reflection 5

This past week in twenty percent I did not do as much as I was hoping to accomplish. The week was vertly hectic with several tests and grades in my schedule as well as relay for life was finally around the corner. I spent most of my time studying and preparing at home rather than further develop my movie.

This week I did little to nothing. I watched some tutorial videos in class and at home home but that was itm I was very tired with school and extracurriculars like track, and it was getting very crazy. I didn't accomplish anything that was hoping go get done.

For next week I hope to accomplish my goals for this week. This includes mapping out the film and beginning the first few scenes. The project is getting challenging for some of the scenes are very difficult to do on the software and very time consuming. But hopefully this week I can accomplish my goals.

Reflection 4

Last week in twenty percent I finalized much of the plot of my movie. I'm taking a popular song and with it, I am making a short music video/ action sequence through the software though I want to keep the song a secret.

I have also completed the majority of the tutorial videos I have been watching, and I am proficient in the software, at least I think so. Next I will begin mapping out the film. I will be choosing how I will display the animation, what camera angles to use, how apply effects towards each instance, and even begin practice voice over.


The voice over will be the most challenging part, and I am still a bit confused on how to work them, but hopefully I will figure it out.

I also need to map out a schedule and figure out what I want to get done in the coming weeks.

Until next time...

Reflection 3

 Sorry for the really late reflection. Last week for 20% time I was not able to do much for I was incredblibly busy with school  and other activities

  I was not even able to work on my movie even by a little bit. My goals for the next week have not changed. They are to continue developing the plot of the film. And to further expand my knowledge of the film maker and experiment with basic plot ideas and thoughts

Reflection #2

     This past week of twenty percent time I didn't do as much as I was hoping for.  I continued to experiment and play around with Source Film Maker. I have become fairly familiarized with the software and can remember several of the commands. I have also been using a notebook to write down important commands and tools so its easy for me to access. With the notebook as a reference sheet I have become incredibly faster at editing.

    I have also been thinking about my movies plot. I have several ideas like making a classic red vs blue battle. This could be easily made with cool action scenes and firefights. I was also thinking about a musical short. On YouTube I saw an adaptation of I'll make a man out of you from Mulan. They had the team fortress 2 characters sing the song in a funny tone. Maybe I can take a different song and do the same thing.

   This week I plan to finilize what the pilot of my movie is and continue practicing with editing focusing on facial animations and inserting objects and characters.

Reflection 1

     So this week, I officially began my twenty percent project of the second semester, to create an animated short/film. I had already been researching and experimenting for the past few weeks.

About 2 weeks ago I was searching for software to make my from and I came across one that was used professionally called Source Film Maker. I downloaded the software from steam and I began researching different ways I could use Source Film Maker although the free vrrsion is only a beta. For the game setting, I chose the game world of Team Fortress 2. I chose this specific game for my movie because its simple and easier for beginners to play around with while still having great content.

     I began looking at online tutorials and videos on how to use it and I have already seen over 2 hours of tutorials. I also looked at films others have made using the software and it was impressive. Using some of the skills I learned I began practicing with the film maker and its incredibly challenging at first. Each movement or item in the movie must be created and than placed into the movie,movement  by movement which is incredibly time consuming to begginers.

For the next week I plan to keep practicing with the film maker, hopefully getting better, and improving my time management. I also hope to begin brainstorming my plot, which I have no idea as of now. I need something not too complex for an animation, but still comical and interesting to be applied to Team Fortress 2's world. Until next time!

2nd Semester Twenty Percent Proposal

              With a brand new semester brings a brand new 20% project. My original plan for this 20% project was to create an another movie, this time really influenced by complex plot and special effects. My other idea that I was passionate about was to draw, and really improve my art skills. I currently think I am a an adept drawer but I still have so much room to improve upon. But it was still in the back of my head that I was not doing something original enough. I had already created 1 film, or at least started it. Would it really be a good idea to create an another one? And with drawing, so many other people had done it, and I felt like I was ripping off on their original ideas. So than I thought of something that would combine both ideas and it would still be something I enjoyed: ANIMATION

           I have loved animation since I was a little kid and especially classic cartoons. These included Scooby doo, the Flintstones, the Jetsons and my all time favorite Ed Edd n Eddy. Cartoons still interest me and i still enjoy watching reruns of my favirote TV shows whenever they are shown. And this project will also incorporate my love of film making as well. I'll get to draw/animate and put it all together into a cohesive story. I also think I will be able to improve my art capabilities while also experiencing new filmmaking techniques.

