CalArts Student Blog

Week 27

2012-03-12T23:53:00.003-07:00

First off, say hello to my new Sea Monkeys -
They haven't hatched yet, but once they do they will be named and can live with me here in Butler.

This week was amazing because I got to interview FRED WOLF!!! I am writing my final History of Animation paper on him and had the chance to meet him at his studio in Burbank. Him and his assistant were super friendly and supportive, and his office was surrounded with figurines that he animated. It was an amazing experience to meet one of my animation idols.

here is my fan girl picture :

And for those of you who do not know who Fred Wolf is he made this:

and this:

and Tony the Tiger commercials, The Flinstones intro scene, and Ninja Turtles. I also have this recorded, if anyone wants to hear me fan girl out and ask as many Harry Nilsson questions for my friend Ben.

My Chiodo assignment we had to make a normal walk, mine sucks by the way :(((((
I swear I am going to re-do all of these one day.

My Toy Theater assignment was to tell a story in Kamishibai style that we are going to have to present in class, my story is very depressing and made with my Instax mini polaroids I shot one day before class.

and for Mini Patterns we built arms for our puppets (mine are super tiny):

I am now making a mini mini film for my Toy Theater final. I bought these teeny tiny (expensive) miniatures over the weekend and spent over an hour deciding which ones to buy. I apologize to the employee who probably couldn't stand me, but look at them!!

and Saturday night was Calvin's Lacma event:

It's been a busy busy week and it's only going to get busier these next couple of weeks.

ambar

Week 26

2012-03-03T12:29:00.004-08:00

Week 26 has been me trying to be productive and getting sick :(

But in good news, my films will be showcased at SXSW in the Austin School of Film Screening! Hooray!

I also went to this screening with my bf in LA, then ate at a deli afterwards that had this amazing ceiling

Here is a photo summary of my week:

We made bodies in Mini Patterns so we can hopefully start making clothes! We've only been working on hats lately

Yes, MORE tiny hands. I'm a perfectionist and want the smallest cutest animatable hands

Before:

After:

Had to repair my puppets arm, and I thought i'd post this for (Matthew) because I think Chiodo is a genius! The wire going through my 2 pieces of brass were breaking so Chiodo told me to wrap the same wire over the brass, then make it go straight over the wire, then back to wrapping it on the other piece of brass. You then super glue the wire on the brass, then put Steel Epoxy over it.

Here is my twiggy puppet in progress:

Okay, and last here is my Chiodo test of the week. The assignment was to have your puppet pick up something heavy. Not too proud of this one :/

and on a final note....

RIP Davy Jones, my 2nd row seat to your concert will never get filled, but the hours of Monkee episodes and songs will keep me company

Week 24 & 25

2012-02-26T15:09:00.002-08:00

I spent the past 2 weeks attempting to make a decent looking puppet since I hated how my last one came out! I've been experimenting with Balloon Latex to make hands and the legs

Tiny Hands

Made 3 armatures in 1 week cause i'm insane

MORE tiny hands!

My To do list plus my DVD of films I am having screened at SXSW in the Austin School of Film showcase! Hooray! I love screening at SXSW every year. Thank you ASoF!!!

This was my Chiodo test. We had to have our puppet waiting, then gets hit and knocked over

The Chiodo test for the week before was to have your puppet waiting but mine was bad I refuse to put it up! Chiodo always saids don't blame the puppet but I swear my puppet was extremely hard to move but now that I fixed it it's pretty nice to animate.

Week 23

2012-02-15T23:39:00.001-08:00

I suck at blogging now. Oh god

These were my V-Day cards I gave to my classmates!

And my boyfriend gave me real flowers!!! :)

They have flowers and Ivy that is going to grow on my desk <3

For my Chiodo assignment we had to put our puppets in poses but we all misunderstood ( We/I thought we were supposed to tell a story in poses but he actually just wanted nice poses to show off the puppet)

We made berets in Miniature Patterns

and My Toy Theater Diarama:

Lately I have felt really unmotivated, I think it's because I spent a ton of time on my stop-mo puppet and hate it!!! So I took the head off and painted it but it didn't help so I put one of my twiggy heads on top. It has really bummed me out. I need to find my motivation again. I am really missing home and my cats right now :(

I feel like i'm not doing enough work!!! Even though I make all these small things a week I feel like I should be doing more :(

ambar

Week 22

2012-02-02T18:37:00.000-08:00

I now have a desk in the Butler Building!

(oh and I had my calendar on January for about a week now and was getting all my days/dates confused)

The weeks are going by so fast I can't even remember what I have been doing lately. Tomorrow my stop-mo film "Bored Girl" will be screened at the Bijou thanks to my friend Bertha who told me about the "Mi Gente" screening where they will be showing work of Hispanic/all Latin students work. And they put me right after Quique, the best stop-mo guy here dammit! (and spelled my name wrong, and it was a 1:00 min film but 4! but thanks!)

We had 1 week to make an armature in Chiodo's Stop-Mo Direction and Performance class, and 1 week to fabricate it. Our first assignment was a pose test, no less than 10 pics, to tell a story with your puppet (no animating just keyframing)

Here are a few pics of my armature/puppet.

In my Miniature Patterns class we are building a puppet piece by piece and eventually are going to make the clothes for it. This week we started building the head here's mine in progress:

Next week we are going to make Hats!

This is my test for my Alternative Stop-mo where we had to bring in a block of ice to melt. I used candles, drops of wax, and gummy bears.

Oh yeah! Me, my roommate and a few others bought tickets for this!

It sold out within 2 mins and luckily my fast bidding ebay skills paid off!

ambar

Week 20 & 21

2012-01-29T01:23:00.000-08:00

I need to blog something! I took Mime Class Level 1 that has changed my life! Hopefully I'll be able to take Level 2 if it lands on a good day.

My schedule for this semester is bigger than last..

