20 Oct 2011

NEW Jim Le Fevre title sequence

Making of the "Holy Flying Circus" Title Sequence - A Rather Large Phonotrope

Here

100 old school

good list of early 90's club sounds. Can't believe its twenty years ago... HERE

Monstra, Lisbon

deadline for Monstra is 30 October... hurry hurry, it is a great student competition.
Festival is 19 - 25 March 2012.

16 Jun 2011

see that Pear there?


See that Pear there? I am migrating for the Summer to a New field. a thought, a sod. a divot of land, a collection of mud. See you later.

10 Jun 2011

UWE ANIMATION DEGREE SHOW


The Degree show opens tonight with a private view 6-9, and runs everyday until next Thursday

< info > < www.bsa2011.co.uk >

take a look at some of the recent work by this years Animation students, here

7 Jun 2011

Friday man Samuel Smiles


Samuel Smiles's Self-Help is said to have reflected the spirit of its age. It also proved to be a best seller - with more than a quarter of a million copies sold by the time of Smiles's death. Arguing for the importance of character, thrift and perseverance, the book also celebrates civility, independence and individuality. As such it reflects concerns and values that were central to working class efforts at self-improvement and study in the second half of the nineteenth century. < link >
Samuel Smiles (1812-1904) the Scottish writer and social reformer is one of the best known figures of the Victorian era. He has been raised and slain in different decades, but fundamentally a balance of common sense, investigation, practice, and opportunity is still valid, especially for those in small boutique operations.

5 Jun 2011

Skillset’s VFX handbook provides VFX talent with roadmap to future success

press release from Skillset, predominantly for VFX, a 30 page book to down load from the skillset site.
Skillset has set a new benchmark for visual effects (VFX) education in the UK with the launch of an industry-authored guide, The Core Skills of VFX, yesterday (Tuesday, 31 May).



The Core Skills of VFX is a comprehensive, modular guide to best practice in VFX education and training that draws on the knowledge and advice of more than 60 of the UK’s top VFX professionals from many of the UKs leading companies.



The handbook, which will be provided free to all universities and colleges across the UK, has been designed to give course tutors in-depth guidance on the skills that the next generation of VFX talent will need to keep our industry at the leading edge.



The modular nature of the handbook will allow institutions to embed specific elements into their current courses, or use it in entirety to create brand new, industry-focused degree courses. It also contains a section for students, The VFX Core Skills Student Primer, with a guide to the core skills the industry needs – from technical elements to softer, often overlooked skills such as teamwork and meeting the client brief.



Speaking at the event last night, Managing Director of Double Negative, Alex Hope, said: “This handbook introduces a new way for us all to work together – it is an important development that will mean many new and productive relationships between universities and our industry.”



Film producer and Chair of Skillset’s Film Skills Council, Iain Smith, said: “By clearly setting out the skills that industry needs, we look to guide, influence and inspire tutors in their approach to the future design and content of degree courses. We also hope to inspire our future generation of creative and technical talent, all of which will ultimately have a positive impact on the industry.”



The release of this handbook will complement and drive Skillset’s industry-endorsed accreditation programme, which will soon signpost the courses that provide the most up-to-date, industry-facing education and training.



Skillset’s lead on VFX projects, Saint John Walker, said: “By presenting the advice of industry in a form that universities either embed directly into their current courses, or use to create new courses, we will significantly reduce the time it takes to get quality courses off the ground. The industry has asked us to change the landscape of VFX tuition in the UK, and there’s no time to waste. This industry-authored Handbook will set the scene and pace for a new generation of home grown talent.”



The Core Skills of VFX is the latest in a series of major initiatives and awards designed by Skillset to improve the quality of VFX talent emerging from UK universities. Skillset has recently awarded licenses for Nuke software to a selection of Film and Media Academies and accredited courses and is funding a programme to train tutors in the most up-to-date VFX skills, and enable on-line professional coaching for VFX students. These initiatives, and more that will be launched in the coming months, come in the wake of the Livingstone-Hope “Next-Gen” review and will transform the landscape of VFX teaching in the UK.



For more information about the The Core Skills of VFX, and to download your own copy, please visit: www.skillset.org/vfxhandbook.

23 May 2011

very good calendar that could be a group template


super Calendar from super deluxe - Tokyo < here > I propose to suggest to L3 that this may be a good model to follow for their one page link. I like the layout with a column on the right with short synopsis picture and link...

