Artist of the Week

23 September 2012
Fabrice Ascione

    

     

In Response to TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2012

Storyboard/Shot list

1. RFID Introduction - Pieces come together
2. RFID Chip is scanned - Info appear from scanner
3. Lady, mom, Receives implant
4. Walks out Doctor's office to lobby
5. Out of the door, breadline (kid with Chicken)
6. Shopping store in bg/ mom walks toward the store/ RFID's only
7. Chickens healthy flopping in bg - shot of backyard
8. Bible study in living room
9. Mom enters - family still reading/ she has groceries/hold chip hand
10. Mom in kitchen/ sets down groceries on counter
11. Grandma confronts mom in kitchen
12. Grandma exists to hallway/ mom is left feeling sad
13. New day:  Close up of grandma's face in kitchen/ face droops (out the window, boy with chickens)
14. Grandma in kitchen chopping  bell peppers/  eggs cracked in bowl/ boy with chickens in coop
15. boy outside in coop/ no eggs
16. Grandma puts last eggs in skillet on stove
17. boy enters kitchen/ tells grandma no eggs/ mom shown overhears
18. mom tells grandma she can go buy eggs and other foods/ son is there
19. mom and son exit grandma and daughter prepare meal for the day
20. Evening: all at dinner/ grandma daughter son eat veggies mom eats fish/ fish center veggies surround
21. New morning: chickens are ill/ one in particular are seriously ill
22. Grandmother is in bed with daughter both ill/ boy comes in
23. Chickens ill/ no new laying eggs boy at chicken fence/gate
24. Mom comes home from new job/ visits grandma, touches her hand with chip/ daughter in chair with Bible
25. Mom is at fence boy coughs - he is sitting petting one of the sick chickens in his lap
26. Boy looks at chicken with worried look - mom holds chicken
27. Boy exits fence/ chicken lies on stump/ mom rubs place on hand
28. Mom puts hand on stump also
29. Mom raises hand
30. Black - ax went down

Doctor's office

Doctor

Artist of the Week

16 September 2012

HEY!
Have you guys checked out noticed my new column Artist of the Week?!
I'll discuss artists that are an inspiration to me this semester and specifically to this project. Next week I will be adding another column dealing with tutorials and will begin different projects using those techniques in a way that will overall help in the completion of my semester project.

This week it's Marjja Tiurina, who currently lives in London.

In Response to TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2012

In addition to having my assets, I am currently working on a detailed storyboard, that will help me as I am on my journey to get this completed. Very exciting. I like the feeling that everytime we have class, I have new ways of moving forward aside from, develop concept and what is the look and feel. Even though the advanced students didn't present, I had what I needed so I can move forward, and that is the most rewarding. 

        
Emanuele Colombo's The Proof That We Are Soulmates

There are a few things that stuck out to me that I will keep in mind when I am animating. A few of those things, I found in this nice little animation. When it comes to transiting between locations, I do not want to follow someone into a room or cut between their entrances and exits. This video has some nice, and simple transitions that have me thinking about the way I want to animate for this project. There are times when the screen does a vertical cube roll (0:23) and when the new scene begins to form within the current (1:01).  Then, found throughout the piece are moments when the handwritten line forms the object which I am interested in as well to some degree. Really, what I mean is that I want to have this fluid motion, so the viewer is .

So, everything is very minimal with a "wobbly" line quality, so here are the aspects of my project. 

chickens

chicken coop

dining room

hallway

kitchen

living room

                                               

outside

scanner and chip

Problem Solved

Once thing I was worried about, which was a part of the doubts I was having earlier, was that with this style, how can I animate the story that would suite it best. After prayer, I found out that one of my options would be to interchange the environments. Since everything is built around one point perspective, I'll adjust the walls and remove the continents within the space, if I'm following the same character, and change the location rather than move the person four inches.

I'm Having Doubts

So, I'm nervous, the whole idea of going minimal seemed to work well when I was presenting the home and it's interior, but there is a whole introduction scene that I have to put together and the style doesn't seem to fit. What I thinking, and this really is a stretch is to present two finalized styles on Tuesday and then we can see what works. Maybe combining them together may do the trick, at this point, I'm just working on completing the first look because I said that I would have it done. At the same time, I am not sure if it is going to work out, and that introduction scene is very important.

In Response to THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2012

Today, thursday, is the first day of my weekend, and I have a bunch to do.

