Charging Toward a Retreat - Organizational Meeting Notes #2

A Charge Toward a Retreat - Organizational Meeting Notes #2

ASIFA Central Subcommittee on Retreats and BBQs

Phone Conference Call/Zoom: Steve Leeper, Jim Middleton (secty), Gretchen Vinnedge, Robert Swieringa, Gary Schwartz

Tuesday, 26 June 2018, 7-7:40pm (Zoom says BE GONE, MORTALS!)

Some more of the August Retreat specifics were addressed and confirmed - some other items will be discussed “off-zoom” via email.  New material highlighted.

The Autumnal Retreat:
Location: Grand Rapids
Dates: Saturday, August 11 and Sunday August 12, 2018

Proposed Outline:
Saturday, August 11

11am - rousing, stretching, arriving at the theatrical location with snacks in hand for general consumption and minimizing distractions due to hypoglycemia

Opening remarks by Brad Yarhouse, ASIFA Central President - let the mayhem BEGIN!

NEW SPECIFICS!
Noon - 3pm Workshop
Here’s what we’re going with
1. A lip synch project, a brief 4 second bit of vocal gymnastics, promoting ASIFA Central.  Steve and Gary will be working on the narration text and will determine whether it will be pre-recorded or will be captured live at the workshop.
2. Gretchen has four (4) workstations available at the CMC site.  Dragonframe is available there.  Gary, Jim, and Steve all have workstations they can bring.   Steve is designing sand boxes, up to 8 of them.  Jim has a light board for silhouetting or 2D animation sketchery. 
3. Otherwise, it’s “BYOAS” - Bring Your Own Animation Supplies
4. Bring food! Drink! (It’ll have to stay outside the work zone) 

THEN - More NEW SPECIFICS!
3pm-5/5:30pm -Show and Tell, aka “Whatever the Hell We Just Made” (official ASIFA Central Sanctioned Term)
Jim will send out a request to the membership planning to attend to skoot along their intended participation works for the session.  Jim is also working up a standard half-dozen questions to ask everyone at the completion of the showing, with an emphasis on techniques and workflows employed.  The presentations will be recorded for editing into a document commemorating the event.  Jim's email is jim.middletonrx@gmail.com

5/5:30pm - 7pm - DINNER BREAK - on one’s own recognizances - such a variety, perhaps a deli, perhaps a bag of pork rinds

7pm - An evening show, no admission charge, but donations to the cause are always appreciated, if only to cover the light bill for the CMC
Two parts of the program are in the schedule -
Part One - Lotte Reiniger presentation (Chuck Wilson coordinating) - approximately 45 minutes
Part Two - The latest Ottawa showreel - approximately 45 minutes



Sunday, August 12
11am to 2pm - a BBQ “out back of the CMC”  - $5 will help defer the costs
Robert, Brad, and Gretchen will be the coordinators
We may freely enjoy each other’s company.  

Anijam tests for IAD '18

The Poster Challenge:
First of all, to have a poster challenge, you need a poster:

Then take an asisgnment:
The task is to morph between two sets of eyes for this year's poster.  Set #17 goes to #1.

The tests are ....

#1 - 11 drawings to check for color balance and registration, run through Sony Vegas, looped front to back, shot on twos.

And an animated gif test on the first frame for background layering...

And, blending the first second or so...

And now with the final frames, for the background...

Unassembled frames, waiting for layering and final edit to a 3 second opus:

Press Release Notes:
ASIFA Central - IAD October Project and Poster

The eyes have it - 18 visions gaze upon the viewer, just as the viewer is drawn to the variety of imagined expressions they represent.  Rene Castillo of ASIFA Mexico, along with nine other animators at his Mandaraka studios, created these emotions, frozen in time, practically begging for life beyond their storyboarded existence.
Castillo noted that “every animator has a unique and personal point of view, with different styles, techniques, themes, colors... if we celebrate world animation, we must celebrate the diversity of looks.”
With this philosophy, he created his poster celebrating International Animation Day, expressing passion he has embraced since a serious auto accident gave him appreciation for the brevity of life.  Better to mold life into clay than a life of molded management.
ASIFA Central in the United States took Castillo’s vision one step further, molding each image into an animated continuum.  Their Anijam project will be completed in time to present at its August retreat in Grand Rapids.

Le fin, enfin:

...and the whole thing, assembled by the MASTER, R. Brad Yarhouse:

Typing on a Manual Anything....

Presenting the opportunity to hash out random noggin noises, a typewriter is faster than legible handwritten notes — and creates an immediate, organic record, without interruption for “improvement.” It allows me to argue with my thoughts instead of those of an algorithm-designed program.
These gatherings allow for tactile experimentation – perhaps an unusual example will become a new extension of these fingertips. We all become percussion performers in the process.

 At work...

On the road...

 With Oswald

With a beer...remember, write drunk but edit sober...

ASIFA Central and Green Screen Frolix

June 9, 2018 - a rainy afternoon in Grand Rapids, with streets flooding in Battle Creek, and orange pumpkins heading to Singapore.  That calls for some video experimentation:

Part One - Melies as Mentor

Part Two - Koko Kicks Krazy

 Some guy with an old T-shirt and bad color sense

 Things quickly became surreal

 New guard, old glasses...

 A virtual Gary... we had to take a picture

Avatars abounding

ASIFA Central and IAD Anijam Concept - for discussion on June 9 2018

From our noble ASIFA Central President, Brad Yarhouse:

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to get your opinion on the ANI-JAM event happening this week. I am wondering about having the event be a starter for the jam. Those who want to gather locally can come to the Community Media Center, those who wish to Skype in remotely can connect with us there. We announce the ANI-JAM theme, goal, and elements and discuss among the participants the how to share files, whose piece links to whose, and then the participants go off to work on their segments. 

Here is the Theme and particulars:

The theme will be based on the IAD 18 poster which will be revealed on Friday this week. The poster is made up of a series of images of characters faces in extreme closeup with different expressions. Each face is done in a different style of animation. For the ANI-JAM each participant will be organized with a start expression and an end expression that links up with another persons start or end expression. The execution and interpretation of the expressions will be solely up to the participants. Which expressions and who does what will be determined at the start of the jam. Each participant has 3 seconds to animate their expression transforming to the other expression through whatever means they determine. A click track for the beat will be provided, a final soundtrack will be custom created by a member, I am hoping to get Andrew Zesiger, a recent KCAD graduate to do the music, but there could be others. 

The pieces would be due on July 1st, the debut of the completed jam would be at our Retreat. The completed jam would be used as a proof of concept for the other chapters in ASIFA to create their own ANI-JAMS that could be used as openings to IAD or as interstices between films on IAD. 

SO, this Saturday’s event would be less about making something during the event and more about launching the event. The core goal of the event (in my opinion) is to get animators from throughout our wide region connected and working together. The hope is that this would seed and lead to other collaborations.

What do you all think?

Brad

(watch this space for updates after Saturday's gathering...)

The assignments have been assigned - the challenge is presented!  Let the morphing (not morphine) begin!