Reactions to Feline Dream and In Your Closet...

Feline Dream

Overall, this video had a really positive reception. People tended to say that it is really cute (which is is, because Ruby is adorable).

Someone said that she felt like she was getting to know my cat throughout the semester, which I thought was pretty funny. Someone else said that they could see this being used as a television commercial for cat treats. A couple people pointed out that they liked the addition of the fish bones toy, which is something I was actually curious about, so I was glad to hear that it turned out to be a good idea.

When I was viewing the video on the QuickTime player, it pauses at the end instead of just cutting to black right away like the Photobucket hosted video does. I really dislike it abruptly cutting away from the end scene, so I should probably either host it somewhere else or make the ending frame have a longer duration than the other slides.

Overall, I was pleased with this project. My own nitpick is that when the treats are entering the container at the end of the video, I wish I had captured more frames where the treats are actually on the lip of the container like I did in the beginning, because it doesn't always look the most like they're traveling up into it.

In Your Closet...

This project also had a positive overall reception. One of the parts that was the hardest to draw and work with was when the tentacle grabs and closes the door. I was worried that it didn't look like it was grasping the handle and pulling the door shut. However, I didn't mention this before the video, and the first comments I got were about how realistic the part where it grabs the door looks. This shocked me, but it was a very pleasant surprise.

A criticism it got was that it should have stayed darker for a bit longer before the tentacle came in. This was actually my intention, but I guess I didn't select a long enough time for the frame before it enters the scene. I agreed with this though when I viewed it in class, and I think I would have noticed this beforehand if the playback was working properly on my computer. Thankfully, that's an easy fix to make.

Someone also suggested that I could have the door say "Slam!" when it closes, to repeat the "Click!" element with the night light and to maintain the cartoonish feeling. I'm not sure how I feel about this, but I do find it to be an interesting idea.

I would also probably slow down the progression from light into darkness in addition to the duration of the darkness frame in order to create a more gradual introduction, and it seems so abrupt and happens before you're ready for it when you click play on a web page, compared to a video viewer where it already starts on the first frame.

Blog Post #24

For my final project, I want to do some sort of multimedia storybook/storytime theatre project.

I would like to pick a classic fairy tale and tell retell it through photography. However, I would also like to rewrite the story myself and have someone reading the story aloud as the pictures show across the pages, instead of having it as text at the bottom.

I would also like to combine photography with some other medium, such as drawing or building the scenery myself, but I'm not 100% sure which of these methods would be best. I've been imagining having photographs of the characters on a fake/created fantasy background, like puppets on a state for example, but done with photography instead of puppets.

I know I want to do the story Little Red Riding Hood. For some reason it was the first story that came to mind when I was imagining this project, and even after I thought of some other childhood favorites, this one still stayed in my thoughts. I'm not exactly sure why either. I've always liked it, but for some reason it just seems like the right story. A secondary choice would be Hansel and Gretel, because that one seems like it would have some really fun visuals.

I want my project to have a lot of whimsy to it, and capture the day-dreamy feeling that fairy tales have, but also put a fresh twist on it somehow that will either shock viewers, make them laugh or think or something. I'm sure it would be fun to just do the story normal, but I think there are so many versions that I really should make it my own somehow.

Sketch ideas for final project...

If not any of the pictured styles, maybe like this?

Feline Dream

In addition to animation, I've always wanted to make a stop motion. This is my first attempt at making one, and I'm pretty pleased with how it came out. But then again, Ruby is so adorable it would be hard to botch a project featuring her.

The founding idea for this project was to transition from the real world into the dream world, specifically, the dream world of a cat. I wanted the dream world to be quirky and fun, and also hand-made instead of digital.

It was kind of hard getting the star to cooperate with me as far as sleeping and sleeping position and waking up. I really wish I had more time at home to catch her sleeping and shoot this a few more times because I felt like I was making the best with what I had. Even though it is admittedly adorable, I felt like it could have been better if I had more tries.

It's unfortunate how hideous the embedded video looks, all stretched out and whatnot. I promise the actual video isn't that way.

In Your Closet...

My inspiration behind this short little animation was the childhood fear of having a monster in your closet. Well, everyone knows there are no such things as monsters, right? WRONG! They are real! And they DO live in your closet! But they're not all that bad. In fact, this one is rather caring and helpful. It will even turn on your night light and close itself in for the night so you can sleep without being afraid of monsters.

I really wanted to dabble with animation, because that's something I've always wanted to try, so I decided now was my chance.

I wanted to make the tentacle kind of cartoonish and fun so that it wasn't too scary, so I used bright colors and didn't try to make it very realistic and didn't worry if each tentacle was identical to how it really would be from shot to shot (as far as suction cup placement, etc).

I had a hard time with the background images. I don't know what in the world I was doing when I shot them, but even though I used a tripod, it seemed like none of them matched up with one another. I think this could have been caused from my own indecision though, because I kept changing my mind on what was the best way to shoot them. It was hard fitting the right amount of door in the image because the door is a lot taller and thinner than I was imagining it to be.

Work in Progress Video...

Blog Post #23