Elevator Pitch


the elevator pitch builder the elevator pitch is a phrase evolved to summarise the cold pitch to financiers etc of an idea in the length of time it takes for an elevator to ascend or descend - 30 seconds to two minutes to hook and enthuse your backer into your idea... An elevator pitch is often used by an entrepreneur pitching an idea to a venture capitalist or angel investor to receive funding. Venture capitalists often judge the quality of an idea by the quality of its elevator pitch and will ask entrepreneurs for their elevator pitches in order to quickly weed out bad ideas and weak teams. Elevator pitches are also used in many other situations.
neat
nice premise.
a good elevator pitch stimulates the listener...

10 May 2011

Der Lauf der Dinge (the way things go) 1987


< the way things go > Inside a warehouse, a precarious 70-100 feet long structure has been constructed using various items. When this is set in motion, a chain reaction ensues. Fire, water, law of gravity as well as chemistry determine the life-cycle of objects - of things. It brings about a story concerning cause and effect, mechanism and art, improbability and precision. Peter Fischli, David Weiss.

in memory of Masahiro Katayama


Catherine Munroe Hoates writes a good obituary In Memory of Masahiro Katayama (片山 雅博, 1955-2011)< here >
"Among Katayama’s greatest accomplishments was his supervision of the New Animation Animation DVD series for Geneon Universal. This invaluable series includes the works not only of key Japanese art animation figures such as Kihachiro Kawamoto, Tadanari Okamoto, Yoji Kuri, Osamu Tezuka and Koji Yamamura, but also some fine DVD collections of world animation figures including Yuri Norstein, Norman McLaren, Jiří Trnka, Frédéric Back, and Aleksandr Petrov. These DVDs and boxsets are all accompanied by informative essays about the animators written by Katayama himself."

New animation series, Geneon jp

9 May 2011

Petition


The European Commission under President Barroso's leadership is considering ending the MEDIA Programme as it currently exists. This decision would have a very negative impact on all of the European audiovisual industry, which benefits from the numerous funds offered by this programme.

sign the petition, and spread the word < here >
"We, the European professionals of animation film for television and cinema, are extremely concerned by the disastrous consequences on the economic and cultural level, which the calling into question of the MEDIA Programme will give rise to in our sector....We categorically refuse the proposed abolition of the MEDIA Programme with its succession of disastrous consequences in the medium and long term, or any other form of administrative curtailment, namely the inclusion of the current MEDIA Programme within another of the Commission’s programmes."

1 May 2011

the point of humanities

read this Article by Alain de Botton. < here > from a point of view on the BBC. "It should be the job of a university education to tease out the therapeutic and illuminative aspects of culture, so that we can emerge from a period of study as slightly less disturbed, selfish, unempathetic and blinkered human beings, who can be of greater benefit not only to the economy, but also to our friends, our children and our spouses."
the swing to employability and training in universities is affecting the responsibility we all have in being reasonable. he writes better than me. I quite liked it. I want you to enjoy the broadening of what you receive, not just your specialist subject.

28 Apr 2011

100 trends in 2011 from JWT


J W T (the advertising giant)
has put a presentation together about what is hot or not in 2011...
I think it is interesting < here >
"In our sixth annual year-end forecast of trends for the near future, technology is the overriding theme, driving many of our trends and at the center of others. The economy also continues to be a common thread."

Show Me The Animation Teams up with Encounters

Show Me The Animation
Teams up with Encounters
Show me the animation will be collaborating with the Encounters Bristol International Film Festival and Shorts International to celebrate Encounters recently qualifying for some of the world's most prestigious awards. Films will include 'Nominated Animated Shorts from the Orange British Academy Film Awards in 2011'.
Tuesday 3rd May
Venue: Upstairs at the Hen and Chicken, 210 North St, Bedminster, Bristol BS3 1JF. 0117 9663143
Doors: Open from 7pm- 10pm (Film screening between 7.30-8.45pm)
from Helen & Vicky

Comic expo weekend

A comic expo in Bristol - 14-15 MAY - here
Bristol International and Small Press Comic Expo 2011. Opening times: Saturday 10am - 6pm, Sunday 10.30am - 4.30pm,
Once again the Mercure Bristol Holland House Hotel will be playing co-host with the Ramada City Inn Hotel
with all the best in Independent & Small Press comics and MangaTICKETS NOW ON SALE!

Ticket sales updates 90% of tickets now sold!

