio pedestal. To pedestal up you crank or pull up the center column, thereby raising the camera. To pedestal down you crank or pull down the center column, lowering the camera.

In making a film, you may apply this movement when…

…you are following a/an descending or ascending subject, object or character and you want a full/straight view of them as they descend/ascend.

5. Dolly – To dolly is to move the camera toward or away from an object in more or less a straight line by means of a mobile camera mount. When you dolly in, you move the camera closer to the object; when you dolly out or dolly back, you move the camera farther away.

In making a film, you may apply this movement when…

…you want to follow an object smoothly to get a unique perspective. Sometimes, directors would combine the dolly and a zoom shot for a real sense of doom. The camera lens zooms into the subject at the same time as the camera physically dollies out; the results would be the character remains the same size, but the background appears to move.

6. Truck – To truck, or track, is to move the camera laterally by means of a mobile camera mount. When you truck right or truck left, you move the camera mount to the right or left with the camera lens pointing at a right angle to the direction of travel.

In making a film, you may apply this movement when…

…let’s say, you are following your subject walking on a sidewalk, you would truck with the camera alongside on the street, with the lens pointing your subject.

  7. Arc – To arc is to move the camera in a slightly curved dolly or truck movement. To arc left means that you dolly in or out in a camera-left curve, or you truck left in a curve around the object. To arc right means that you dolly in or out in a camera-right curve, or you truck right in a curve around the object.

In making a film, you may apply this movement when…

…you are shooting a moving subject and/or if you wish to reveal new details about the background that the subject is standing in front of.

8. Crane – To crane up or boom up means to raise the boom with the attached camera; to crane down or boom down means to lower the boom and the attached camera.

In making a film, you may apply this movement when…

…you wish to create a bird's eye view. It looks as if the camera is swooping down from above (example, from above the crowd and the traffic, and then move down to eye level).

9. Tongue – To tongue is to move the whole camera from left to right or from right to left with the boom of a camera crane or jib arm. When you tongue left or right, the camera usually points in the same general direction, with only the boom swinging left or right.

In making a film, you may apply this movement when…

…like the arc, you are shooting a moving subject and/or if you wish to reveal new details about the background that the subject is standing in front of; this camera movement actually covers more height than the arc.

  10. Zoom – To zoom is to change the focal length to a lens through the use of a zoom control while the camera remains stationary. To zoom in means to change the lens gradually to a narrow-angle position, thereby, making the scene appear to move closer to the viewer; to zoom out means to change the less gradually to a wide-angle position thereby making the scene appear to move farther away from the viewer.

In making a film, you may apply this movement when…

…you wish to bring objects at a distance closer to the lens, or to show size and perspective.

  Sources and References:

http://blog.vasukibelavadi.com/how-to-select-the-right-camera-movement/

http://www.videomaker.com/article/10775

http://www.videomaker.com/article/14221

http://www.steves-digicams.com/knowledge-center/how-tos/photography-techniques/camera-movement-understanding-the-arc.html

Video Basics 6 by Herbert Zettl (books.google.com.ph/books?isbn=0495572489)

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For our third blogging assignment, I decided to make that little infographic above instead of the usual text and image.haha. I just thought it would be organized that way and maybe I was feeling a bit rusty of my layout and graphics design skill. I actually had a quite nostalgic experience while researching about this blogging assignment. I kinda rememberd my OJT days at Cworks.haha. Those were the days. Anyway, I hope you find the infographic useful. haha. By the way, I disclaim all rights to the photos I used for the sample image column. They belong to their respective owners. :) Oh and yeah.. here are some of the references/sources for the infos above: http://digital-photography-school.com/an-introduction-to-types-of-dlsr-lenses http://photo.tutsplus.com/articles/hardware/a-simple-guide-to-choosing-your-first-lens/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephoto_lens http://www.thefreedictionary.com/fisheye+lens http://digital-photography-school.com/5-ways-to-get-creative-with-a-fisheye-lens http://www.nikonusa.com/en/Learn-And-Explore/Article/gmtndkds/prime-lenses.html http://www.digital-photo-secrets.com/tip/181/when-and-how-to-use-a-telephoto-zoom-lens/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macro_photography http://software.canon-europe.com/files/documents/MACRO_Booklet_EN.pdf

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Basic Camera Movements

  (TO BE UPDATED)

http://blog.vasukibelavadi.com/how-to-select-the-right-camera-movement/

http://www.videomaker.com/article/10775

http://www.videomaker.com/article/14221

video basics 6 by herbert Zettl (books.google.com.ph/books?isbn=0495572489)

There are nine basic camera movements: pan, tilt, cant, pedestal, dolly, truck, arc, crane, and tongue. Sometimes "zoom" is included in the major camera movements. Describe the different terms and explain how each of these movements can be applied in making a film.

Pan – To pan is to turn the camera horizontally, from left to right or from right to left. To pan right means to swivel or move the camera clockwise so that the lens points more to the right; to pan left means to swivel or move the camera counterclockwise so that the lens points more to the left.

Tilt – To tilt is to make the camera point up or down. A tilt up means to point the camera gradually up.; a tilt down means to point the camera gradually down.

