Project 1 / Scott vs. Scott

Originally my project started out as an actual robot that was going to walk around and destroy a bunch of buildings, but as I went on there were complications that kept arising and I just couldn’t find enough material to actually make it work. So since I had just watched the movie Scott Pilgrim a few weeks ago I decided I’d do something with him, since I loved the movie and it’s all still fresh in my mind. There was more than enough material to go off of, and I have a pretty good handle on how things go. I wanted it to start off with Evil Scott doing something that Good Scott didn’t like and then a fight insued in true Scott Pilgrim style. However once I got to the part where the actual fight began I realized that I didn’t know the first place to even start, nor did I have enough to time to finish it with everything I wanted to do. So I thought of something else that might be easy to do, but convey the same effect. How about an energy blast, DBZ style? So I rolled with it, and it became surprisingly easy after that, everything just clicked together and I finished my project on time, despite having to miss class. Then in true fashion I decided to have the one thing that Scott was trying to save, Ice Cream, be his inevitable end, for a sort of ironic ending.

Project 2 / Do Robots Dream?

Do Robots Dream, and if they do, what do they dream of? Many have wondered this question but it's not until now, during my deconstruction project that we finally have an answer to that question.
What I really wanted to do when it came to deconstruction, and hearing the description of this project, it seemed apparent to me that I wanted to do something with time, whether it be something with a clock, or something with time travel. You see time travel has always fascinated me, so I thought doing a deconstruction of it would be really fun, and I'd get to deconstruct something I like. But then when I actually sat down to do my project it hit me, I have no idea where to even start, and even less of an idea of how to go about it. So I started looking for other things I like. Almost immediately the next image that popped into my head was giant robots. I've always loved to dream about actually being able to pilot one someday, and they're a blast to draw, so that was my next course of action, already with an image of what my robot was going to look like in my head.
Then it was time for me to think of something to deconstruct, the very first thing that popped into my head was, music, more specifically the robot dance, then at the end of the animation I could show the robot moving on it's own, which it's not supposed to be able to do without a pilot. I figured that would be a deep and interesting ending that anyone could take something away from it. However when I sat down to do it I had no ideas of how to go about it, so eventually after what seemed like an eternity I scrapped that idea and went a different direction.
Can robots dream? It's been one of those age-old, hollywood, questions for quite a while, so I figured I could run with that, and deconstruct a typical, or what I think would be typical, robots dream. What they might dream about, what might frighten them? Hopefully finding someway to answer all those.
Once I started everything went real smooth, until I needed to find images online to help me come up with a typical mech hangar, I never knew how impossible it was to find one until now, I think I spent an entire class period just looking for a right one, until eventually eric told me I would probably be better off making my own. Well with my stubbornness I kept looking, because the last thing I wanted to do was draw a hangar, too much detail. Then I finally found my perfect angle, unfortunately no matter how many times I tried to filter it to make it match the cartoon-ish robot I made, it never looked right, so eventually I had to make my own using very simple geometric shapes. It actually didn't take too long and didn't look that bad either, great, now I'm ready to tackle this animation.
Now, what is my robot actually going to dream about, was something I pondered about forever, once I got the robot and hangar animations out of the way, so I went to the internet for help, I really didn't come across anything I didn't know, it wasn't until Cole, who sits right next to me said, "Do androids dream of Electric Sheep?" when I was telling Eric about my project. Immediately I loved that phrase and knew that's what the dream sequence was going to be about, so I asked him for some more info, turns out it's a quote from the very popular scifi movie "Bladerunner." So we watched a few clips, and then ended talking about movies the rest of the class period :P.
The next time I went crazy, my head full of ideas, my assets all collected, I was ready to wrap this thing up. I immediately knew I was going to start off with the electric sheep jumping over a fence as a way to pay homage to Bladerunner, which is pretty much all about my deconstruction topic, then I wanted there to be a sequence where the robot was attached to strings, to symbolize his connection with humans and how he has no control of his own, in fact, the only way he can move is with a human pilot inside him, so obviously he would dream of being cut, or set, free from his eternal slavery to mankind, that's what I would dream of.
Now what was he going to do once he was set free? I had a bunch of ideas going through my head, some funny, some serious. In the end I decided to go with a serious approach portraying a nightmare that starts happening against an unknown entity in his mind, maybe a virus in his program, or something like that, it just had to be ominous. I wanted to get the message across that although he may not like the fact that humans control him, he needs their help, as much as they need his, if they work together towards a common goal they can do great things.
However I didn't quite know how to symbolize a human in my dream, I figured it would be creepy to have a human hand flying around, so I wanted to do something like a fairy, or a glowing orb, to represent the human soul, or spirit. However I couldn't find a way to keep the object glowing while it flew across the screen so I went with a standard orb that when the robot eventually accepted the help it ignited his boosters so he could destroy the nightmare inside. So naturally I had to make the human spirit have the same color scheme as fire, which is why I started calling it the "Flame of the Human Soul." To light the robot's way in darkness.
With the help of the "Soul Flame" making his boosters intact, he is able to slay his foe and dream peacefully once again, I wanted to end my little story the same way I started it. Showing the robot back in the real world, while zooming away, showing his eyes dimming out letting the viewer know the robot now accepts the humans, and is resting peacefully once again.

Project 3 / Stick Figure Fighting

So when Bintner told us about our next project I knew immediately I wanted to do a stick figure animation, but once I started I realized I wouldn't be able to do half the stuff I wanted, so instead of making the stick figure fight multiple figures, I decided to just make one. I figured I would approach this animation like I did with all my movies in the past, just get the animation done, then the soundeffects, and then put in some music that fits the mood. So that's exactly what I did, other than that I just wanted a lot of good action because I've never actually done an action scene before so I figured this would be something I'd enjoy.

Project 4 / Hero

for this project I originally wanted to make an animated comic book-type thing, with the words flying across as the characters are doing their own animations, however with time constraints I soon had to settle with what I came up with, it's very similar with my original idea but not quite as ambitious. But I think it captures the feel I was going for, with the Frank Miller black-and-white where everything seems gloomy, or hopeless. It shows that even in times of turmoil you are still in control, will you end up being the good guy, or the bad guy?

Final Project / The Great Keeper Massacre!

Well my final has deep meaning beginning with a man's deep-seeded anger against capitalism.....Not really, but it sounds good. For my final animation I just wanted to do something funny, ambitious, and I definitely wanted to get away from After Effects. Since I've been wanting to do a parody of Mass Effect for sometime now, the timing seemed perfect. For the most part I had fun working on it, the coloring became very tedious, very quickly. I'm not even going to mention the night before it was do, EXTREME CHAOS! But, in the end, it doesn't really matter (a lil Linkin Park for ya), I think my final product looks great, there's few hick-ups, but I'm actually pretty proud of what I've created, IT'S ALIVE, IT'S ALIVE!!!!!