Animation

This was an animation me and a classmate did for our class. It was made using Stykz, and it was my first time using the program. Enjoy!

Scene Deconstruction

Watch this scene first, then continue reading.

There are a few main themes in this movie (and all the others as well as the books) that are shown well in this scene. They are Good Vs. Evil, Loyalty, Friendship, and most of all Love. You are being told by Neville that Love and Friendship are the main themes (didactic), but as for the other themes you have to figure them out yourself (active). I'll explain some ways to figure them out in the following paragraphs.

These themes are shown in the dialogue more than anything. But there are a few crucial elements that can't be ignored.

First of all let’s talk about line. The director, David Yates, decided to make a line behind Voldemort (‘bad’ guy) with his Death Eaters (army). This ‘line’ could be taken a few different ways. In one way you can see the ‘wall’ of people—you wouldn’t want to attempt to get past them. The way they are standing creates a long line all the way across the shot so that you aren’t really sure how many of them there are and if they just might win the battle. But in contrast to that, the lack of a line for the ‘good’ people leaves you unsure of the number as well. You aren’t sure how many people are hiding behind the walls of the castle. The use of line touches on the Good Vs. Evil theme I mentioned before.

The other main element that is a good example of Love, Friendship and Loyalty is movement. The way the ‘bad guys’ move is very contrasted by the movement of the ‘good guys’. Let’s get the bad guys out of the way first. Throughout the movie, Voldemort hasn’t showed any affection or even touched someone without a look of disgust on his face. So when he hugs Draco (who is a whole different story) it is a sort of release—you see him as silly and vulnerable. The way Draco moves, you get the idea, subconsciously that he is a good guy deep down. He isn’t so quick with his movements and he doesn’t jerk around either. His movements are more in affinity with Neville’s, who is a ‘good guy’. Their movements are more thought-out and smoother than the opposing side. 

Animation Deconstruction

Image 1

Image 2

      The lighting in these two images varies greatly. In image one, there are a lot of shadows cast on the two character's faces by the single light source. While in the second image there is limited shadowing because of the amount of natural light shown through the window.

Because of the shadows in image one, it symbolizes the dark 'place' they are in, not a literal place, but a place in time. At this point in the movie the two characters are searching for answers that don't seem to be there; they are lost in their search. Even though there are shadows, you know that the two characters are good because the light that is shining on them makes them look white or the 'good guys'. The darkness and shadows set a scary and mysterious sort of mood. You can't really see what's going on around them because of the limited light source, which does two things, you have to focus on them and you are left to imagine what is happening or lurking around them.

In image two the good lighting of the shot lets you see everything in the room. It shows the mess that the burglar left when looking for something. The light also lets you see the characters fully. You then think they are the good people in this movie--no shadows and friendly faces. It also contrasts greatly on the characters in the first image—TinTin is dark in the first image, while in the second he is fully lit. This may suggest that he has nothing to hide.

The differences between saturation and hue in the two images play a big part as well. There is a lot more black than there is white in the first image. And vise versa in the second image. Although there is black in both images, the placement is different. In the first image it is filling the room, while in the second image it is on the coats of the officers.

The saturation of the blue that TinTin is wearing in both images shows the contrast between the two. In the first image you can tell that TinTin’s shirt is blue, but just barely. While in the second image you can clearly see the blue color of TinTin’s shirt even though it is shadowed a little bit from the way he is standing. 

Storyboard Imitation

Make sure you have watched the scene from my past post, then continue reading this one.

This is the storyboard for the first 6 shots of the scene you should have just watched. 

The first two shots on the storyboard are a continuous shot, but from beginning to end it was so different I drew it as two shots. This is an example of the 180 rule. There were no cuts to be made in the first shot, so they didn't have any problem with jump-cuts. I guess you can also say he used the rule of thirds in the first shot. The girl, Sara, starts out at the top of the staircase and right away she has your focus because her head is at the intersection of the top right corner boxes and then it stays there for the rest of the shot. 

