Yesterday had a good time at NYA's Thanksgiving potluck~ 7:35 AM now and I made slower progress than I'd hoped on the film audio edit hyuuu... Film shoot today at 4. I will sleep til 1. good nightt
monochrome
Yesterday had a good time at NYA's Thanksgiving potluck~ 7:35 AM now and I made slower progress than I'd hoped on the film audio edit hyuuu... Film shoot today at 4. I will sleep til 1. good nightt
Lovelyz
Oh help, I'm starting to fall very deeply into Woollim's new girl group Lovelyz, LOL. I haven't been this invested in k-pop in a while. I NEED TO TALK ABOUT IT. THIS IS MY INTERVENTION.
The horrible group name itself makes them a guilty pleasure. Their music so far as a group is pretty basic and nothing to write home about. They're what lots of people would consider "bland" and overly cutesy. BUT I HAVE THE EXACT ACQUIRED TASTE THAT FINDS THEM AND THEIR MUSIC SO CHARMING AND DELICIOUS. SOBS. Actually their very image and the sound of their bubblegum pop has a very J-pop and slightly old-school feel to it. And I like that a lot....
Candy Jelly Love
This won me over almost instantaneously because I have hella bias for cute candies. I LOVE the style of the MV with the bright boldness of the jellybeans contrasting and complimenting the light pastel colors and flowy whites with soft flares. YES. YESS.
First and second listens: "This is ok. I can probably dig."
Now: "THIS IS MY JAAAAAM."
Good Night Like Yesterday
First listen: "Who are they this is boring and I can't even watch this all the way."
Now: "SO....... CATCHY...... NEED TO LISTEN ON REPEAT."
Objectively not the best ballad, but ... my acquired taste loves it. Also it helps now knowing who the girls are because I can put the singing in some kind of context and thus appreciate it better.
Initially, most of them look like the same person, their voices sound dry and the same, and they kind of give off the impression of not being musically driven. qqqqq now I find them super cute in their unique ways and you know what: THEY ACTUALLY CAN SING SURPRISINGLY PRETTY WELL.
So, 3 of them have had solo debuts before.
One being Yoo Jiae, who honestly is one of the weakest vocalists of the group. Despite being the well-known frontrunner face, I'm glad that Woollim seems to acknowledge her weaknesses instead of trying to shove her down our throats. xD In Candy Jelly Love, her only lines are.. the titular "candy jelly love"s at the choruses HAHA. She has an important iconic part--suitable for her role--but befittingly small. And I'm very okay with that; it works! Giving her solo Delight a second listen (okay I ended up listening to it a lot more after), it's not as unimpressive as I remember? It's forced. Technique is lacking. But she tries!!! In latter parts of the song, she belts a bit and she even has a baby vibrato. I can respect that. :D
Baby Soul is fucking awesome. I defs dig all her pre-official-debut work.
See: Stranger (ft. Wheesung)
I feel like this girl really works against her odds. She's now debuting at 22 years old, which is considered a bit old for k-pop idols. She has a high and light tone, but still shows that she can sound strong. You'd have the expectation for the Lovelyz concept so no surprises there, but things like Stranger (power ballad song and the cool way she's presented) are unexpected especially given her 'type' and the industry.
Jin I feel like mostly got attention because her solo Gone had a QQQQ feels-inducing MV starring goddess child actress Kim Yoojung and EXO's Xiumin. Unfortunately, the MV does overshadow the song, which took me a while to get into. But she pulls off ballads so well that I'm kind of left wondering why she's in this cutesy pop girlgroup where her lines are enough quantitatively but don't seem to stand out or scream, "hey guys this is Jin singing here!" (She sings the first chorus to Candy Jelly Love and STILL I tend to overlook it because of distracting other things.)
And then the rest of the members who didn't have solo exposure before Lovelyz:
There's Kei, who reminds me of Girl's Day's Minah in terms of the way she's styled (the bangs and clean cute image, I suppose) and because she's the main vocalist ahaha. I'm surprised she was never in the media before. Her voice is pretty similar to many of the other girls' voices, but there's a smoothness and control to it that I can pick out. ;u; I do like that she doesn't actively try to sound cuter despite softening up for Candy Jelly Love. (In contrast, Jin obviously tries to use a cuter side to her voice in the song.)
For anyone questioning her main vocal abilities, see 1:43 of: Acapella performance of Word Up
My bias in the group so far is Soojung, who sings the first solo of Candy Jelly Love. She's uuuuugh so cute/pretty and reminds me of Morning Musume's Kudou Haruka who I also find to be an angel. I love that she's one of the youngest (born in 1997 lord help me) but is the one with a deeper, slightly husky voice AND is one of the vocal carries, with really good lines. (She does choruses in both Good Night Like Yesterday and Candy Jelly Love!)
Speaking of young, then there's maknae Yein who's born in 1998 jfc.. She has a certain awkward cuteness to her that's very appropriate for her 16 year oldness LOL. Something about her's very endearing. I don't know the range of her vocal prowess but so far to me she seems like she can sing well enough? There's a certain rawness and husky undertone to her voice that makes her one of the easiest to pick out. (Her parts are the 1st solo of the 2nd verse of Candy Jelly Love and the 1st singer in the bridge of Good Night Like Yesterday.) (I like that the two members with slightly lower voices in the group are the youngest ones LOL I can see this group having hella maknae power..)
And who can forget Mijoo? What the hell. She's so fucking pretty. Maybe it's because she has a gorgeously bright smile showing all her straight teeth, but she reminds me of Sooyoung from SNSD. And it's also because they're both so-so singers that do try! Soft tones and they both do the little squeak that even I do because I don't have the technique/control to end notes in a more complete way. It's charming from them though! I hope she'll be able to prove my impression of her as a passable-but-not-spectacular vocalist wrong. ;u; I think she has potential?
Ah... and lastly Jisoo, who's immersed in scandal to the point that she couldn't join the girls for their debut. It kind of works out since she had THE TINIEST TINY part in "Candy Jelly Love," thus it doesn't feel like much is missing. She does the engrish speaking part before the bridge that goes, "You're the best ever come in my life. You're the best of my life," and I think that's it ahah. So my assumption is that she's not a strong singer, though I guess I can't judge from this. AND THEN she's given the entire 2nd verse of Good Night Like Yesterday and doesn't sound impressive but also is passable enough?! So good for her! She probably has hidden potential too!
I love that despite their image of being cutesy (which is linked to being weak tbh), that's not all and they do sing. Especially after hearing their acapella bits, I think they have the potential to really bring it.... And I do appreciate that their weaker vocalists or members considered the "visuals" do make efforts to sing. They're actually more than passable and I like their voices enough. ;u; A Pink and SNSD are some of my favorite groups but to use them as an example: Na Eun and Yoona in purely vocal performances. Objectively, they struggle to be passable in terms of singing ability. (But still they've got plenty of other strong points and they're some of my favorites tbh. I just don't look to them for vocals.)
The horrible group name itself makes them a guilty pleasure. Their music so far as a group is pretty basic and nothing to write home about. They're what lots of people would consider "bland" and overly cutesy. BUT I HAVE THE EXACT ACQUIRED TASTE THAT FINDS THEM AND THEIR MUSIC SO CHARMING AND DELICIOUS. SOBS. Actually their very image and the sound of their bubblegum pop has a very J-pop and slightly old-school feel to it. And I like that a lot....
Candy Jelly Love
This won me over almost instantaneously because I have hella bias for cute candies. I LOVE the style of the MV with the bright boldness of the jellybeans contrasting and complimenting the light pastel colors and flowy whites with soft flares. YES. YESS.
First and second listens: "This is ok. I can probably dig."
Now: "THIS IS MY JAAAAAM."
Good Night Like Yesterday
First listen: "Who are they this is boring and I can't even watch this all the way."
Now: "SO....... CATCHY...... NEED TO LISTEN ON REPEAT."
