Monday, May 23, 2016

Music Video Finale



So, it's only, like, one week away from the last day of school!!! YEAAAAA! Time to plan vacations, relax, prepare for finals, and make an awesome music video! What? Were you NOT expecting that? Did you not read the title? Well, that's the FINAL project in 7th grade G.T. Pretty awesome huh? Our song that we (Micah, Me, Callum, and Jason) picked was "Johnny B. Goode" by Chuck Berry. It's a pretty old song, and I mean really old, like, from the 50s. In the project, we had to take the songs lyrics, and lip sync it while telling a story. Here's the song lyrics that were used:

Deep down in Louisiana close to New Orleans,

Way back up in the woods among the evergreens

There stood a log cabin made of earth and wood,

Where lived a country boy named Johnny B. Goode

Who never ever learned to read or write so well,

But he could play a guitar just like a ringing a bell.

[Chorus:]

Go Go

Go, Johnny, go, go
Go, Johnny, go, go
Go, Johnny, go, go
Go, Johnny, go, go
Johnny B. Goode
He used to carry his guitar in a gunny sack
Or sit beneath the tree by the railroad track.
Oh, the engineers would see him sitting in the shade,
Strumming with the rhythm that the drivers made.
The people passing by, they would stop and say,
"Oh, my, but that little country boy could play!"
[Chorus]
His mother told him, "Someday you will be a man,
And you will be the leader of a big old band.
Many people coming from miles around
To hear you play your music when the sun go down.
Maybe someday your name will be in lights
Saying 'Johnny B. Goode tonight'."
[Chorus]


Quite a handful, huh? It's the entire song, with a little bit of instrumental removed. So, the story that we used in conjunction with the lyrics basically told the story that the song told, but with a little bit of "creative details". (In other words, we made stuff up.) The story is about a country boy named Johnny B. Goode, who is really good at playing the guitar, and when he lived in the country, everyone celebrated his awesome musical talent. But when he moves into the city, a couple of bullies show up, (This happens at the second chorus) and shove him down. Well, he takes this pretty harshly, and basically quits guitar so he won't be teased for it. But, on his somber way back home, he remembers all the things people have said, and what his mother told him, and he returns to the awesome music business, better than ever. Great story, GG. I mean, GS? Good Story? I'm not sure.

Sooooooo, in most music videos there is fast- shot montages. We don't really have that, but we do have some fast-ish montage sequences that aren't really montages, but whatever. The main one is near the end when two bullies (acted by Micah and Jason) shove Callum over, he falls over, and runs away angrily. Another scene that isn't really fast-edit, but it could be considered a montage of sorts is in the beginning, when Callum is getting ready for the day, falling out of bed, washing his face, walking into the hall, picking up his guitar, etc. Put those two together and I guess you could have a fast-edit montage... I'm not sure. Personally though, I don't think that the song needs any montages or fast edits, because of it's tone and genre. I believe that it's good as is.

This music video totally shows the BEST WORK EVAR. It's like if work and best had a kid and it was named Team 8's music video. Perhaps that's an exaggeration. I'm not sure, because I think it looks great. It shows our best work because I think it is A: our highest quality that we could accomplish in the allowed time, and it shows everything we've learned this year. It has Wide, Medium Close, Interesting angles, A delicate plotline, (That couldn't be shattered with a sledgehammer, indicating that it's not as delicate as I thought...) and photoshop skills for the intro screen. We did have some difficulties, but we usually overcame them pretty quickly. This was probably one of the better projects of the year. (What was the best? You decide!) I think we did pretty well in total.

ONLY ONE MORE WEEK OF SCHOOL LEFT :O

-Linden



Results of the critique:

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Animated Life Lessons



So, a new project has sprung up out of the blue! An animation project using the photoshop animating tool and puppet warp! This time, however, we had to work with people we've never worked with before. So, my teammates were Callum and Shaday. (Links to their blogs to the right) The goal was to create a funny "visually simplistic" animated story that had a life lesson, while exaggerating character traits. My trait was procrastination, Callum's was his introverted... uh... introvertedness?... and Shaday's was that she's also introverted, but hyper as well. Other people to make a cameo in the animation: Mr. Sanderl and Kacie Burns. Anyway, in the story, me and Kacie are asked to do dishes, but I don't do them and Kacie messes up. Callum, the introvert, has to find help, but he has trouble talking to people. Then, he finally finds Shaday on a bench, and since they have some things in common, they become friends. The end. Great story. Beautiful, and I'm not sure what I can add to that.

So our finished project is REAL funny, yeah. Totally. Hilarious. Eh, perhaps we slipped up a bit on that part... But some parts were kinda funny. Like when I just walk away for no reason, or Kacie drops all of the dishes and messes up big-time. My personal favorite part was when Callum confronts his fear of large crowds by simply saying "nope.". That's pretty much all that was kinda funny, the other stuff was mainly focused on the story. The life lesson is to not be afraid of public, and that there is always someone out there that can understand you. This may sound silly, and that so one would ever think that they are all alone in this world...- wait... nope. People think that sometimes. So, it wouldn't be hard to believe. Basically, there is someone out there who can help you, who you can become friends with, who thinks similarly to you. If I had to put the entire meaning of the story into one word, I guess it would be "Motivation".

I'm not sure I mentioned this, (I probably have) but these three legendary people, Linden, Shaday, and Callum, have never worked together before. Our average productivity was about average, but we were doing better than some people. I think that I worked the hardest and fastest of the entire group, (over two-thirds of the animation was from me) But Callum and Shaday were very productive as well. The best moment of the project was when we had FINALLY finished, and were ready to turn it in. It took a really long time, plus two deadline extensions, to finish the animation. If you see the film and are like "Wow. this is the worst animation and film of all time." First of all, no. it's not the worst film of all time. (That title probably belongs to a very bad film that I want to mention, but don't want to bash on it, so you fill in the blank. __________________) And it took a lot of effort to make. The biggest challenge was definitely time, NOT t-i-m-e, as we are forbidden to say that word, but it was probably speed. I was lightning fast at animation, but Callum and Shaday were not quite as fast. When I had finished my assigned scenes, they (no offense) weren't done with one. I diddn't really have a problem with this. Most people from other teams were just as slow, so I was glad to help them out and do a few extra scenes. Soooo yeah. In total, not one of our best projects.


OMG only a few weeks of school left!!!!!!
-Linden


Plan for the project right here

: