AM Class 4 Weeks 4-7: "How I feel."

Here's a Halfway Mark check-in with the development of my first ever dialogue shot.

Out of about 20 clips and 3 I presented to David this is the chosen Audio. 

Sound Familiar? Hopefully not. It's from Iron Man 2.

Below is my first pass at Reference with all three of my submitted dialogues. 

I'm sharing them all because I had fun acting them out. They're very different. Plus I wanted to show off my range, as well as my costumes. ; D

Audio breakdowns:

Clip 1: Feel (Iron Man 2)

A man in jail confesses his crime to his victim. 

Clip 2: Ingenious (Amadeus) 

A college music professor is resisting the changing times by stunting his promising students growth as a composer.

Clip 3: Forever (Kiss of the Spider Woman)

A man on a Hawaiian vacation with his lady walks into a restaurant to find her kissing another man.  

This week was also accompanied with a pair of contrasting beat facial expressions.

These were designed off of the Jail scenario of clip one. 

David Tarts's Critiques: 

Good choices of dialogue 

Clip 3 was chosen for its dynamic delivery and wide contrast of emotions as well as it's relative obscurity.

Video reference would have to be redone to include subtext and emotion beat planning. 

Shown here: 

Here's my 2nd round of Reference:

A younger brother is flaunting his new dominance over his older brother after he inherits their used to be shared room. 

David Tart is a proponent of using cylindrical robotic figures for thumbnails to help translate the poses into 3 dimensions.

Here are my Block forms based on the round 2 reference 

David Tarts's critique: 

0) for the thumbnails be sure to start with your line of action to help make clearer poses. 

1) fix the growing head problem in the camera view. : )

2) instead of forcing the contrast of happiness and rage to make a crazy character, make the change to show that rage starting when he says "good." Let him get suddenly cold and then go crazy with rage. 

3) don't hide the eyebrows by throwing the head back. 

4) be sure to Hit the emphasized words you've highlighted from the dialogue analysis. 

- this will ensure your animation and dialogue are in sync with each other emotionally. 

5) get rid of the empty space in your camera view. 

New Reference to get the sudden coldness and rage poses. 

Updated Blocking:

Rather than driving myself crazy adjusting my already made poses, I chose to start over from scratch. 

David Tart's Critique:

0) good changes in the blocking incorporating the more aggressive beats. 

1) too profile, move camera slightly to get more 3/4 face. 

2) Widen camera so he's not getting cut off when he stands up. 

3-7) specific pose adjustments 

8) Next: focus on anticipations. 

9) Again: Hit the accents. Especially in the first line "I" and "stuff"

10) Overall good facial expressions. 

Now for the personal stuff: 

"How I feel"

Ever since my tour of the Disney Studio in the summer I've been living under the incredible weight of what animation can be and the fight it would be to rise to that level where the work becomes worthwhile.
Then I'm faced with the question "shouldn't the work be worth while in itself? To experience the joy of bringing a meaningful performance to life for others to enjoy and experience?" I am so inspired by the idea of animation and it's potential but the work is feeling more and more outside my grasp. Is this burn out or simply a turn on my life path? I'm not certain. Maybe both.

I'm applying for transfer for Fall '13 to get my Bachelor's degree in something, and I'm under the impression this is a life or death choice. If i choose the wrong major my life will go into irreparable damage.  This is an exaggeration. Everybody experiences life differently and every experience adds to your richness as a person, but when you want to be an artist and are judged on the work you do when it takes years and years to develops the skills to contend in the job market, then spending years and years learning something you may or may not use sets one back years of unemployment to remain in dependency. Why can't I be as supportive of my own choices as my parents are? Do I feel like, because they will support anything I choose it's my responsibility to play devils advocate to myself?

We all must develop the skills to weigh our options and make choices. Why then am I crumbling under the pressure of making all my choices at once? If I slow down and make one choice at a time.

Take AM Class 5 or take a LOA
Apply to Cal Arts or not this year?
Keep auditioning for shows and taking acting classes or focus on animation alone while I can.
Make the choice every day to be open minded to the opportunities I'm presented with as they appear.
- or letting myself seamlessly drift in the direction that I've set up for myself years ago.
Do I want turkey or Bacon on my subway sandwich?

Then my life will be smoother and more manageable. We all have the power to be present in our lives. I mistake presence for control. I can't force my way into a successful future but I can be present and aware of what makes me happy, who fills my life with joy and meaning, and what kind of work offers me both challenge and accomplishment.  I can't control who, what, or where will make me happy but I can control how I experience my life and my will to keep following the song that calls to me.

It just happens to lead through very flowery language.

Forever present, that is how I choose to feel.

Thanks for reading, hope you got as much out of it as I did. : )
--Max