I also went to this last week at Cinefamily that was amazing!

and the Single Wing Turquoise Bird show at UCLA

All my classes this semester are great. I have to make a new puppet for Chiodos class, a small Peep Show for Toy Theater, a "last" which is a hard shoe that goes inside a shoe for Miniature Patterns out of clay (for a puppet shoe), MY 3 headed puppet, some readings, and am doing a strata-cut Ice Block for Alternative Stop-Mo that we will be filming next week.

This semester is going way better than last, and I really need to get on my home and film!

ambar

Week 19

2012-01-15T18:23:00.000-08:00

Week 19 I can't even remember what i've done.

This happened:

Week 19 has been spent me shining heads and starting on the eyes. Will post pics soon, but right now there's not too much to show except for extremely smooth puppet heads that look and feel pretty nice.

I am starting on the eyes and re did the body so many times I stopped and am gonna wait for an expert Chiodo opinion in class Thurs.

Class sign up went great but they screwed up my schedule! Will post once that gets resolved.

I decided not to work today because I need a BREAK. But I am going to this tonight:

I wish I had more to post but I can't keep posting pictures of heads! And i'm going crazy working on them non-stop but I will have my schedule soon. Classes start Tuesday and I already have a homework assignment.

ambar

Week 18

2012-01-08T22:09:00.000-08:00

Week 18 has mainly been WORK WORK WORK and me with Krispy Kreme cravings. I've been spening a fortune on supplies and have so much more to do! I will explain Week 18 with these photos:

Finally glued the heads together, and filled the cracks with epoxy.

Then Sanded down to a nice smooth unnoticeable seam.

I did a "test" armature because I screwed up and made it too thin so decided to start from scratch and added waaay more wire since the puppet does have to hold up 3 heads. You can see the armature on the table and me watching the Twiggy Biography for inspiration.

Even though my week has mainly been every day from 2 pm - 12 working in Butler, I have been having LA, Krispy Kreme, Sushi, Smore making fun this winter break, and I bought myself a present:

God I love Celebrity Deathmatch!!! Next week should be finishing the armature, making an eye mold, replaceable eyelashes and lips. I wanted to get this done before school, but I think i'll still be in fabrication mode sadly. I want to start filming this asap!

ambar

Week 17

2012-01-03T00:49:00.000-08:00

Here it is! My Stop-Motion final film:

or watch it on Vimeo in HD - http://vimeo.com/34498171

That film took me 16 hours, NO BREAKS, and I wanted to die. The puppet was not well made AT ALL. Took tons of takes, but I can say that my NEXT puppet is not going to be made that crappy.

Week 17 has been a great week of Quique, AMAZING stop-mo student, teaching me how to make a mold! It was great and I can't wait to finish my puppet. He is by far the one student here who has taught me the most :)

and I wish his vimeo wasn't private so I could post some of his fuuccckkinng incredible films on here!

My puppet is inspired by this Twiggy photo I saw on tumblr:

Except I am going to have 3 Twiggy heads on horizontal.

I first made a clay Twiggy head that cracked in the oven :(

So re-did it with REAL clay.. (no offense super sculpey)

Covered it in plasticine and acrylic to make a soft mold (Quique technique)

Made a cast for it out of plaster

then filled it in with epoxy to make the multiple heads!

Now I have to glue the heads together, clean em up, paint them, and start building the body (going to craft store tomorrow in LA for wire and supplies)

School starts in 2 weeks which is NOTHING! I have so much work and cleaning to do!

Been deciding what classes i'm going to take next semester, and watching a ton of Arrested Development in my room when at all possible. Everything is going good, I need to start cooking real food more and I miss my kitties so much :(

Just look at this face, it's currently my desktop background

Kiraaaa <333

ambar

X-Mas Post! 2011 (Week 16)

2011-12-23T00:03:00.000-08:00

Made a quick Wishlist in the computer lab. Week 16, i've done nothing. Been sick the past week, watching Twin Peaks, trying not to puke, and missing my cats. But, now need to start on my next semester short and finish re-editing my stop-mo short. Will get on that tomorrow! I swear! (I'll try...)

XMAS WISHLIST

but this is what I need:

boo hoo.

ambar

Week 14/15 last week

2011-12-22T18:45:00.000-08:00

Updating so late :(

Week 14 and 15 was spent working on my Stop-mo film, Intuitive final, and 3D test.

I'm gonna post 2 up here, my stop-mo one is too big:

They built a door next to my desk for the new experimental classroom! Look how clean my desk is! Cleaned it over the weeked, should have took a "before" shot. It was full of plates and cups. ( I stopped counting how many cups were on my desk when I got to 12...)

The A115 creepy desks at night when no one is in here...

All i'm gonna say is the last 2 weeks were extremely stressful. No sleeping, and all of these were made in 1 day except for the intuitive that took hours spread over the 2 weeks while catching up on essays allllll my other work.

Now i'm in the lab. re-editing my stop-mo film. Should have it finalized by tonight or tomorrow.

I think this semester went okay, I actually like how weird the 3D test turned out, If I were to re-do it differently. I've met great people and am now am spending the holidays here at CalArts. Missing my cats and food.

ambar

Week 13

2011-12-04T03:25:00.000-08:00

Blogging at 3 am because I can't sleep.
Tomorrow i'm doing some voice recording in the morning and this is me and thomas with burce bickford!

I also have a 6 page essay due on tuesday which I have been working on for hours :( I know i'm gonna end up almost crying in the lab monday night. ughhh i suck at writing essays

The Intuitive assignment was the lip sync one I posted for last week because I finished it earlier.
But my to do list is:
6 Page Essay for History of Animation
6 Page Essay for Writing Arts
Paper for Dinner with Animation Class
3D cut-out film
Live Action film
Stop-Mo film
Intuitive Final (24 second lip sync)

some of these are due in a few days, some in 2 weeks (2 more weeks of school!!!!)

and this week in stop-mo Mike brought in his Corpse Bride puppets! It was really cool and nice of him to bring in these $30,000 puppets for us and showed us some cool time lapse of animators shooting on the set.

