Fun things in STAC this week. First, an episode of the prisoner, then making books from (almost) scratch and then ending the week with a movie/dance party!
The episode of the prisoner was very good. It seemed a little weird at first when the village was empty, and I knew something wasn't going to end well since they kept showing a black cat creeping around... I didn't get that 6 escaping back to England was the village's way of a birthday present until it was pointed out at the end. Also, there is another (?) woman as number 2...
The movie we started watching on Friday (I think it's called "Tell No One"...or did I hear that wrong?) has a confusing plot, but after time passed I sort-of got what was going on. The man's wife apparently is murdered and the police suspect him or murdering her...but then the guy receives info. that she may still be alive somewhere...? And in the meantime, other people are trying to find where the man's "dead" wife may be.
I really liked the part when it shows the man thinking and it compares the wedding celebrations to the funeral mourning and the couple as young kids and then as adults (the past and the present). A scene that sticks in my head is the one where the wife is about to be cremated. The scene is creepy. The way the scene was filmed made you feel dark and claustrophobic...
I'm looking forward to the end of the movie that we'll be seeing tomorrow!
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
-7.5-
Phew, after all of that writing about the field trip, I realized that I didn't even mention what we did this week!
We had STAC art, in which I managed to finish part 1 of the Busby Berkley project. I didn't like part of it, but when I hung it up, it looked cooler from afar. I'm looking forward to work on the colored version of my project.
On Wednesday Michael Costigan, a producer of Welcome to the Rileys (I found out the movie's name via. wikipedia) came in to talk with us about producing movies. I never really knew what a producer did, so I found out a bit about their job. It seems like they do whatever it takes to keep the movie-making process run along smoothly.
He showed us a script, and the movie counter-part to a couple short scenes in the movie. It was interesting to see how the movie changed from the original script. It was nothing major, just some dialouge left out to make the characters better, but I still found it interesting. We learned/ had it emphasized that movie-making takes a long time. Michael Costigan said that on some days, it took a few hours to film five minutes of the movie. Everyone working on films, must have a lot of patience to be able to do that...
Also related, this weekend, I re-watched Iron Man 2 and I found it interesting that not only are scripts changed in the final product, but animation/story boards are also.
We had STAC art, in which I managed to finish part 1 of the Busby Berkley project. I didn't like part of it, but when I hung it up, it looked cooler from afar. I'm looking forward to work on the colored version of my project.
On Wednesday Michael Costigan, a producer of Welcome to the Rileys (I found out the movie's name via. wikipedia) came in to talk with us about producing movies. I never really knew what a producer did, so I found out a bit about their job. It seems like they do whatever it takes to keep the movie-making process run along smoothly.
He showed us a script, and the movie counter-part to a couple short scenes in the movie. It was interesting to see how the movie changed from the original script. It was nothing major, just some dialouge left out to make the characters better, but I still found it interesting. We learned/ had it emphasized that movie-making takes a long time. Michael Costigan said that on some days, it took a few hours to film five minutes of the movie. Everyone working on films, must have a lot of patience to be able to do that...
Also related, this weekend, I re-watched Iron Man 2 and I found it interesting that not only are scripts changed in the final product, but animation/story boards are also.
-7- Field Trip #2
-Warning: lots of writing ahead-
No prisoner episode this week, but instead, we got to go into the city! There is a lot to write about the trip, since there was a lot of things that happened.
First we photographed in Alphabet City with a professional photographer that used to work for Luke (I need to get his name because I forgot it...) Then we wandered around the city and got to do whatever we wanted to as long as we hit certain spots. Finally, we went to see a version of Swan Lake by Matthew Bourne.
We split into groups again, but this time we were mostly with different people than last time. I sort-of got to know people more and my group did a lot of walking which was nice. We ran into a lot of other groups while walking around, which surprised me since we had the whole city to ourselves so I thought we wouldn't see anyone.
My favorite part was when we were doing the photography because some people in my group held another person up so they could take a picture over a wall. When the guy went to work with us, he gave lots of good photo-taking tips including, "If you think you're close, get closer" "Don't be afraid to take pictures of people" and of course "Use the rule of thirds".
Another neat part of the trip was when my group met up with Luke and another group and we all got to go into a condemned building. There was all sorts of religious paraphernalia and it was really dark. We got kicked out by someone else in another room though, so we had to leave.
After taking photos for a few hours, my group went off towards St. Marks place. We stopped to eat at a cafe/resturant and had a meal (the service was slow though, so we had to wait an hour just for the food).
