How to train your Dragon 2 and End of the Semester

How to train your Dragon 2 won the best animated film of the year.  Honestly, this film was so good It had my eyes glued to the screen from the opening scene.  The animation was extremely professional and well done.  The story line was extremely well thought out.  There is not much to say about this film EXCEPT THAT IT WAS FREAKING AMAZING!   This was one of those films that people in the movie theaters could give a round of applause and it WASN'T awkward.  The story truly brought out the character yet again! This movie is simply spectacular in its animation style and it brings a whole new level of adventure to its previous film.

Throughout this semester analyzing these films has brought to light for that christians can be animators. While its unfortunate that they can't express to the public directly about their faith, it is however possible through art.  Throughout this class we examined many films that were created by christians that do not directly relate to christianity and are still beautiful in their own right.  While I do believe that there is a need to have films such as fireproof for the believing community, it is not always effective at bringing people to christ.  I'm sure that they're some cases where this has happened because I have heard of people coming to christ through this form of media, it's less likely I think.  I'm thankful to have had the opportunity to take this class and learn this extremely informative piece of information.

The Legend of Zelda:Twilight Princess

This is unfortunately the only Zelda game I have had the pleasure to play.  I was only able to get through half of the game, however because of its length and unfortunate demise of my wii, I was unable to finish the game.  I was mildly addicted to this game and I wish I had the pleasure of finishing it.  This game was full of adventure and exploration.  With the wii's new controller it made very fun to use a hand held controller that allowed you to aim whatever weapon you had in the game and point it at particular targets.  This made the gameplay have an exceptional amount of difficultly.  The story line that I played through was amazing in and of itself and left you wanting to play more and more.  Today zelda fans would admit to the twilight princess as being one of the best in its class of the zelda series.  Although most zelda fans absolutely love zelda ocarina of time there is still something to be said about the twilight princess.  For me the twilight princess was a great game to enter into the zelda series and I suggest it even for people who have never played a zelda game before.

Smash Bros Wii U

Super Smash Bros has been one of my favorite video games since it first came out on Nintendo 64.  Though I didn't seriously get into the game itself when it came out on the Gamecube as Smash Bros Melee, it has always been close to my heart.  Super Smash bros has been one of those amazing games that brings friends together for years.  With the new release of Smash Bros Wii U it is bringing people together like never before.  With its new 8 player local play it literally doubles how many players you can have on one console since Brawl.  With the new Wii U some of the new features include Vs. Mode, 8 Player smash, Smash Run, and Smash Tour, which is all the multiplayer modes.  Single player includes, Classic Mode, All-Star Mode, Home Run Contest, Trophy Rush, Target Blast, Multi Man Mode, Training Mode, Event Mode, Special Orders, and Movies.  All of these modes have made the new wii u original in its new direction for the Smash Bros series.  I am extremely excited to try this game out once I can afford to buy myself a Wii U myself, but until then I will be watching game plays online and enjoying the game from afar.  For Nintendo fans, this is a must have game with great improvements to the previous game brawl.  Although the mechanics have changed a lot since the previous game and many new beloved characters have been added to the game, it is a great game!

The 4400

I am currently watching the 4400 on Netflix.  In many ways the film reminds me of Lost in the sense that the people involved, in this case "the 4400", were lost for about three years and have come back to earth looking exactly the way they were when they left.  In other words they have not aged a day.  Some people have come from a completely different time period.  There is on man in particular who came from the 1950's when blacks were suppressed by white men and it is strange to him that he is now a free man in this new world.  Though I have not finished watching the series, so far I can asses that this film is great a telling a story.  Every single episode leaves you guessing what is going to come next.  For anyone who is interested in mystery and suspense the 4400 is a great watch.  However, there was apparently a drop in fan base around 2007.  The show launched in 2004 which is interesting to note because this was around when Lost had come out in 2004 as well.  When the fan base dropped so was the show, however up until now I have been addicted with the show.  I think that it has great potential and a lot of people want the show to make a comeback.  It's sad to see the who go, but if they're are enough people who decided to watch the show again, the show might make a comeback.