£9 day or £16 weekend

Child discounts apply

Expo will again be an ALL TICKET event,

so pre-booking is the only way to ensure you are at the

UK's Premier Comics Event!

(this may be your thing, a perfect antidote to Fridays screening)!

18 Apr 2011

Jobs search site


This is rather good. a jobs site that collects from loads of agencies, and is topical, local. Indeed, make it a regular port of call.

14 Apr 2011

Alexeev Alexey, log jam and ARC


interview with Alexeev Alexey - here - quite naive questions, but gets good answers. Log Jam. Log Jam is very funny.

Umm, this is quite good. The Animation Resource Centre. ARC . lots of pings off from here.
"181 links to the best free animation resources
for students on the net, sourced from over
81 different web sites and growing."

I am old, I completed a survey today and had to check age as 45 - 60. that was quite depressing.

Gagarin aniversary



Lovely animation called Gagarin - here - by Alexij Kharitidi

Major Yuri A. Gagarin, age 27, was the first man to orbit Earth. He was a Soviet cosmonaut. He was also a Soviet Air Force pilot and a parachutist.
Yuri Gagarin's parents were peasants on a collective farm in the village of Gzhatsk. Gagarin thus represented the ideal of the "new communist man." Gzhatsk is now called "Gagarin City."

Sergei Korolev was the Soviet Union's chief rocket designer. He selected Gagarin to be the first cosmonaut to orbit the Earth.

the 12 April is the anniversary of this event - 50 years (only) ago - more - With so many images of the Earth from space now available, it is perhaps hard to imagine how it felt to be the first person to view the Earth from that perspective. During his 108 minute flight, Yuri Gagarin completed an orbit of the Earth, giving him a unique viewpoint of the Earth as a planet. This aspect raises his flight from an impressive technical achievement to a milestone in human history.

More than 500 humans have now travelled into space, representing over 30 countries. Satellites are now able to show us our home planet in extraordinary detail and tell us much about the way that we are changing it on a local and global scale.

6 Apr 2011

One Dot Zero Call for entries

one dot zero call for entries. video here
onedotzero.com/​submissions/​
ONEDOTZERO_ADVENTURES IN MOTION FESTIVAL 2011 CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS!
BFI SOUTHBANK, LONDON, 23-27 NOVEMBER 2011
FOLLOWED BY INTERNATIONAL TOUR

onedotzero are seeking new work which demonstrates innovative creative expression and ideas visionary moving image ideas across innovative short films, installations, interactive work and live audio-visual performances.

2 Apr 2011

the Grammar of TV and film

This is quite a good glossary of terms. it is from by Daniel Chandler, 1994, Here.

22 Mar 2011

interesting Scientist - Richard Feynman


Richard Feynman is enthusiastic. this video about Jiggling is one to watch/have on whilst rendering something... great visualiser.
some detail.
Richard Phillips Feynman was born on May 11, 1918,[5] in Far Rockaway, Queens, New York. His family originated from Russia and Poland; both of his parents were Jewish, but they were not devout. Feynman (in common with the famous physicists Edward Teller and Albert Einstein) was a late talker; by his third birthday he had yet to utter a single word.
Feynman has been called the "Great Explainer". He gained a reputation for taking great care when giving explanations to his students and for making it a moral duty to make the topic accessible. His guiding principle was that if a topic could not be explained in a freshman lecture, it was not yet fully understood. Feynman gained great pleasure from coming up with such a "freshman-level" explanation, for example, of the connection between spin and statistics. What he said was that groups of particles with spin 1/2 "repel", whereas groups with integer spin "clump". This was a brilliantly simplified way of demonstrating how Fermi–Dirac statistics and Bose–Einstein statistics evolved as a consequence of studying how fermions and bosons behave under a rotation of 360°...

But - the describing of difficult in simple terms is what I like. Imagine is a key word for him. or finding similes.

15 Mar 2011

one for sophie lowden


Sophie - funny, but some folk are very humble. this blog about comics and flow is apt for you, I thinks.
"Laying out panels – it seems like a really simple task, but I’ve discovered it’s a little more complicated than that in my own comic. I guess I’ll start this tutorial at the beginning – thumbnails! Making a thumbnail sketch of the comic page is important. It’s much easier to fix a five minute scribble than a page that took 5 hours. .."
Maggock also has some quite pithy but entertaining positions... find them here

5 Mar 2011

tilt shift app for i phone



gizmo to miniature the world. not serious, but a bit of fun. by Toy Camera

Shrove Tuesday, Mardi Gras

Shrove Tuesday 8th March 2011.
Also known as "Pancake Day", "Fat Tuesday" and "Mardi Gras," Shrove Tuesday always falls on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday which is the first day of Lent in the Christian faith. Dates vary from year to year, but it usually falls in February, sometimes early March. In 2011 it falls on 8th March.