Enjoy photos of amazingly well made puppets, excited students, and blurry photos from my HD phone camera.

and here is a puppet I made. Don't worry it's not for my stop-mo film I made this in about 5 secs at the puppet cabaret show on friday

I hope my mom sees where all the tuition money is going to!

ambar

Week 12

2011-11-27T00:43:00.000-08:00

My thanksgiving break has been me working non-stop in the Butler Building working on my stop-mo set and in the lab for 7 hours today. Tomorrow I have a 5 page essay to write then rush over to the Butler and try to get as much done as possible

I have 3 films, 3 essays, some animation tests, all due in the upcoming weeks. It is beyond stressful

My puppet looks really cool!!! But her right arm has broken off 4 times :( and I need to perform surgery on her tomorrow and will post pictures of everything

I'm also working on a 3D cut out stop-mo film

and my final presentation film that I need to present to my mentor that I haven't started on at all but will get done!

This is my Intuitive Assignment. The assignment was to animate to sound

That 7 second animation took me 7 hours!!! Why? because I suck at flash and it was my 1st time doing hand drawn lip sync!!! This was also a result:

I accidentally took this picture in photo both while practicing my lip syncs.

ambar

Week 11? Or is this Week 10... crap

2011-11-19T11:36:00.000-08:00

Ok I have no idea what week this is, all I know is that there are 4 more weeks of classes!!!

I have a ton of stuff to do

(After Effefts puppet walk, Stop-mo short, Stereoscopic short, plus a 1 min short film, and a animating to sound test)

Ahhhh

anyways here are some stuff to look at

and here was my assignment for my Intuitive class

The assignment was to have certatin things come in on different times and use the space of your screen

and now I have a ton of laundry to do, finish my puppet, work in after effects, start collecting cardboard, and might go to Toy Theater in LA tonight!

ambar

Week 9 Week 10

2011-11-12T00:24:00.000-08:00

I am getting really bad at updating this

and my Animator of the week only lasted one week! i'll get back into that (someday)

I've been watching a lot of erotic films lately at the film library and having small life crisis's but it's all normal

I have nothing to really post for this week, we are building puppets in stop-mo and they have to be done, completely DONE by friday!!! I need to remember to take pictures of my work

then I have a hand drawn animation that is really hard due on Thurs :(

there are more assignments (readings, after effects tests...)

but for now I am trying to get everything done. I need to get off this lab computer because my eyes are extremely blurry from animating a spinning wheel.

p.s. these are all the films i've watched lately not all of them are erotic
and the reason i've been watching so many is because i need inspiration for my fetish film but also because I am stressed out of my mind and watching films is the only thing that can relax me

Le Trou (1960)

dir. Jacques Becker

The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967)

dir. Roman Polanski

The Craft (1996)

dir. Andrew Fleming

Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965)

Russ Meyer

Mondo Topless (1966)

dir. Russ Meyer

Darling (1965)

dir. John Schlesinger

Femina Ridens (1969)

dir. Piero Schivazappa

ambar

Week 7 & Week 8

2011-11-01T04:22:00.000-07:00

Blogging at 4 am on the school computer

Finished some tests, I don't have much to post

This was my week 7 Intuitive Assignment:

This week for Stop-mo our assignment was to draw a character sheet for the puppets we're going to start building for our end of the semester short! I ended up changing mine and am going to do a short story about a punk girl.

I've also been doing a bunch of tests for my end of the year hand drawn animation which is really really hard :(

Here is one of them:

That one is almost done I just need to fix the timing on the blinking, color, but It is almost done.

Tomorrow is the Suzan Pitt screening and I should probably get off since I have class in 4 hours and 40 mins!!

ohh! and here is my Halloween costume

Uncle Artie from pete and pete!!!

ambar

Week 6

2011-10-20T22:53:00.000-07:00

I've realized that the only reason I blog at this time, half awake is because if I was more awake I'd be doing more work. These are my animations for this week (Week 6 of school)

Our Stop-Mo assignment for this week was Replacement animation and a camera move

This is my first EVER lip sync, I think I like it now but at the time my puppet was falling all over the place, I couldn't get the tripod to shoot down, this was a very very VERY stressful shoot. But here it is, My Poly Styrene animation test:

My New Intuitive Assignment for this week, we picked out random words from books then had to make and animation from it. Some of the words were: British, Artist, Mistake

And since I liked my last week's Intuitive assignment background so much I decided to re-do it in flash. I'm happy with how it came out!

ambar

Sleepy

2011-10-13T18:23:00.000-07:00

Here are the 2 tests I made this week:

This one was for my Intuitive class, the assignment was to create a background have something moving within it. Seeing it now I now I could have had more objects moving within at different speeds. I'd like to re-do it.... someday

and my Stop-Mo assignment was having 2 SFX, I hardly ever work with clay so bare with me..

I can't say I've made any tests so far that I love, I'm going to spend this weekend sleeping, watching films, and doing homework. I miss watching films so much so I'm going to spend a day at the Film Library to refresh my brain.

ambar

Some updating

2011-10-12T01:14:00.000-07:00

Had a friend stay the past 4 days in which I had a ton of homework to do.

Went to the Jules Engel RedCat screening where they screened his films along with CalArts student film from the 70's that were SOOO good.

Now Here is my stop-mo short for last week (We had to create a Loop)
I'm not sure if I like mine, it was a hard object to animate, and I couldn't quite line it up back to frame one to create the full loop

Then I slowed down my other animation for my Intuitive class:

And! Here is me in the Mr.Brainwash 2011 Art Show in LA
I made the piece while I was there with the only art supplies I had on me

Got super dusty and sweaty, I had so much fun! They will be exhibiting all the work at the end of October which reminds me, I need to get my CalArts Halloween costume ready...

that's it for now, i'm considering starting a "Animator a Week" thing or something..

ambar

Birthday Blog

2011-10-02T21:55:00.000-07:00

Spent a fun day in LA, ate calamari and (finally) watched the Kevin Hart stand up special in theaters!

Also, my desk got violated.