Despicable Me 2

Despicable Me has been a widely watched animated comedy film.  While this film is mostly directed for children I also believe that it is a film for all ages.  Many of the critics would say that the original Despicable Me was good enough because the story ended on such a happy note with the father character turning away from villainy and become a father.  It had the audience feeling satisfied with the ending and with the second film people were lost.  However, I would have to disagree and say that I think that continuing the film was a great idea.  It brought about just as much joy and laughter from the audience with its cute little "minions".  The plot line is not as sound as the first film, but It rifts off the first film very well as it uses the fathers past as a way to transition into the next film.  From an animation perspective everything very professionally done and it looks great on the big screen.  The level of comedy still holds up with timing and camera usage.  This is a great film for people of all ages and a must see for any up and coming animators.

Link to the trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwXbtZXjbVE

Lost

Lost is a film that came out with its first season in 2004.  I just recently watched the entire film over this semester and I must say it is one of my favorite tv series now.  Before I had ever watched the film itself I had some mild misconceptions of the film.  I knew that it was a very long tv series and I thought, because of its sheer length, that the film was not worth investigating.  However, one day I randomly decided to watch the first episode to see if I would like it.  From the very first episode to the last I was literally hooked on the show asking for more.  It took me about 2-3 months to finish the show in its entirety, which means that one could say I was literally addicted to it.  The most fascinating thing about the show for me was the great use of story telling and how they used a ton of flash backs in the first three seasons to help guide the story of the present as well as "flash forwards" to keep you on edge and wait for some pre-destined end to occur.  While in the last three episodes, the viewer was being told events that were to take place, however the film brought you on a ride that got you to that pre-destined event in an unimaginable way.  Being and animator and a film lover, if anyone is looking for a great film to watch I highly suggest Lost.  It will teach all of us DMA majors a little bit about how to tell a story.

Sly Cooper and Rachet and Clank

So a few weeks ago we had talked about in class about video games.  I decided to cover a blog about two video games that are close to my heart.  Sly cooper and Ratchet and Clank came out with two trailers for feature length films that they were going to come out with.  Sly cooper is due to come out in 2016 and from the long list of comments on the trailer on youtube, there a lot of complaints about the movie that i've noticed.
link to the trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbXEKZVonko

The biggest problem with this film that most people have a problem with it the models themselves, while a lot of the camera angles and cinematic sequences have been throughly thought out, the character models to not seem to fit the original dream of the sly cooper series.  Most of the comments go a long the lines of "If you ruin this for me, you're ruining my childhood."  In other words its very clear from the trailer that the creators of this movie are doing something the original fan already have a problem with.  While I am extremely excited for this film because like a lot of the other commenters on youtube, this video is also apart of my childhood and I don't want to see it ruined myself.  On the other hand, I also believe that this sort of thing is happening with a lot of new animated films.  It's kind of like how the new stars wars films were for the old stars wars fans.  Animation and effects always seem to disappoint for some reason.

On the other hand from what I have seen of the rachet and clank movie teaser and E3 trailer, the rachet model has a little bit too childish model for people however all in all, I think insomniac is doing a much better job.
links to trailer and E3 trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qx1oyMUxmkc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Y_cY_miDxo

With the release of the new E3 trailer I am extremely excited for the Ratchet and Clank series.  It looks really well done and even if the story in this film is not based off of the stories told within the video games themselves, I do no think I will be disappointed.

I hope that one day that all video game related films and animated films can remember to truly bring to light the emphasis of the original story.  It is a hard thing to accomplish i'm sure, but we have the technology to do so.

Next semester

The whole next semester I'm looking forward of looking into some of the next digital media classes. I'd like to learn a little bit more on the background and just how everything works because for film I'm very interested in filming different things and cutting pieces out making it my own piece. So by saying that next semester I've looked into the next step for me for digital media arts and possibly a stage where he could be my second major.