The deal is to draw up all off my scenes, trace them, and have them ready to present on tuesday. Not only should the scenes be drawn, but the characters will be finalized, fully composited so I can finally begin animating, or at least staging everything in after effects. I really want to get this moving along.

I am curious if I should animate it through and present chunks of it at a time for work in progress critiques to edit, or work on specific scenes and then rough out the scene afterwards. Ok so, I'll just do the latter.....Especially since this is how I'm going about drawing everything I'll need.

My blog has been reported as spam :/

So, I'm not spam you guys. I am a real person. Recently my blog has been blocked and that sucks because it happened less than five hours after my last update, and just before I had to submit it to class. The good news,  is that this blog, is the new blog. Once I was able to view my blog again, I took all the posts, and copied them over here, I just gave this blog the same name but I might change it to avoid old problems. Everything after this post, is new.

3 Week Schedule

So, I have a lot that needs to be completed by next week's meeting on tuesday.
Since I spent a lot of time working on the story and developing concept I now have ton of visual work to complete, and this is how it's gonna go:

September Calendar

October Calendar

Some of these Projects have been broken down in their descriptions, if interested here are the links: September Calendar, October Calendar.
Others I am still filing in the descriptions but I do know what they are about, example, Tutorial. I will be looking up tutorials that will help me piece together my intro and outro. This was mentioned when I was discussing my greater goals for this semester, to learn more of the effecty side of AE. However, I don't want to get too crazy because it will mess with the overall look and feel of the project, but whatever I learn, I will present as a final comp and give a small presentation in class to show that I am working towards my personal goals. 

So This Is What's Happening

I've got my dining room, living room, and kitchen sketched and scanned. I will need to go back over them to work with the perspective but all I am doing is drawing them in analog and when I bring it in, I just drop the opacity a bit, and it will look similar to using the tablet pen.

The top view here is how the living room and dining room blend together.

I'm using the recliner here. This will be in grandma's room

I will put together all of these pieces together, but what I have for this are the table and chairs that will go in the dining room. I will fixt the table in photoshop and I'm not doing the drapery. I am going to put the chairs (rocking chair included) together in photoshop like I will the similar to how I put together the sofa up top. Then I will layer everything into their backgrounds.

This is what we'll see of the kitchen. Some wanky perspective issues going on, but don't worry. This is just the basis of the kitchen setup.

So, here is my couch. The rest of the home will have the same look a feel....I think I will really have to go back over the line work some more. Here are some of the other assets so you can see what I am working on.

(absent September 11, 2012 - sick)

This Will Be First

Here's a really interesting video. I've only watched the first part for the animation, which is the precursor to my semester project. It ends 2:17 Enjoy.

"Are You Ready for the Rapture"

Artist: Steve Jablonsky

In Response to THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2012

What's going on? Well, through a sort of round table discussion, maybe it's best for this piece to go minimal. Line work for the interior and to continue and develop more so of my collage work with the characters. I'm still photographing/scanning in textures for my characters, and as I continue I'm a little worried that something is not going to look right. I think what I need to do is just get started drawing all of my elements so I can become more confident in the entire piece.  

Considered Tone

I've been so far trying to come up with an aesthetic that I like, and what I've found out by my test family is that I'm interested in merging digital drawings and compositing textures on top and also filling them in digitally like for skin and such. So, I found this video I really like, it has a creepy side that I'm not too fond of, but the I'm going for a grungy and dark look and this is helping me go in that direction.

Behind Closed Doors
Button Films
"Gregory must confront his demons and defeat the true evil that exists behind closed doors."

In Response to TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2012
So, even though Jill wasn't here, I showed my class what I had for my characters, and presented my treatment. The ending will leave the viewer in question, instead of having the final scene at the dinner table with the mom's hand wrapped up. The new final scene will be out in the chicken coop on the stump with the ill chicken and the mom's hand with the implant on the stump. The ax will go down but we, the viewer, can make the decision for herself if she chopped her hand or the chicken.

The Family

Like a Child's Book

Story Board rough'd

In Response to THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2012

So today I did not present my concept due to several factors. 1. my being late and 2. the unexpected and inconveniently timed fire drill. Though I had to deal with these unwanted circumstances, the presentations I did hear were quite interesting. Many of the students are focusing on topics close to them, some on a personal level in attempt to connect with or create some sort of dialogue with the viewer. I think what is most interesting to me is to hear the backstory of their ideas and then see how they translate that on screen. In any even. For tuesday, I will have the storyboard completed along with a formal version of my script. I am excited to present.

