Video games: 2D unity tutorials, 20 August, 2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=on9nwbZngyw

Making videos broadcast safe, 12 October, 2018

Davinci Resolve broadcast safe settings

PBS requires chrominance to under 120 IREs.  There is a broadcast safe setting in Resolve (see picture above) and you can choose the middle settings for safety.


Legal video in Premiere Pro

Legal audio in Premiere Pro (same as video clip above)
Loudness standards in adobe audition
Loudness standards in premiere pro
colour correcting in premiere pro

Editing ideas for Give Love, 30 October, 2018

https://vimeo.com/149874917

Split screen!  And Marvel's new Venom movie has them too, very exciting.

Split screen tutorial

2x 3x 4x split screen tutorial

Suzy Cato's shows, 4 November, 2018

You and Me: Plants Need Water

Suzy is like NZ's Mr. Rogers! 

Animation, puppets, a friendly adult who talks directly through the screen to the kids.

You and Me Intro

You and Me: Fish and Crabs

Doodlebug TV and Anna van Riel research:  what kind of a show do WE want to make?  Who's our audience?  Where and how do they find us?  How do we appeal to a wide range of ages (including parents and caregivers)?

Echo: Editing and Colour Grading Echo: Day to night and more, 27 August- 20 October, 2018

I'm working on Anna van Riel's Echo video this month
Colour Grading in Premier Pro     This is OK

Bring down exposure
put blue tint in:  adjustment layer> colorista
desaturate colours,

Turning Day into Night   This one is better because it shows how to bring in a starry sky
Make sure none of the elements in the shot are too white or clipped
Keep it underexposed, under 90 IRE
offset colours so you get the blue tones
decrease contrast
adjust temperature towards blues
slightly underexpose shot
decrease saturation to 70, 75
replace sky and put stars in using adobe after effects starts at 7 minute mark
can set it up so whatever you do in AE automatically updates in Premier Pro
Null shots: link to horizon so the stars move around with the camera
use feathering and masks to make sure starry sky doesn't creep below horizon line   12 minute mark

Colour correction in After Effects  Short and sweet

Whichever technique I use will depend on available software.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBp2-GOQbb8

60 fps to 25fps how to instructions
https://forums.adobe.com/thread/1368250

tracking camera and objects in after effects

faster way to mask figures

export subtitles on clear background from AE

fixing out of focus shots and poorly lit sequences in Premiere Pro
3 second rule for filming- golden shots for editors

HEIHEI for NZ kids, 31 July, 2018

https://thespinoff.co.nz/parenting/05-07-2018/is-there-anything-good-on-heihei-for-pre-schoolers/

review of HeiHei's lineup and how it works for the pre-school set.

Maia the Brave, 31 July, 2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=17&v=x2yR7oVmtDU

This show looks awesome!  It looks like more Mukpuddy goodness and offers kids practical advice on getting through scary stuff.  This would be a good artist model for Girl and the Imagination Warehouse.

The Maisy Test, 31 July, 2018

http://sacraparental.com/2015/07/15/the-maisy-test-quick-guide-4-questions-to-expose-sexism-in-kids-tv-shows-and-movies/

Prepping for semester 2 teaching, 8 July, 2018

Pinhole camera resources:
http://www.mrpinhole.com/calcpinh.php

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/great-pinhole-camera-projects-home/

Make your own camera obscura tutorial by storm the castle:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYvl6t0N94E
Materials:
foam core, hot glue and gun, mirror, lens from scope or use pinhole, analog paper/developing paper and chemicals?
electrical tape to seal edges, cyanoprint or sunprint paper, http://www.instructables.com/id/Cyanotype-Camera-Obscura/  This process doesn't leave a very long lasting result, though.  scan the print or take a photo with  a mobile phone to preserve the picture and then reprint the image.  https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2012/03/how-to-make-photographic-prints-without-a-camera-or-chemicals/

pinhole camera photographers:  http://megansnaithgcsephotographyportfo.weebly.com/pinhole-photography.html

https://one04design.wordpress.com/2012/04/19/ann-hamilton-mouth-pinhole-camera/

Ann Hamilton: Mouth-held pinhole camera (holding a canister containing a strip of film in her mouth and using her lips as an aperture to create each exposure)

Nicholas Williams
https://petapixel.com/2015/03/12/street-photographs-captured-with-a-pinhole-camera-strapped-to-the-face/

Make your own pinhole camera that's also a work of art in itself!

