Extra Credit: Lighting a Scene in Maya

Extra Credit... Lit with one, two, and three point lighting:

Third Term Paper

My first two term paper scores were 90 and 95; I will not be writing a third term paper. Thank you!

Outline for the Third Term Paper

Introduction

1. Tornadoes
• Examples: Wizard of Oz and Tazmanian Devil cartoons
• Thesis: These two films create two different representations of twisters that each break the laws of physics in their own way.

Body Paragraphs

1. The Wizard of Oz

• The twister in The Wizard of Oz is one of the best examples of early practical effects in the history of film.
• Three different types of twister effects:

1. Wide shot of twister using giant tube of cloth as the twister; glass sheets covered in cotton balls, and wind and debris thrown on the set.
2. The house blowing in the storm was created using miniatures.
3. The inside of the storm through Dorothy's window was created with their fake wind and smoke footage projected on a screen in the background.

• The twister is considered one of the best practical effects in early cinema.
• Became whimsical as it became a transportation for Dorothy to the land of Oz.

     2. Tazmanian Devil

• The Tazmanian Devil is a fun character who shreds through the environment as a violent mini twister.
• Cartoony animation calls for long holds and quick transitions: Taz exemplifies this with zippy, cyclone transitions.
• His twister form is created with a cycle of sketchy drawings animated quick and loose.
• He turns into a mini cyclone that whirls around sharp turns; stop and go, as though it is anthropomorphized.
• Unrealistic, spontaneous twister-forming powers that make for a wacky cartoon character.

Conclusion

• Tornadoes make for exciting spectacles in film and television – and they are often dramatized for a number of effects.

Stop-Motion Character Animation

Chris Helfrich, Jenn Long, and I teamed up to make "Love at First Bite." We spent a good hour and a half coming up with a story and figuring out what characters and props we'd be using. The next 7 hours were spent planning and shooting our film in 7 separate shots (SAM animation can only shoot 50 frames at a time!). We would plan the approximate timing for each action and think about where the arcs and slow-ins and slow-outs would be, and then we just went for it. The very beginning took about six or seven takes because we kept accidentally moving things that weren't supposed to move. Eventually we were able to get the production going. We had a plan about how we would split up the animation between the three of us, but we ended up all helping out when we could -- and it was a fair workload from everyone. For the climax of the story, we all had fun destroying the character and adding foamy soap to the carnage. It was a great experience, and I'm glad we decided to work as a team and come up with a fun (morbid) story.

Credits:

• Chris Helfrich: Story idea, sculpted snail #2, animation, supervised and corrected others' animation.
• Jenn Long: Provided clay, animation, supervised and corrected others' animation.
• Hunter Welker: Sculpted snail #1, animation, supervised and corrected others' animation, editing and sound.