"SafeHaven"

I changed some things up from my earlier intent, and though I am continuing for the same story, I redirecting some things a bit. I even gave it a title, I may come up with something better later on, but this is good for now.

Title of the Project: Safe Haven

n - If part of a country is declared a safe haven, people who need to escape from a dangerous situation such as a war can go there and be protected; A safe haven is a place, a situation, or an activity which provides people with an opportunity to escape from things that they find unpleasant or worrying; 

I want to take this idea of a safe haven and let the audience question what is a safe haven for themselves, at the same time considering what a is safe haven for the characters in this piece. Instead of it being a physical place of refuge, it's representing a thing or idea that the characters feels safe in where they feel comfort during this time of tension. 

Theme: Betrayal and Redemption

• Explanation of Theme: A reoccurring theme in Christianity in which the follower rejects, turns away or has a short coming with Christ, is brought to a low point because of their rebellion, in which they seek forgiveness and God forgives and restores.
• Central Goal of the Film: To show the importance in trusting and depending on God to supply your needs.

Short Synopsis of the Project:
This project is about a young woman who, in attempt to provide more for her family ends up doing more damage than good. The young woman, Carla Newman, playing the role of the mom comes home with fresh groceries which she received in exchange for receiving the mark of the beast. Before this moment, the family has been struggling to survive off of their backyard vegetable garden and chicken coop. The family, consists of a grandmother, and two children ages 15(boy) and 12(girl), are all deeply rooted in Biblical Christian teachings. They hold daily Bible studies in home and take pride on their family fellowships during supper time meals spent at the dinner table. The mom, Carla, who is usually a part of all these activities, has been spending more time looking at the conditions the family has been living in. She considers their run down home and the daily meals of a few vegetable and chicken they must divide amongst four and hopes to give her family more so they can live in abundance. The only way she can do this is by receiving the mark of the beast, which allows her to get a job, earn an income, and by the tools she needs to fix up her home and give her family something more, and better to eat. However, her plan goes sour once her mother, the grandmother, becomes weak and Carla is no longer home to spend the time she would like to take care of her mother.

• Time: only a few years into the present, 2018
• Atmosphere: muted and gloomy
• Introduction of the Main Character: Carla Newman. aged 43 with two children, struggles with religious identity when living condition become tough. 
• Conflict: When Carla Newman comes home from receiving the implant, her and her mom, Grandmother, are already at odds and the Hand of God retracts itself from the household.

Goal of the Project:

• to show my viewers how important it is to depend on Jesus Christ as their main source.
• to use the  medium as a grounds for discussing a soon to come event from the Biblical Christian perspective.
• to alert the viewer of times to come
• to persuade the viewer to reject any identification implants, especially the mark of the beast.
• to tell my viewers that Jesus Christ will always comfort and provide for His people

SafeHaven Script

Here is the informal version of the script. More-so a treatment. Ready for Thursday's discussion. 27 Aug 2012.

We are located inside of a lab where they are scanning the chip making sure they are no glictches with the reader. We see. We see the chip being scanned and a big flat screen mounted on the wall which shows us information contained on the chip. The name of the person, sex, age, weight, banking information, home address, insurance information etc.

The camera cuts to a lady in a doctors chair and she is receiving from the doctor the RFID chip implant. The doctors finishes and we follow the lady outside of the office door to a long line of people  which we see continues to outside of the office building.

The screen opens on a neighborhood in evening time and moves inside of a home. In this home we see a grandmother and two kids sitting down in the living room having a Bible study. We then continue through the house, entering in the kitchen and then the outside where there is a chicken coop and a small vegetable garden right beside it. We then see the same woman from before in the distance and follow her as she enters the home, to the kitchen.

At this point, Mom is unsure about her decision to receive the chip, but feels that it is the right thing to do, since now she has fresh groceries for her family. 

Grandmother gets up from her Bible study with the two kids, and enters the kitchen the left. Upon seeing the fresh groceries on the table, Grandmother already knows that her daughter received the RFID Chip Implant and then decides to confront her about it. During the conversation, the two kids are standing in the hallway listening in on the kitchen conversation.

Grandmother completely rejects her decision to receive this chip and fears for what may happen to the family. Though they just had an argument, the family gathers for dinner.

