Week 15: Every Fish is a Genius

Apr 23—Week 15: 
1.) Films aren’t finished, they are slowly abandoned. 2.) Films are not made, they are discovered. What did you have to leave behind this semester? What did you find instead?

This semester I definitely had to leave behind my scars film. Starting too late and not fully grasping the mechanics of After Effects position keyframes I ended up looking like a goof and the film royally sucked. I'll take something from that, but I really caught my stride around the loading screen. Many billionaires of the world (Steve Jobs would agree) that at the age of 22 you should be sharpening your strong points rather than strengthening your weaknesses, at any age over puberty you need to be the best at one or two things and "good enough" at every other thing. A big lie that we're told by our parents is that we can become anything, this really is untrue and we need to set ourselves up for success rather than strive to be something impossible, for example the first man on Mars (even if you were the most qualified, there are biological constraints and the fact that Mars probably won't be visited in our lifetimes due to fiscal and political reasons). A point guard in the NBA is another example of something NOT to strive for. That's why I've already set my sights on being a copywriter. There are a lot of things that I'm good at, only one or two at which I'm great, I want to focus on those two.

As we're now working on the final film I'm both nervous and excited, I'm making strides but it's an extremely slow and tedious process. I'm doing my best to manage time well to complete the work, or at least "abandon" it in a good place.

Signing Off.
Thanks.

Here are four of the art pieces I'm using to build my final film.

Mess with the bull, get the horns.

Apr 16—Week 14: 

We’re almost at the end. What do you have left to do? How is that working for you?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIP7wdW7EQg

I'm holding my breath. As stated in the previous blog post, I'm dying. My ex-girlfriend wants me to move in with her in three weeks, when my ok-paying job and connections are here. We've dating long-distance for three years, fuck that. For reference watch How I Met Your Mother's Season 1 episode on the subject, girls love them: All talk, no sex, guys hate them for the same reason. And I, being the smooth-talker jerk-off that I am, cannot stop hitting on girls to make up the lost time of having a non-real girlfriend, it really is quite a suicide mission/collision course, I know. BUT WHEN WE MOVE IN TOGETHER EVERYTHING WILL BE DIFFERENT. lolol #I'mFucked

School's fine. It's not hard, I am hardly trying and I'm not afraid of flunking. I have great professors who can see that I have worked hard, am knowledgeable and skilled enough to deserve a degree from the University of South Carolina. I'm just appalled at my whole extra year spent here and after my flunk out semester sophomore year also have nightmares and panic attacks about that too.

This is why I hate Journalism. In the future, Journalism is blogging; and all blogging is nothing but narcissistic, self-indulging rants, going and on and on and attempting to fill a whole only a therapist (or extremely talented prostitute, see: Julia Roberts|Pretty Woman) can fill.

These are the battles of the transition into the real world. I watched Office Space for the first time this month (I know, it's a sin I waited this long; I'm sorry.) and almost cried about how true that shit is. I hate my job, my ex hates her job, my dad and her dad hate their jobs, and now I'm eager and fighting to get hired by a soulless suicide machine.

CAPITALISM, YAY. I would also like to thank poor self esteem for the attention seeking perpetuism and materialism that has sucked the life out of so many humans before myself. BUT IF I HAVE ALL THE NICE THINGS I WILL FINALLY BE HAPPY, RIGHT?
Signing the hell off.   

Senior Year! Quit now, kid.

Apr 9—Week 13: 

Oh look. It’s a wormhole. It seems that you can talk directly to the Jan 10, 2012 version of yourself. Probably a good idea to give some notes about what that person could have done differently on to make your work easier right now.

Run! Run like hell man. And apply everywhere to work because it's late and no one wants to hire creatives (kill myself).
I'm stressed out so much that I can't even think about school, my "girlfriend" in Minneapolis will only talk to me about how many places I applied today and I keep hearing no's and "we'll keep you in mind!". It's so frustrating and for people who aren't awesome at rejection, such as every artist or creative, it is really draining. I don't wish I did anything different but I constantly have this gnawing, sickening feeling that I'm forgetting something and I don't know what it is. I'm having fucking nightmares and waking up with the aforementioned forgotten thing being something important, dead relatives (my grandparents both passed recently, so I guess I'd encourage me to love my grandmother harder before her passing, but I got a 2001 Honda out of it, fucking great right?) I'm in a weird mood and not interested in entertaining your blog. I know what it's like to be an artist, to live the creator's lifestyle, I've been here for years. Moving too slowly then way too fast, hardly holding on one second and bored breathless the next moment. This is the neurotic, destructive existence I'm trying to escape, trying NOT to become a perpetual starving artist. I want to be a turtlenecked douchebag in the Porschia who "sold out", I can sleep soundly being that gentleman. I just can't handle the cigarettes and coffee diet anymore, I'm burned out and just now reaching the job market. I didn't fucking party in school, I'm not some white sorority girl whose parents sheltered from living. I've been working out here and I'm tired of never getting paid or recognized and constantly being punished for missing classes that I already know the answers to questions they think I've never heard before (Oooooh, you got me! [not]).