In the next shot, he went across the 180 degree line, but while following the rule that you can have a character look past to something and create a new line. After creating the new line and showing us it exists, he moves onto the next shot, where he uses the 30% rule. That is, as Sara gets farther away in the previous shot, this shot brings her back up close to us. Then again in the next shot it's another 30% difference in size of the shots as we see even more of what’s going on—almost in layers. Sara then crosses the 180 line by looking back at something and running towards it. 

That’s the end of the storyboarding I did, but as the scene goes on it’s about the same as far as the rules go.

I think Cuaron did a good job at using all 3 rules during this scene. He mostly played with the 180 degree line and the 30% rule, but it worked in his favor and made sense to the viewer. Cuaron is a very visual director and that’s why I chose to analysis one of his films. He likes to play with the shots and what they look like. 

Song Deconstruction

Listen to both of these songs. One is the original, the other is a cover. 

These two songs are about the same, but they are also very different. The way they are the same is in the structure and lyrics. I was surprised when Darren, who sings the cover, went into the dialogue from the original. It was a nice touch and it really added to the similarity of the two songs as far as structure goes. The songs are built the same way, with the same words being sung or said. But they are different in everything else. For example, the original has many more instruments like drums and brass, while the cover only had a guitar, which is normal. One big difference is at the very beginning. In the original, drums start the song to get it going. While in the cover he just starts right off with the first verse. The tempos of the two songs are not so different, but you can hear it; the original is faster than the cover, which has a medium tempo. With the cover, he only uses an acoustic guitar, which changes the groove of the song entirely. It goes from a moving, motivational song in the original to an acoustic, soothing feel in the cover.

It’s hard to say which one I like more, but I think I am a little biased as well. I tend to like anything Darren Criss sings. He could sing the phone book and I would listen to every second. The only thing I didn’t like in the cover was that the volume of the video was so low. It kind of took away from the song. But no matter how much I like his voice, I would pick the original song over Darren’s cover. My reasoning is that it is more motivational. I like music that pumps you up and gets you going. The original I’ll Make a Man Out of You really does that. You can be walking along and that song come on and suddenly you are the king (or queen) of the world; it makes you feel like you can do anything. Those are the best songs in my opinion.  

Brainwashed

Read Brainwashed first, and then come back and read this.

Acknowledge The Lizard: The part of your brain that doesn't want you to fail. But as soon as you get over the fear or failure, acknowledge the lizard and then ignore it, you can reinvent yourself.

Fail: Once you understand that you are going to fail at some things you do, lets you take risks. And risks are a much-needed action in today's world.

Learn: You need to learn something from everything you do. Every experience you have. Every day of your life. This will give you the opportunity to get so much farther down the path you are on.

The three layers I summarized for you are important; not only to this blog but to the life of a creative person as well because over the quarter, I am learning new and great ways to be more creative and then apply them. I’ll know when I get my grades on the posts if I am doing them right, and if not, I’ll change the way I do them. I’ll learn from failure. But the most important is knowing that I can’t let “The fear of striking out, keep [me] from playing the game.” I can’t let fear keep me from creating something or doing what I want. Connecting that with this blog, I can say that I will post what I want, even if I don’t think anyone will want to read it. It’s about getting my voice heard, even if no one cares enough to listen.  

Doing these exercises are good for me, or any creative person. They help me understand the creative process better. I can apply the lessons in my everyday life as well. Learning how to be more creative is something that I will never get tired of, and I can always use the information. For example, before I took this class I didn’t know how to write a proper script with sounds and the correct format. I also learned that I am a horrible artist – I cannot draw a simple person even if you gave me $1,000. But I think I could have gone a little while longer without figuring that out.

Each blog has taught me something -- which I am guessing was the point. Each blog was about different parts of the creative process, so I learned how to look at the process from different angles. Be it creating a character or using sound design or being creative. They have each taught me important things that I cannot only use in future projects, but in my daily life as well.

I don’t think these blogs are a waste of time. People that do think that are doing the blogs wrong. If you do the blogs right, you will learn from them and be able to apply that knowledge to your future projects. The only problem I have with them is getting them done on time – I’m a procrastinator. But there’s not really anything you can do about that – weekly deadlines will make it worse, and end of the quarter deadlines will make it more stressful. It’s a lose, lose situation. 

