The Sacrifice, pt.1

heeeey, so i started editing my stop motion video.. i know its supposed to be a minute long, but i added animated credits and stuff... so here is the first part (nowhere near finished) and its already 54 mins long.. but, enjoy!

Also, the crappppyyyy quality is youtube's fault, but apparently that will be improved once the video finished "processing"

Enjoy.

Shoot, Tweak, Shoot, REPEAT.

Stop motion is a grueling process. Although it has definitely taken other people a lOT longer, my first attempt at this art-form was manifested in about 1000 pictures between the hours of 12:30 am and 5:00 am.

Duct tape and mini wheats do NOT mix, they're a huge pain and i don't want to have to be dealing with those two together again any time soon.

Also, get good lighting people!

Annnd, be creative with your credits :)

*As always, click the pictures to enlarge.

Renegadeflick

My lovely friend Brooke, she's golden. Also, she makes cute clay + sometimes Gumby and Pokey stop motion clips. They're pretty adorable.

Look her up on youtube!

My favorite:

I wish I had thought of this..

miss you!

Chapter 13 Reaction

So... this chapter defined a crap-ton of terms. Among the initial most important ones were

- frame: a single static image

-shot: a continuos group of frames

close up, medium shot, long shot

- scene: combining the shots, a continuous action in continuous time and space

- sequence: a collection of related shots and scenes

And then it went on to talk about all the different types of relationships:

- graphic relationship: connects 2+ images through visual similarity

- spatial relationship: can expand/compress the stage where an action occurs

- temporal relationship: establishes chronology (order of events)

- rhythmic relationship: interplay between static and dynamic, contrast between light and dark, combination of shot durations.

A whole sections about transitions...

- fade, dissolve, lap dissolve, wipe, action to action, subject to subject, scene to scene; non- sequitar, moment to moment, aspect to aspect.

So many terms! Talking about plot duration and story duration..

- Duration: running time of film/video/performance. Events depicted, overall span of story.

I thought i was done, but there was a HUGE section defining terms all having to do with sound. Which, by the way, might possibly be my favorite part of films and random videos, is the chosen soundtrack.. ill have to post some favorite soundtracks in here soon..

To wrap up the reading..

- tempo: speed at which time passes

- intensity: level of energy in performance or quality of observation of event.

- scope: extent of our perception/ range of grasped ideas. Range of action in a given shot.

- setting: physical/temporal location of story, props and costumes, and use of sound.

Also, *editing can determine chronology.

The reading was useful if you always wanted to know what that "thing" was called, or if you want to sound smart, or if you're very nit picky about using the right terms and sounding professional. It also made me wonder whether the professionals in the industry actually use all the terms, or whether they even know all of them. It's kinda like when you learn some 'crucial' stuff but no one really knows what it is/what it's for later on.

Happy Monday, people.

(The Happy Mondays, great band though, yay 80s!... through the 90s and 2000s too :) )

Researching bowls for ceramics...

"Tennessee aquarium uses mixing bowls to weigh penguins."

Sk8boarding Blues

Still on my quest to master gain some control over the art of longboarding. So far it's been extremely frustrating, what with the trucks i got being way too awesome for my lame newbie ass.. i tried going down the Reid tunnel hill, not only did i have to bail to avoid a painful death but i found out that the horrendous wobbling my board was doing right before aforementioned bailing is actually a longboard trick! How wonderful! the unbidden, horrifying, balance-killing wiggling motion seems to be called "pumping," and i am extremely, ridiculously jealous of those who can actually ride this wavy monster.

Also, i absolutely loveeee the background music to this video, so i will now proceed to brandish my handy dandy 21st century iphone, blessed technology baby that i am, and tap my equally handy 'shazam' application.... wait for it....

A-ha! (sidenote: taaaake oooonn meeeee, taake-on-ME)

*ahem80swhaaaat?!ahem.*

Travelling Riverside Blues by Robert Johnson

and the second song, which i like better and starts at 2:45..

Some People Ride the Wave by Devendra Banhart

isn't this little video wonderful?! *glares*

=(

I bought a skate tool today, so id have it handy whenever i wanted to mess around with my truck's kingpins, yes, thats two of them, not one. [Gullwing Sidewinders]

and i tried tightening em up a bit.. seems a little better? but i wouldnt really know.. definitely doesnt whip me around last minute turns when im 1/2 inch from crashing into the walls of my narrow dorm hallway anymore.. (yeah thats where i ride my board, predominantly..sigh)

Anyways... off to throw a rugby ball around... (my latest endeavor)

Project 1: First Idea

So, I'm supposed to be thinking of ideas for my first stop motion.. and uhhh... i like cereal. a lot. and i was eating mini-wheats yesterday. so here's my first idea. forgive my horrendous handwriting, (i've always hated it) and equally horrendous sketching (thats just cuz i'm doing it quickly.) =)

Basically, cereal has been poured, but there's a handful of mini wheats in the box that really wanna join the mini-wheat cereal party with their good man Milk, sooo, they climb down the box and then discover they cant get into the bowl. They formulate a plan to use the spoon as a ramp and work in a team to build a little mini-wheat ladder so they can climb up to the spoon and weight it down. In the process, a mini wheat or two get sacrificed, and there is a shot showing the sad, crushed mini wheat catastrophe. The rest of the mini wheats mourn for about a second then they carry on with the mission. Everyone climbs up the spoon and into the bowl only to discover that they're about to be eaten by the big scary human that suddenly appeared. Fin! [there are also some details that i left out, and obviously more that will come into play as i work on this.. if i decide on this idea.]