Thanks Jamie and Isabela <3

and this was from my sis!!!

I miss my baby cat Kira soo much! I love her so so so much :(

I'M 20 NOW. yeeeah.

ambar

Life at CalArts

2011-09-30T22:18:00.000-07:00

I miss watching films so bad!
My daily homework list consists of:

History of Animation reading
Writing Arts Reading
Intuitive Animation due
Stop-Mo test due

plus whatever assignments my mentor gives me for my 1st year film.

Everything is starting to calm down a little, and I can't wait to start animating for my end of semester film!

I really want to decorate my cube, and get all my homework done so I can have some free animating time

and here are some tests (keyword "TESTS" i've done at calarts so far. Don't judge me!!!)

and thanks to blogger for uploading the crappiest quailty video of my animations! thanks a lot >:(
but you get the point...

ambar

CalArts BFA-1 Schedule

2011-09-12T20:59:00.000-07:00

NEW schedule (sorta)

FRIDAY night... yeah

Homework time.

ambar

Texas --- CalArts! :Roadtrip

2011-09-12T20:51:00.000-07:00

Took about 2 days to drive from Texas to Cali - Tried taking photos and a piece of my life got complete at the Pee-Wee dino's. SOOO cool.

I am at CalArts, in my dorm. So far everything has been good. The people here are all super nice and friendly. The pool is great. My schedule is exciting! The teachers are exciting!

Everything feels nice right now and I can't wait to pour my life into this school.

I will be posting more it's hard to sneek in some blogging time :(

But I will have pics of my dorm, my schedule, and hopefully some nerdy CalArts pride pics.

ambar

Look! I'm a rookie!

2011-09-12T20:19:00.000-07:00

Click Here to see me and lover Ella share our Friend Crush public!

I just want to say, that Ella is so awesome and hilarious. Sometimes I really want to publish the texts she sends me.

I love you Ella and thank you RookieMag for doing this!

xo

ambar

Here I am

2011-09-08T23:21:00.001-07:00

I am here at CalArts! In my dorm, picking out my classes for sign up day tomorrow.

I will be blogging/post up pics as soon as I don't feel so sleepy and tired and achey :(

but CalArts is amazing and everything anyone would ever want. I want to take allll these classes and just sleep in the school.

will update soon-ish.

ambar

Packing for CALarts!

2011-08-30T22:18:00.000-07:00

Packing is fun when you have a movie on and your cats are constantly climbing into all your boxes. I am saving to pack my beautiful Velvet Cave dresses last, but have this pretty much going.

I have 3 packing days left.

and here is me asking my mom to take a blog picture for me

I hope to one day be able to take decent outfit pictures!! My mom will count to 3, pause for 5 seconds, take the picture then walk back inside the house.

ambar

Portfolio Return

2011-08-29T16:29:00.000-07:00

I actually had a dream last night where I called CalArts and asked where my portfolio was! I also had a nightmare that someone broke my LimeCrime Cosmopop Lipstick in half :(

My online porfolio which holds everything that was sent in is HERE on my other blog:

IwantToGotoCalArts.blogspot.com

Anyways, here it is! My accepted portfolio!

I sent in:

1 sketchbook (Filled with drawings, life drawings, characters) Honestly it's not very strong, there are a few pieces I like but I don't think drawing needs to be the stronest for the Experimental Animation program, of course you do need to know how to draw though

1 portfolio

1 dvd (5 films)

Essays

3D glasses (For my stereoscopic photots and film)

Can you believe i'll be AT CalArts in exactly 1 week???

:))))

ps. I made my paper dvd holder out of my 2010 CalArts Rejection Letter

ambar

Bye Bye "Film a Day" August 22-28, 2011

2011-08-28T22:01:00.000-07:00

You were fun, and taught me a lot. This week as you can see SUCKED for Film a Day, but that was because I was in Louisiana Thurs - Sat for a friends wedding. I will post pictures of that as soon as I get them. So now it is time to cancel Netflix. It makes me sad, but then I remember CalArts has an entire room dedicated to watching films so then I feel not sad.. at all.

MONDAY
None

TUESDAY
None

WEDNESDAY
"Save the Green Planet!" - Directed by Joon-Hwan Jang (2003)

Korean,Horror, Sci-Fi, Felt really long, Funny, Ridiculous, Over the Rainbow, Friends house

THURSDAY
None

FRIDAY
None

SATURDAY
"Super 8" - Directed by J.J. Abrams (2011)

Dollar Movies, Amazing clothes, Little Kids, Train, Explosions, Alien, Bad Ending, Half Boring, Bad Ending

SUNDAY
"Blow-Up" - Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni (1966)

Beautiful Shots, 60's, Mod, Fashion, Cute girls, Murder, Gun, Photography, Party, British

"Land of Silence and Darkness" - Directed by Werner Herzog (1971)

Documentary, Blind and Deaf, Eye opening, Learning, Watching, Listening

Tomorrow the Packing begins! I am going to make one more trip to Austin to see friends, then spend time with my San Antonio friends. It feels weird putting certain people in little boxes of the days of the week, choosing friends over others always seems weird to me but it has to be done.

I am so close to finishing Rosetta Stone! :(
I am on Level 5 part 2 out of 4! My roommate Isabela will just have to hear me mumbling french in our dorm room I guess (Sorry Isabela)

ps. Here's one pic I took

Maid of Honor.. <33 you Megan

ambar

Look!

2011-08-22T00:50:00.000-07:00

I made a wishlist thingy like all the other bloggers do.

Just kidding.

But really, it's 2 am, i'm painting my nails, and doing my online back to school shopping.
I already bought the Lime Crime Cosmopop Lipstick, I hope this wishlish becomes real..

ambar

August 15 - 21, 2011 "Film a Day"

2011-08-21T21:24:00.000-07:00

MONDAY
"French Film" - Directed by Jackie Oudney (2008)

Running out of French movies to watch at Blockbuster, funny, nice, British, enjoyable, Not really a French Film

TUESDAY
"Kolya" - Directed by Jan Sverák (1996)

Fun, Sexual, Little Boy, Czech, Government, Orchestra, Russia, Oscar, Cemetery, Fake Marriage

WEDNESDAY
Labyrinth of Darkness: Jiri Barta

Amazing, Beautiful, Inspiring, Recommended, Loved it

THURSDAY
48 HR Film Screening Premiere

Nervous, Good Crowd, Nice People, 15 films

FRIDAY
Ghost Lapse show.