Objectively not the best ballad, but ... my acquired taste loves it. Also it helps now knowing who the girls are because I can put the singing in some kind of context and thus appreciate it better.
Initially, most of them look like the same person, their voices sound dry and the same, and they kind of give off the impression of not being musically driven. qqqqq now I find them super cute in their unique ways and you know what: THEY ACTUALLY CAN SING SURPRISINGLY PRETTY WELL.
So, 3 of them have had solo debuts before.
One being Yoo Jiae, who honestly is one of the weakest vocalists of the group. Despite being the well-known frontrunner face, I'm glad that Woollim seems to acknowledge her weaknesses instead of trying to shove her down our throats. xD In Candy Jelly Love, her only lines are.. the titular "candy jelly love"s at the choruses HAHA. She has an important iconic part--suitable for her role--but befittingly small. And I'm very okay with that; it works! Giving her solo Delight a second listen (okay I ended up listening to it a lot more after), it's not as unimpressive as I remember? It's forced. Technique is lacking. But she tries!!! In latter parts of the song, she belts a bit and she even has a baby vibrato. I can respect that. :D
Baby Soul is fucking awesome. I defs dig all her pre-official-debut work.
See: Stranger (ft. Wheesung)
I feel like this girl really works against her odds. She's now debuting at 22 years old, which is considered a bit old for k-pop idols. She has a high and light tone, but still shows that she can sound strong. You'd have the expectation for the Lovelyz concept so no surprises there, but things like Stranger (power ballad song and the cool way she's presented) are unexpected especially given her 'type' and the industry.
Jin I feel like mostly got attention because her solo Gone had a QQQQ feels-inducing MV starring goddess child actress Kim Yoojung and EXO's Xiumin. Unfortunately, the MV does overshadow the song, which took me a while to get into. But she pulls off ballads so well that I'm kind of left wondering why she's in this cutesy pop girlgroup where her lines are enough quantitatively but don't seem to stand out or scream, "hey guys this is Jin singing here!" (She sings the first chorus to Candy Jelly Love and STILL I tend to overlook it because of distracting other things.)
And then the rest of the members who didn't have solo exposure before Lovelyz:
There's Kei, who reminds me of Girl's Day's Minah in terms of the way she's styled (the bangs and clean cute image, I suppose) and because she's the main vocalist ahaha. I'm surprised she was never in the media before. Her voice is pretty similar to many of the other girls' voices, but there's a smoothness and control to it that I can pick out. ;u; I do like that she doesn't actively try to sound cuter despite softening up for Candy Jelly Love. (In contrast, Jin obviously tries to use a cuter side to her voice in the song.)
For anyone questioning her main vocal abilities, see 1:43 of: Acapella performance of Word Up
My bias in the group so far is Soojung, who sings the first solo of Candy Jelly Love. She's uuuuugh so cute/pretty and reminds me of Morning Musume's Kudou Haruka who I also find to be an angel. I love that she's one of the youngest (born in 1997 lord help me) but is the one with a deeper, slightly husky voice AND is one of the vocal carries, with really good lines. (She does choruses in both Good Night Like Yesterday and Candy Jelly Love!)
Speaking of young, then there's maknae Yein who's born in 1998 jfc.. She has a certain awkward cuteness to her that's very appropriate for her 16 year oldness LOL. Something about her's very endearing. I don't know the range of her vocal prowess but so far to me she seems like she can sing well enough? There's a certain rawness and husky undertone to her voice that makes her one of the easiest to pick out. (Her parts are the 1st solo of the 2nd verse of Candy Jelly Love and the 1st singer in the bridge of Good Night Like Yesterday.) (I like that the two members with slightly lower voices in the group are the youngest ones LOL I can see this group having hella maknae power..)
And who can forget Mijoo? What the hell. She's so fucking pretty. Maybe it's because she has a gorgeously bright smile showing all her straight teeth, but she reminds me of Sooyoung from SNSD. And it's also because they're both so-so singers that do try! Soft tones and they both do the little squeak that even I do because I don't have the technique/control to end notes in a more complete way. It's charming from them though! I hope she'll be able to prove my impression of her as a passable-but-not-spectacular vocalist wrong. ;u; I think she has potential?
