Scratch Film Junkies second response.

It was very different watching a movie by the Scratch Film Junkies the second time after working on a cameraless film and realizing how much time and effort it takes to do the littlest animation as well as the tinniest bit of coloring or dying. I was able to enjoy the film much more this go around because I related to the effort a lot. I was alos able to recongnize parts of the film and the techniques used which helped with the viewing and game me a sense of relateability(not sure if that is a real word) During the film if I saw some bleaching or toning or scratching I related to the techniques recalling my own frustration and elation using the different techniques. During the first time I saw the Scratch Film Junkies I enjoyed parts of it but soemtimes I kind of tuned out because I had no clue as to what I was watching. In this film there was a great use of colors and neat animation. THe animation for me was the most frustrating part of the project so when I saw animation in this film i watched it quite different than the first time. Basically when it comes down to the second film and watchign it I can appreciate everything a lot more because I had to do most of the stuff I had seen in the film. THis made the second film much more enjoyable. I give THe Scratch Film Junkies a lot of credit in addition to any filmmaker or filmmakers that make these ind of films because although I enjoyed the experience of making mine it would probably take a lot for me to make another one. It is just not my kind of film but now I can have much more respect for them and not look at the films as pure chaos.

I would like to say first and foremost that was the most annoying reading I have had to do because I do not print it out. Instead I had to flip my laptop sideways and reap the entire article like that. Kinda funny actually. However reading the article was pretty interesting. Especially talking about sound registering faster than sight. I never really thought about that but thinking about it it very true. Eyes have a lot more to do that ears. Eyes have to look at distance of an object, size, movement , what it is, etc. etc. and process it all. Ears and sound just have to focus on that. I guess that is why I would much rather lose my hearing than lose my sight. I know I could deal with that much better. It would such not to be able to hear music, but not seeing would put me at a much much greater disadvantage. Another thing about the article that made me think was the use of sound in cinema and if you took away the sound what would you have. It is kinda different watching a video without any sound at all. It loses so much. When watching Stan Brackhge films it is different because there is no sound to it at all. No dialogue, no music, nothing. I personally do not like it. I enjoy music during films, especially short experimental ones. It gives something extra to the film. Sometimes sound helps to just get through it. When I do not have sound on a film I can easily drift off out of the world the film should bring me into. Music and sound give emotion and propell thought and feelings. How often it happens to me that I hear a song that reminds me of a time that something good or bad happened to me. Or someone says a line from a film and I immediately laugh or am brought back to what I was doing when that film came out or who I was with. Sound is so important and I believe incredible detail and immense thought should be put into putting the sound into film even if the sound or music in obscure. Even then it may stand out in a good way.

Wells Response

I will start off first and foremost that what I just read (i literally JUST read it about thirty seconds ago) went over my head. I understood what Wells was saying most of the time about the animation but maybe it did not sink in enough. So i will blog about what I did take in and what I know about animation. I know it did not start with Disney and Warner Bros., which was all i watched growing up as most probably did, but with others like KOKO the Clown which I watched in another class. I like those films I had seen although some of them were incredibly racist and I could not believe my eyes at what I saw with them. Some of the ways they portrayed black people was pretty bad in those cartoons. Anyway, getting off base here, I thought the early animation with the artists hand in the picture was really cool and I remember seeing 'Duck Amuck' when I was young. I also remember seeing really early animation with a dinosaur and a guy 'interacting' with an animated dinosaur. Those videos were really cool. I was in awe, and it came back to me reading Wells article, at the painstaking time and effort it took for early animation to produce single films. It really is mind blowing especially in todays age of speedy everything. I do wonder how much animation will be changing because it already is with computers. Does anyone even make cell animation besides purists who do it for the art? How long will they even do it? When will that fall by the waist side, or will it ever? I do not think it will totally go away but animators now are computer techs. They still need to know how to draw which I do not at all but I believe that having to draw will not be such a necessity in the future with how technology and thinkgs like pixar and 3-D are progressing. It's interesting to learn the history like in Wells article if only to see how far ahead we have come.

Cameraless filmmaking so far

my experience so far with cameraless filmmaking has been interesting. This is the first time I have really done this before and I really am enjoying the experience. I am not sure if it is something i would like to pursue full time after school but I am enjoying the different use of film for the time being. It seems to force me to be creative in a way that is unusual. I had heard of cameraless film briefly during FST200 but never really gave it too much thought. It was not until Cucalorous when Andre did a 6X1 workshop. I was not able to attend but I was working at screen gems when it was going on and my interest was peaked. I talked to some people about it and they said they had taken the course and it was very very cool. So, naturally, when I saw that I could take it this semester I signed right up. it has been great. Some of the animation is going to trouble me a little because I cannot draw at all but the end product should be pretty interesting. I have no idea what I will be doing for this Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water project but I hope to engage part of my brain that may normally lay dormant to finish it. Last week in the 'dark room' was very cool and I felt like a kid again using objects to create images on film using only the flash of a light. I loved it and it is things like that which make the class different and fun so I am glad that I am taking it. It is definitely my favorite class this semester by far. i just hope to not screw it up by over thinking things when it comes to art which i have a tendency to sometimes do. I guess only time will tell.