SATURDAY
"Phantom Museums: The Short Films of the Quay Brothers" Disc 1

Eerie, Quay Bros, Dark, Goth, Puppetry, Stop-Motion, Svankmajer

SUNDAY
"Beyond Biba" - Directed by Louis Price (2009)

Pretty, Wished there would have been more fashion, Rented on Youtube, Nice, Drawings, 60's, Mod

I think next week is my last of "Film a Day" :( I really have to start packing for Cali, Wed-Sat i'll be in Louisiana for my friend's wedding, and am currently sooo close to starting Level 5 of Rosetta Stone French. (I will finish with level 4 in about 10 mins seriously!!)

I am going to do a Review on Rosetta once i'm done because when I purchased it I couldn't find any! So that will be coming up. I also need to take more photos of outfits because honestly, I never take pictures of myself! ever! and when I do it's awkward and not fun :/

Moving to cali is 2 weeks for CalArts! I am sooo beyond excited!

So for now it's Louisiana, Rosetta, and packing! and trying to slip in films if possible.

ambar

August 8 - 14, 2011 "Film a Day"

2011-08-15T13:35:00.001-07:00

This week I got to watch 5 films, missed 2 because of 48 hr film and even though I could have slipped in a movie Friday morning, I spent that day organizing and walking around my house making sure I didn't need to do any last minute runs.

I feel like I wrote too much about movies in my last post, I don't like film reviews or even reading film synopsis, reading someone else's opinion about a film has no effect on weather or not I will watch it so I don't even bother. And film synopsis are okay, but I prefer not knowing what I am getting myself into.

So from now on i'm just going to write very short, maybe a max of 1 sentence of the film or a list of adjectives or tags! yes that's the word, Tags, just tags from now on:

MONDAY
"Waiting for Superman" - Directed by Davis Guggenheim (2010)
Really good, interesting, wake up call, the U.S. education system suuuckkss

TUESDAY
"Daisies" - Directed by Vera Chytilová (1966)
Amazing, beautiful animation, makes me wish I was one of them, Now one of my favorite films, experimental, Czech, new wave

WEDNESDAY
"My Dog Tulip" - Directed by Paul Fierlinger & Sandra Fierlinger (2009)
Watercolor, pretty, narration, dog story, Pregnant dog, story lacked a little I thought, good animation, experimental animation

THURSDAY
"12 Angry Men" - Directed by Sidney Lumet (1957)
Finally watched, good story, makes you think, entertaining, learned a lot from this film

FRIDAY
None - 48 hr film

SATURDAY
None- 48 hr film

SUNDAY
"Who wants to Kill Jessie?" - Directed by Václav Vorlícek (1966)
Amazing, sci-fi, Czech, Cute girl, Adventure, fun, Experimental, Bubble talk, Soo creative, Stunts

I swear i'm not becoming a lazy blogger, but I have to start packing for CalArts! and I don't even know where to begin. Actually I do know where to begin, the first thing i'm gonna pack are my fantastic mr.fox dolls and other toys. I am also soo behind on Rosetta Stone, Going to my best friend's wedding next week in Louisiana, Did 48 hr film, Trying to see all my friends, and on top of that figuring out how to register for CalArts classes. Right now I am still focusing on Rosetta, because I paid a lot of money for it!! and need to finish it before I go to CalArts.

ambar

48 hr Film (Part II) 2011

2011-08-15T13:13:00.000-07:00

48 hr film is a film competition that takes place in cities all around the world where you only have 48 hrs to make a film and turn it in. Friday at 7 is the Kickoff, where they give you your character, line of dialogue, genre, and prop that MUST be in your film.
The film is then due on Sunday at 7:30, any late films will be disqualified or if you are missing any of the required materials. You then get the film screened, awards are given out, and the Best Film of the city goes to compete nationwide.

This year I did a 1960's puppetry film that I will post on here once posting on the internet is allowed (There are a lot of rules)

I feel exhausted to blog about what happened during 48 hr film, so i'll just list it out:

Friday-
Went to kickoff, got genre, line, character, prop, met people inside the Trinity film room, drove home, storyboarded story, began cutting out cardboard sets, furniture, accessories, puppets until 3 am.

Saturday-
Woke up, finished up sets, made more accessories, finished all puppets, began filming, finished filming, exported all media to laptop, finished editing complete film

Sunday-
Woke up, began writing dialogue, voice recorded, recorded music from my organ, threw on all audio, last minute editing touch ups, exported, exported wrong film, exported again, exported wrong film again!!, fixed film, exported, burned to dvd, got in my car, my car wouldn't start!!!, got in nadia's car, her car had no gas!!, got in my mom's car, raced to Trinity, laptop crashed 2 in car, got in elevator with laptop open, got there 6 mins before deadline, made it! and turned it!

I am ready

2011-08-11T23:21:00.001-07:00

for you 48 hr film competition! Let it begin!

Actually, I really hope i'm ready and i'm really sleepy, and trying to keep up with Rosetta and Film a day.. Ohh it's exhausting

It's sleep time now.

Oh yeah!!! and I met Maria Bamford today, and shes nice, and sweet, and hilarious just like I thought she would be and I thanked her for being weird.

ambar

Meeting time

2011-08-10T15:10:00.000-07:00

Getting ready to go to the 48 hr "Rules" Meeting,

and instead of getting rest to prepare for the film competition, I have been doing the opposite and going to bed at 4 am every night and waking up late. I think this is a better plan, actually.

I am sooo excited for this week's Film a day, I am trying to do a Czech week but it is so hard when you just want to throw on so many movies!

