Metamorphosis Animation

In my GT class's newest project, we were required to create our own animations. Myteam was made up of Mikela Puig, Brittain McGinnis, Sydney Nice, and myself. Our theme was "Metamorphosis". Metamorphosis means one thing changing into another. In our animation, we showcased an unimportant and ordinary rock, overlooked by society. We planned to bring this rock to life, and serve a purpose. Our focus statement, or theme of our project was "Rocky Becomes A Hero". Another requirement was that we had to use two different types of animation. Well, we decided to be above and beyond and used three types. We had used stop-motion, claymation, and digital animation.

The story that our animation tells is about a rock that we decided to name "Rocky Louise Armstrong". This ordinary rock goes through a shocking transformation; from "Zero To Hero". This rock gains a humanoid stature, and goes through a portal to the digital world. In the digital world, he sees a building on fire, and armed with his new appearance and trusty mustache, rushes to the rescue. After putting out the fire, the citizens praise him with their gratitude. Afterwards, he transforms back into a rock. My group and I really like the concept of an obviously overlooked character or object will serve a purpose to help those around him; like an unexpected hero theme.

Words of Wisdom

For this project, our interview profile stories, we interviewed Phil Villatora about his knowledge of living sustainably. Phil has lived in the jungle, off of the land, for two years, so we wanted our main point of the video to center around how people should rely more on nature. His words of wisdom were really inspiring to my team and I, as it was made clear that sustainability is something that Phil cares deeply for. My team member were Karlie O'Rourke and Paige Wesolowski. We are very proud of this video, and it placed first as the best video in our class's film festival.

Five Tips For…

The video above is the ending result of my group's "5 Tips For" video, in which we had to have an action that we would give the audience five tips about. Our video was "5 Tips For Reading A Book". My team included Mikela Puig, Maya Clark, and myself. My team and I chose this topic to make our video because all three of us enjoy reading, and many people don't like to read, so we figured that if we came up with a simple list of steps, then we could convince more people to read. We created this video during the first semester of school, so of course there are a few things thatw e could have improved. For example, the intro to our video could be changed to sound more sophisticated. Also, we could have brought out the story of the video more. Overall, this was a fun project to make, and we did the best that we were capable at the time.

Practice Profile Story

For my GT group team's practice story video, we chose to interview the most charasmatic member of our group. Paige Wesolowski. We were required to make a focus statement to be the theme and guideline of our video, and the story we were telling. We chose the statement "Paige Likes Music"to serve as our motivation. Our interview consisted of questions that related to the topic at hand: Music. We asked Paige questions such as, "What kinds of music do yu like to listen to?" or "Who is your favorite artist in the music industry?". We also used B-roll of Paige listening and dancing while listening to music.

Profile Project Progress

For our "Elder Words of Wisdom" project, we were assigned to interview a relative or elder, and ask for words of wisdom that can inspire today's youth. My teamates are Karlie O'Rourke and Paige Wesolowski. To the left are the results of a critique that showed us where we were positioned, quality wise. For the project, we interviewed Paige's stepfather, Phil Vilatora. We were questioning him on the topic of "Sustainability" because we recieved knowledge that he lived in the jungle, off of the land, for two years.

For our B-Roll footage, we decided to film Phil in action of performing some of the chores that he does at his house. We decided to film him doing this because this theme fit best with the visual story we were trying to tell. We got some good shots of him husking and breaking open coconuts, feeding chickens, and other such tasks. We felt that this seemed fit for the theme of the interview.

We also were required to record ourselves saying voice-overs in order to transition from one question to another. These voice recordings help narrate the story, and help to explain the actions being performed in the visuals. We also used the voice-overs to share more information about Phil. With all the elements explained in this post, combined, will be sure to create a great film that will be sure to impress your viewers.

Working in a team is always a good experience, but sometimes it is hard to work together while having to incorperate three or more opinions. A team could work better together if they all spoke up about how their project could be made better. If your team members are shy, and don't share their opinion, then you might miss out on a chance to make something great. Also, it is better if all of your team members are assigned a different job. This will increase your team's production, and the work will be completed faster. We are currently planning to film more B-roll for our video, as we found that we ran out during the editiing stage.

Composition Techniques

Composition techniques are one of the most important aspects of a film. Creating a film is like painting a masterpiece. You have to focus on the important elements of the painting, just like a film. There is the subject, position, or point of view, background, colors, etc. Composition techniques add interest and depth to your imagery. Anybody would get bored watching a film when everything is the same angle. These techniques pull your viewers in and make them want to watch more. Hook, line, and sinker.

There are four main composition techniques. Rule of thirds, framing, unusual angles, and leading lines. Rule of thirds is when you split your screen into thirds horizontally and vertically. Where the lines intersect is where you want to position your subject. Most camera shots involve this technique. Try to never position your subject in the center of your screen. Framing is when you use objects closer to the camera than the subject, to create a frame surrounding it.  Unusual angles kind of explains itself. This technique showcases angles that are, well, unusual. A different point of view gives the viewers something to gaze at and wonder, "Wow, that's a cool camera angle." And last, but not least, is leading lines. Leading lines uses the natural lines in your background to make your audience's eyes follow them to the subject.

Three Shot Sequences

This is a video that my team and I made a while back. Our assignment was to create a video that showed a three-shot sequence. Sequences are very important to a film, production, or project. If a video or film is stuck with one boring angle throughout the entirety of the its length, then the audience will get bored and loose interest. Before we made this video, I never really paid attention to the importance of different shot types and angles. A viewer doesn't realize how important these aspects are until they are the ones producing the footage.

A three-shot sequence usually starts with a wide shot; This shows the full subject. Next, is a medium shot; Shows part of the subject, commonly cut off at the waist. Finally, there is the last shot. A close-up or extreme close-up. You have the option to choose whether a close-up or and extreme close-up is better depending on what kind of effect you are trying to create. A close-up is kind of self explanatory. You simply place the camera close to a subject. An extreme close-up is when you position the camera or zoom in on, well, extremely close to the subject. This shot is useful when trying to express the detail of a small subject.