Photograms

one minute tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJs1L5ONOU0

tutorial by art of photography  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zK9cYGuogX8

material list: pack (50) 8”x10” light sensitive photographic paper, paper developer chemical and distilled water to dilute it, stop bath and fixer are same as usual,  four trays, amber light bulb (for working in room) and red bulb (to expose the paper) for the dark room, 

https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2012/03/how-to-make-photographic-prints-without-a-camera-or-chemicals/

scan it into computer for editing and reprint big.

pinhole camera and non-chemical developer tutorial:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4bf2IO3-Wg

Optitex tutorials and online manual, 7 February- 27 April, 2018

help.optitex.com

file>history
program will record who saved the file by the login name.  If you want to know EXACTLY who saved what and when, everyone will need separate login names to the Optitex computer.

file>digitzer
software supports a digitzing tablet and cursor to add hand drawn patterns to the computer

12 March

Use Regular Tesselation

Select this checkbox, if you want to use old triangulation. This is useful for example if you are creating patterns with rigid cloth, for example bags.  If you turn this checkbox off, then you will use the new triangulation which allows you to fold the fabric easier, create a smoother look and improve the simulation.

This may be how we simulate foam or other "solid" fabrics.

http://help.optitex.com/#t=Optitex_3D%2FFabric_Parameters.htm

Fabric parameters is where we will tell the program what kind of material we're working with.
We can manipulate the "bend" and make the fabric stiffer or looser.
We can add fabrics manually.

has the fabric editor been installed at work?
http://help.optitex.com/#t=Optitex_3D%2FUsing_the_Fabric_Editor.htm

Under darts menu:  fan
Is this how we lengthen a nose, like Brenda asked?
http://help.optitex.com/#t=PDS%2FPDS_NEW%2FFan.htm

Find out how bags are patterned and simulated because this may be how we make our foam bodies or puppets that don't need a body/avatar.
Optitex bag design tutorials
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4l5lMuRTY1w 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xVYvmDy4bg


Basic pattern vocabulary: http://help.optitex.com/#t=Optitex_2D%2FIntro_to_PDS%2FAnatomy_of_a_Piece.htm

drawing a pattern directly onto the avatar
http://help.optitex.com/#t=Tutorials%2F3D_Flattening_Workflow.htm
This would be good for bodysuits with special panels or gussets, etc.

children's TV in NZ, 6 May, 2018

http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/mediawatch/audio/201802085/shrinking-options-for-kids-on-tv

NZOA commissioned a Colmar Brunton survey of 700 children to assess media use by children. It said that survey found 66 percent of children used the internet daily, and 72 percent had access to a tablet or mobile phone. YouTube also now rivalled TV2 as the main source of entertainment for children.

The survey found nine out of ten children watch TV every day, but a TV channel for children doesn't feature as an option in the discussion paper NZOA put out last year.

"TV is still the dominant screen in New Zealand children's lives, said Colmar Brunton's report, while "on-demand sites are rarely used by 6-14 year-olds on a daily basis". NZOA's review noted that money was spent on an iPad app for kids' science show Let's Get Inventin', but it was downloaded less than 1800 times before the show was scrapped by TVNZ.

But NZ On Air sought expressions of interest for an online platform to host content for kids and is expected to announce a plan and funding for one next month.

Janette Howe is the chair of the New Zealand Children's Screen Trust, a group formed to press for a home for good children’s television when TVNZ’s last non-commercial channel closed in 2012.

http://www.nzonair.govt.nz/news/articles/a-new-approach-to-funding-childrens-content/

New Blood Web series proposal 2018

Ways to promote your animated web series between episodes:

https://www.psynema.com/self-producing-an-animated-web-series/

TVNZ New Blood Web Series Competition Proposal

“Girl and the Imagination Warehouse”

Created by Traci Meek

Logline: Too old to be a child and too young to be an adult, Girl and her imaginary friends find quirky and inventive ways to navigate a world full of change and emotion.