           I have already begun researching animation as well and I have found how to start off. First I need to create my story just like I did with my Hall Monitor movie. This will be one of the hardest parts because it needs to be perfect before I can move on at all. After creating my story, I need to create basic story boards. These resemble comic book pages. They are to outline the most important points and motions within the film. After that I must create character models to have a display of which my character details will be based off. Additionally basic landscape sketches will need to be created to outline the setting. Lastly I will have to create motion capture pages to outline the basic character movements so I won't be lost when creating the animation. And this all occurs BEFORE the actual animations begin.

I have also found different kinds of animation I can use:

   I can do the traditional cartoon pieced together on Photoshop

   I can create a flip book

   I can create computer generated animations in both 2d and 3d styles

   I can create a Machinima which uses already created character models from video games and make a film.

I am very interested in both the traditional and machinima and I think I will try out machinima first to see how it does and go from there.

This project will by no means be easy. In normal animation on tv, shows have a dozen animators just for a 20 minute show. And that's not even counting experience. The dificult parts will be starting animations and getting a base as well as ofcourse, the movies plot. Easy parts hopefully will be the drawing, for I think I am somewhat good at it, and piecing it together for I have good software on my laptop. This project will take place both inside and outside of class. During class i will be researching and drawing and at home i will be putting it all together on my computer. Hopefully this works out, wish me luck!

Reflection 12

Over this past week, it was very hectic to film, with people involved, myself included having to go to AP Sessions, assemblies and other complications., Nonetheless, we got some filming in by the end of the week. We definelty do not have enough time to finish the movie, but we have done the majority of the filming. I plan to display m progress with showing a scene and all of the effects and visual tools i learned with making the movie.

Next week I will have to pack in the last of the filming and editing the entire movie. I guess I will have to bring my laptop to school to accomplish this.

With the software, I will begin to add effects and fix any inconsistencies in the clips. I have already organized them and they are ready to be edited.

Reflection 11

Over break, i could not do much with filming for it was impossible to bring all the actors together for even a couple hours. But I did accomplish some scenes right before break.

Before break we performed several scenes that incorporated some basic effects and visuals. Additionally, during several of the scenes we were interrupted by teachers. The scene incorporated a bullying scenario, which several teachers stumbled on, and interrupted thinking it was an actual event. Those scenes were a challenge to film and were a a true pain to perform.

Additionally, I acquired a new laptop for my birthday, which I plan to use to really help and benefit my editing process, speeding up and increasing its quality.

We also incorporated several different camera angles and movements to make it really life like and organic in the scenes.

Reflection 10

This past week for 20%, Tyler and I have started the most enjoyable part of making the movie. We started very slowly the first couple days, with practice filming shots early in the week. This was to introduce the actors on how the movie would be filmed and the formatting of the scenes. We also acquired the last of the props and handed out costumes. The last 2 days of the week we actually filmed, and it went very well. Tyler and I both alternated as cameramen and we also worked well and fast.  Hopefully we can film at least 1-2 scenes per day before break so we can finish the majority of the filming before break.

reflection 9

This past week for the movie we finished our full walkthrough with the script and we were quite pleased with it. We also did our casting for the movie. We cast our a dozen of our classmates in parts for the film, and we made sure they understood what they were getting into. Also, we ordered a microphone that would cost about 25 dollars, but we would need it to really get the sounds to play well.

