BSA324, Charles Schulz used Peanuts as a biography, 11 October, 2017

Schulz Sketched Own Life in 'Peanuts' Strip
October 16, 200712:01 AM ET

David Michaelis, author of Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography, said he noticed a connection between the Peanuts strip and Schulz's life as he researched the book.

For example, as Schulz began to find success with sketching, his father warned him not to get a big head, Schulz said. Years later, Schulz created the Charlie Brown character, whose main feature is an enormous head. And Schulz, like Charlie Brown, consistently absorbed rejection and moved forward in life.

BSA324, anxiety comedy video, 11 October

When You Wave but they Don't See You

voice over narration, people acting out the character's anxieties, and some camera/editing techniques to consider when dealing with the inner turmoil of a character.

BSA324, Sesame Street and trauma support for kids, 11 October, 2017

Sesame Street launches tools to help children who experience trauma, from hurricanes to violence at home

New intitiative called Sesame Street in Communities

"The videos and activities are designed for both children and caregivers to watch or use together, a two-generation approach meant to nurture relationships that can dramatically improve a child’s chances of healing from traumatic experiences. Research shows that a consistent, caring adult is the most effective buffer for a child’s stress. Additional materials designed just for adults explain more about the research and strategies behind how traumatic experiences affect children and how they can help."

Chandler, M. A. (2017, October 6). Sesame Street launches tools to help children who experience trauma, from hurricanes to violence at home. The Washington Post, p. 1. Retrieved October 11, 2017, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2017/10/07/sesame-street-launches-tools-to-teach-coping-skills-to-children-who-experience-trauma-of-all-kinds-from-natural-disasters-to-violence-at-home/?utm_term=.5474f66f49c8

For Traumatized Children, An Offer Of Help From The Muppets

Ann Thomas is CEO of The Children's Place in Kansas City. It's a full-day therapeutic program for children who, on average, have experienced five traumatic events before the age of 6. "They've had some really hard starts in life," she says. "That does impact their development."

Thomas consulted on the new material, even visiting the set when the Muppets were filming.

Though the videos speak directly to children, Thomas thinks they can also help adults. "I think one of the biggest values of this material is as a bridge for adults to take grownup issues and put them in developmentally appropriate words to help children heal," she says.

This is a skill that even the most well-intentioned grandparent, teacher or foster parent may not have. "When it's your child, you don't want them to hurt," she says. "Sometimes we want to say, 'get over it.' It's hard to be with a child in that pain."

She notes that it can be comforting in itself for children to see familiar characters dealing with these emotions. Traumatic experiences are sadly common, but not much talked about in most kids' media.

"When it's done by Sesame it gives it credibility," she says. "If Sesame is doing it you're not alone."

She applauds the focus on skills to manage emotion, rather than having Muppets delve into what caused the emotions. This mirrors the course of treatment for children moving beyond trauma.

"Teaching these coping skills first, creating a sense of safety, consistency and predictability — that is the No. 1 step," she says. "It doesn't matter if it was sexual abuse or a house fire. You're scared, you're not trusting, you're not sleeping."

Kamenetz, A. (2017, October 11). For Traumatized children, An Offer Of Help From the Muppets. Retrieved from NPR: http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/10/06/555363108/for-traumatized-children-an-offer-of-help-from-the-muppets?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=202706

BSA306, The Animal That Wouldn't Die", 11 october, 2017

Skunk Bear's animation "The Animal That Wouldn't Die" 

NPR posts animations all the time that are provocative, informative, cleverly done, and beautiful.  This animation shows one scientist's investigation into the hydra.  This production team knows how to make science fun and thrilling. 

There's this really cool chalkboard animation.  The lines look like chalk, they're erased by an invisible duster like a chalkboard would be erased, and you can see the ghost of past drawings hovering behind the hydra diagram.  

This frame is to remind me that you can still treat animation like a film and choose what's in focus and when. 

Which of these people did the animation?  And why don't they CALL it animation?