A new day and Grandmother's face is drooping and she moves at a slower pace.

The boy is up early outside tending to the chickens as he usually does, and notices that there are no eggs.

He goes inside to report this to the grandmother in the kitchen as she is already cooking the last eggs on the stove top. The mom overhears that the hens have not laid any eggs as she is headed out of her room on her way to work. She comes out of her room, hoping today will be better than the previous evening and comes up to Grandmother and says that she can now go buy some more eggs, and maybe something else. The grandmother gets upset as she is reminded of her daughters decision and just shakes her head. When the mom leaves, the son goes back outside with the chickens and the daughter walks in and helps Grandmother prepare the meal for the day. 

Later on that evening, they are all at the dinner table and the conversation is silent. The Grandmother, daughter and son are eating home grown vegetables only while the Mom is eating a store bought honey glazed salmon with rice..The Mom's states that if one of the kids would get the chip then she would not have to work so late and she could come home early and take care of family. The grandmother in a tense tone asks the mom if she thinks the chip will solve our problems. The problems that we have since you came home with that thing. In the Mom's defense, she states that is was only  for the better, and because of it, they have much more food now. Grandmother gets upset and states that they have always had enough because Jesus has always given us what they needed.  Also, that the Mom is depending on some other source for what we have already had...and tells the mom that she may be a part of the family, but she is not a part of the house(as for me and my house we will serve the Lord Joshua 24:15) The mom gets up from the table, with rage, when she leaves the room cut to black. 

It's another new morning and one of the chickens is seriously ill, and the others look as though they might all begin to get sick. The boy reports to the grandmother that the chicken is very ill and she thinks it might be spreading. In addition, they are still no new eggs. The grandmothers appearance is now worse that before.  She is in the bed. The daughter is in the bed with her on the side by the wall. We do not see the grandmother respond to the boy's message. 

That evening, Bible study is now in the grandmothers room, and both of the children read to her from matthew 6:26-28, a passage talking about how God provides for his people. By this time all of the chickens are now ill and the hens have stopped laying eggs. 

When the mother comes homes from her new job, she walks past Grandmother's room door, however she turns around and her door shut. She peeps in and sees that she is still in her bed. In a soft tone, she lets Grandmother know that she has come home.   The grandmother responds and tells her to go outside and check on her kids. The daughter sits in a chair in the mothers room quietly.

The son is are outside with the chickens and picks up the one that is extremely ill. The son asks the mom what is going to happen if the rest of the chickens get sick like this one, and if the hens don't lay any eggs soon. The mom rubs the place on her hand where the chip is and begins to feel remorse. Mom now feels that everything that has been happening with the family may be the result of her receiving this implant.  (Grandmother getting sick, no new eggs, and sick chickens) She tell her son that she is sure that our God will provide, and that he should go inside because he should go set up for dinner.

She then takes off her work jacket and puts it near to stump next to her, she picks up the ill chicken and strokes it. There is an ax right beside her. The mom begins to tear up and cry as she begin to feel remorseful for receiving the implant.

Black screen. We hear the ax come down, and the mom wails. It is unclear to the viewer if the wail is of sadness or pain. 

The camera fades into the dining room and at the dinner table the family is gathered together. Grandmother still looks very ill seated in a rocking chair. Her body is very weak, and though her face looks tired, she shows a bit of contentment,. At the table are the other two children, and the mom is there, seated next to the grandmother. We see her the nub of her hand wrapped in gauze.  

END

In Response to TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2012

I received a lot of feedback about hacking off the hand of the main character which seems like a quick fix to my ending problem. I am determined to keep that ending just not make it seem like I'm using it as an easy solution to my ending problem. I am essentially in class so over the weekend I will have a storyboard and characters drawn out. As a part of my personal goals I am behind on the intro and title card so I will need to rework that so I can stay on top of things. I should have several visuals to present for this coming tuesday.

I have been thinking a lot about the feedback I received from critique on last week, looking back on all that was said, but most importantly, how does this story end? From there I thought better ways to make the story as a whole flow.
The ending was not there all the way, but I have it, I have all three parts; beginning, middle and end.

Beginning - A woman of a starving household receives a chip implant(mark of the beast). An act that separates her from God. She acts against what she and her family believe as an attempt to feed her hungry family.