We also rehearsed parts of our script with the actors to see how well they could do and we were quige happy with the result. We hope to do a full run through next week. We are definetley going to start filming next week and hopefully, all the actors for each scene are for filming.  Also during the week, we added some last minute scenes and some additional lines that would really do well in the script. This week had a lot progress for our project

reflection 7 and 8

 Sorry, i realized for reflections 7 and 8 that  for some reason when I posted them, they didn't show up so I just combined them into one and I remembered what I could of those weeks.

For week 7, Tyler and I started a list of props and other necessities on google drive and how we were going to acquire them. I personally started experimenting with my soft ware to incorporate visual effects from the scenes.  Tyler also started combining the script into one large professional format.

For week 8, we finished combining the script and we began a full walkthrough of reading it and fine tuning it. We also had other classmates from school look at it and comment on how it looked and what they liked about it. We additionally looked at our props list and figured out how we were going to acquire all of them and who would get what.

Reflection #6

    Sorry for the late reflection. I have just been extremely busy this past weekend and break with a large amount of work. So this past week, its unfortunate that Tyler and I did not make a large amount of progress, which was to be expected. Since we only had 3 days, we did not have a large amount of time to work on the movie. We did basic script work continued and we added some basic filming ideas, so we did not make much progress in the past week.

I'm hoping this week, we can do an another practice filming of a couple important scenes. This will allow us to really figure out how we are going to play the scenes out. I'm also hoping to practice a chase scene we wrote. I already researched how to properly film a chase scene and hopefully I can apply this and a really good scene.

Reflection 5

       This week, Tyler and I made progress with our movie. It was a busy week for me so I we were not able to work to the extent of what I would of liked, but progress has still been happening. We started ordering our scenes into a cohesive script. We have also formatted the parameters of the movie. For example the time being between 20-25 minutes and I also want to have a commercial break but Tyler is not really for it.  I have also been planning camera angles and researching ways to shoot chase scenes. With the research, I found a step by step process for the scenes.

This project has been really enjoyable, and I have really expanded my project for making movies

reflection. 4

     So recently, Tyler and I have made very good progress with the movie. During the week, we edited our script and developed additional scenes that really are cool. We also have been developing new characters and have really made a pretty cool plot.
     I really want to describe it but I don't want to give away any spoilers, but it is based off school hall monitors and their adventures. We also started adding more comedic elements.
      Additionally we also performed a practice film shot of the first few scenes. It was incredibly fun to participate in and now we know which parts we can put in and edit in and others we can leave out.
    Next week we plan to really develop the script even more and do some more practice shots.

Reflection 3

Due to class being shortened and smaller week, progress has been slow. Tyler had joined and we are in the process of writing the rest of the script based on the show COPS. The casting has been tough for people have to devote time for filming out of their own time.

Additionally, my hope for filming the trailer did not work out. There was just not enough time during co this week to film. My new plan is just to film very basic clips this week and turn that into a teaser trailer.

Reflection 2

This week in twenty percent, I made some proficient progress in my movie. I have finalized the plot for my movie and have created the setting location and characters. I have also started acquiring costumes. Most of the costumes, since the majority of the movie takes place in school were easy to acquire. For some like my hall monitor characters, I have yet to acquire uniforms for. Additiobally, I have already started writing a good portion of the script for the movie. The first 2 sections for the movie lie already finished with the script with the third being well on its way. I have also started making a palylist of songs for some sections of the movie. With the music and script, I am planning on filming and editing a trailer by the end of the week. I also have been trying to get an another camera for filming and I believe I can borrow one form a friend. That would make a total of 2 which should be enough. I have also decided to split the movie into "episodes."

My plans for the next week are to finish the majority of the script and begin filming the trailer along with the beginning of the first episode.

reflection #1

For the pas week it has been very hectic for me with several projects with history, technology and several tests/quizzes. I haven't had much free time for time 20% during the week but I did work a lot on Friday.
 On Friday I spent several hours with my friends discussing plotlines and potential characters for the movie. We also came up with backup projects in case the first movie doesn't work.
 Right now we will make a drama/ comedy about several tragedies that happen at the same time. Backup projects include documentaries about Africa and several of my personal heroes like Derek jeter or usain bolt.