Ah... and lastly Jisoo, who's immersed in scandal to the point that she couldn't join the girls for their debut. It kind of works out since she had THE TINIEST TINY part in "Candy Jelly Love," thus it doesn't feel like much is missing. She does the engrish speaking part before the bridge that goes, "You're the best ever come in my life. You're the best of my life," and I think that's it ahah. So my assumption is that she's not a strong singer, though I guess I can't judge from this. AND THEN she's given the entire 2nd verse of Good Night Like Yesterday and doesn't sound impressive but also is passable enough?! So good for her! She probably has hidden potential too!
I love that despite their image of being cutesy (which is linked to being weak tbh), that's not all and they do sing. Especially after hearing their acapella bits, I think they have the potential to really bring it.... And I do appreciate that their weaker vocalists or members considered the "visuals" do make efforts to sing. They're actually more than passable and I like their voices enough. ;u; A Pink and SNSD are some of my favorite groups but to use them as an example: Na Eun and Yoona in purely vocal performances. Objectively, they struggle to be passable in terms of singing ability. (But still they've got plenty of other strong points and they're some of my favorites tbh. I just don't look to them for vocals.)
Sound's speeding!
hyu hyu, this is basically a narcissistic post of, "Hey look at these pictures that I'm in that kind of show what I've been up to!"
Yeeeeee, I had hella fun on this film shoot even if it meant long days and very little sleep. The shoot was supposed to end last Saturday, but they added one more day next Saturday for pick-up shots. But man, as soon as last Saturday was over, I basically went into a faux coma LOLLL. Got out of bed at 5 PM on Sunday..... Got out of bed at 3 PM on Monday because my only non-cancelled class was my 7 PM one........ Still pretty productive though throughout the nights. :> I'm a little sad that the last day of the shoot is coming since I'm not sure if I'll get the chance/have time to do any more shoots, but I learned a lot since it was my first time on a big'ish film shoot... I always used to say I don't have interest in film production (and only wanted to do post-production) but this changed that. ^^
(Also can I just say that I am super proud of myself for not only being able to stand in front of a room of people but also for being able to speak loudly and confidently in front of everyone without stuttering alksdfjlksdf)
On stand-by.
My friend Edy told me to make the face at him and now I wish I were smiling LOL qq.. (These are taken with a film camera with rich-looking, expired film; pretty cool.)
OOPS HAHAHAHAHA....
Yeeeeee, I had hella fun on this film shoot even if it meant long days and very little sleep. The shoot was supposed to end last Saturday, but they added one more day next Saturday for pick-up shots. But man, as soon as last Saturday was over, I basically went into a faux coma LOLLL. Got out of bed at 5 PM on Sunday..... Got out of bed at 3 PM on Monday because my only non-cancelled class was my 7 PM one........ Still pretty productive though throughout the nights. :> I'm a little sad that the last day of the shoot is coming since I'm not sure if I'll get the chance/have time to do any more shoots, but I learned a lot since it was my first time on a big'ish film shoot... I always used to say I don't have interest in film production (and only wanted to do post-production) but this changed that. ^^
(Also can I just say that I am super proud of myself for not only being able to stand in front of a room of people but also for being able to speak loudly and confidently in front of everyone without stuttering alksdfjlksdf)
 |
| pc: Edy |
My friend Edy told me to make the face at him and now I wish I were smiling LOL qq.. (These are taken with a film camera with rich-looking, expired film; pretty cool.)
 |
| pc: Edy |
A snap of me at the end of a lunch break. Real fuckin' flattering.