Lessons from zombie brains

On a final note, (yes this is really my last post. I'm serious this time.) I think I understand why freshmen animators are not expected to run out and try to make films. Planning out the shots, scripting, acting, then the whole business and legal side of things...film making is hard and it gets harder the more people involved that can't see into your head. (So be sure to work with telepaths Junior and Senior year) But provided you have a good team of friends to help you, keep persevering, and have the hand of God move for you, stuff happens and you make a film. Brain Games, the zombie film a few of us hoped to have done by Halloween, is done all but for audio leveling. It was fun and as Chesterton (& Prof Leeper) reminds us, "If it is worth doing it is worth doing badly." So good semester all and to all a good night.

CHRISTMAS TIME!

So I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed this class. It opened my eyes to different ways of animation as well as live action films. I also got to learn about how the Christians can influence film without making crappy movies such as Fireproof. There is a lot of work that the Christians need to do in Hollywood and I think that the first step to doing that is excepting that we are not in charge anymore. This class showed me all the wonderful things that film can do to us and how it can make us feel certain feelings. Over all, I think this was my favorite class but I am excited for Christmas Break.

Les Miserables

As I had mentioned earlier, The Last Five Years is my favorite off broadway play but my all time favorite play is Les Miserables. I got to see it twice at The Huntington theatre in downtown Huntington, just a block away from Antiqueology. The theatre was small but the performance was absolutely stunning. The music and the cast were fantastic and the singing was top notch. The chairs were very close to the stage which helped bring the audiecnce into the world of the actors. Broadway is an amazing thing and I personally like it better than film. There is a closer bond that is made and that is why I like it so much.

Fallout 3

When we talked about video games, I thought it was interesting that everyone talked about how much they like games that have to deal with story and characters and graphics. Now all these things are good and I agree but what makes or breaks a game for me is a character that no one ever counts as a character. The music. The Fallout series are the best examples of this. The music that plays during the game is played on a radio throughout the whole game. The music ranges from Dean Martin to Frank Sinatra. The music is everything that I love about a game. The music sets the time and the period for the game. Its nice to listen to some music while playing the game. It also helps that they such a wide range of music. Music makes the game and that is why I count it as a character.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay part 1

The Hunger Games series have always been a favorite of mine. I liked the books and I really enjoyed how the movies portrayed the books but I was nervous about this film. I knew that the first half of the book was so boring that I stopped reading it. I had worries about the film being the same way but I was wrong. The action takes place after the events of Catching Fire. Katniss is in District 13, a secret district that the government thought was destroyed. Katniss is needed to lead the revolution against the capital. The story for this one is somewhat strong. The action is well paced and the story doesn't drag at all. I think that this one is good, even though I don't think it is the best in the series.

Interstellar

So I tried to avoid this movie for as long as I could because I wanted to see it after the hype had died down. The problem with Nolan films is that they are always over hyped and once you see them, they just are decent films. That is how I felt about Interstellar. The story is about how the Earth is dying and how we need to find a new place to live to repopulate the human race. NASA finds a wormhole that allows them to travel to another galaxy which would allow them to try and find a planet for humans to live on. I thought that this movie was good but it was not as amazing as very one made it out to be. Yea the ending was pretty cool but I felt like I have seen it before. Overall I enjoyed this movie but not as much as everyone else.

Same rules apply

When it comes to foreign films, I feel that it is either British films or Japanese films are taking over America. This is why I enjoy this film so much. Filth is a Scottish film about a corrupt police officer that, with the help of booze and lots of drugs, will stop at nothing to try and get a promotion. That means he is willing to throw anyone and everyone under the bus to get it. This film, aside from all of the adult content in it, is amazing. It tells a story of corruption and the consequences of trying to get it. The film is a wild ride from the start til the very end. This is one of my favorite foreign films and I think you should check it out.