Then at St. Marks place, we walked around for a little (I wish we stayed longer) and stopped in at Trash and Vaudeville. Then we went to Washington Square Park. There was this guy with a lot of birds and squirrels around him. I wonder if he stayed there all year round since I saw him the last time I was at that park.
Next, my group went to a place that all of us had to hit: an exhibit at the Pratt gallery on psychogeography of NYC. There were a lot of different psychogeographies including the city made of jello, a CD made out of tapes found on random streets, and, arguably one of the most strangest parts of the exhibit, jars of sweat which powered a map based on the anxiety levels of people in areas in and around the city.
We happened to meet up with 2 out of the 4 groups there and then saw the last group coming just as we left the gallery (more like kicked out since a lady there thought we were just hanging out and up to no good).
We hit Eataly after the Pratt gallery. It was filled with Italian goods. We didn't stop to eat there, but some people got gelato (mine was hazelnut). We ran into all of the groups, yet again, and two of the people in our groups split off to go with others.
And then there were four...
The remainder of our group wandered around the city. We took the subway up to 57th and 6th (I think it was 6th). We wanted to eat dinner, but after that gelato, everyone wasn't that hungry, so we hung out at central park and rested our legs for a while. After that, we ended up meeting with another group and getting dinner at a diner near the theater where Swan Lake was.
Swan Lake...It was very different than what I thought it was going to be. It wasn't just the original ballet, but with male swans instead of female swans. The performance had more to it. I wasn't expecting the prince to go to a bar, or the part when the cell phone went off during the "ballet". There were funny parts, but there were also serious scenes to balance the ballet out.
It was a little hard to get at first, but then I understood the first act after it was over. The prince was unhappy with his life, especially the fact that his mother doesn't show any love to him, so tries to kill himself. He is saved by swans and falls in love with one of them.
The second act got very confusing though. The prince and his mother were at this ball and this mysterious stranger appeared and started dancing with all of the women. I didn't understand if this stranger was the swan, or another guy. It got even more confusing when the prince was going to shoot his mother but another person got shot (after the part was over, I realized that the person was his previous girlfriend). After that scene, it was hard to tell what the prince was dreaming, and not dreaming. Was there really a swan in his bedroom...? I also thought that there should have been more scenes with the prince and the swan. It seemed as though the swan didn't like the prince at first, but then loved him back.
The dancing was excellent. The choreography of the swans gave off the sense of power but also grace that male swans have. During the ballet, I noticed that all of the dancers were sweating, which reminded me that ballet takes a lot of effort to do. I was impressed that they could do all of this dancing night after night!
After the ballet, I was super-tired so I tried to sleep on the train. This didn't work however and I had to wait till I got home to drop off. Spending 12+ hours in NYC was a great experience, but exhausting, yet, the next day I wanted to go back right away!
No prisoner episode this week, but instead, we got to go into the city! There is a lot to write about the trip, since there was a lot of things that happened.
First we photographed in Alphabet City with a professional photographer that used to work for Luke (I need to get his name because I forgot it...) Then we wandered around the city and got to do whatever we wanted to as long as we hit certain spots. Finally, we went to see a version of Swan Lake by Matthew Bourne.
We split into groups again, but this time we were mostly with different people than last time. I sort-of got to know people more and my group did a lot of walking which was nice. We ran into a lot of other groups while walking around, which surprised me since we had the whole city to ourselves so I thought we wouldn't see anyone.
My favorite part was when we were doing the photography because some people in my group held another person up so they could take a picture over a wall. When the guy went to work with us, he gave lots of good photo-taking tips including, "If you think you're close, get closer" "Don't be afraid to take pictures of people" and of course "Use the rule of thirds".
Another neat part of the trip was when my group met up with Luke and another group and we all got to go into a condemned building. There was all sorts of religious paraphernalia and it was really dark. We got kicked out by someone else in another room though, so we had to leave.
After taking photos for a few hours, my group went off towards St. Marks place. We stopped to eat at a cafe/resturant and had a meal (the service was slow though, so we had to wait an hour just for the food).
Then at St. Marks place, we walked around for a little (I wish we stayed longer) and stopped in at Trash and Vaudeville. Then we went to Washington Square Park. There was this guy with a lot of birds and squirrels around him. I wonder if he stayed there all year round since I saw him the last time I was at that park.
Next, my group went to a place that all of us had to hit: an exhibit at the Pratt gallery on psychogeography of NYC. There were a lot of different psychogeographies including the city made of jello, a CD made out of tapes found on random streets, and, arguably one of the most strangest parts of the exhibit, jars of sweat which powered a map based on the anxiety levels of people in areas in and around the city.
