First post: Where's my head at?

(second attempt at first post...why the bleepbleep can't you cut and past into your posts from word)
Anyways... this blog is going to serve as a 'headspace' i suppose, for the development of my first screen animation project. Since it is my first it is going to most likely be short, cheap, simple and prone to reactions and comments such as 'crap, that is so crap'... ahh, let me not get too pessimistic so soon, there's still the next ten weeks for that!!

Yep, I have about ten weeks, and as of today I am at square one, back to the drawing board as they say. In the initial weeks of semester I was struck by an idea that I pretty much became obsessed with immediately. After developing and refining my initial idea I started to plan. Through the stages of planning my initial idea came unstuck. The major reasons were lack of access to appropriate camera lenses and physical constraints...I'm not elaborating on the idea cause one day when I get a super wide angle lens (or maybe a fisheye) for an upgraded digi (my DSLR is pretty stoneage) I might just pull it of...so it can stay in the depths of my brain for the time being.

I'm pretty dead-set on doing a stop motion animation using a still camera. I figure this would be the most useful approach for me to acquaint myself with in the short space of this course. I figure animation in a public school setting is going to rest heavily on stop motion strategies. This isn't a bad thing at all. For the past couple years I've been casually observing how cool stop motion animation can really be. Without a doubt I would have to say BLU's work with stop motion has been the most awe inspiring stuff I have seen to date and probably where my initial interests in this type of animation began. BLU's work can be seen at www.blublu.org/  . This is the first video I saw of his a year or two back...I'm aware that millions of people have seen this..however, if you haven't I strongly suggest you hit play, sit back, and let your jaw hit the floor. Pretty amazing stuff...




Isn't it just the coooolest!?!? The sheer scale of this project puts it in a league that I would not even ever dream my animations will ever fall into. I could not comprehend the work that goes into a production like this. However, I really like BLUs drawing style, simple, effective and narrative based but in a semi non-linear way.. I mean really when you watch this stuff from start to finish it has an underlying story to tell, but, you can pretty much grasp the themes and enjoy the film at which ever point you start to watch it. I've noticed this with alot of stop motion I've been watching through the video sharing toobs...many of them do not have a distinct start and finish. I'm kinda interested in the idea of looping...hold on!! I'm getting ahead of myself. first things first: WHAT AM I GOING TO USE TO CREATE THE ANIMATION? (notepads, flash, claymotion, whiteboards etc..) ....