Internships!

1. NBC Universal (2 internships)

My first internship that looks very promising as well as sounding really interesting is here. Although I chose to look for internship with Bravo specifically, I think it gave me an overarching internship program, which isn't bad at all.


I fit all the requirements, the only things that would be stopping me from doing this internship this spring is that it is in California.

Desired Characteristics Editing Internships: Experience editing using Final Cut Pro or Avid is strongly preferred Photography Internships: Experience using Photoshop to retouch photos is strongly preferred Graphic Design Internships: Previous work or internship experience in graphic design strongly preferred.

I'm a little weak with design, so I would probably brush up on my skills a little before I applied there.


Another one I found through a different route is here(I took a picture because the link doesn't appear to work):

Desired Characteristics Preferred Qualifications  Previous work experience in an office environment Previous internship experience

It's in New York, which is more feasible for me than California. I'm especially interested in Jerry Springer and Oxygen, and it is funny how they are controlled by the same people.


A. I'm interested in applying to NBC because of it's myriad of programming, I am not opposed at all to doing Reality TV or a sitcom, and I believe that Bravo's reality TV is unlike many others. Although they don't do Project Runway anymore, I think their success with it is mostly due to their filming style as well as their ability to create a great amount of drama and suspense. They are also a very gay-friendly network and I feel like I would be very comfortable in that environment and would be nurtured and mentored more readily.


B. I think in my personal life there are many things that would be useful for Bravo- I am resourceful and interested in conflict and action- the thing that makes their ratings boom. I watch bravo, and I get captured in their shows even if it's Real Housewives, which I don't carefor, but their way of telling a story that grabs you when you are switching the channels is like magic and I think I can help make that experience even more enriching because I can understand conflict and can be resourceful in finding the story and the elements of the story and piece them together.




2. Blue Sky


Blue Sky has 3 internship types and all of them seem beneficial for film:


PRODUCTION ASSISTANT INTERN
VISUAL DEVELOPMENT INTERN
STORY INTERN


Responsibilities :
Internship responsibilities include (but are not limited to):
Production database updates
Spreadsheet generation
Set-up of visual components for various meetings
Scanning various forms of artwork
Taking notes during meetings and director rounds




I am really interested in being a production assistant.


These responsibilities look somewhat odd- I wonder if I ever get around a camera at some point? Even if I don't it will be helpful to look at the inner-workings of such a great company. They do not have where the internship is located unfortunately.


A. I am interested in blue sky because they aren't as big as Pixar and I would suspect not as intimidating/competetive to get an intership- while at the same time they have some good titles under their belt that is nothing to scoff at. Rio especially, was very satisfying and had a great and unique plot. I also like that working your way up from animation to developing your own story and content is encouraged within the company and this is in fact how Rio was made.


B. In my life I think I have a lot of stories to share, and unlike a lot of animators I have been developing a very cinematic eye that can plan out shots effectively. I think that's what was most interesting in seeing Rio because it had a lot of cinematic shots and showed lots of beautiful terrain in Brazil. I relate to the main character very well because he seems to belong in the jungle but he's very used to interiors and human life. That is sort of my racial experience- because I speak well black people are always curious to where I come from(especially in the south).






3.Turner


Cartoon Network Production Intern


This looks very promising as well as a little different than most of the internships I've looked at


Description: Students will have the opportunity to learn and observe a number of functions within the production department. They will be exposed to all aspects of a traditionally animated series. Student will assist PA, PC and Line Producer with all areas of pre-production; learn about design, storyboards, digital clean-up and color. Various general office duties may also be assigned. Students will have the opportunity to do their own storyboard pitch. 



Required Qualifications/Skills: In order to facilitate the learning experience, the following qualifications are preferred: Should be able to commit to 12 weeks of the internship and be able to work 15-20 hours per week. Majoring in Animation or related field (Illustration, Fine Art, etc.). Course credit is optional. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. and its subsidiaries are Equal Opportunity Employers.


Especially the bolded parts! They make me very excited. I didn't know Cartoon Network had such great attributes and ideas. It is in Burbank- but I imagine doing this over the summer and getting the grants in order to live there? They do pay minimum wage though- which is boss! There doesn't appear to be a maximum amount of hours you can do per week as well!