Click to enlarge

Hopefully more ideas to come..

andddd MORE stop motion.

You can never have too much.

These are highlights from the link i re-blogged earlier. Enjoy. :)

Guinness, dont like it much, but damn, awesome commercials. :D

Yum. That pretzel is a beast.

yay music.

Done for now. eyes hurty, computer bright. duuurggGGh. *need own stop motion ideas..*

Re-Blogging :)

Credit goes to KT Stemper for posting this first, just reblogging cuz they're AWESOME and i want to share too :D

I'm in love with whoever thought of this for a music video.

And this, I had already seen it a few times before, but it's obviously worth posting.

My first stop motion video (as well as any other ones I do in the near future) will be nowhere near as magnificent as these, but we all start somewhere :)

-------

More re-blogging.. omg awesome link. more stop motion!

Ch.5- Cultivating Creativity

The reading was an introductory section that attempted to formally address a common obstacle as an artist, at least for me. I've always had a ridiculously hard time coming up with ideas, as my friends know and one would think the chapter would be useful for me.

It outlined seven characteristics in creative thinking: receptivity, curiosity, wide range of interests, attentiveness, seeking connections, conviction, and complexity.

[outline them all you want but its actually going ahead and taking these into consideration and the process of doing so which usually presents a challenge.]

The guide for creativity and organization presented in the reading seems like it would be really helpful but only for certain types of people. It appears almost too calculating, and almost leaves you with a sense of helplessness: "ok i read that, now what?"
maybe it would be useful for certain assignments/situations?
the passage itself wasn't very motivating even though it initially appears to be the perfect way to manage time/skills/goals. is it too general?

I don't know, personally, i've already had to read passages from this book numerous times and although i haven't read the whole thing, what i've read so far has been failing to keep my interest as much as i would like :(

Tidbits..

I wish I was part of that last picture.

1/11 Screenings

I have always been ridiculously jealous of good stop motion. Mostly drawn stop motion because it seems so ridiculously difficult and time-consuming.

I hate you, william kentridge... (but not really.)

Michael Gondry, coincidentially enough, i mentioned one of your films in the About Moi section. i loooved science of sleep. but i havent seen it since it came out on DVD so i might have to order it off netflix again.. :) oooo, youre french, how excellent. Enchante!

YOU created the White Stripes video for Hardest Button to Button?! Really?! I used to watch that over and over again, loved it so. I am now smiling.

The lego version of Fell in Love with a Girl too?! ahhhh!!!

I like you, M.Gondry, i do.

wow i am so happy. Gondry, darling, you have even managed to work for Daft Punk?! Around the World? {embedding is apparently disabled by request for this video.. but heres the URL:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0HSD_i2DvA } and trust me, it looks much better

if youre actually watching the purchased DVD.

Speaking of Daft Punk, who else has had the fabulous pleasure of experiencing them LIVE? because i think my brain exploded that night, and no amount of shitty digitally recorded footage (with terrible sound, i might add) from that concert will ever be able to demonstrate the pure awesomeness of that concert.

Jan Svankmajer.. stop motion. yaaaay!

...... damn, this czechoslovakian is fantastic.

Clay sex:

So, while youtube search for these videos to share with whoever wants to read my little blurbbb here, i came across a version of Alice in Wonderland done almost entirely in stop motion, which happens to be the same movie my friend Cory and I attempted to watch off of netflix one night. Sadly, 'Alice' did not withstand our ADD test. But im sure it is wonderful in full. Look it up.

-----------

Ideation...

So, i could go the straight up clay route for my stop motion project..? grab some terra-cotta from those 25lb bags that keep disappearing on the pottery wheel.... a little build-and-destroy type project, not just animating a clay figurine.

------------

And who can forget the Brothers Quay? creepy, pre-Tim Burton genius. I'm sure he loved them. gotta look that up. .... okay so further research reveals that "The Quays are equally hesitant to draw analogies between their shorts and the works of Tim Burton, suggesting that his mise en scène is more closely related to the tradition of horror." okay fine, so the two contemporaries are a little different, well i love them both just the same. :D

Remind me to actually buy a Brothers Quay DVD.. Film quality, very smooth, refined, tragic, a sad statement on the material corruption of our world.

An excerpt from Street of Crocodiles...

And finally, the reason i ever became interested in stop-motion in the first place.. cliche i know, but i do love tim burton and i DO love Nightmare Before Christmas and i DO know every song in the soundtrack.. <3

This is Halloween!