We happened to meet up with 2 out of the 4 groups there and then saw the last group coming just as we left the gallery (more like kicked out since a lady there thought we were just hanging out and up to no good).
We hit Eataly after the Pratt gallery. It was filled with Italian goods. We didn't stop to eat there, but some people got gelato (mine was hazelnut). We ran into all of the groups, yet again, and two of the people in our groups split off to go with others.
And then there were four...
The remainder of our group wandered around the city. We took the subway up to 57th and 6th (I think it was 6th). We wanted to eat dinner, but after that gelato, everyone wasn't that hungry, so we hung out at central park and rested our legs for a while. After that, we ended up meeting with another group and getting dinner at a diner near the theater where Swan Lake was.
Swan Lake...It was very different than what I thought it was going to be. It wasn't just the original ballet, but with male swans instead of female swans. The performance had more to it. I wasn't expecting the prince to go to a bar, or the part when the cell phone went off during the "ballet". There were funny parts, but there were also serious scenes to balance the ballet out.
It was a little hard to get at first, but then I understood the first act after it was over. The prince was unhappy with his life, especially the fact that his mother doesn't show any love to him, so tries to kill himself. He is saved by swans and falls in love with one of them.
The second act got very confusing though. The prince and his mother were at this ball and this mysterious stranger appeared and started dancing with all of the women. I didn't understand if this stranger was the swan, or another guy. It got even more confusing when the prince was going to shoot his mother but another person got shot (after the part was over, I realized that the person was his previous girlfriend). After that scene, it was hard to tell what the prince was dreaming, and not dreaming. Was there really a swan in his bedroom...? I also thought that there should have been more scenes with the prince and the swan. It seemed as though the swan didn't like the prince at first, but then loved him back.
The dancing was excellent. The choreography of the swans gave off the sense of power but also grace that male swans have. During the ballet, I noticed that all of the dancers were sweating, which reminded me that ballet takes a lot of effort to do. I was impressed that they could do all of this dancing night after night!
After the ballet, I was super-tired so I tried to sleep on the train. This didn't work however and I had to wait till I got home to drop off. Spending 12+ hours in NYC was a great experience, but exhausting, yet, the next day I wanted to go back right away!
Sunday, October 17, 2010
-6- !
I'm finally at number 6!
Speaking of number 6, this prisoner episode was a good one, yet confusing. So many events were going on, so it was hard to keep track of them all. I really liked the part at the end when 6 fed in "why?" to the computer and the computer just broke down like that...I think he said something after that..."Man vs. Machine" I believe it was?
I suppose man won this time.
-The hand coming up and grabbing the passes was odd. It reminded me of that hand from the Addams Family
-There was a good soundtrack to this episode. It fit all of the scenes and what was going on whenever they played music.
Making the Be Kind Rewind film was fun. I enjoyed working with my group and got to know more people in the class. I also learned some tips on how to film movies (I've filmed skit-like films with my friends before but they were just playing around).
It was fun watching all of the other's films also. They were all funny and had interesting plots to them. I hope we'll be able to film again soon.
I'm looking forward to the next trip also. I've been around St. Marks place, but I've never heard of the restaurant "Eataly" or of the men's version of Swan Lake before now and I'm interested in how they will be!
Speaking of number 6, this prisoner episode was a good one, yet confusing. So many events were going on, so it was hard to keep track of them all. I really liked the part at the end when 6 fed in "why?" to the computer and the computer just broke down like that...I think he said something after that..."Man vs. Machine" I believe it was?
I suppose man won this time.
-The hand coming up and grabbing the passes was odd. It reminded me of that hand from the Addams Family
-There was a good soundtrack to this episode. It fit all of the scenes and what was going on whenever they played music.
Making the Be Kind Rewind film was fun. I enjoyed working with my group and got to know more people in the class. I also learned some tips on how to film movies (I've filmed skit-like films with my friends before but they were just playing around).
It was fun watching all of the other's films also. They were all funny and had interesting plots to them. I hope we'll be able to film again soon.
I'm looking forward to the next trip also. I've been around St. Marks place, but I've never heard of the restaurant "Eataly" or of the men's version of Swan Lake before now and I'm interested in how they will be!
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
-5-
All right, I'm going to be covering quite a bit of items in this post....
---First Up---
You are number 6 12 number are you
Does that sound confusing? Well, that pretty much sums up the episode of the prisoner we watched this week.
Number 6 gets a mustache overnight, is told by 2 that he's number 12, and that he has to confuse the "real" number 6 into giving up information. The two 6/12's running around in this episode made things quite confusing...but I had a feeling that the 6 in the dark blue jacket was the real 6. It also didn't help that we had a cliffhanger, so we couldn't find out who was who until the next day....oh, the suspense!
When watching the end, my thoughts were confirmed that 6 was actually the one in the blue. The ending was good, but it was too bad that 6 got sent back to The Village...and just as he was about to escape.
I'm pretty sure that 2 was as confused as I was throughout this episode, until the very end that is.
On a side note, we find out that Rovers can kill people as well as knock them out in this episode.
---
---Second Up---
The field trip was amazing! I've been to MoMa a few times before, but knowing a bit of the background about the exhibit we were going to, I ended up looking for scratches on the painting, or other influences...something I wouldn't have known to look for if we didn't do the intro. In the Matisse exhibit, I really liked his line drawings. There were not many lines, yet you could tell the person's expression. I tried doing this when I came home, and came up with this:
It turns out that drawing in that style is harder than it looks....
I really enjoyed being able to wander around NY without supervision (well, we were in groups so we could look out for each other). It turned out that a lot of people in my group had similar interests... so we ended up going to Nintendo world, then to this japanese bookstore (I suggested going to the latter).
La Cage Aux Folle was interesting also. I admit that I got caught up in the characters and the story, so I didn't really focus on how the actors acting jobs were, or what other people said in the discussion we had in class...I suppose I'll have to be more observant next time we go to see a performance.
By the way...I'm sure most of you have noticed that I mostly draw anime style.
---First Up---
You are number 6 12 number are you
Does that sound confusing? Well, that pretty much sums up the episode of the prisoner we watched this week.
Number 6 gets a mustache overnight, is told by 2 that he's number 12, and that he has to confuse the "real" number 6 into giving up information. The two 6/12's running around in this episode made things quite confusing...but I had a feeling that the 6 in the dark blue jacket was the real 6. It also didn't help that we had a cliffhanger, so we couldn't find out who was who until the next day....oh, the suspense!
When watching the end, my thoughts were confirmed that 6 was actually the one in the blue. The ending was good, but it was too bad that 6 got sent back to The Village...and just as he was about to escape.
I'm pretty sure that 2 was as confused as I was throughout this episode, until the very end that is.
On a side note, we find out that Rovers can kill people as well as knock them out in this episode.
---
---Second Up---
The field trip was amazing! I've been to MoMa a few times before, but knowing a bit of the background about the exhibit we were going to, I ended up looking for scratches on the painting, or other influences...something I wouldn't have known to look for if we didn't do the intro. In the Matisse exhibit, I really liked his line drawings. There were not many lines, yet you could tell the person's expression. I tried doing this when I came home, and came up with this:
It turns out that drawing in that style is harder than it looks....
I really enjoyed being able to wander around NY without supervision (well, we were in groups so we could look out for each other). It turned out that a lot of people in my group had similar interests... so we ended up going to Nintendo world, then to this japanese bookstore (I suggested going to the latter).
La Cage Aux Folle was interesting also. I admit that I got caught up in the characters and the story, so I didn't really focus on how the actors acting jobs were, or what other people said in the discussion we had in class...I suppose I'll have to be more observant next time we go to see a performance.
I also liked getting to know everyone a little more since we spent a lot of time together.
---
--Third Up---
First, simplify how we draw before doing the details. I agree with this statement because you can do drawings more accurate and faster this way (this is an opinion though).
I tried drawing a box around a person free hand, but I had a hard time. I find it easier drawing with free hand or different guidelines (1 or 2):
but I also think it's good to learn a lot of other ways of drawing people/objects. I'm still learning, so I tried drawing a picture at home by using boxes also:
 |
| Sketch/WIP/ boxes yay |
 |
| Finished....? |
By the way...I'm sure most of you have noticed that I mostly draw anime style.
---
Well, that's all for now. I think this is my longest entry yet...! So much going on in STAC and I have a feeling the year will just get more exciting as it goes on!
If you're still reading this, I also put up two links. They are both for some art accounts I have on some sites (DA, or Deviantart) and a art blog I put up (non-stac as the link says). Both links are mainly digital art, and anime related.... but still, if you're curious, feel free to take a look!
(Ah, and help! In this entry, if you click on the pictures, it links to full-size, but I don't know how to manually do that! If anyone has tips, please comment!)
If you're still reading this, I also put up two links. They are both for some art accounts I have on some sites (DA, or Deviantart) and a art blog I put up (non-stac as the link says). Both links are mainly digital art, and anime related.... but still, if you're curious, feel free to take a look!
(Ah, and help! In this entry, if you click on the pictures, it links to full-size, but I don't know how to manually do that! If anyone has tips, please comment!)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)