.MOV Film Festival

You see the title? You're probably wondering; What the heck is a MOV? Is it short for movie? Is it some sort of rare species of iguana in New Brazilland? Is it a type of fruit? Is it another word for MOM? What the heck is it? Well, it basically means movie. Anyway, ours is an animation comedy thing. Our keywords are Comedy, Virtual-world, Creativity, and Challenges. These keywords (I think) connect with the audience. They do so because (for Comedy) everyone likes to laugh right? Right? (Grumpy old man around the corner of my house I am NOT talking about you.) And virtual world, I think all of us get sucked into another reality some time or another. I don't mean literally. Creativity and challenges are kinda intertwined. Using one you can get through the other. (Yeah! Use challenges to conquer creativity!) I don't mean that. You should conquer challenges creatively.

Behind the scenes!

So the overall message. The message that I perceive from the film is to face challenges head-on. Don't try to wiggle away from them. Don't try to escape DESTINY! (Perhaps not that dramatic, but you get the idea.) When there's a challenge, if you don't try to face it, you'll grow up thinking that it's okay, but then when you HAVE to face it, you won't know what to do! You won't have the experience! And when you do face the challenges, it may not be as complicated or bad as you think it is. You may be surprised at what you accomplish if you just TRY! I know, this seems like "Wow. I've heard this a gabazillion times before. Sheesh. UNCREATIVE ALERT!" But it's true! Just try it.

Animation!

The biggest challenge my team faced, no question or contest, was when one of our members decided to leave. We wasted two days trying to convince him to stay, but to no avail. When he left, we ended up one man down, and two days behind, meaning me and Cody needed to pick up the slack. I doubt we ever fully recovered from that, but we did pretty well. And it did take a lot of extra work to catch up and animate good. Is goodly a word? If so, (It's probably not,) We animated goodly, and caught up just in time. Still though, I was under a LOT of stress to finish it on time. Which as you know, (Or perhaps you don't.) isn't very good for anyone. It was hard, especially since when we started FILMING, the project was due in TWO DAYS. And animating takes a while.

Tiny Spherical Worlds

My First World (Polar panorama)

Look! A river has been turned
 into a Spherical Pano!

So. See the title? See it? Smell it? Taste it? (No you can't. This is a computer.) We are making entire WORLDS! Ha! But there are no ordinary every-day planets, these are PHOTO WORLDS! Think of it like a panorama, but then it's made to look like a planet. There are examples all over this post. So, these worlds are composite images. What's a composite image you ask? It's an image made from several different photos. You may be wondering, "But Linden, why would you want a composite image? Isn't one photo enough? If you want a bigger photo, why can't you just use the panorama button on your phone? Isn't a composite image just more work?" And to that I answer, um, (What can I answer first?) About panoramas, yeah... they're composite images too. I know, I know, groundbreaking stuff here. Probably just went over your head. And the point of a composite image is to make several photos into an image beyond the limitations of a camera. No camera could make one of these photos into a tiny world. No sir. With composite images, you have a lot more customization freedom. Composite images do take more work then just a photo though, but that much is obvious.

I am the ruler of this world I created...

So, there are two types of these worlds. Polar and spherical. They may sound the same, and for the most part, they are. Only one step makes them different, but the outcomes are shockingly different. A polar panorama looks like a tiny globe that you could fit in your hand, but a spherical panorama looks kind of like the sky is a black hole sucking in everything from every angle. either way, they're both really cool. The one step that separates them is flipping the image upside-down before you use the tool to make it polar or spherical. It kinda inverses the sky and ground. So, in a polar panorama, the ground is in the center, but in a spherical panorama, the sky is in the center with the ground surrounding it. I think they look REALLY cool.

(This is really trippy...)

So, these worlds, they look (mostly) pretty real huh? No? Well, then, I'll explain to you why they look so spectacularly realistic! So, they look like this for several reasons. At first, there was a large line going straight through the worlds. That looks pretty dubious, so it had to be fixed. It took some serious edits to get rid of it. And by serious edits, I of course mean the always-handy stamp tool. Little bit of stamps here, little bit there, a ton of stamps there, change place where you stamp, stamp some more, and boom! Line erased! There may be a bit of traces of the line there, but it otherwise (totally) works! I will admit, I'm not the BEST editor, but that doesn't stop me from trying! Another thing that makes them look as real as an egg-salad sandwich, is in the portrait shots, the angle in which the portraits were taken. The portraits were then skewed to fit more, and had an epic shadow added to them! Pretty realistic huh?