BSA303, internship hours update, 9 October, 2017

30/9 Tale Enders       5 hours  11 to 5 with one hour for lunch
16/9 Tale Enders       5 hours 11-1.30, 2.30-5 one hour lunch
2/9 Tale Enders         3.5 hours 12-4.30 with an hour lunch.
19/8 Tale Enders      5 hours 10.30 to 2, lunch, 3-4.30
12/8 Tale Enders      5 hours 11.10-5.10 with lunch
21/7 Spoon               7 hours Thursday, 10-5.30, with half hour lunch
20/7 Spoon              5.5 hours Friday, 10:30-4.30, with half hour lunch
19/7 Spoon             6.5 hours  10.30 to 5.30 with half hour lunch
12/7 TV3                4 hours 10-12, 1.15-3.15
11/7 TV3                5 hours 40 minutes 7.50am -1.30pm
10/7 Spoon             6 hours 25 minutes 10-5.25 with an hour for lunch
7/7 Spoon               5 hours  10-4 with one hour lunch break
6/7 Spoon               8 hours       8:00-4:30, with lunch break
5/7 Spoon              7 hours     10-5:30, with lunch break
4/7 Spoon              6 hours 45 minutes  10-5.15, with lunch break
3/7 Spoon               7 hours  10-5.30 with a lunch break.


92 hours and 20 minutes complete! 

If I can work for Tale Enders for two more weekends, that'll be me done.  I've already asked if Tale Enders needs summer interns.   I'll be happy to go back and intern for them after I've finished up my stuff for graduation.  I'm learning a lot and it's time well spent.  I may only be able to get a seasonal  job during the high holiday season and then nothing in January.

BSA324, IW decorating, 8-9 October, 2017

The picture is really dark when it comes out so I boost the exposure? and get these shots. The next bulk of work will be on lighting.  I need to move that light up or away from the mirro so I don't get the extreme glare OR program it to not effect the reflective part of the mirror?

The marble is way too shiny and the ceiling vines need to be green or the garden vines can't be purple- something like that needs to happen.  Two aisles are completely unthemed or decorated in any way and I've run out of time.  I can probably throw lots of cardboard boxes in there and put bits and bobs in key areas to make everything look full then plan my camera route through the warehouse accordingly.

And after all that shine was taken off the marble.  That's much better.

The portrait aisle will be super impressive when all of those canvases have something on them.  Ha ha!  The pinpoint light at the end of the aisle is too close to the stuff- its's bleaching the Lulu human painting out.  I suppose I could just switch it out with a darker oval portrait.  I'm really glad that it occurred to me tonight to put paintings on every shelf because it blocks out what's happening in the other aisles.  And here it is with light in the side aisles.

Tomorrow I will take the day off and paint Jellybean toys at home and plan my exhibition. 

I found a bush texture in the screen arts texture folder.  It's better than the one I had on it before, but it's still not great.  Sigh.  I've got to move on.  that water texture needs work.  It needs to be bluer and clearer, too.  Again, need to move on.

First texturing attempt of Jellybean's aisle.  It needs pillows in all of the empty shelves and cat texturing.

BSA324, IW decoration, 5-7 October, 2017

I got a lot of vases out into this aisle but I didn't look up how to use the hypershader to assign textures until I'd already put out hundreds of pots.  Now I'm "double working" by going around when I could have duplicated the object with the texture already attached.  oh Well!  It will work out.  

I'm putting a portal of some sort at the end of every aisle.  It might be screened off by a curtain, or it might not appear to be a doorway at all, like this giant painting, until the story calls for it.  

I like how this is working but I wonder if I'll be able to come up with enough stuff to fill the shelves in an interesting way.  And I do think, from time to time, about making the shelves more like climbing racks to give the aisles some more interest.  

This body will be dressed up like a mannequin.

I'm not finishing off aisles the way I thought I would.  A lot of the work is just moving from place to place in the Warehouse trying to fill space.  Very soon I'll need to just hit CTRL D and copy everything I've already got and move it into a place, any place, and be done with it.  I can choose where to point the camera, after all.