Finding Your Howl

Read Find Your Howl and then continue reading this post.

Reading Find Your Howl opened my eyes. The whole thing is basically a metaphor but it makes you think and you can interpret it any way you want. The story about his fifth grade classmate gave me goose bumps. The main point Flaum was trying to get across was that you can't escape your situation easily. In order to gain freedom you have to take a walk through a very dark and dense forest with no path; you're alone in the journey. Hopefully you make it out alive, and when you do, it will be the best feeling.


"Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself."

My brother gave me a necklace with a pendent on it that had this quote surrounding it. I didn’t really think much of it for a while though. I went to Belgium as an exchange student and wore the necklace everyday. So naturally, people started asking me questions about it or wanted to know what it said. I usually had someone to translate it to them, but once I understood how to translate it myself, I got to answer them. And once I started to repeat it myself, the words began to gain more and more meaning.

Each word’s meaning really made sense because I had to think about what they meant in English, and then figure out the meaning in French. Learning a different language and learning to speak it well enough to communicate can really open up your mind. You learn how to connect with others and understand how they think. They can also teach you so many things that you probably wouldn’t have thought of.

Having an open mind is the first step to creating something.

Like the quote says, you aren’t just going to wake up one day and have the perfect life. You have to work at it everyday. And sometimes you are going to fail or find out the path you’re on isn’t the one you thought you wanted to be on. But you’re allowed to change your mind; you’re allowed to have a different opinion on something.

Once you learn that you are allowed to fail or change your mind, you can learn how to make something that you think is bad, into something that could be the best thing in the world. And there is the second step in creating.

Not everyone will take the same path. Some people are born ready to create – they don’t need to go step by step. I call these people ‘lucky’. Very few people are that lucky, most of us have to work at it. And again, most of us will fail a few times before we find the best way to make it work.

When you find out you don’t have to be the same as everyone else, it gives you a sense of freedom. Most people want to show off their differences and embrace them. That’s where creating comes into play. People create things to show them off; to let others see things the way they do.

Even then, when you create something, not everyone is going to understand it or like it. But again, you learn what they like or understand, from the things you fail at. For example, you make a painting that you think is amazing so you show it to your friend. But they don’t like it, so you ask them why. That’s another key, you have to find out what you did wrong to make something better. When they tell you what they don’t like, you make another painting and use their advice. You show it to them again and they like it. This makes you feel good, like you are doing something right. 

Now let’s say you create a painting that is a little abstract and you show it to another friend. You ask them what they think of it and they tell you something you never thought of before. All because everyone thinks different, so different people will interrupt your painting in different ways. You like what your friend tells you about your painting, so you make another one; this time it’s even more abstract. Your friend sees it and tells you something again. This process keeps going and going. You might not have started off wanting to be a painter, but because of the feedback you got, you continue.

Being creative is addictive. As soon as someone gives you some positive feedback, you want to make more. And even more powerful is negative feedback – it can either make you want to create something better to prove them wrong, or it can crush you and make you not want to create anything again.

The only way to get through life it to be creative, at least for me.

Reflections on Sound Desgin

Space

Movement: If you listen to the scene without watching it, you will be able to tell where the sounds are coming from. They are either getting closer or farther away as the camera moves. It gives you the feeling like you are the camera. When the door is closed, you hear muffled sounds, but as soon as it opens you can hear the sounds clearly. 

Subjective/Emotional: The music is being played in the background of most of the scene. At the beginning it is soft, but as the scene moves along it gets faster and more suspenseful till the end, where it is at its loudest. It also goes from being very suspenseful to a very happy kind of music at the very end. 

Listening Modes 

Casual: The literal sounds you hear in the scene are the monkey, footsteps, doors, and voices. They show you the reality of the scene. 

The Semantic sounds you hear represent the fear of Sara and confusion of Captain Crewe. The thunder represents fear -- every time it gets loud she gets a little more scared. The Captain's confusion is represented by the music -- it gets louder every time the Captain is confused. The more confused he is the more suspense you get when watching the scene because the audience knows he is Sara's father, but they don't know how he will remember it.