Middle - Even though this woman is able to receive fresh groceries for her family, the chickens the family depended on before stop laying eggs and get sick. At the same time the grandmother becomes weak. The mom connects the illness of her grandmother and the chickens to her getting the chip.

End - The woman who received the chip remembers the scripture "Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire."
The woman then chops off her hand with the chip, hoping that it will restore her relationship with God and her connection with her family. Final scene we see the entire family at the dinner table, the mom's hand wrapped in gauze.

Background Information on RFID

Radio-frequency identification (RFID) by definition is the use of a wireless non-contact system that uses radio-frequency electromagnetic fields to transfer data from a tag attached to an object, for the purposes of automatic identification and tracking.
According to MSNBC.com, in October 2004 the FDA approved for the RFID chip about the size of a grain of rice to be implanted into humans for medical purposes. Upon developing the new healthcare plan it's purpose was "to provide affordable, quality health care for all Americans and reduce the growth in health care spending, and for other purposes.” According to the H.R. 3962 version of the Bill.
One way of doing this is with the chip that will contain the holders medical records. As stated by, the Executive Director of ACLU of Northern California, Dorothy Ehrlich, “Anyone with an RFID scanner could read the data stored on RFID chips, from a distance, without you ever knowing, exposing you to the risk of tracking, stalking, and identity theft.”
The technology used in RFID chips is not new, just modified. Matter of fact, according to the PES Institute of Technology located in India “RFID technology was first developed as an espionage device during World War II.” This means by definition that the technology was first created “to obtain information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of information.”

*Though the RFID was not included in the final version of the Bill, the technology is still out there and it optional for individuals to receive the implant.

Sources

About RFID
How RFID works
RFID: Promises and Problmes

RFID Canada (one of the manufacturers)

Stock Photo

In Response to THURSDAY, AUGUST 23, 2012

In class today I presented my idea for the semester project, and even though the conversation did not necessarily go in the direction I preferred, I received some valuable and very helpful information. 
Originally, the piece was going to be a silent, more so no dialogue with a soundtrack, and I would rely using the body and face of the character to explain certain situations. The issue that came about with this was, am I not incorporating dialogue because it seems to be the easy way out, or is there a greater purpose in having no dialogue. When I first set up the story, it was without verbal language, and from there I decided to let the characters' body tell the story. 
Another question that popped up was, how am I going to include the backstory. As I was giving the backstory of the piece, the critique quickly wrapped around itself on idea to present the underlining meaning of it all.This was very helpful because my class audience is not familiar with any of the ideas I was presenting so when my outside audience sees it, I need to approach it from the standpoint that gives them all of the information necessary to fully grasp the concept. This could have also been an issue in my presentation as well, and it partly was, and now, another thing I must do is to find a way to clearly present my ideas without disregarding information that would align their thoughts to mine. Nevertheless, I must work the entire backstory into this piece, very clearly, so that my audience will be on the same page. I also received ideas about ways to flesh out the piece so that the "bad guy" does not end up on top.

Statement Intent

For this semester, I intend to work closely with the topic End Times. Living in a post rapture world. This is the time when Jesus appears and takes HIS Bride to be with HIM in Heaven. Jesus comes and takes the people who are waiting and looking for HIM. What I will be focusing on, are the changes the world will undergo after this happens. I will explore how peoples' lives, government systems, currency methods and other, will change. 

Project Goals: 

• Explore more of motion graphics
• create a production card for end times productions using what I've learned from tutorials
• create and introduction from tutorial help
• Develop audio syncing abilities
• work on lip syncs
• sync soundtrack to key events in the animation

Objective:

• to use the animation medium as a grounds for discussing a soon to come event from the Biblical Christian perspective.
• to alert the viewer of times to come
• to persuade the viewer to reject any identification implants

Storyline:

The story I will be working with revolves around a four character home who is on the fence about receiving this implant because they are low on food, barely paying their bills. In attempt to save the family from starvation, on of the character receives this implant and comes home with fresh groceries and the entire family at first is really upset because morally, it is the wrong thing to do. However, it seems as if it is the better thing  to do to end the family's hunger and improve their terrible living conditions.

Theme

What defines right and wrong in terms of survivla

Tone and Execution

  pallet for inside locations                                                 pallet for outside environments

Examples of the condition of setting: main location 

                                                                                                    Example of the overall environment (outside of the main location, this                    
                                                                                                    would be an example of the neighborhood, the type of living
                                                                                                    conditions I am striving for).