SO many new planets need to be added to the science textbooks now,
-Linden

Hockney Style Joiners

O-O-O-K-K-K, So, our next project is a photomontage. Just like the person that invented it, David Hockney, we are piecing together lots of photos into one image. However, there are a few differences. Our photomontage photos are edited, but instead of making it surreal like David Hockney's photomontages, ours are edited to just enhance them a little. I mean, if you look at Hockney's works, they look like paintings! Ours just looks like our subject, pieced together a little abstractly. So, same idea, totally different finished products.

School Photomontage

I don't know if you know this, *Puts on tinfoil hat* but there are some serious subliminal messages in photos. If you look at a photo, it can convey a mood. For example, some photos can make you feel sad, happy, excited, confused, and more. They can do this through lighting and composition techniques, not to mention the subject itself. For example, for a sad mood, there can be a sightly blue tint as it rains and a woman runs away. (Perhaps a bit dramatic, but you get the gist.) For happy, there could be a bright, colorful picture of a little kid's birthday party. For a trapped feeling, there could be a black and white photo of someone yelling while shaking thick metal bars. (Once again, a bit dramatic.) Just thinking about these types of images can give you the "Feels". *Takes off tinfoil hat* (No idea why I was wearing that.) Anyway, the main point is that skilled photographers can make you feel something just by looking at their photos, and we've also been learning how to do that.

Cupcakes are my Final Photomontage!

So. This is it. The final photomontage. *Engage epic music* The subject of this photomontage is... *Drumroll please* Something about us! Yeah, the final photomontage is supposed to represent something about us. So, you may be wondering, seeing the cupcakes over there, "How does this represent HIM?" And I have the answer to that question. First thing, I love to bake. It's one of my favorite hobbies, and I do it very often. Don't believe me? In our kitchen, I have my very own large drawer that is devoted entirely to sugar and flour. The more implicit, but still kinda obvious message both applies to me, and to other people in a different way. Basically, for me, it symbolizes how I'm pretty different from other people. I may try to fit in, but it's impossible. Relating to other people, it is a message that says "Stand Out!" "Be yourself!" etc. You know, motivational mumbo jumbo, blah blah blah.

You can stop the epic music now...
-Linden 

  BILLIE

2016 Aspirations

It's a baby tree.

Ok, new year, so new resolutions. (Resolutions,  goals, whatever.) Here are 5 goals for 2016 that I have: 1. bake two things I have never baked before, (This may be challenging, because I have baked a LOT of things...) Another is to make a pretty good project for this year's science fair. I also want to do really well while making my mom's wedding cake. (I volunteered to do it. I love to bake! :) ) My fourth goal is to travel more, as I have only been to 3 states in the U.S. only... (I may not reach this goal, because I have no plans to travel to other places, but anything can happen.) My final goal is to continue to get straight A's for the rest of 3rd and 4th quarters. This is probably the most important goal, right up there with doing well in 8th grade.

So, I want to do well in 7th grade, and this is very important. (Now this chain

It's a small flower.

may be over-exaggerated, so don't judge it too harshly, but...) If I don't do well in 7th grade, I won't be ready for 8th grade. If i'm not ready for 8th grade, I'll fall behind. If I fall behind, I won't be ready for high school! If that happens, I won't be ready to go through each of the high school years in turn, leading to not being able to go to collage, AND MY WHOLE LIFE WILL BE RUINNEEDDDDDDD!!!!! (Told you. I over-exaggerated...) Anyway, I believe it's important to get good grades in school, so you can be whatever you want. (I may not have the best goals, but whatever.)

God reaches down to shine light on-
just kidding. It's the cloudy sky.

Ok. So, I think, to achieve this absurd goal, (Not very absurd, but whatever.) I will have to do all assignments to the best of my ability, listen in class, self directed learner, blah blah blah, etc. Seriously though, I'm really bad at getting homework done on time, so I need to work on not procrastinating. (It's my number 5 favorite hobby. I'm too lazy to write the other four though.) I think my quality of work currently is pretty good though, but that doesn't mean it can't be improved! (It might though.) Also, I sometimes get distracted in class, so that needs to be improved as well. Other then those things, I already do pretty well in class, so this goal is seemingly easy, but one slip up and it's failed.

Happy new year!
-Linden

P.S: If you're wondering what the photos are for, they're assignments to take thoughtful photos.

Scratch Game Design

So, coding! Finally, something difficult but super fun! Our assignment was to create an epic Scratch game where one thing chases another, and to make a platformer. We, as well, had to make a game where... well... it actually diddn't have much requirements. It was just a freedom game. (Have fun playing the games, they're around here somewhere...) Anyway, our class gave us feedback on the games, (The one that was made FIRST,) so we could make the games better. The chase game, platformer, and freedom games you currently see above is the most updated version. A couple of the suggestions were to make the water in the platformer for level 4 a little slower, (Which I did, by the way.) and to make the background to the chase game a little more interesting.