And now shots in which I'm pretty insignificant but at least I'm still kinda there--and still doing what I consider to be cool things!
 |
| pc: Colin |
First day on the shoot and nobody told me how wrongly I was doing my boom op job Q________Q I should be much, much closer, and the pole should be horizontal aaaa embarrassed. Oh well. Actually I'm pretty sure I must've gained some muscles from this film LOL.
 |
| pc: Meghann |
Second to last day (excl. upcoming pick-up day) and I was the only person on the sound team to show up.... so I got, er, "promoted" to production audio mixer. :'DDDDDD Which is actually a lot less of a crucial job than boom operator imo but oh well. Stole my grip&lighting friend to help boom op for me in this scene heee..
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| pc: Colin |
Somewhere on the side, but. At least I can say I worked alongside this heeeeella legitimate $$$ equipment. :D (the cam, and this doesn't even include the zoom lens and the dolly....) (hell, the microphone I was holding was like $4000..)
Momentum in the Moment
Aah, feels so good to be proactive. ^^ Film shoots have been unexpectedly so fun! Long hours and late nights but I'm learning a lot, enjoying the experience, making friends pretty easily, feeling good and confident. I've been one of the two boom mic operators, but also trying to help out lighting & grip when they're shorthanded by the end of the night. Today after work, I had dinner with my coworker and met her friends, which was fun. I'm socializing! The past few days, I've only been at my computer from 11 PM/1 AM til 4 AM. I need to stay up this late to do homework and take a breather and get things done, but I am productive. Tonight, I looked over the footage of a project I'm editing, and then I put together my resume and cover letter to apply for a really exciting internship I'm hoping to be able to do next semester. Despite working for 3.5 years, this is my first time properly applying to a job/internship and this one would be simply amazing to get!!
Chains
on the freedom of expression are the heaviest.
I really, mrgh.. have been feeling unmotivated lately. Like my spirit's been sucked out of me. Because life is busy and stressful, but not in any kind of fulfilling way. The drive I used to have to really pour all of my effort and heart into anything I engage in has taken a back seat--because what I'm being forced to do doesn't feel worth it, doesn't feel beneficial or rewarding, and I don't have a choice. I already have little to no free time, so it just feels sucky that the things I must commit my time to feel like a waste. Like going to class, where I feel like I'm hardly learning anything recently but attendance is required. And there's been a lot of disrespect and a lot of belittling of us students. How are we the inexperienced going to ever break out of this trap if only the experienced elite are allowed to do anything? Work is good, but just too busy, too overwhelming, and my newly bestowed tasks allow 0 innovative freedom which kind of makes me feel dead inside. Homework is a waste of time. Having assignments to spend the night on when you get home late everyday is a fucking bummer. But I will do all my homework because I have an obsession with grades that's arguably unhealthy. And this month, there will be lots of film shoots for projects I'm not even given room to care about because I'm just an inexperienced lackey and free student labor, and suddenly I matter when they want me to give up more of my time and my weekends... Go to work, film shoot until probably past 1 AM, go to work/class the next day, somehow fit homework in there, rinse and repeat. Obligation and no 'me time.' Gross. Lethargy. And frustrating ass people aren't really helping either.
And in the midst of this, I'm trying to find an outlet somehow somewhere. Two things that give me a recharge: singing and writing.
Sometime last week, I decided to procrastinate on an assignment (guess who's dealing with that now heh) and instead write and record a rap because I impulsively really felt like doing it, and this is one of the best things I've done in the past couple weeks in terms of personal fulfillment. It makes me so happy even if I'm not great at lyric writing or rapping. But... no time to mix it...... I wonder when it will be able to see the light of day, heh. :'D Plus I don't know if anyone will like or appreciate it.
And recently, I've had this inexplicable desire to write a screenplay. I didn't even have any story ideas; I just liked the very process of writing a screenplay.
So I spent my gap between classes yesterday trying to brainstorm story ideas, since I couldn't go home and do more urgently productive things. I realized that what gets me so stuck when it comes to screenwriting is the restriction of my imagination to merely reality, what's "easy to film," what's relatable to college students, etc. For us Radio-TV-Film students, it's so hammered into our heads that what's important is film production. When I write screenplay, I'm told to think about what might be filmable. When you try to make small talk with others in the major, they ask about if you're doing any film shoots. You just kind of forget that there's "Radio-TV" also attached to our lol degree title lol and that live action, accessible films aren't the only films there are.
