Day 6 & 7. Iris.

I am highly tired because last night I stayed up till 4am to complete my storyboard and character design and everything...though I think I might have left out a few pieces of information. Then, when I went to bed, I couldnt sleep and the next thing I heard was my alarm clock going off. Had to go to school extra early today because Amanda's friend from Blue Skies studio was coming in to share some things with us.

I was late. But I asked Rachael if he had started and he hadnt; then I bumped into Amanda in the lift. haha. Melvin was a very interesting person, and it was great to hear from someone who is already "there" in the industry almost everyone in class wants to be in. And Blue Skies Studios was the company I wrote in for my PcomD class. It was just so great to hear someone who was in a big International studio who can talk about other big companies that he is on par with like DreamWorks and Pixar; so unreal. Melvin was also very friendly, and it was cute to see the working environment over in the studio. One thing I noticed also about how animators or animation students speak; we would repeat the same sentence a few times in different expressions. Or, if we were trying to explain something, this would include standing up and demonstrating.

He also had a collection of clips that he keeps as reference and clips from movies that he has done; a lot from "Horton Hears a Who", so unreal!!! He was part of such a big movie, the animator, coolness. The other clips he showed us were from other movies; it was great to see the two movies/cartoons that I love entirely. One was "The Emperor's New Groove", that movie is hillarious! my sister and I would remember the entire dialog throughout the movie. It was good to understand why I like it so much too after Melvin explained; he said the timing, sequence and movement of the character is so well thought of that it adds to the whole comical character of the movie.

The other clip from one of my all time favorite movies was from "Treasure Planet". Firstly, as a kid, I enjoyed reading Treasure Island, one of the first few unabridged books I read. Second, when the movie came out, they took the story to another dimension and placed it in a virtual world; love it, it was so cool. I was about 13 when I saw the movie and that was the few instances when I was truly inspired. Watching Treasure Planet made me want to do 2d Animation, especially after paying close attention to the handpainted water-colored-traditionally-done background. The first movie that made me want to go into the film world was "Star Wars". Woo! Just saying it makes me excited.

After our break, we did our presentations. It was good to get feedback because I really needed help with shortening my story; I get a bit long winded when I tell stories. So, I just need to tweak my storyboards again. I'm quite happy with my character designs though. Haha, I really wanted David to look like the actual person.

Kez