Howdy!  I believe I’m done with my thesis, and I’ll be turning it in tonight.

Then, I will be judged.  Fingers crossed.

Actually I’m turning in two versions.  The same show, but one with eyeballs, and one without.  I prefer without, but with was requested.  I’ll post both soon….but for now — WITHOUT:

UPDATE:

Here’s with eyeballs!

Here we go!  Full score, credits, sound effects…I’m submitting this to my thesis adviser to see if it will fly.  Whooo – pun!

Regardless, I’m pleased with it.  Are you?  I welcome your comments!

Cheers,
Kristian

A little while ago, one of my favorite artists, David O’Reilly, published an essay about basic animation aesthetics.  It struck me as being quite instructive and thoughtful.  I have, in some very basic ways, failed to live up to his ideals in completing my thesis project, but I hope to live long enough to atone for my sins.

The basic message I got out of it is that in creating a world through animation, one must decide on the rules of your world, and stick to them.  He uses examples from his brilliant piece Please Say Something.

An interesting subtext to his essay is that there is nothing wrong with a digital world.  More precisely, nothing inherently wrong or ugly about digital artifacts in computer animation.  In the same way that the artifacts of film are actually quite beautiful (lens flare and flash frames, for example), the pixel, he argues, is also beautiful.  That case is convincingly made by checking out his work.

If you’ve seen the Grindhouse films, the best part of Robert Rodriguez’s film “Planet Horror” was the synthetic film artifacts.  Which is a petty way of highlighting the real core unit of Awesomeness in this art form, which is Story.  Whether you are telling a story, or deconstructing Story, Story is the air we breathe….

Which is why I suspect I should have gone into Radio.

Cheers!

Kristian

Howdy – finished this over the Thanksgiving break.  Still needs final music and sound effects — and no doubt other fixes, but we’ve actually got a show!

Thoughts?

We’re hearing a new and improved score, I’ve tweaked the lighting and shading in the earlier scenes, and I’ve pushed forward to the 4:30 mark! 6 minutes left for me to animate.

So — this is a work in progress, what do you think? What do you love and hate?

Just keep in mind, things like the eyes being white — that is an actual choice I made, not something I forgot to do.  I originally drew this very nice Hanna-Barbera style face for Gustave…and it was completely wrong for this story.  I worked to make it a little more primitive and, to my mind, appropriate to this story.  The same with the buildings being flat and airplanes casting shadows on the sky.  You are witnessing a digital Punch and Judy show, except that it’s a semi-self-reflexive tale about a forgotten aviator.

Nov 8, 2009

Work in progress. My thesis.  New music is being composed as we speak, and new pictures are being birthed!

At a minimum, I’m animating 30 seconds a night, but I’m reaching for 60 seconds.  For a roughly 10 – 11 minute show – I’ll be done before the end of the month.  I’ve heard this is ambitious.  Well…it is!  But deadlines loom large and creativity apparently can be rushed!

I’m so pleased with what I wrote on my “Current Work” page that I’ll quote it here:

I’m making an animated documentary about Gustave Whitehead.   He was a flier, and was largely forgotten.  The reason why this is interesting is because he made a controlled, powered flight in a heavier-than-air vehicle two years before the Wright Brother’s flew!  So, I’m making an animated documentary about him.  Perhaps this work will inspire other people to innovate and push the envelope of human discovery, knowing that even if they never achieve fame, even if they die penniless, it’s possible that someone might make an animated documentary about them.  Indeed, a chance at immortality.

Yep — I am indeed doing it!  I’ve made the bulk of the artwork, which is charcoal pencil on heavy watercolor paper, and I’ve got it into After Effects.  The voice track is done and I’m quite pleased with it!  An original score is also underway.  Exciting things!

Below are some low-res captures from my first renderings.  I’ll no doubt do some general color correction and maybe throw a vignette on it and whatever other finishing is needed.  Blah blah.  Here are some stills!

Since when do airplanes cast shadows on the sky? Since I adopted a puppet show aesthetic for my new documentary! That's when.

Gustave Whitehead exhorts his assistant to stoke the steam engine!

…And has been for a little while now. Recent episodes have covered a wide and interesting range of topics. We’ve tackled White House suppression of Climate Science under the Bush Administration, Dr Wigand – “The Insider” and tobacco whistleblower, and most recently, whistleblowers in DC’s own fire department.

It’s pretty interesting stuff. What it lacks in “reality tv” excess it makes up for in its encounter with real human lives and moral dilemmas. These are real people who have put their careers and reputations on the line to do what’s right. Very few people sign up to be a “hero”, but here are regular people who are heroes.

http://www.whistleblowertv.org/

This is a piece (at the time of this writing, the featured project video) that a colleague and I edited and finished with some graphics for the Colorado Wolf & Wildlife Center. This project came to me as part of Prof. Larry Engel’s course in advanced documentary production at American University.

Channel G is an interesting organization. In their own words:

Channel G produces short format documentaries, Project Presentations, for distribution on television, the internet, film festivals and other video outlets. Project Presentations showcase environmental, social, and health-related projects from local and international nonprofit organizations.

With Channel G, the American television and web surfing public is educated and informed while getting the opportunity to participate in the success of great projects. Channel G highlights the projects’ scientific and educational value, as well as the personal stories of the people involved.

You can watch the video here: http://www.channelg.tv/video.php?project_id=71

Advanced documentary production with Prof. Engel was a pretty tough course, but truly rewarding. I think I discovered that I really want to make documentary films more than any other film in that course, and he also taught me new ways of thinking so that I have half a chance of making good documentaries. Thanks, Larry!

Hello!

If you are blessed enough to have DISH Satellite TV, then you can watch a TV show that I’ve had a small part in. It’s called Whistle Where You Work, it’s been picked up by Free Speech TV, and it’s an interview/panel discussion show that tells the story of people who had the courage to do the right thing – to blow the whistle on wrong-doing and corruption – even though that integrity can come at a great cost. You can read more about it here at GAP’s website:

http://www.whistleblower.org/template/page.cfm?page_id=22

For my part, I did the intro graphics, an ad for GAP in the middle of the show, and I edit and do post-production for each show. It’s fun, but the heart and brains behind the show live over at GAP, and they are doing great work.

(above are the opening titles, with music donated to the show by Penmachine.)