I'm sorry, but truth be told, reality gets boring for me.
When I saw Book of Life (which btw is an AMAAAAAAAZING gem of a movie that I want to see again and highly recommend), I had this realization like, "This narrative and dialogue are all so well done..... The writing is great.. Ah........ wait, scripts can apply to animation as well... Maybe I can write a screenplay for animation, and it's okay even if my imagination soars?! Whoa!"
And animation is like a whole other world to me since nobody even mentions it in our department. You kind of forget that in animation, there are also people writing and editing and designing audio.....? The entire team isn't just made up of artists...? :'D (I actually am very interested in maybe trying to work on sound for animation or video games in the future heheh. But we learned nothing of the sort in classes, so good luck me.)
It's scary how much quicker a story comes to me when I have freedom of imagining life beyond humans. I came up with a simple premise as my short gap between classes would allow. I went to class all newly pumped up--not for the actual class at all--but to be able to bounce my thoughts and bombard my animation major classmate with questions.
I had a lot of apprehension I wanted to ask him about. Perhaps I'm thinking too practical and being the very thing entrapping myself. But what I wanted to know was: is there a point in me writing for animation when I'm not an animation major? This is the effect of film people practically ramming the belief that there's no point in writing screenplays unless it's filmable down my throat. Are there different rules between writing for film and for animation? I know animation majors focus a lot on coming up with characters, so since they already have the ideas, do they just develop those into stories? And meanwhile, there's no need for a pure writer or filmmaker to write a story that will be actually produced by other people? No need to 'outsource' for ideas?
"You should write whatever you feel like writing," this classmate told me. Oh, so much relief. That's what I need to hear.
Still, the answers to the questions were as I somewhat expected. They start with art designs and go into storyboarding. The outline and script are fluid, and there's no blueprint that dictates how the entire animation will go. In other words, it seems like there's no room for me. And the unfortunate lack of focus on narrative in the film major is just as apparent in the animation major. We have no classes about how to properly develop a story; what we learn is mostly technical or aesthetically driven.
This classmate didn't say or do anything wrong and I really appreciate him showing interest and discussing all this with me. But I just couldn't help but feel shut down. "What were you thinking for character design?" I don't know. I didn't think that far. That's not even one of the first things I think of. "You would want to keep to certain shapes for this kind of character. And how about conflicts?" So the one thing I felt a spark from, the one way I thought I might express myself with, I feel like I'm not qualified to do and like there's no point in me doing it. Not that there's time, heh.
And then I get sad because this all reflects a lot of work I see, whether done by students, or online, or professionally. Substance and cohesive narrative are no longer key despite how important they are, and how much they do make or break the quality of a piece. What's concentrated on is superficial--though I do acknowledge there's importance in appearance and presentation. How should we light this shot? What does the character look like? Custom art and animation are not only required, but make up a large portion of your score! And very little thought into conducting a story that makes sense and is fascinating/meaningful, or the actual singing in what's advertised as a 'singing' competition. Yes, that was an extremely pointed comment.
I really, mrgh.. have been feeling unmotivated lately. Like my spirit's been sucked out of me. Because life is busy and stressful, but not in any kind of fulfilling way. The drive I used to have to really pour all of my effort and heart into anything I engage in has taken a back seat--because what I'm being forced to do doesn't feel worth it, doesn't feel beneficial or rewarding, and I don't have a choice. I already have little to no free time, so it just feels sucky that the things I must commit my time to feel like a waste. Like going to class, where I feel like I'm hardly learning anything recently but attendance is required. And there's been a lot of disrespect and a lot of belittling of us students. How are we the inexperienced going to ever break out of this trap if only the experienced elite are allowed to do anything? Work is good, but just too busy, too overwhelming, and my newly bestowed tasks allow 0 innovative freedom which kind of makes me feel dead inside. Homework is a waste of time. Having assignments to spend the night on when you get home late everyday is a fucking bummer. But I will do all my homework because I have an obsession with grades that's arguably unhealthy. And this month, there will be lots of film shoots for projects I'm not even given room to care about because I'm just an inexperienced lackey and free student labor, and suddenly I matter when they want me to give up more of my time and my weekends... Go to work, film shoot until probably past 1 AM, go to work/class the next day, somehow fit homework in there, rinse and repeat. Obligation and no 'me time.' Gross. Lethargy. And frustrating ass people aren't really helping either.
