Guidance and Gathering

This week was about absorbing and material gathering. I met up with Musa Brooker and talked about how to go about constructing my set, puppets and the logistics of making things move. He told me to build a mock mini foamcore version of my set, so we can figure out the placement and the wiring before constructing the real one. Also, he told me to make an asset list with all the puppets I need with replacements and props.

Mike Patterson showed me some great clips that my thesis reminded him of as well as suggested techniques like layering various filters or sand animation. One I always loved was "Allegro non Troppo" by Bruno Bozzetto because his animations has a unique style and the techniques are beautifully integrated. Bruno often goes over his initial animation with a second pass, allowing him to fully animate layers of paint and composite them manually. Other animations he showed me use presets which make things look deceivingly difficult but they are rather simple. Those I will keep in mind for post. Mike also suggested having the paper cutout of the character be on torn paper. In Visual Music class, I hope to learn how to efficiently time the music and flush out that second section as much as I can.

Yesterday I had the painting on glass workshop with Sheila Sofian. That was extremely eye-opening and mixed with Mike's filtering effects advice would be perfect for my film. I really love the hands-on, go with the flow process that involves paint. I will be layering and filtering paint on glass animation together to have it look like it's dancing to the music... FULL OF LIFE! Now I dont' need to worry about transitions so much because this medium automatically caters to it. What I need to do is experiment with it a couple times and then I can do several test shots within the next month.

I've contacted my dear friend and composer, Erene, and she's excited to see what she can do. I'm also ecstatic since she's a huge neuroscience expert and introduced me to the whole concept of phrenology, cognitive science. Her YouTube channel is here: http://www.youtube.com/user/erenemusik but anyway, lately she's been on a beat/electronica/ambience/remixing binge which will translate well with my second section.

My challenges this week have been getting to a supply store to get foamcore, fabrics, wire, paint of glass material and glycerin. Not having a car, and having limited time during the day, it's difficult. Mapping the second section keeps causing me grief, but I will have it complete in Taiwan. And after this main obstacle, things will get easier because this was the problem holding me back last semester as well. (however, this time, I have more of a concrete basis)

This upcoming week in Taiwan I plan to get organized with assets, schedule, procedure, materials and thumbnails (one of my weaknesses since I never sit down to figure things out, instead I just make creative things without guidelines). So having the plane ride there and back will give me more structure to how to approach the next step. Also I get to see the real dragonfruit tree that sparked this whole thing! WOO!