Cant – To cant is to tilt the camera sideways. You can cant the camera either left or right. When you cant right, the horizon line will be slanted uphill; its low point will be screen-left, its high point screen-right. Canting left will produce the opposite effect. Canting is easy with the handheld or shoulder-mounted camera but you cannot cant  a camera supported by a standard camera mount.

Pedestal – To pedestal is to elevate or lower the camera on the center column of a tripod or studio pedestal. To pedestal up you crank or pull up the center column, thereby raising the camera. To pedestal down you crank or pull down the center column, lowering the camera. This motion puts the camera into different vertical positions, which means that the camera sees the sense as though you were looking at it from the top of a ladder or while kneeling on the floor. You can pedestal a handheld camera by simply raising it slowly above your head or lowering it to the ground.

Dolly – To dolly is to move the camera toward or away from an object in more or less a straight line by means of a mobile camera mount. When you dolly in, you move the camera closer to the object; when you dolly out or dolly back, you move the camera farther away.

With the handheld or shoulder-mounted camera, you simply walk the camera toward or away from the scene. Some directors call this dollying, in or out, even though the camera is not mounted on a dolly; others simply ask you to get closer or back up.

Truck – To truck, or track, is to move the camera laterally by means of a mobile camera mount. When you truck right or truck left, you move the camera mount to the right or left with the camera lens pointing at a right angle to the direction of travel. If you want to follow somebody walking on a sidewalk, you would truck with the camera alongside on the street, with the lens pointing at the person.

Tracking often means the same as trucking. Sometimes tracking refers simply to a moving camera’s keeping up with a moving object. With a handheld or shoulder-mounted camera, you walk parallel to the moving object while keeping the camera pointed at it.

Arc – To arc is to move the camera in a slightly curved dolly or truck movement. To arc left means that you dolly in or out in a camera-left curve, or you truck left in a curve around the object. To arc right means that you dolly in or out in a camera-right curve, or you truck right in a curve around the object. With the handheld or shoulder-mounted camera, you simply walk in a slight arc while pointing the lens at the scene. Arching is often required to reveal more of the camera-far person in an over –the-shoulder shot when the camera near-person is blocking or nearly blocking out view of the camera-far person.

Crane – To crane, or boom, is to move the camera up or down on a camera crane or jib arm. A crane is a large and bulky device that can lift the camera and its operator, and sometimes a second person (usually the director), up to 30 feet aboveground in one impressive sweep. The crane itself is moved by a driver and an assistant. A jib arm is a simpler crane that can be handled by a single camera operator.

To crane up or boom up means to raise the boom with the attached camera; to crane down or boom down means to lower the boom and the attached camera. Simple holding a small camcorder high above your head then swooping it down close to the floor level will not duplicate the feeling of a crane motion. Unless you are 10 feet tall, there is simply not enough height different between the extreme high and low camera positions to simulate a crane motion.

Tongue – To tongue is to move the whole camera from left to right or from right to left with the boom of a camera crane or jib arm. When you tongue left or right, the camera usually points in the same general direction, with only the boom swinging left or right. Tonguing creates an effect similar to a truck except the horizontal arc of the boom with the camera is usually much wider and can be much faster. Tonguing is often combined with a boom-up or boom-down movement.

The crane and tongue movement are somewhat of a special effect. Even if you have access to a crane, use each extreme camera movements sparingly and only if they contribute to the shot’s intensity.

Zoom – To zoom is to change the focal length to a lens through the use of a zoom control while the camera remains stationary. To zoom in means to change the lens gradually to a narrow-angle position, thereby, making the scene appear to move closer to the viewer; to zoom out means to change the less gradually to a wide-angle position thereby making the scene appear to move farther away from the viewer. Although the effect of a zoom is the object’s moving toward or away from the screen rather than the camera’s moving into or out of the scene, the zoom is usually classified as one of the camera “movements”.

 (TO BE UPDATED)

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Horton Hears a Who: An Audio Drama Review

The audio drama I have selected is entitled “Horton Hears a Who” written by Theodor Seuss Geisel, under the name Dr. Suess. It tells the story of Horton, an elephant, who, while splashing about a nearby pool, was able to hear a speck of dust talking to him. He then discovers that this tiny speck of dust is actually Whoville, a microscopic planet home to the Whos. The Mayor, leader of the Whos, then befriends Horton and he requests him to protect them to which the elephant happily agrees. Thus throughout the audio drama, Horton is ridiculed by the other animals in the jungle, namely Sour Kangaroo, her joey, and the Wickersham brothers because they believe he is being ridiculous since, unlike Horton who has big ears, they cannot hear the Whos. They were about to throw in the speck in a boiling kettle of Beezelnut oil so a tied up Horton tells the Mayor to make as much noise as they could so they would be heard else they will perish. The Mayor did as what he was told and they made a lot of noise as they could. In the end, it was a little Who named Jojo who finally contributed his voice that made them finally audible to the other animals. The story ends with all the animals agreeing to help Horton protect the Whos.

