Sunday, May 20, 2012

Goodbye BFA-1

Today marks the official date of the end of my first year at CalArts. Why? Because I moved out of the dorm room that I've been living in for the past 9 months and I bid my goodbyes and gave hugs to my classmates and friends who are leaving school for the summer.

It's sad to end my first year knowing that no other year will be like my freshman year, but I'm also excited for what's to come next. Over the past 9 months, I've been constantly challenged to push my boundaries and expand my creative horizon in many different ways. I've met so many people here who became the driving force and inspiration behind my works and I've learned how to develop a more professional working habit. The picture of my goal seemed more vivid now than before and the required positive energy that resonated through the character animation department, cubes and students helped add up to the momentum that drives me energetically to work!

Attending the seniors graduation ceremony last Friday (May 18th, 2012) reminded me again of how CalArts is both aesthetically and socially different from any other schools! Again, this comes from a perspective from somebody who hasn't attended a graduation in America, so the whole graduation ceremony in addition to the extreme casualness, to me it was a complete blow away!! Graduates from their line of majors each had theme musics of their own when they graced the stage to collect their diploma. A female voice major acted like a total diva and threw kisses to the crowd like she had just won an Emmy award or something and another theater major walked up the stage swinging around a light saber (yeah, a LIGHT SABER)  It felt like all different award shows interwoven into one (think Tony, Emmy, Oscar and Annie), that's what it's like! Those that I felt mostly connected to was of course the graduating Character Animators! There were two graduating character kids who had "My Neighbor Totoro" as their graduation theme music and it was SUPER COOL! Watching them walk up the stage receiving their diplomas for some reason bitterly touched my heart. Thinking of how in 3 years time I'll be up there receiving a piece of paper that'll draw the end of my student life and bidding goodbye to teachers and friends I've made here made me feel sad for a moment, but then thinking again, the animation industry is so small it's actually not hard to run into one another!!

My experience as a character animation BFA-1 was incredibly good and I've never felt like I've grown and received so much in barely a year! I'm missing a lot of my friends who left for the summer but 3 months will go by in a blink and I'll be back at school as a second year even before I know it!

So, have an awesome break everybody and see y'all next year !!!

Yon.

Friday, May 11, 2012

Producers Show 2011 !!!

So the producers show was yesterday (May 9th, 2012) and it was such an amazing event! All the films that were selected to be part of the show were incredibly great and what makes it even cooler is that the venue for the producers show this year was held at the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences down in Beverly Hills!

My film wasn't selected this year but I was a volunteer for the show along with a couple of other first years and two second years. Being a volunteer is actually kinda fun. I was an usher and also a bouncer and it was kinda cool to seat awesome people from the industry. As usher volunteers, me and my friends had to memorize the seating plan instead of holding it in our hands since that would take away the professionalism but the practicing was fun. We had friends pretending to be people from the industry walk into the theater so we could lead them through the correct doorway and we even threw in a little guest complication to add up to the fun! After the films are done being screened, I was a bouncer at one of the entrances and the night was colder than I thought it would be! I was struggling with the cold a little bit but all was good in the end after I'm off duty and back into the building munching on some cookies and meeting people.

Re-watching all of the student films again at the Producers Show made me wanna work twice harder next year! Regardless, I've got no regrets with what I've not achieved this year since I knew I pretty much gave all I can, but there's always a moment where you look back and think, "I should've done this the other way!" or, "I could've done this better!". Yesterday night was that moment, and the good energy that came out of the show was so phenomenal it made me wanna start working on my second year film!!

I managed to talk to some people from the industry although not many since I had to be on duty as a volunteer, but a lot of the people were downright friendly and humble! That's one of my favorite part being at festivals or shows like this or any kind since it's such a perfect time to meet your favorite filmmakers or artists and exchange conversations. Also, I finally got to meet Mario Furmancyzk in person before I left!! If you're wondering who he is, he's a CalArts alum and also the creator of Animatedbuzz forum (that's right) and also an animator at Disney Feature Film!! I did a really brief self-introduction and finally managed to thank him in person. Without Mario's journal and forum, my journey to CalArts would've probably been extended a few years or worst, I might not even make it here, so it was really pleasant and almost dreamlike to see in person somebody who helped mold my dream life.

Anyway, here are some photos from the event yesterday (mostly behind the scenes since I didn't get to walk around a lot while on duty)


Labeling the seats 
Robert and Kyler (First years & Volunteers)
The volunteers of the show!! (Photo credits goes to Maija)
The ushers!
End of the show :(

Well, it's time for me to go to bed now and continue working the momentum!! Looking forward to tomorrow and the rest of my four years here at CalArts!!!

CIAO!

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Timekeeper




Something I did for Dan's perspective class again! The goal was to come up with ellipses!

I also just finished all of my critical studies papers and if I'm not mistaken, it's the last class for my critical studies classes tomorrow! I ordered Eric Goldberg's Animation Crash Course book off Amazon yesterday and it should arrive in my mail box by tomorrow! Can't wait to get my hands on them now that I'm done with most of my assignments!!! Hope everything's good with everyone!! :)

Best,
Yon.