A. Cartoon Network has a long history of great programs so it's hard to pick just one. I think what they are doing now- (adventure time, regular show) is really awesome. There aren't any better words for it than awesome, because they are funny and entertaining, and tell a different story and have a different story structure than previous cartoons. Also, knowing they use Toonboom is great because if I wow them with my final or my demo reel it will be a seemless transition. 


B. I grew up with Cartoon Network- everyone has. It is inspiring now to see them adapt to the different generation of kids and those same programs still be entertaining as an adult. 

Assignment Write-up (Number 6)

     This assignment was pretty interesting, through it I learned that the frame-by-frame technique in Aftereffects is pretty janky. I realize a lot more about the tool especially after critique today, and seeing how others used it. One thing I have to say is that it would be quite effective for morphing lines or something very small. It is very likely I will not use it for the rest of the semester.
     This project required a lot more time than expected actually, and most of it was devoted to making the snake's movements look as real as possible. Much of it had to do with the background as well and how it was sloped, I meant to add a trashcan lid in the foreground to make it more readible, but perhaps I forgot. I wish I had realized that I could track a head with his body, but I'm still unsure as to how that would work, I might play around with it more because it seems that I will be doing a mix of Toonboom and Aftereffects especially in this class.

Snakee in the city

A snake in search of who he is travels to the big city in a coming-of-age tale.

Theme
An examination of human life in the eyes of someone who does not belong.

Premise
What happens to a snake when he travels from his quaint home on a farm and goes to a city.

Central Point
The collision of two juxtaposed objects, a city and a snake, and what happens thereafter.

Central Goal
To show a different perspective that centers the business of human life.

Abstract Terms
An outsider travels to a place where he does not belong travels to a stoic metropolis to find himself.

Short synopsis
A father snake and son snake live on a farm away from civilization. The snake longs to find out the secrets behind the bright lights and the people hurrying around from place to place. He meets a girl snake  that is inside a botanical garden and is entranced by her beauty. She charms him then uses him to steal from a pet store. He is trapped and wades away within a cage, when the pet store sells him his cage gets knocked out of the truck at the edge of town and he is left with the decision to choose the city or the country. To which he choses a place that is somewhat imbetween.

Here is my not so great crawling animation accompanied with the video of me crawling.

I still want to take this farther, so soon I will do a revision.

I chose a front kick for my action study. I am a little worried about how to show the turning of the hips but I think it's possible.

Here is more reference (skip to 2:45 for the slow-motion kick):

Character Study and Story Revisions

So, I decided that I didn't care enough about the story so I want to make some revisions to it:

     Instead of the girl living in a village, I want instead for the girl to be living in a space colony, where she grew up as a refugee, and the corporation that owns the space colony being one that is much like corporate America. The corporation is a monopoly and practically enslaves the population by forcing them to buy their goods. Anyone who doesn't have their newest model or most up to date products (phones, cars, houses) are forced out and must live in a slum. All the people that are trying to fight this system are locked up or silenced and so in order to change this she decides to free all the political prisoners at once from the prison. She is not out for vengeance due to her refugee status because of the war, only for change.
     Three actions that she will do are slowly create a tunnel to and from the prison (but  this will be a trick in order to cave the police in and slow them down. She will also gain allies, and then free the prisoners by way. After this they would likely have a revolution and in ten years I see her righting more injustices in other colonies. She will be trying to stop consumerism and materialism as well as money hungry-corporations as a goal in her life (like Ralph Nader).
    Her experience as a refugee and living in the slums (where crime runs rampatant) are the experiences that motivate her. The streets trained her to be smart and think from moment-to-moment as well as to fight. This is her point of view moment to moment, surviving and changing her circumstances.

Character Portrait

     My main character is a girl and she lives in a village with her boyfriend. They together are the weirdo's of the whole village, and are so disliked that they chain her boyfriend up in a tower (this is where the story would really begin in medias res) and what makes them so disliked is that they aren't consumer's like the other villagers. More so we find out they (within their home) are also not their gender's norm. They in fact are the opposite: the husband is cooking dinner and the wife is sitting down reading the paper and waiting. A villager sees this and it is the last straw to the, so they isolate the boyfriend and chase him (with pitchforks and hoes) into a tower where they chain him up and throw away the key. Our main character is left alone in her house and is lonely and downtrodden, but she realizes that asses need to be kicked. and so she goes to save him and is almost unsuccessful but manages to save him and when he is freed they have to face the villagers and escape. In ten year's time I see that this character will be fighting for change of how people who are different are treated. This character will also be encouraging others to be different and for it to be socially acceptable.

     We see that the main character is different in a lot of ways from the rest of the villagers, They dress differently they walk differently, they aren't afraid to be individuals while the other villagers are. The main characters point of view moment-to-moment is that she will do anything to be happy and survive, and she doesn't care about how many friends she has or what society tells her to wear and do. Three character actions would be her acting different in a conforming world, saving her boyfriend, and escaping from the village.

     My themes that I'd like to work with are; Being different but nonetheless human. Her destiny is to run up against many obstacles but overcome it so she can live the life she wants to live. I want it to be a metaphor of our own culture that makes us think differently, because in the end we can change the way we think about things.

-Story and/or Character may change dramatically-

Presenting Yourself and Your Storytelling Goals

1. Peculiarities of my life that have made me see with special eyes are ..


     At one point when I was young my parents informed me that I was adopted. I don't really consider this formative of my life or my personal characteristics, but it something that has made me see with different eyes. I love my parents for everything they've done and even though I consider them my only parents, I have always wondered about who my birth parents really are. Because I know (almost) absolutely nothing about them I speculate and theorize who they are and what they're story is. I realized then that everyone has a story.
     Another peculiarity of my life that has made me see with special eyes are that I realized when I was younger that anybody can do most anything if they are willing to work hard and make mistakes. If you really want to do something or be good at something, you just have sacrifice as much time and hard work as it takes. Sometimes there are things more important than being good at something though. This made me see that it's not up to talent or genetics to make someone good at something, it's all about hard work.


2. Conflicts formative in my life are ... 


     I'm a person that tries to avoid serious conflicts as much as possible, but when I need to I will face them head on. A conflict that I have enocountered a lot is that I'm different and I don't follow the same social rules that other people do, especially those rules that apply to my race; Such as my hair or my clothes. A lot of people don't agree with it, and how I face this conflict is to continue being me by doing what I makes me comfortable.
     Another main conflict that I have is that I have a problem with people who think being gay is wrong. 


3. Themes that I'd like to work with are ... 


Being an underdog.
Being different but nonetheless human.


4. Types of character I empathize with are ... 
I empathize with characters that are a little misunderstood but are also likeable. I also empathize with characters who are a different and unique in a different world.


5. Story topics I'd like to explore are ... 
A person escaping from somwhere. (prison, hostage situation, etc). A person in a world they don't understand.


6. Ways I'd like to act on my audience are ... 
I'd like my audience to think they are watching the impossible happen, that they are seeing ingenious things happening, and are in the POV of the character, trying to free themselves from something that is wrong and corrupt (the economy, ruling class, etc.)

Demo Reel Reviews

     I think the good characteristics of this demo reel are that it has a lot of good "awe" moments, especially with the helicopter shots and the foreign places, those are what make the reel most interesting. A good demo reel has a lot of great awe moments, but I think this reel needed more of his work that included dolly's and tracking.
     A good example of a demo reel with too much garbage as well as being a little too long is this demo reel. It has a lot of great shots in it especially in the beginning but some of them don't play to his strengths (especially the cuts with the little kid who is blatantly ripping off a cartoon) It's obvious this person has had some very nice camera experience and color correcting as well as having music video experience. I think his effects within his movies were not adding to his strengths but the intro and exit are very well done.
     An example of cinema 4d (mostly) reel is here.
     And I presume a mostly aftereffects reel (it says it's mostly aftereffects) is here. Despite it's age, it is very good and a lot better than a lot of reels that are current such as: this, this, and this. I'm also confused that some people have no animation in their reels, just character design like this.
     This mostly 3D reel is very nice, it is aided by their use of aftereffects. I think this reel is one of the most concise and successful and I would be proud to have one like it after I finish college.