Because Shrove Tuesday is directly linked to Easter, the date varies from year to year. Easter Day is usually the first Sunday after the full moon that falls on or just after Spring Equinox and can therefore occur on any date between 22nd March and April end.
Lent lasts for forty days. Mardi Gras is 46 days before Easter. this year is Super late.(in fact the next latest date for Mardi Gras is 2038 — 9 March).

This really impacts your productions. There is little or no time after Easter to get a shift on, as has traditionally happened.

in French Mardi = Tuesday, Gras = Fat. fat Tuesday is the last 'stocking up' of the body before the lent period that begins on Ash Wednesday.
2006 February 28th
2007 February 20th
2008 February 5th
2009 February 24th
2010 February 16th
2011 March 8th
2012 February 21st
2013 February 12th
2014 March 4th
2015 February 17th
2016 February 9th
2017 February 28th
2018 February 13th
2019 March 5th
2020 February 25th

23 Feb 2011

21 Feb 2011

Radiohead


Radiohead new album, King of limbs, new video, and subsequent mash ups makes the news. all in a day, and all part of the HYPE, me thinks... juries out on the album.

What is animation to you?

What is animation to you? I have been struggling for a definition, each one I come up with destroys itself before my eyes and becomes cack.
we know what it is, how do we sumarise what it is without it sounding cack? pretentious? insincere? to sincere?

animation is - funny stuff.
animation is - trickfilm (I like this one - German)
animation is - cartoons, isn't it? (Welsh one)
animation is - the fusion of sound and image over time to equate to the authors message.
animation is - stupid.
animation is - fantastic.
animation is - whatever you want it to be.
animation is - frustration right there.
animation is - inadequate, expensive, flamboyant, ridiculous.
animation is - derided.
animation is - not an art.
animation is - best left undefined.
animation is - you fool.
animation is - shapeshifter.

enough, but wait a minute. If we return to the Greek origins of the word 'animation’ then we are likely to be drawn to Aristotle and his distinction between that which is alive - and that which is inanimate. The thing that marks the former off from the latter is psuche (from which 'psychology' is derived) and this can be variously translated as soul, breathe or life. At one level, thus, we can talk of animation as 'making things move or happen' - much as animators do of cartoon pictures. At another level there is something more - giving life to'. This idea runs quite closely to the concerns of experiential educators.
Animation is - internal and external movement displayed
animation is - action, acting, stillness, emotion,
animation is a muse. and that is amusing.

16 Feb 2011

Ahhh


Don't you all look lovely. One or two faces have departed, but the majority of you are hanging in. This is your show. who saw the photography cakes today?

8 Feb 2011

CGI Head works


For storage, and also phenomena this tutorial/ demo reel is a good fusion of pipeline and solution. it is pretty good. made three years ago in 2007 by Nvidia.
some comments are a blast.
"ya i agree with u on all dat pc is indeed more powerful but all im saying u need some cash to keep ur computer upgraded i had a XPS 600 i got it in the spring of 06 a gaming machine worked fine for two years than i started noticing my computer had trouble playing some games i had put it on the lowest settings i triedl playing world at war and it couldnt play dat game even in the lowest settiings"

7 Feb 2011

Future Shock 1972



Future shock (1972) Directed by Alexander Grasshoff, written by Ken Rosen, Alvin Toffler (book), gives us definition of the modern sense of loss, possibly. the disposable nature of things, the fragmentation of communities, the acceleration of time... interesting sound track. Part one is linked, easy to find 2,3,4,and 5 if it floats your boat. "the telephone directory is updated daily to keep track of people on the move."

6 Feb 2011

words and eggs - P.S.: My name is Lesley.


this picture a cover of Industria, by Pranas Lape, cover from 1948. One of many fine examples of posters, graphics, packaging found by a busy poster/blogger/digger - help me with the definition... a good blog;
Words and eggs
"I like letters. The Letter People on PBS. My favorite childhood show. Letters forming words forming ideas forming worlds. I love letters. I love lettering letters. And ornamenting them. And packaging them. And stamping them. And receiving them.