And in the midst of this, I'm trying to find an outlet somehow somewhere. Two things that give me a recharge: singing and writing.
Sometime last week, I decided to procrastinate on an assignment (guess who's dealing with that now heh) and instead write and record a rap because I impulsively really felt like doing it, and this is one of the best things I've done in the past couple weeks in terms of personal fulfillment. It makes me so happy even if I'm not great at lyric writing or rapping. But... no time to mix it...... I wonder when it will be able to see the light of day, heh. :'D Plus I don't know if anyone will like or appreciate it.
And recently, I've had this inexplicable desire to write a screenplay. I didn't even have any story ideas; I just liked the very process of writing a screenplay.
So I spent my gap between classes yesterday trying to brainstorm story ideas, since I couldn't go home and do more urgently productive things. I realized that what gets me so stuck when it comes to screenwriting is the restriction of my imagination to merely reality, what's "easy to film," what's relatable to college students, etc. For us Radio-TV-Film students, it's so hammered into our heads that what's important is film production. When I write screenplay, I'm told to think about what might be filmable. When you try to make small talk with others in the major, they ask about if you're doing any film shoots. You just kind of forget that there's "Radio-TV" also attached to our lol degree title lol and that live action, accessible films aren't the only films there are.
I'm sorry, but truth be told, reality gets boring for me.
When I saw Book of Life (which btw is an AMAAAAAAAZING gem of a movie that I want to see again and highly recommend), I had this realization like, "This narrative and dialogue are all so well done..... The writing is great.. Ah........ wait, scripts can apply to animation as well... Maybe I can write a screenplay for animation, and it's okay even if my imagination soars?! Whoa!"
And animation is like a whole other world to me since nobody even mentions it in our department. You kind of forget that in animation, there are also people writing and editing and designing audio.....? The entire team isn't just made up of artists...? :'D (I actually am very interested in maybe trying to work on sound for animation or video games in the future heheh. But we learned nothing of the sort in classes, so good luck me.)
It's scary how much quicker a story comes to me when I have freedom of imagining life beyond humans. I came up with a simple premise as my short gap between classes would allow. I went to class all newly pumped up--not for the actual class at all--but to be able to bounce my thoughts and bombard my animation major classmate with questions.
I had a lot of apprehension I wanted to ask him about. Perhaps I'm thinking too practical and being the very thing entrapping myself. But what I wanted to know was: is there a point in me writing for animation when I'm not an animation major? This is the effect of film people practically ramming the belief that there's no point in writing screenplays unless it's filmable down my throat. Are there different rules between writing for film and for animation? I know animation majors focus a lot on coming up with characters, so since they already have the ideas, do they just develop those into stories? And meanwhile, there's no need for a pure writer or filmmaker to write a story that will be actually produced by other people? No need to 'outsource' for ideas?
"You should write whatever you feel like writing," this classmate told me. Oh, so much relief. That's what I need to hear.
Still, the answers to the questions were as I somewhat expected. They start with art designs and go into storyboarding. The outline and script are fluid, and there's no blueprint that dictates how the entire animation will go. In other words, it seems like there's no room for me. And the unfortunate lack of focus on narrative in the film major is just as apparent in the animation major. We have no classes about how to properly develop a story; what we learn is mostly technical or aesthetically driven.
This classmate didn't say or do anything wrong and I really appreciate him showing interest and discussing all this with me. But I just couldn't help but feel shut down. "What were you thinking for character design?" I don't know. I didn't think that far. That's not even one of the first things I think of. "You would want to keep to certain shapes for this kind of character. And how about conflicts?" So the one thing I felt a spark from, the one way I thought I might express myself with, I feel like I'm not qualified to do and like there's no point in me doing it. Not that there's time, heh.
