During week 2 I had an opportunity to watch a film at a local cinema. It’s located in Brick Lane and screens indie films every weekend. It has a bookshop and bar in the front,filled with people drinking wine and chatting, mostly about films and art before the film started.And because of the brilliant location of the cinema I observed many fashion people all dressed up in the crowd and I found them quite interesting to look at, I might incorporate some of their outfit ideas into my future character design but unfortunately I didn’t bring my sketchbook that day.
The film I watched was called “Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania,” directed by Jonas Mekas. It was three hours long and consisted of random footage of the director’s daily observations when he was back in his home country, Lithuania. The footage captured images of cottages, cows, and other random objects, filmed on an old camera, making it visually pleasing but lacking narrativity. Many people fell asleep during the screening, I was not sure if it was because of the wine or any unwanted socializing before the film drained them so much, or the film was just boring to them.
After the screening, there was a poem reading session, and many people were still quite unconscious. The lady sitting next to me actually got so mad at the amount of snoring in the tiny room generated by ‘pretentious people who don’t appreciate art but solely use it as a boost for their self-esteem.’ I could hear she swearing and it was quite loud. What a fascinating display of humanity again I should have brought my sketchbook to write down some story ideas.
The film reminded me of a book I’ve been reading recently, “Antwerp” by Roberto Bolano. Like the film, the book also consists of random pieces of writing that don’t have a clear overall storyline. Since starting this course, I’ve been constantly told about how the story matters in a good film/animation. As an animator, I need to keep the purpose of characters and events in mind and make the story fit the famous storytelling curve graph. However, after watching this film and reading this book, I couldn’t help but wonder if the ups and downs of emotions and plots are genuinely the essence of a good story.
While some may argue that a good story needs a strong narrative with a beginning, middle, and end, others may argue that the essence of a good story lies in the imagery and the emotions that it evokes. Watching this film, I realized that the lack of a strong narrative allowed me to form my interpretation of the images, and it left a lasting impression. Similarly, reading “Antwerp” made me realize that there’s more to storytelling than just the plot. It’s about the essence of the words, the emotions, and the images that they evoke.
Overall, this experience has taught me to appreciate different forms of storytelling and that there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to a good story. As an animator, I will keep this in mind as I work on developing my skills and creating my own stories.
In this week’s 3D class we needed to recreate the model and rig of Paul, I struggled to recall what I had learned the previous week and ended up having to search online for information to help me through the process. Unfortunately, there was still limited information available about Maya online, which made the learning process even more challenging. Back at home, I continued to work on my personal Blender project, which I find much more intuitive and user-friendly than Maya. I learned about procedural materials and created the most complex material I have never made for a concrete wall, which involved mixing two different materials to make it look less tiled, and adding a layer of moss texture to create surface imperfections. I was quite proud of myself for achieving such a realistic effect.
In 2D animation, I began the facial expression exercise which was a reaction to a video of a raccoon eating cotton candy.(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfbb4yRBH64) Although I still struggle with acting and remembering the different expressions and poses I need to use, I was happy with the keyframes I produced. I am learning 3D and 2D at the same time and I found it very overwhelming, and am quite unsure about which path to choose. Learning two different animation styles at once is challenging, and I worry that I may be spreading myself too thin. I know that I need to focus on one or the other in order to truly master a skill, but I find both mediums so fascinating and exciting and it is really not a easy decision.