~Au Revoir

Marley (no, not named after the book/movie)

but named after Bob Marley, cuz me and mom love his music, and my parrotlet was named Ziggy- (ziggy marley)

So, my mom has continued to clothe her [our] dog in doggie sweaters because its freezing. I am usually anti-dog sweaters but granted my dog is really tiny and seems to be constantly freezing. But heres a little "aww"-worthy tidbit :) <3>

About Moi..

Well, as everyone I know here has already found out, I am from the Dominican Republic, moved to Miami when I was 14 for highschool, and then ended up here in G'ville. I had no idea what i wanted to do, and only recently did i found out that i actually really do like where i am, in the art department, and that if i wasnt in it id be a little sad, to say the least. Oh, and I'm taking French this year, after stupidly quitting once in elementary school, then again in middle school. I am hopeful. :)

I'm really bad at these "about me" sections, because i try to avoid generic listings of generalized interests but im really bad of thinking of the more important stuff on the spot. so.. no judging :)

I'm a big reader, always have been, thanks to my schoolteacher mom. Some favorites.. The Eight, The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, A Clockwork Orange, Another Roadside Attraction, Harry Potter series, everything by Augusten Burroughs, David Sedaris, and Roald Dahl. Also some Chuck Palahniuk.

I am completely in love with music, as i was sure everyone was until i actually met someone who couldnt be any more indifferent about it (this baffled me completely). I would have actually been musically talented by now if i had kept up with my piano/guitar lessons... ultra-Fail Gaby. For musical interest details.. just ask.

I love the beaches in DR, because i associate them with childhood surfing trips with my dad- (I'm a daddy's girl through and through). Speaking of childhood, i love memories, journaling, trying to remember everything, nostalgia.. but not in the "living in the past" kind of way i guess.. its not really a detrimental thing.

Capitalizing my i's mid-sentences is annoying, so i stopped.. for now.

I love parrots, and i miss my little parrotlet Ziggy very much. He flew away last december because i did something stupid.

Ziggy and me, about 3+years ago..

No, he is not a parakeet or a lovebird, but smaller than both of those, and surprisingly, is most closely related to the Amazon parrot.

I love food, duh. I like trying new things, most of the time; a nice departure from an extremely picky past. My favorites probably being thai and of course, familiar hispanic food, what i eat when i go back to DR, best food EVER. My favorite dish probably Sancocho, this awesome stew made with pork, beef, and chicken, root veggies, plantains.. served with rice, avocado, optional hot sauce and sour orange. I'm also obsessed with my mom's baking, especially banana bread.

Sancocho, with corn on the cob too! yay!

Apparently, my best skill is sleeping, which sounds pretty pathetic but i consider it a gift. i can fall asleep whenever i want, wherever i want, and for long periods of time if i can. Aaaand, i dont get woken up easily. I was a quiet bus baby.

I like writing, but usually not for school.. mostly just journaling and stream of consciousness type stuff. I love tea, I'm obsessed with gum, i love typography and photography, and as for sports, count me in for soccer, track, and hopefully rugby soon.

I love movies, and netflix is the best thing that ever happened to me. i watched 30+ movies in a month over the summer when i first got it. I like foreign films, because of the differences in conversation and cultural aspects, also your regular "indie/independent films..," popular comedies, and anything with audrey tautou, johnny depp, zoey deschanel, drew barrymore, robert downey jr., gael garcia bernal, penelope cruz, among others.. also, im a big big fan of Tim Burton and Wes Anderson. Tim Burton's Nightmare being the reason i found out what stop motion animation was- loved it since the wee years. :)

Audrey Tautou (Amelie, Da Vinci Code, Coco Before Chanel, He loves me, He loves me not)

Gael Garcia Bernal (Motorcycle Diaries, Science of Sleep, Y tu mama tambien)

------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, this is turning into a novel, so i'm done for now.

Day 1 Screenings

So, we were supposed to blog about the Melies and Pike screenings... I enjoyed the Melies screening more, I loved that it was in French, so I couldn't focus on the words just the scene in front of me and spent the whole time wondering whether the narrative was at all connected to the actual scene. Usually, I tend to appreciate more things that are/seem to be from a different time, so I inwardly smiled at the characters in fast forward, the primitive special effects, and the costumes, and it pretty much blew me away when I found out that the set was actually painted in greyscale. Throughout the video, I couldn't help but continuously wonder how the piece would change if I could actually understand the words.

As for the Pike video, Global Groove, I guess the two main aspects of the film were that it was longer than it needed to be, and the use of every special effect he could find was overwhelming. It was all very new, so I would see how it was exciting at the time. My favorite part of the whole piece was the soundtrack, not the whole thing, but some of the songs (cant remember them right now). All in all, Pike did a good job of portraying the idea of a 'global' community, what with the sensory overload and recognizable images of locations and cultures around the world.

Linkylink

Reminding myself where to find all the awesome TBM resources..

https://medialab.arts.ufl.edu/groups/tbmspring10/

Popping the Blog Cherry

So, I've been wanting to make a blog for a while.. other people seem to be catching up quicker to the blogging bandwagon.. I didn't make one thinking I'd never update it. A push is always helpful. Thanks, time based media :)