Sorry for the attitude.

Welcome to the pressure and hell that I'm experiencing as a senior.
Signing Off.

Week 12- Follow Your Nose

Apr 2—Week 12: 

If you haven’t already, you should identify three or four film festivals that would be candidates for to submit you film. What are they? Why did you choose them? What questions or reservations do you have?

After looking over many film festivals (and seeing all the ones presented in class) I am very slow to submit to many, especially the ones that have heavy entrance fees. I've been around the block once or twice and know good and well that all media is business and wouldn't be released if someone wasn't making money off of it. In may ways film festivals are paid Ad space for a director, and can be extremely political (it never hurts to be a good schmoozer, and it seems to have much in common with job hunting, you're a paper in a stack of 100 papers and you have to make your paper stand out.)

I would definitely be interested in submitting to film festivals, and though more my area of expertise is away from Animation I would be willing to see what I could do with these films we've made or an offshoot thereof.
I would be much more intrigued and interested in pushing something I've shot with a crew, the crew keeps you honest and with a couple good directors and (Please, God, can I have my Producers back? I can't live without them.)
I guess you could say I've been spoiled, but I've surrounded myself with a good media team and proven that that's how ideas come to life. I'm mainly referencing this, spec it if you haven't seen it yet. Budget under $200.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSSBSw8zQ7g

Thanks.

Mission Opossumible- Week 11

Mar 26—Week 11: 

How did Film 2 go over? How do you feel it was received? How do you feel about it? What would you do differently? What will you change about what you are doing with your next film?

Film two was AWESOME. I loved the idea I impromptu-ed and actually almost enjoyed the process. My creative style is best productive when I "master-mind" the idea and have a director and a couple PA's to work with, but that will come down the line, until then I (most importantly) learned a TON about stop motion and would say that I would be much better equipped to re-make the film.
If I took another pass at the film I would build a kind of device to make the matches "stand" on their own, magnets crossed my mind, but that would require set building and more pre-planning that I, sad to say, didn't quite get to do. I also thought that the floss would work fine and be nearly invisible, no such luck. Strangely enough I didn't even realized it looked like a match "suicide" film until you mentioned it, thanks for that.
In doing it again I would make it longer and change shots more, being the first stop-motion that I've done and knowing the methods of not changing the F-stop or shutter speed I found myself reluctant (maybe even AFRAID) of the camera, it was suddenly a machine I was unsure if I could control. But I made it work for me and my past experiences in shooting full-auto paid off.

Luckily I didn't get caught in the destructive, chop-off-my-own-ear, "Artist Mode", planning, planning, planning stressing out and finishing nothing, at least I finished, unlike this Opossum.

Thanks for the help, Simon.
Signing Off,
Chieftain

Pimping Ain't Easy (Neither is Stop-Freaking-Motion)

Mar 19—Week 10:

I hate it, I'm one acme dynamite box away from blowing my brains out and I'm sick of the process. I didn't sign up for this (Ok, maybe I did, but I'm at the end of my crazy rope right now). Stop motion sucks. I've made excuses for myself, citing myself as a "writer" or one who isn't intrigued by animations or one who is too "mature" and advanced to subject my creative genius to this menial, physically laboring dedication to a child's medium, the last is my favorite, that's a good one. The bottom line is, my will is being tested. I know this isn't one of those last-second things, I'm dreading the whole assignment, trying to devise a plan to make it appear like a rabbit out of a hat, but it isn't working like that yet.

The "big idea" sells the story. The story is the big idea, it's the most important part and the part I'm never satisfied with. What is the punch line?

My stop motion has been a challenge I've almost enjoyed, but the true fire hasn't heated up and we'll see what happens in the final production stages (I'm expecting a landslide of a victory, common for my overconfidence). I am constantly tempted to change the story and am dying for creative validation, also excusing my lack of direction at the thought of "'My type' works better with a creative partner".
True or not I'm riding rogue on this trail and am gonna have to reach for the six shooters pretty soon.

Happy trails, see you at High Noon.

Signing Off.