What else is new, I am getting my film "Ghost Granny" scored by next week! Maria Bamford stand-up show tomorrow! Yes! She's my favorite. And almost done with Rosetta Stone Level 3.

Till then I need lots of cardboard, sleep, and to watch more films. I haven't had time to read this summer at all which is disappointing but at least my french has improved!

and..
I'm wearing my new/old shirt from ebay.

this shirt excites me..

ambar

Aug 1 -7 "Film a Day"

2011-08-07T16:24:00.000-07:00

I have been pretty good on keeping up with this, a few times having to go to Blockbuster because of my Netflix 2 movies out at a time not shipping on time. 2 days this week I did not watch movies, but I did go to a play and a show so I think that kiiinnda counts.

I also have not kept up with my Rosetta Stone French but I have a good excuse! I have been preparing for 48 hr film by moving furniture and keeping supplies organized. I am excited for next week: 48 hr film, Photoshoot, more movies, Stand-up show!, and catching up on Rosetta.

MONDAY
Camille 2000 Directed by Radley Metzger (1969)
I've been watching a lot erotic 60's film which are amazing! Very romantic, beautiful, and great sexual films made with class. Not to mention amazing mod clothes that get me really excited

TUESDAY
Wild Grass Directed by Alain Resnais (2009)
I thought the plot kinda reminded me of Amelie, a little bit, it does involve lost items and returning them to the owner. I had no idea this was a French movie so I did watch half with the subtitles on and off and I understood it! Most of it at least. The colors in this film are really pretty and I regret not seeing this in theaters when I worked at The Bijou. I really enjoyed this film

WEDNESDAY
3 Idiots Directed by Rajkumar Hirani (2009)
This is THE #1 highest grossing film in India, ever made. So it's pretty much the #1 Indian movie of all time. I have searched like you have no idea for this film online, ebay, and had this on my Netflix wait list for a year. But finally I got it. This is a 3 hour comedy with reeeally good dance scenes. This movie did have it's weird moments and 2 and a half hours in you kinda wonder when is this going to end.. but not necessarily bad. I liked it and like I said, I really liked all the songs.

THURSDAY
"Touch" Play Directed by Toni Press-Coffman
I got invited to this play by one of the actors mom who I met at the CalArts Dallas dinner. He is a CalArts actor. I thought this play was really good. I got kinda emotional and really like that they had a screen with film being projected on. Every time the characters would leave the set the projector would turn on and you'd see the scene they were supposed to be going to. Really creative I thought.

FRIDAY
The Puppetoon Movie Directed by Arnold Leibovit (1987)
This is a collection of shorts by GEORGE PAL. He is a Hungarian animator, stop-motion and puppet work. Very talented, he created the 1st ever stop-motion studio in Hollywood making sooo many Animations possible.

SATURDAY
Head Directed by Bob Rafelson (1968)
Watched The Monkees movie finally with my friend Ben. I'm such a bad Monkees fan, I had seen clips of this but finally watched the whole thing. This movie, well actually also The Monkees show is very experimental. There is some very cool editing, mod clothes, dance scenes, and Dave, Peter, Mike, and Micky's cuteness. I don't know what else this movie could need. Monkees are always very weird, include every type of genre, and the weirdest humor... I love them so much. This is my boyfriend Micky by the way..

SUNDAY
Today? No movie? I'm going to my friend Bryan's show, or Bry Bry who I haven't seen in 2 years! He gives me hugs and tells me i'm beautiful. I can't wait to see my hunny <33
So excited. So tonight his show can count as a movie.

And since this is my Animation blog I will be Netflixing more animations before I head off to CalArts. There are SO many movies I need to watch. With everything going on I feel so busy but I am ready for 48 hr film to start.

Check out

2011-08-06T10:10:00.000-07:00

My Awesome new Roommate!!!!

http://www.vimeo.com/beladossantos

Oh I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am about this.

Velvet Cave Crazy

2011-08-04T11:46:00.000-07:00

I wanted to post up all my VCV dresses, to keep track of myself and also because they are just soo pretty.

So Velvet Cave Vintage is an ebay thrift store created by Imogen Shurey, who is modeling in the last 3 along with a few others. This has become the ONLY place I buy my dresses. I search around ebay but always think "What's the point. VCV will have new dresses up soon so I better save for THOSE."

These are all the ones I own! and I wish other shoppers did this because I want to know who are the other girls outbidding me! Really, I wonder..

She also used to slip in a mix cd with every purchase I have every single Volume and uses lime green and purple packaging! I really appreciate these small details and the dresses are always in MINT condition and ready to wear out of the package.

ambar

Summer Go Away

2011-08-03T21:03:00.000-07:00

I am SO READY to start school. Tired of Summer and tired of waiting.

Exactly 5 weeks to go till I drive out there.

July 25 - 31 "Film a Day"

2011-07-31T17:20:00.000-07:00

MONDAY
Roadside Romeo - Directed by Jugal Hansraj (2008)
This was my 1st time seeing a full length 3D Indian Animation!

TUESDAY
Election - Directed by Alexander Payne (1999)
I finally watched this movie! Reese is so cute!

WEDNESDAY
Life During Wartime - Directed by Todd Solondz!!
My favorite live action director, i waited years to see this movie! really! It took 2 years to come out in the US or maybe 1 year? but still I love all his films! and Paul Reubens <33

THURSDAY
I Love You Phillip Morris - Directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa (2009)
Funny and sad!

FRIDAY
Amounting to Nothing - Directed by Johnny Luna (2011)
I was a PA on this film and I thought it was funny!

SATURDAY
Winnie the Pooh - Directed by Stephen J. Anderson and Don Hall (2011)
I felt like crying the first 5 mins into the movie, I love the live action footage in the beginning. And Zooey's singing was so good!

SUNDAY
The Man Who Fell To Earth - Directed by Nicolas Roeg (1976)
Really liked this film, alien naked David Bowie <33

And I finished Rosetta Level 2 on time! I am still doing this whole 1 level a week plan because I want to finish this before I go to CalArts!