The sound design was very impressive. The soundscapes that were used were very fitting for each line or scene. The sound effects were also appropriate for each scene. The queuing of the background music was very timing; I also think the sound effects used were also carefully chosen and were played in timing during each scene. Additionally, the voice actors as well as the narrator did a great job in delivering their lines. They were not in monotone and their lines were delivered perfectly. It was not boring. They were really in character while delivering their lines and so you will really be engaged in listening to them. They make the story all the more interesting. The story-telling was also superb and I think because factors that contributed to it were superb as well – by factors, I mean voice actors, sound design and the story itself.

If I were to rate this audio drama 0 to 5, this would get 4.8 because although this audio drama is very recommendable and over-all superb, I always believe that there is always space for improvement. Like the background music, although generally they are all appropriate, I think it would not hurt to find other background music a little more fitting, particularly the scene were Horton met the Sour Kangaroo for the second time. Nonetheless, like I said, this audio drama is very recommendable to listen to and the story has a great morale for us all: a person’s a person, no matter how small.

Source image: http://www.clemboyd.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/horton-hears-a-who_1.jpg

PS: I think the image is actually a screenshot from Horton Hears a Who movie last 2008. It's a full-length 3d animated film that I have watched once.. and after this audio review, it made me want to watch it again.hahaha.

Here's the trailer of the movie adaptation:

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Kiwi: An Animated Short Film Review

I think Kiwi has great cinematography especially on the transition of the twist. The color could've been better if it was a little bright or vibrant. Nonetheless, it was still good.. the story most especially was really good.

Here is my favorite scene:

I really like this scene because it literally changes the perspective of the audience and shows us the twist in the story and then yes.. melts our hearts away. I remember the first time I saw this, I really cried.haha.

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Lovefield: A Live-Action Short Film Review

I personally chose this short film to be reviewed simply because I think this is one of the best short films I have ever seen and yes, this is one of my personal favorites yet. Anyway, I think the cinematographer did a great job on this. His cinematography together with the music truly delivered the message of this film perfectly and has sent its watcher on an emotional roller coster ride; the color that was used here had a desaturated feel that added some kind of mystery to the film which, for me, furthered enhanced the effectiveness of this film. I think very subtle visual effects were used here… none much of particles or powers since this isn’t really a fantasy film in the first place.

Here is my favorite shot:

Although I did not get this at first; after watching several times, it was only then I realized the significance of this shot. You see, although not very clear, in the right side of the crow, there is like a shining white light there.. that's actually the police.. so yeah, I think I like this because it holds such a significance in the end. haha. :))

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My Soundscape Compilation

Image credits of Hospital: http://www.shreejihospital.com/

Image credits of Paseo del Mar: Victor Ian Covarrubuias

Image credits of Ricefield: http://idomdesigns.wordpress.com/category/uncategorized/page/5/

My first soundcape is that of a.. well, the title says it.haha. My keynote for this sounscape is an interior hospital ambience, for the sound signal I used a heartbeat indicator that goes beep-beep all through out. Lastly, for my soundmark, I used a fog horn because the Brent hospital is quite near the pier here. Quick trivia, this is also the hospital. :)

My second soundscape is that of a scenario I recalled during our Animehansyon Finalist Thanksgiving day; we were on our way to one of the restaurants to have dinner after attending a Thanksgiving Mass at Fort Pilar. My keynote here is an exterior restaurant ambience having some sort muffled conversations, my sound signal is the clanking of silverware since we were at a restaurant and for my soundmark is the audible but not so loud Chavacano song called "Vamos a Zamboanga" coming from the famous water fountain show located at Paseo del Mar.

Lastly, my third soundscape is a scenario outside our house since we're fronting a ricefield and when it rains, this is usually what I hear. My keynote is the rain with little wind, sound signal is the thunder popping in once in a while and my soundmark is the swaying of ricefield to the wind.

I think the importance of sounscape is that it helps one understand a certain scenario without having to see its "visual partner"; it can also make one realize that there is also beauty in understanding by ear instead of by sight all the time.

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Sound/Audio in the Animation Production Pipeline?

Roles, Significance, Importance of Sound/Audio in the Animation Production Pipeline.

I’d like to start this blog by sharing some of the experiences I had during the production of my Weave of Change. The very first thing I did was to develop my story and made researches about it (since it had something to do with the Yakan tribe) and the second was to find the perfect music to go with it. And I can honestly say, that ninety-five percent of the animation I made was very much dependent with the music that I have selected (I edited it to one minute but you can check the full song up there.. seriously man, the rendition of the song is really amazing!!!). Almost everything that animated I made sure it was in synch or fitting with the music playing. I am grateful to Josh Wilson for making such a fine music! It was like my storyboard for the my animation – the music I mean. :))

So I guess I can say that sound/audio is an important part in the animation production pipeline because it serves as a second guide for the animators or production team (the storyboard being the first one). It would be really hard to start an animation (especially with dialogue) if no voice dubbing has been provided for first-hand or if there are no music scores or sound effects that would be used to further enhance the animation. Therefore, I think that when choosing sounds/audio for one’s animation, he/she must choose wisely because sometimes the audio/sound may make or break an animation.