I like design. I'm teaching myself some stuff. Researching sites. Forming ideas. Forming preferences. Learning about design through designers I like and the incessant influx of designs that designers post daily. Hourly. Minutely. Infectious inspiration. Contagion. I want to take classes. Education. Education makes my world go round. I need the eggs."
P.S.: My name is Lesley.

I like Lesley and what he finds to post about. I like his collection of links. eg the art of the title,Cover browser, attic paper lots for sale.

Helper's high, the health benefits

On doing some reading about the benefit of Altruistic giving, I came across quite a raft of work that has studied the psychological benefits to the individual who has volunteered help. it has gone a little scientific, but a common known is that you feel 'good' after you do some un-bidded assistance.

Helping others contributes to the maintenance of good health and can diminish the effect of minor and serious psychological and physical diseases and disorders.

The rush of euphoria often referred to as a helper’s high after performing a kind act involves physical sensations and the release of the body’s natural painkillers, the endorphins. The initial rush is followed by a longer period of calm and improved emotional well-being.

The health benefits and sense of well-being return for hours or even days whenever the helping act is remembered.

Stress related health problems improve after performing kind acts.

Helping can enhance feelings of joyfulness, emotional resilience, and vigor, and can reduce the unhealthy sense of isolation.

The awareness and intensity of physical pain can decrease.

Attitudes such as chronic hostility that negatively arouse and damage the body are reduced.

A sense of self-worth, greater happiness, and optimism is increased, and feelings of helplessness and depression decrease.

When we establish an ‘affiliative connection’ with someone (a relationship of friendship, love, or some sort of positive bonding), we feel emotions that can strengthen the immune system.

Caring for strangers leads to immense immune and healing benefits.

Regular club attendance, volunteering, entertaining, or faith group attendance is the happiness equivalent of getting a college degree, or more than doubling your income.

Just a thought, you are all in this together.

4 Feb 2011

A good way to spend the break...




Good work from Dane and Dan over the break. this is a great example of collaboration, light touch, dextrous technical process and good message.

watch their new film You May Now here.

2 Feb 2011

La poudriere France

Training course:
Animation filmmaking: book adaptation


Dates: Tuesday April 26 - Friday July 8, 2011

Location: Valence (France)
Registration fee: 1000 euros per participant (financial aid possible)
Number of participants: 10 - 12
Principal trainers: Laurent Pouvaret, Claire Paoletti, Ted Sieger

Contact: Annick Teninge – tél: + 33 (0)4 75 82 08 08 – contact@poudriere.eu

Deadline for application: February 28, 2011
Working language: French (some English possible). More information on www.poudriere.eu/fr/
This training course is an 11-week module focusing on scriptwriting for television projects and children’s book adaptation. The course also includes one week at the Annecy International Animation Festival and Market.

Check out blog

check out this wonderful blog:- Michael Sporn animation

New York - MOMA


picture by Yvonne Reiner 1963 we shall run/
wish I was in New York...
last week and this, there has been a comprehensive drawing on film exhibit at MOMA, screening programme and stuff. there may be a catalogue, there are enough names for further research.
find a picture...

This exhibition includes films by Yann Beauvais (French, b. 1953), Stan Brakhage (American, 1933–2003), Robert Breer (American, b. 1926), Mary Ellen Bute (American, 1906–1983), Doris Chase (American, 1923–2008), Jim Capobianco (American, b. 1969), Walt Disney (American, 1901–1966), Ed Emshwiller (American, 1925–1990), valie export (Austrian, b. 1940), Harun Farocki (German, b. Czechoslovakia 1944), Emily Hubley (American, b. 1958), Amar Kanwar (Indian, b. 1964), Bernard Longpre (Canadian, 1937–2002), Len Lye (New Zealander, 1901–1980), Norman McLaren (Canadian, b. Scotland 1914–1987), Bill Morrison (American, b. 1965), David Piel (American, 1926–2004), Yvonne Rainer (American, b. 1934), Randy Rotheisler (Canadian, b. 1953), Carolee Schneemann (American, b. 1939), Zdenek Smetana (Czech, b. 1925), Stuart Sherman (American, 1945–2001), Alia Syed (British, b. 1964), and Steven Yazzie (American, b. 1970).
Organized by Anne Morra, Associate Curator, Department of Film, and Esther Adler, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Drawings.