And then I get sad because this all reflects a lot of work I see, whether done by students, or online, or professionally. Substance and cohesive narrative are no longer key despite how important they are, and how much they do make or break the quality of a piece. What's concentrated on is superficial--though I do acknowledge there's importance in appearance and presentation. How should we light this shot? What does the character look like? Custom art and animation are not only required, but make up a large portion of your score! And very little thought into conducting a story that makes sense and is fascinating/meaningful, or the actual singing in what's advertised as a 'singing' competition. Yes, that was an extremely pointed comment.
Catchin' catchin' up
Some more pictures from the past 2 weeks!
Classmates and I had a film shoot for our short film entitled "Cheater." The first night of shooting went til 4 AM, and the second night ended at 6 AM and I got home at 8 AM. hyuuuuuu. lord.
I was in charge of audio so I got to work a $299 Tascam audio recorder that we rented, and was also boom mic operator. The second night, we were short of hands so I also did some lighting/grip work and running extension cables and shit. Got a lot more physical than I expected, but... you know. Group projects teach you that you can't trust everyone to help or show up just because they say they will.
By the end of it at 6 AM. Rainy, cold, exhaustion.
A happy farewell to my shotgun mic bae of those 2 days, to which I was very attached to. with a cable. on my belt. Literally attached. We were married.
Right, and Halloween was 2 days ago.
:'D
..
Yano was like, "Hey Eva, want a Halloween costume?" and I said sure.
So I was a maid for Halloween.
Classmates and I had a film shoot for our short film entitled "Cheater." The first night of shooting went til 4 AM, and the second night ended at 6 AM and I got home at 8 AM. hyuuuuuu. lord.
I was in charge of audio so I got to work a $299 Tascam audio recorder that we rented, and was also boom mic operator. The second night, we were short of hands so I also did some lighting/grip work and running extension cables and shit. Got a lot more physical than I expected, but... you know. Group projects teach you that you can't trust everyone to help or show up just because they say they will.
Happy boom op. (photo credit: Edy)
Filming with Black Magic.
A happy farewell to my shotgun mic bae of those 2 days, to which I was very attached to. with a cable. on my belt. Literally attached. We were married.
Right, and Halloween was 2 days ago.
:'D
..
Yano was like, "Hey Eva, want a Halloween costume?" and I said sure.
So I was a maid for Halloween.
but I'm not sure what this little tool is for~ g o s h u j i n s a m a ☆
[PHLOG] Mexico Cruise
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[Blog, vlog, PHOTO LOG...]
Yo, yo!! Aaaa first time in a long time having a day just at home *^* Lots of things I wanted to blog about are no longer current, but looking back, I really did have a blast on my company cruise to Mexico so I'll dedicate a post to that~ I'm really lucky because I've been working there long enough to have the company cover all of my cruise expenses. I had to miss a whole day of class and I missed the opportunity to pitch my short screenplay The Anti-Cupid to the class as a potential to be made into a film, buuuuuut this might be a once in a lifetime chance that I'm glad I didn't miss!
It was such an adventure!! My first time on a cruise! And we went to Ensenada in Baja California, Mexico! And I felt like I got closer with my coworkers, who were great company!
Yo, yo!! Aaaa first time in a long time having a day just at home *^* Lots of things I wanted to blog about are no longer current, but looking back, I really did have a blast on my company cruise to Mexico so I'll dedicate a post to that~ I'm really lucky because I've been working there long enough to have the company cover all of my cruise expenses. I had to miss a whole day of class and I missed the opportunity to pitch my short screenplay The Anti-Cupid to the class as a potential to be made into a film, buuuuuut this might be a once in a lifetime chance that I'm glad I didn't miss!
It was such an adventure!! My first time on a cruise! And we went to Ensenada in Baja California, Mexico! And I felt like I got closer with my coworkers, who were great company!
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| photo credit: Jun |
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