Web series synopsis:  6 x 3-4 minute mix of live-action and animated episodes.  Each episode will follow Girl as she mentally retreats from an upsetting incident into the safe space of her “Imagination Warehouse” to work out the right, fair, and workable solution to her problem with the help of her imaginary friends.  Each friend takes the form of an animal made from junk that uses the offensive/defensive mechanisms of its species that relates to observable human emotional/stress responses.  A tuatara made from discarded silverware aggressively snaps and smiles in equal measure, an armadillo made from a furry beanbag rolls up into a ball, a possum attempts to binge-eat her feelings away, and a rabbit made from computer detritus retreats to the internet whenever things don’t go his way.  Each episode will focus on a dilemma of the day that is relevant to kids and how to solve them without resorting to violence: sharing, accidentally saying the wrong thing, bullying, making and losing friends. 

 Why will people want to watch this show?  There is a strong need in New Zealand for emotional intelligence education starting with school-age children.  According to the Campaign for Action on Family Violence, from 2009 to 2012 an average of 32 men, women, and children were killed each year in NZ as a result of family violence; about half of homicides in NZ are committed by an offender who is identified as family.  The "It's Not OK" campaign successfully brought these issues to light by using Kiwi vernacular and emphasizing "unacceptable behavior" instead of "unacceptable people".  Follow up evaluations of the Campaign found that an opportunity to address kids had been missed.  Through short, fun, and thoughtful episodes that treat children’s concerns respectfully, we hope to produce a New Zealand-born program that will fill a niche in how we as a country think about emotions, react to stress, and problem solve.

“Girl and the Imagination Warehouse” is aimed at the “tween” demographic (8-12 year olds).  Children in this age group are interested and apprehensive in equal measure about growing up and this series focuses on their maturing emotions and interactions with the wider world.  The Colmar Brunton survey commissioned by NZ On Air found that 66% of children used the internet daily and 72% had access to a tablet or mobile phone.  A web series would be the perfect vehicle to reach this group of kids.  It is further hoped that the adults in their lives will also enjoy the show and will watch and talk about it with their kids.  Because a wider family group is expected as viewers, the mix of live-action and animation will bridge the tastes of those groups.  While our intention is to make a difference in the lives of New Zealanders, we want a make a show that touches hearts, moves ideas, and inspires laughs.    

Each episode has two separate emotions combined into one as the element of the episode.  Flustrated (Flustered + frustrated)  Upsyzed (upset + paralyzed)  Madlite (Mad + polite) 

Send to rachel.fawcett@tvnz.co.nz and newblood@tvnz.co.nz

Putting together a good showreel, 4 June, 2018

https://www.creativebloq.com/advice/15-pro-tips-for-crafting-the-perfect-showreel

Laser cutting services Minneapolis, 11 February, 2018

South Korea Winter Olympics puppeteer, 11 February, 2017

https://news.artnet.com/art-world/meet-nicholas-mahon-olympics-opening-ceremony-1221353

mascots: constructing a costume that keeps the performer cool, 20 January, 2018

Inflatable costume: instructions for getting dressed
This mascot style has no fur or foam around the body just an inflatable silk/poly shell that is inflated around the performer.  How do you make them, though?

Ways of keeping bulk down and your performer cool
A body made with rings will keep the amount of foam down.   If the mascot is wearing a shirt, anyway, the section that is covered can be made with mesh so air gets into the performer. 

Research: How characters speak in children's animation, 8 January, 2017

Why Do Cartoon Villains Speak in Foreign Accents?

Children’s shows often use non-standard dialects to voice the "bad guys," sending a dangerous message to kids about diversity.

Research: Mike Judge's Tales from the Tour Bus, 8 January, 2018

Mike Judge (Beavis and Butthead, King of the Hill) narrates and interviews friends and families of country music hellraisers for this animated series.  I don't love Judge's animation style but I do like animated interviews.  This is pretty entertaining stuff. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2-zL7aLbrI