the Exhibition On line
is continuing - but finishing soon.
"On Line is organized chronologically in three sections: Surface Tension, featuring the artistic drive to construct and represent movement through line within the flat picture plane; Line Extension, composed of works in which lines extend beyond flatness into real space—that is, into social space; and Confluence, presenting works in which line and background are fused, giving greater significance to the space between lines. In following the development of the meaning of line over the last one hundred years, the exhibition traces it in movement, across disciplines, and as it has been drawn out and rewoven in time and space—inevitably reflecting the interconnection and interdependency that are increasingly both shaping and emerging from a globalized society. Line, like thought, once understood as linear and progressive, has evolved into a kind of network: fluid, simultaneous, indefinite, and open." quite a mouthful, but impresive premise nonetheless, the exhibition context is ambitious.

26 Jan 2011

legibility 10 principles.

this chap Dean Rleck (into marketing and copy) has articulated quite well a summary of principles of legibility. rather than ping you off - I will print them below, and put a link up for more if you wish. I am not the author, nor wholly agree, but it is a good foundation and glossary of terms.

The Reading Process

To understand legibility and how design affects readership — and thereby sales — we must first understand how people read. (Forget how people “should” read. We are only concerned with how the average person actually does read.)

Here are the basics of the reading process:

Eye Rhythm
— In Western culture, we print written materials with the words arranged horizontally left to right. To read this material, the eye moves left to right along a line of type and then sweeps to the left and down to the beginning of the next line.

Fixations
— As the eye moves along a line of type, it stops at certain points to allow the eye to see and the brain to comprehend one or more words. These stops are called fixations, jumps, or “saccades” from the French saquer meaning to pull. Each fixation is about 1/4 second.

Eye Span
— During each fixation, the eye sees the word or words upon which it fixates as well as an area around that point. A reader’s eye span may be as small as a single word or as large as whole phrase. A good reader will see about 2 1/2 words per fixation, but the average reader may see less. The ordinary radius maximum is 2 inches around a fixation point. With standard text, this translates to about 29 letter spaces, 17 of which are clearly seen.

Thought Units
— The eye span isn’t arbitrary. The brain naturally divides sentences into thought units or idea chunks. In the sentence “Bill caught the ball,” the two thought units are “Bill” — the person who did something — and “caught the ball” — the thing he did.

Configuration — Every word has a particular shape. With constant, repeated exposure to a word, reading stops and instant recognition begins. When you see a stop sign, for example, you don’t mentally sound out S-T-O-P, you perceive the whole word by its shape and instantaneously understand its meaning. Because numerals have little configuration, the eye fixates more on numbers than words. Also, since there are more shape differences with lower case letters than with capitals, configurations in lower case are recognized faster than all caps.

Recognition Rate
— How fast a reader understands words during reading is called the recognition rate (or word response rate or rate of perception). Obviously, the faster a person recognizes a word, the faster and more effortless the reading. In the previous sentence, you probably whizzed over words like “the” and “a,” but paused for a split second on “recognizes” and “effortless.”

Familiarity
— The more familiar a reader is with the type and the appearance of the words used, the easier the reading. Roman or serif faces are generally more familiar to readers. Type that gives words irregular features give words a more distinct and recognizable shape.

Reading Rates — The average person shows a constant increase in reading rate throughout the school years, followed by a sudden drop after graduation. In Junior High, the average reading rate is 200 words per minute (wpm). In High School, it’s 250 wpm. In College it rises to 325 wpm and then to 400 wpm in Graduate School. Then it drops back to 200 wpm in adulthood, with reading comprehension at about 50%.

Compare this to the average rate of speech, which is 140 to 160 wpm, and you’ll see that most people read slowly. (By the way, for most people, anything above 600 to 700 wpm is scanning, not reading.)

Regression
— Moving the eye back over previously read material is called Regression. Not only does this lower the reading rate, it actually alters the sequence of information into the brain and lowers comprehension.

Eye Fatigue — The average adult eye travels approximately 1,600 feet per day — that’s 584,000 feet or 110 miles per year! So, it doesn’t take much to produce Eye Fatigue, which in turn slows the recognition rate and generally makes reading slow and even more difficult.

25 Jan 2011

Don't forget about FREESOUND


don't forget about freesound for those audio samples... Support us! Get your Freesound T-Shirt! (worth €25). Freesound project homepage

24 Jan 2011

fujiya and miyagi


one for Jack and Livvy - fujiya and miyagi video sore thumb

Do not do this

give yourself a chance. do not forget your professional practice, and development work. do not represent youself like this recent graduate.

