Animata

A student told me about Animata and I've been intrigued by it ever since. This latest tutorial finally helps me understand the interface a little bit more, but I'm going to have to wait for Animating Fast in the spring to really check it out in earnest.

http://animata.kibu.hu/tutorials.html

Thanks for the review

Well, apparently someone watches the movies people post on imdb. A few months ago I uploaded Catch, thanks to some offer between withoutabox and imdb to get a jump on that new feature. Today I checked it out to see if they were counting views (they may be, but they don't seem to post the counts anywhere easy to find).

Anyway, somebody reviewed the film a few weeks ago. The review made me laugh; it's kind of evidence of how screwed up the animation industry is. The bulk of the review's criticism is that, "it lacks the polish of a studio offering," and, "there was so much more that could have been said with a larger budget and a longer running time." Uh, yeah. It's like saying that a bicycle is pretty cool but damn, if it had an engine and four wheels it would be a really cool car! Such a neat frame design and colors and stuff, I'm just really sorry it's not a car.

What I'm tempted to call the best part of the review is this zinger: "As it is, it's worth seeing but that's about all." First of all, when someone tells me a movie's worth seeing I take it as a good sign. Though apparently, based on the rest of the review, it's also worth taking time to bash in comparison to a hundred million dollar studio movie.

But wait! There's another hidden compliment: "My fantasy is that the folks that made this nice short get more money so they can make this film prettier, longer and more fully address media messages to girls." So maybe, just maybe, the idea is also worth investing in. Hmm.

For what it's worth, I'll gladly accept money in order to help make this reviewer's fantasy come true.

Foley

We had a great Foley recording session today at Hampshire, run by Bruner in the library basement. Set up was quick, and we were recording squeaky chairs and crinkly suits and cracking glass all day long. Thanks to all who came and brought their creative energy (and their weird sound-making devices, like the Whole Foods box of cookies and the little yellow handbag).

For your listening pleasure, I'm posting one of our glass takes. Somewhere in here we're going to try and extract the sounds of stressed glass breaking due to pressure. Heck, I don't even know if we're going to use this take but maybe one of you can benefit from it.

I was the guy smashing the glass in this particular recording, and it makes me laugh to listen to it because at the end I kind of slipped and dropped the plates I was holding into the bucket. When everyone is tuned into every subtle pop and crack, a chaotic blast like that is quite the room shocker.

GLASS_TRACK_01.mov

Only two computer crashes, and no glass cuts. A very successful day!