Surviving...barely
Last night I handed in my final pieces for my Graphic Design II class. I spent all day Sunday and all day yesterday getting them printed out (I spent two hours at Kinko's getting them printed), mounted, and ready to go. Steve was happy with my work and gave me an A for the semester so I was very, very happy...albeit very, very tired. So one down and two to go.
My animation classes are another story. One Monday, I literally burst into tears in Francis' office from panic. I was positive there was no way in hell I was going to get my projects done in time.
For my 3D class, I literally spent all day Friday just modeling the hand and arm of Depression. Seven hours of modeling just for this one thing. When I went to put the skeletal rig in to animate it, the entire thing got all distorted and FUBAR'd. On Monday, Francis and I spent 45 minutes working it all out. It seems that since the fingers were so close together, one point on one finger was attaching itself to a bone in a different finger. So, I had to move the fingers apart and redo the rig about three times before it finally worked. Still, I needed TWO characters for this and I only had one done and less than a week to finish it.
As for my 2D project...damn. I'm doing a music video to the Duran Duran song "What Happens Tomorrow." Curse me for picking a four minute long song with only four weeks to do it. I'm doing it all in After Effects so I don't need to actually draw anything. My plan was to film myself lip sync'ing in front of a green screen and then from there, I wasn't sure. I was hoping the Muses would grant me with inspiration before the semester ran out. Well, it took me one class to film the thing and get it into .avi format. The next class and a few lab days were spent removing the green screen. This would normally be an easy task in a professional studio but this is BCC. I had shadows that I couldn't get rid of, green tinge in my hair...argh! Then I spent another bunch of lab hours trying to keep my head in one position. The girl who filmed me kept swinging the camcorder back and forth.
So anyways, Monday was the third class and I didn’t even have a concept to go by and I felt some serious panic. That’s when I burst out in tears in Francis’ office. He told me not to worry and that I had enough done in both of my classes and I would get the A no matter what. That eased my mind SO much. It’s like I felt this huge burden being lifted off of my shoulders.
When I went to the lab on Wednesday, I had some serious inspiration. I remember at the concert last month, Simon LeBon said that he wrote the song when the war with Iraq broke out. So this gave me an idea. Since the verses are very down and depressing, I would have myself singing (in black and white) on one side of the screen with images of 9/11 and the Iraqi war on the other side. For the chorus, which is much more hopeful, I would be singing on the opposite side of the screen and in color. I was in the lab all day Wednesday and last night and I got the damn thing done. It’s not perfect but it’s done.
Two down and one more to go…
Today, I’m heading into the lab in a little bit to work on my 3D project. I know I “have enough done” for that one, but since I don’t have the strain on me any more, I’m going to see what I can accomplish. Also, I have nothing else to do today so I’d rather work on it now and not wish that I did something later on.
Oh ya, the reason why I’m not going in first thing is that I’m waiting for the presale to start for Duran Duran tickets for their July 30 show here in NJ. I saw them last month in NYC and it was a fantastic concert. I definitely want to see them again. :)
My animation classes are another story. One Monday, I literally burst into tears in Francis' office from panic. I was positive there was no way in hell I was going to get my projects done in time.
For my 3D class, I literally spent all day Friday just modeling the hand and arm of Depression. Seven hours of modeling just for this one thing. When I went to put the skeletal rig in to animate it, the entire thing got all distorted and FUBAR'd. On Monday, Francis and I spent 45 minutes working it all out. It seems that since the fingers were so close together, one point on one finger was attaching itself to a bone in a different finger. So, I had to move the fingers apart and redo the rig about three times before it finally worked. Still, I needed TWO characters for this and I only had one done and less than a week to finish it.
As for my 2D project...damn. I'm doing a music video to the Duran Duran song "What Happens Tomorrow." Curse me for picking a four minute long song with only four weeks to do it. I'm doing it all in After Effects so I don't need to actually draw anything. My plan was to film myself lip sync'ing in front of a green screen and then from there, I wasn't sure. I was hoping the Muses would grant me with inspiration before the semester ran out. Well, it took me one class to film the thing and get it into .avi format. The next class and a few lab days were spent removing the green screen. This would normally be an easy task in a professional studio but this is BCC. I had shadows that I couldn't get rid of, green tinge in my hair...argh! Then I spent another bunch of lab hours trying to keep my head in one position. The girl who filmed me kept swinging the camcorder back and forth.
So anyways, Monday was the third class and I didn’t even have a concept to go by and I felt some serious panic. That’s when I burst out in tears in Francis’ office. He told me not to worry and that I had enough done in both of my classes and I would get the A no matter what. That eased my mind SO much. It’s like I felt this huge burden being lifted off of my shoulders.
When I went to the lab on Wednesday, I had some serious inspiration. I remember at the concert last month, Simon LeBon said that he wrote the song when the war with Iraq broke out. So this gave me an idea. Since the verses are very down and depressing, I would have myself singing (in black and white) on one side of the screen with images of 9/11 and the Iraqi war on the other side. For the chorus, which is much more hopeful, I would be singing on the opposite side of the screen and in color. I was in the lab all day Wednesday and last night and I got the damn thing done. It’s not perfect but it’s done.
Two down and one more to go…
Today, I’m heading into the lab in a little bit to work on my 3D project. I know I “have enough done” for that one, but since I don’t have the strain on me any more, I’m going to see what I can accomplish. Also, I have nothing else to do today so I’d rather work on it now and not wish that I did something later on.
Oh ya, the reason why I’m not going in first thing is that I’m waiting for the presale to start for Duran Duran tickets for their July 30 show here in NJ. I saw them last month in NYC and it was a fantastic concert. I definitely want to see them again. :)
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