I am a recent graduate who as a (hons)degree in Digital Animation from Thames valley university, London. After wasting 3 long years meeting coursework deadlines on unecessary modules, writing useless essays and not forgetting my attempt at character rigging and set modelling, i have decided to stick to the original plan of becoming an animator. Currently. i am working really hard on my character animator showreel and willing to give all i have to achieve this goal for as long as it takes.

The exercises may be useless, the essays useless, but this is not funny, ironic, right. it is a moaner. someone who does not understand the privilidged position and opportunity they have just had. Things are not given, opportunities are taken. ultimately if you do not take full advantage of the opportunity no one knows or cares and you will be left behind.

19 Jan 2011

Calgari



up lighting and heavy make up, very little can be seen except for the expression, which may appear frozen as in mid Arrgh...

18 Jan 2011

Bafta Nominations out today

the BAFTA nominations are out. full list here

the specific interest for us;

SHORT ANIMATION

The Eagleman Stag
- Michael Please (RCA and my old gaff Picasso Pictures Ltd).

Matter Fisher - David Prosser (another RCA Graduate)

Thursday - Matthias Hoegg (Kingston and RCA, now working with ex trunk Steve smith new outfit Studio Beakus)

RCA masters programme
- Joan Ashworth will be introducing a special programme of animation from the RCA at animated exeter on the 18 Feb

separated at birth




what do you reckon? Cluckie and crazylegs crane.

14 Jan 2011

Friday Man Denis Diderot (October 5, 1713 – July 31, 1784)


Listening to the news about Wikipedia and its founders Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger and their ambitions for Wikipedia, made me think about knowledge sharing.

Denis Diderot was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer. He was a prominent figure during the Enlightenment and is best-known for serving as co-founder and chief editor of and contributor to the Encyclopédie.

Pears Cyclopaedia was a household must have, (they were always a decade old and well thumbed). sponsored by Pear's soap. and annual 'penny' gazettier. what is the capital of Venezuela? Caracas.

(Animator christy Karacas superjail)

where was I? Diderot, "An encyclopedia ought to make good the failure to execute such a project hitherto, and should encompass not only the fields already covered by the academies, but each and every branch of human knowledge." Upon encompassing every branch of knowledge this will give, "the power to change men's common way of thinking." he was commenting about the disparate nature of reference books of knowledge prior to his proposal to collect all together and distribute knowledge much wider afield.

however its popularity threatened both the church and national positions, and "The Encyclopédie threatened the governing social classes of France (aristocracy) because it took for granted the justice of religious tolerance, freedom of thought, and the value of science and industry. It asserted the doctrine that the main concern of the nation's government ought to be the nation's common people. It was believed that the Encyclopédie was the work of an organized band of conspirators against society, and that the dangerous ideas they held were made truly formidable by their open publication. In 1759, the Encyclopédie was formally suppressed.

We are seeing the same parallel now with the Wikileaks story, and the trouble that its founder Julian Assange, and his colleagues are facing from National leaders and guardians.

Diderot.
A good site for history of shoes

More than enough.

animation

Paper shuffling stops, animation begins. it all turns a little mathematical now. the brain has to stop interferring and worrying about this or that. tune your brain into doing the maths.
how long is this shot?
how many frames is that?
where does the animation sit in this shot?
how many frames is the animation?
How long is the hold?

do not watch single shots on a loop. watch in a context of three shots together, even if the shot before and after is not animated yet. learn where the cuts may be...

I got into the habit of having a Friday person last year. a Friday hero. let me think.

13 Jan 2011

Trilobites


the trouble with marking is that I get distracted... this one is for Dan K.
Trilobites are the most diverse group of extinct animals preserved in the fossil record. Nine orders of trilobites are recognized, into which 15,000+ species are placed. Trilobites appeared some 600 million years ago during the Cambrian period, long before the fish inhabited the seas and the Dinosaurs roamed the land. They belonged the phylum Anthropodal (joint-footed), a phylum which to this day represents the most successful (78%) of all animal life forms, including crabs, centipedes, spiders, shrimps and insects. The Trilobites, living in shallow seas, flourished as swimmers, crawlers and burrowers for some 350 million years. more info here

Welcome to the L3 collection 2011