My film screening in Portugal

2011-07-28T23:26:00.000-07:00

My Wind-Up film was screened in Portugal while my Teacher Jeanne was teaching an animation class.

I wish I could have been there!

Thank you sooo much Jeanne!!!

48 hr film (Part I)

2011-07-28T00:07:00.000-07:00

I have registered today! This will be my first year joining with my own team!

Last year I was a volunteer for Austin, where I was a PA on a Mockumentary film, it was more of the volunteer team so we didn't actually get to compete but we did get the film as a "bonus film" on the DVD.

Then last year I was also a PA on Drew Meyer Oaks San Antonio team. Both teams and experiences were completely different and here are a few pics from last years San Antonio film. Sadly we took none for the Austin one.

And voila! there's my name on the team list. I know it may not seem like a big deal to be doing this, but I think one reason why i'm so excited is because i've been wanting to compete for the past 3 years now but never had a team or equipment. This year my team will be the same close people who always help me out on films and I really want to focus on making a fun film.

oh, the team name is from a Shangri-La's song, I am the WORST at naming anything so when I was in a rush to name my team I originally wanted to name it ---
but i thought the dashes might be too weird. I even called my friend so he could just give me a team name but of course he didn't pick up so there, that's my team name. Thank you Mary Weiss for giving me that reference.

I am also going to do a Part II AFTER I do it and write about how that goes..

*My "film a day" has been kept up so far this week! and I am halfway done on Rosetta Stone French Level 2! Wish me luck in keeping up with these promises I keep making myself keep.

July 18 - 24 "Film a Day"

2011-07-25T12:32:00.000-07:00

This week I started my "A Film a Day" Goal and I am proud to say I kept it! I actually watched more than a film on some days

MONDAY
Zabriskie Point - Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni (1970)
I really liked this film, made me think a lot about the gov't in the 70's and now.

TUESDAY
The Seventh Seal - Directed by Ingmar Berman
Playing chess with Death! how can you not like this film! great classic. Rented this at Blockbuster which pretty soon is going to run out of foreign films for me to watch. I picked this one because it was the weirdest looking cover there was and thankfully I now know who this great director is

WEDNESDAY
Fantastic Planet - Directed by Rene Laloux (1973)
Finally watched all of it! I had seen clips before and always thought WHAT IS THIS? I NEED TO SEE THIS. This is now one of my favorite films and greatest animations I have ever seen in my life.

THURSDAY
Boyfriends and Girlfriends - Directed by Eric Rohmer (1987)
80's french films always have the best clothes!! Just saying. This film is one of those great french films that brings you into a group of people's life like no other culture can.

FRIDAY
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - Directed by Julian Schnabel (2007)
Finally finished this film, really great lines and lessons to be learned from this film.

and Volver - Directed by Pedro Almodovar (2006)
I can't believe it took me so long to finally watch this film. Great director and good stories as usual. Sets and colors from this director are my favorite

SATURDAY
Wild Strawberries - Directed by Ingmar Bergman (1957)
Loved it too! Picked a 2nd one of his films unknowingly. Another great story with a beautiful script. Not to mention gorgeous cinematography

and Insidious - Directed by James Wan (2010)
I love all horror movies, so me and Chad finally went to watch this at the dollar movie. I thought it was pretty interesting and me and Chad both liked the devil's room, which had really cool puppets. Oh and a lot of scared kids in the audience

SUNDAY
The Adventures of Prince Achmed - Directed by Lotte Reiniger (1926)
Hadn't seen this is a while, but this was at the Ritz theater with a live band!

& Population 1 - Directed by Rene Daalder (1986)
Watched this in bed at Chad's and i'm not gonna lie, I drank a lot of wine this night but it didn't kick in till after the movie thankfully so I do remember everything in this film! I liked it but then again how can you not like it, Tomata Du Plenty stars in it!!

I also watched a bunch of short films. I am regretting not starting this film a day thing sooner. But anyways I must get back to Rosetta Level 2. I wish they had some animated confetting for when you finish a level.

French Animation

2011-07-22T15:26:00.000-07:00

I feel like I could do a TON of french posts, there are so many french animations out there. One good place to see a bunch is Short of the Week has a French Playlist
I would recommend watching ALL of them, yes ALL of them.

The playlist includes:
1.Logorama - F. Alaux, H. de Crécy, L. Houplain (Won the Oscar 2010)
2.Mei Ling - Stéphanie Lansaque & François L.
3.Un Tour De Manége - Gobelins
4.Skhizein - Jérémy Clapin
5.Oktapodi - Gobelins
6.En Tuz Brazos - Goby, Landour & Jouret
7.Une Histoire Vertebrale -Jérémy Clapin
8.A Quoi Ca Sert L’amour? - Louis Clichy

My teacher Jeanne Stern showed us Peter Foldes "La Faim" in my Experimental Animation class when teaching us how to do morphs. This is now one of my favorite films

So I can't make a French post without mentioning Sylvain Chomet but instead of jumping to The Triplets of Belleville or The Illusionist my favorite is his short film "La Vieille Dame Et Les Pigeons" which all 3 parts can be seen here on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srODm62kBAw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJgcHuQseLc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ku3hNxM5S4

Here is Alexandre Alexeieff "La Nariz" Part I and II

Oh and a fun fact about Alexandre Alexeieff, He invented the Pinscreen!

Emile Cohl's "Fantasmagorie" he is said to be "The Father of the Animated Cartoon"

Kihachiro Kawamoto's "Kenju giga" a Japanese animator who died last year :(
Made this French film, Which I want to say is one of my all time favorite shorts I have ever seen.

I can't make a French Animation post without mentioning Georges Méliès, he pretty much invented a bunch of film techniques and this is his most famous film "A trip to the Moon" if you haven't seen it, I would suggest seeing it because it's a fun film and is one of those "most important films ever made in history" type of film. (They made us watch this is Intro to Film)

Here are a few Full-Lengths worth renting

Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi "Persepolis" which i'm surprised at how many people who haven't heard/seen it is really amazing

Fears of the Dark ( I saw this in theaters with only one other person in the entire theater and...I was scared)

and last but not least for my post is Rene La Loux's "Fantastic Planet" one of my all time favorite films. You can watch all of it on Youtube. Here is the trailer:

After writing this post I am already thinking of who else to add for my Part II which will come out later. With the Short of the Week playlist and the Goeblins playlist I mentioned in an earlier post all these films can keep you busy!

*and in other french news
This is me doing Rosetta Stone french for about 7 hours straight, no breaks

what a mess

Egyptian Animation

2011-07-20T09:35:00.000-07:00

Hopefully there will be a Part II to this post, I am trying to educate myself on allll animations. I had French and Czech down (Which will get their own posts) but I somehow came across this film:

and Aya Zakaria recommended these Egyptian films for me:

This one was my favorite

So I hope you enjoy all these films and I have been keeping up with my "Film a Day" thing i'm doing but then again it is only Day 3. I will be posting my weekly film update once the 7 days have passed and keep searching for int'l films. But now I must get back to Rosetta Stone Level 1 part 3 only one more part and i'm already on Level 2!!

Dallas

2011-07-17T23:08:00.000-07:00

And of course I took 0 photos at the CalArts gathering, I could only stay at the gathering for an hour, but everyone was super nice, friendly and seemed interested in getting to know everyone. They also gave us these free goodies: Calarts Tote bag, License plate frames, and a brochure.

Dallas was fun we stayed at the Belmont Hotel and visited a bunch of amazing thrift shops and the Geometric Museum of Dallas is definitely something to see.

Then me and my friend went to go watch Harry Potter at The Inwood Theatre where all the seats are couches and bean bags

and to also mention I had a chance to hang out with Crispin Glover before his show. It was a great experience getting to hang out with someone so polite, artistic, creative, interesting, not to mention soo dreammy to look at..

But anyway I have now started Rosetta Stone French, I am going to keep reading my Experimental Animation textbook, and try to keep up with my "movie a day" theme so I can keep watching as many films as possible before I go to CalArts!!
Let's see how this works out.

Packing for the CalArts Dallas dinner

2011-07-14T14:15:00.000-07:00

Heading out to Dallas this weekend with my friend to go Thrifting, Crispin Glover screening, Harry Potter, and CalArts alumni dinner (even though i'm not an alumni)

I am really excited for all of these things! and staying in a really cool looking hotel.
I'll try to post pics even though I suck at remembering to take pictures..

CalArts Bill

2011-07-13T14:46:00.001-07:00

PAID!

Welcome Student Loans

Gobelin's Graduation Films '11

2011-07-08T18:52:00.000-07:00

Now online! Yes! Being subscribed to Short of the Week is super helpful

Videos can be seen Here

My favorite ones are "Vesuvius" and "Les chiens isoles"

Gonna watch some Russian Animation today

2011-07-07T19:01:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since i've netflixed some animation, but I need to get ready for CalArts!

My mom bought me a new cell phone charm (Thanks to my Totoro Bus Cat one that broke)
Pizza charm!!

Sewing

2011-07-05T17:42:00.000-07:00

I made my first pair of shorts! These took me about 2 days, and are made from a Vtg Pee Wee Herman childs blouse I bought off ebay $10

Getting back to watching more animations

2011-07-05T12:36:00.000-07:00

Because I love all things French, this is Britta Johnson's "Croissant Neuf"
A 40 second stop-motion animation about 2 croissants in love! What's not to love about this!

Prince Achmed Screening

2011-07-05T00:53:00.001-07:00

CalArts in Texas

2011-07-05T00:39:00.001-07:00

Granny Photoshoot

2011-07-05T00:19:00.001-07:00

Vintage

2011-07-05T00:14:00.001-07:00

School Pride

2011-07-05T00:13:00.003-07:00

Animators Talk in Austin

2011-07-05T00:13:00.001-07:00

Newsss

2011-07-05T00:11:00.001-07:00

Bye Community College!

2011-07-05T00:09:00.001-07:00

Acceptance Letter

2011-07-05T00:01:00.000-07:00

new Blog Once Again

2011-07-04T23:45:00.001-07:00

Ok, this might seem ridiculous but I am starting a new blog! The truth is, my old blog started to annoy me. I don't know exactly know what it was about it, but this is going to be my new student all things ANIMATION blog and with maybe a few exceptions.

CalArts Student Blog

Week 27

Week 26

Week 24 & 25

Week 23

Week 22

Week 20 & 21

Week 19

Week 18

Week 17

X-Mas Post! 2011 (Week 16)

Week 14/15 last week

Week 13

Week 12

Week 11? Or is this Week 10... crap

Week 9 Week 10

Week 7 & Week 8

Week 6

Sleepy

Some updating

Birthday Blog

Life at CalArts

CalArts BFA-1 Schedule

Texas --- CalArts! :Roadtrip

Look! I'm a rookie!

Here I am

Packing for CALarts!

Portfolio Return

Bye Bye "Film a Day" August 22-28, 2011

Look!

August 15 - 21, 2011 "Film a Day"

August 8 - 14, 2011 "Film a Day"

48 hr Film (Part II) 2011

I am ready

Meeting time

Aug 1 -7 "Film a Day"

Check out

Velvet Cave Crazy

Summer Go Away

July 25 - 31 "Film a Day"

My film screening in Portugal

48 hr film (Part I)

July 18 - 24 "Film a Day"

French Animation

Egyptian Animation

Dallas

Packing for the CalArts Dallas dinner

CalArts Bill

Gobelin's Graduation Films '11

Gonna watch some Russian Animation today

Sewing

Getting back to watching more animations

Prince Achmed Screening

CalArts in Texas

Granny Photoshoot

Vintage

School Pride

Animators Talk in Austin

Newsss

Bye Community College!

Acceptance Letter

*new* Blog Once Again

new Blog Once Again