So, for each of the games, I think there were clearly some awesome features. (Shameless self-advertising.) The best feature for the chase game, I think, was how the game gets harder the longer you play. After 20 points, it becomes almost impossible to dodge the square's attacks. (Want a hint? Never stop moving.) For the platformer, I think the best feature is the cutsene at the end. The water stops, and then drains. They're pretty cool, and very different. As one increases difficulty, one stops it.

So, the code. I think that the best code I made was on the freedom game, because of the complexity of creating certain formations that would always be carried out provided the correct random number was picked. It was pretty difficult to coordinate the lava and platforms, and took some trial and error. One of the most difficult bug fixes was actually also the best code. I just couldn't figure out how to coordinate the lava and the platforms. When two of the same formations appeared, the platforms would be off by quite a bit, usually making it impossible. But I rewrote the code, so instead of 10 sprites there were 1 that cloned itself, and I made the platforms activate the lava. It was pretty frustrating...

Hope you enjoy playing Chase, Platformer, and Dash!
-Linden<br />

P.S. For the freedom game, use only space. Space makes you jump. Tap space again to double jump. For the platformer, use arrow keys, and same for the chase game.

Invention Commercial

Wazzup! Here we have another G.T. project. This project was to create an invention and advertise it. Currently, the Shirt Shifter (You should know what it's called if you watched the video) is not for sale, because there is only one in existence, but it's still pretty cool. For the assignment, we basically wanted to make a reference to those classic 80's commercials. I think we did pretty well. We also wanted to make it pretty funny and less like a reference to the classic commercials, and more like a rip-off of them. So, that pretty much contradicts my previous statement. Anyway, how did we do? Our only thought was to entertain you. (And sell the product, which isn't for sale >:D )

The best "Team Moment" I think, was the creation of the idea itself. I originally had wanted to do shampertables, (Kinds like convertible pants, but exactly like convertible pants) but it wasn't an original idea. Then, we thought of ANOTHER idea, which was supposed to motivate people, but it wasn't makable, so that had to go to. Finally, I thought of how annoying it was to take off sweaters in the afternoon, and thought of the Shirt Shifter. Supa inspiration genius. It was also a good moment when we finished the editing and saw it on the "Big Screen" and how awesome it was (Although that wasn't really pre-production...). Need more proof? Check out these scores! Left, Up, and Down.


Anyway, DURING the editing, we had split jobs. I was in charge of piecing together the clips, Micah was in charge of music, and Cody was in charge of critical thinking. (I mean critical. Not like complex thinking, more like a critic.) I think we all did a pretty good job on each of our jobs. Everyone did their part, and their part was... did? Basically we divided the work so that everyone had something to do.

Adios!
-Linden  Supa awesome guy w/ hea lol

Composition Scavenger Hunt

Hellllooooooo people that pay attention to a blog like this! We were, this time, supposed to go out (on the school campus... :P) and film 10 examples of composition techniques. Anyway, if you look up ABOVE, you will see the 10 examples WE were supposed to do. I, personally, think that unusual angles are the most important. I mean, sure, you have a movie with rule of thirds or whatever, but no unusual angles, it's just kinda blah. Unusual angles make it more gripping, and draw you in like- WOAH! Did that guy just do an EPIK jump? It looks like it because the camera is under him as he jumps from building to building! When from flat, it's just like- Oh, cool jump brah, meh, this is boring. Just my opinion though. Don't take my word for it.

I think the HARDEST composition technique is ALSO unusual angles. I mean seriously, it's kinda hard to look for the most creative, safe, AND interesting angle at the exact same time. We took about 10 minutes to find ours! Although, when you're making a movie, you have time for that sort of thing... Still, it's hard. I could use it more by taking more time to think about shots before I shoot them, but I'm too lazy. (Jk, Jk. Hold your horses. I'm not THAT lazy.) Anyway, yeah, I could also shoot in more locations that gain the POSSIBILITY to create these strange unusual angles. It'll be hard, but possibly fun. :)

So, on this, my teammates were Cody and Micah. We mainly switched roles every now and then, but mainly, micah and cody were the subjects, I was usually the speaker, (Sometimes it was micah,) Cody, when not talking or holding up the camera, held up the script. He also did most of the text when we were editing. There was a lot of variation on who did what though, so it's kinda hard to explain who did this and that and this-that. Anyway, in the editing board, I cut out the extra footage and pieced it together, Micah was da epik D.J. and did the music, and Cody gave advice and did the texts. Then bing, bang, boom! (I just destroyed a couple vases... >-<) An epic and informative video!

Piece out! (Puzzles r fun)
-Linden