I've been watching the new game trailers making their debut at E3 this year. My jaw is on the floor.... man! Some amazing new games coming out and a lot of sequels! The amount of action and the cinematography has blown me away. Here are a few of the trailers I thought look totally wicked-awesome. I've definitely been playing more video games... but still really wish I had more time and money to start 'gaming out' and getting my nerd on! These are totally inspiring to say the least!!
I love love love the style of this game and of course the animation rocks! It's the new Sly Cooper.
IMHO better than all three prequels... check out the new Star Wars: Old Republic game... wow!
Some reason I kept thinking back to Leo trying to escape the Titanic... the new Uncharted 3 looks like a nonstop action packed adrenaline rush.
Okay, so now that I'm only working 56 hours a week I actually have some free time and am back on the video game wagon once again!! I forgot how much fun it is. Lately I've been playing Donkey Kong Country Returns for the Wii. Probably one of the hardest games I've ever played. It's all based on timing and Kong's movements aren't exactly easy to get precise actions, it makes the game somewhat frustrating and annoying, but mostly difficult. I beat Epic Mickey and am enjoying having a Wii. I think the game I'm going to get next is the original Ratchet and Clank for the PS2 and if I like it, go through the whole series.. They look like fun games and I hear they're awesome!
Okay, so I know this isn't a video game blog I was just excited about having the spare time to be playing video games once again!! I'm making great progress on my shot and have been getting a lot of great feedback from my peers. Still looking for a full time animation job all over and am anxious to get my new demo reel up... Hopefully it will generate some buzz. I'm going to attempt to enter the 11 Second Club next month and start working on the next piece. Also we're planning on listing our house on the market in June and have a lot of work ahead of us getting it ready to sell. We're currently remodeling our kitchen and it's coming along. It looks like we're going to be staying in CO for a while unless an Animation Job out of state pops up... otherwise, I'll be looking for contract positions.... Stay tuned, till next time.
So, you may or may not know Cars 2 is coming out this June. I'm getting really excited and the one major I love that Pixar does to get you so excited for the movie without ever spoiling the plot or showing all of the funny parts in the movie is all their promotional content that circulates the web. I showed the official trailer to my 2 year old (he's a HUGE Cars' fan already) and now he asks to see it every time I'm on the computer. I don't think he understands that it won't be out till June, but I can tell he's just as excited as I am to see it! You know we'll be there opening day. I've been seeing a lot of new characters going around the "interwebs" and think they have tons of appeal. I'll post some below for you enjoyment.
I finished up my first official animation job back in February and it has given me a lot more free time to spend with my awesome family and friends, time to work on my demo reel and I've been playing more video games in the past few months then I have in years!! I was able to get through about 9 shots for the movie and am excited to see them rendered and in the movie. I'm only working 2 jobs now (56 hours a week) and it feels like nothing. I've been making good headway on my monologue Rounders' shot I'm working on for my demo reel and have been getting excellent feedback, it's amazing how much it's helped the shot progress to get it where it's at now! I've said it before and I'll say it again... The AM community completely rocks!! So supportive, helpful and encouraging. I've got another acting shot I want to do, as well as a pantomime shot I'm going to start planning... so hopefully I'll have 3 new shots to go on my demo reel by July.
In other news; we've official outgrown our home and are trying to get our house on the market by June... so my demo reel might not be ready till the fall. We'll see how my time management goes. And hopefully our new home will have an office for me.... that would rock!!
Over the weekend I was lucky enough to finally see Tangled. I took my 2 year old and not knowing what to expect (as far as violence and story for a toddler) we went anyways. The movie was absolutely awesome. It was a great story and it totally reminded my of old school Disney. Lots of action, song and dances, silly thugs an evil Mother and the animation. I noticed that they're really pushing 3D to the limits of what is accomplished with 2D. The crazy poses, lots of squash and stretch and the real essence of 2D animation. Since John Lasseter took over the Disney story department they've made some amazing movies! Bolt, Princess and the Frog, Enchanted and now Tangled. I was surprised (and happy) they decided to do Princess and the Frog in 2D (obviously there were 3D elements throughout the movie) but none-the-less an awesome movie. If you haven't seen Tangled yet, go! It was a great movie and I can't wait for the DVD to come out with all the special features.
2011 there are a ridiculous amount of animated movies coming out this year. Rio, Rango, Cars 2, Kung Fu Panda 2 and Gnomeo and Juliet. I'm planning on seeing all of them! In other news, I'm still looking for an Animation Job and began working on new shots for my reel. It's just hard to find extra time.... my goal is to have something done by July so stay tuned. Till next time...
Well it's official, 2010 is wrapping up and I'm curious to see what 2011 holds! It was an awesome year for animated movies! My personal favorite top three were Toy Story 3, How to Train Your Dragon and Despicable Me. I really enjoyed Megamind and Shrek 4 too.
I'm hoping to begin working on more shots for a new demo reel for next year once things slow down a bit. I'm still working on my second contract animation job, but rumor has it that production is supposed to be done in January 2011. That will allow me some more down-time to begin animating personal works for my reel.
I hope everyone had a great 2010 and I can't wait to see what the future holds!! Here is a really cool fan video that pays tribute to all 11 Pixar movies.
Man oh man. Where does the time go?! I can't believe it's December already. What exactly happened to 2010?? Oh, I know. I've been working 3 jobs and raising a two year old with a wife and newborn. I think that Ferris Bueller said it best. Life moves pretty fast, if you don't stop and look around every once in while, you could miss it. I'm paraphrasing, of course. Xander and Mama are doing great. He spent his first month in pain due to reflux (the same thing Maddon had). It's basically heartburn for babies. It was a rough month, with very little sleep. But, he's doing much better now. But for the most part, I have literally no concept of the day, date or month... sometimes I have to stop and think what year is it? How old am I? I'm guessing that's not a good thing....
In animation news. I've seen Toy Story 3 about 30 times now. It just keeps getting better and there are soooo many hidden easter eggs throughout it and they're really cleverly placed. I'm getting excited to see Shrek 4, Despicable Me and Tangled. Seeing the animation thus far in the films from 2010 is absolutely mind-blowing!! So inspiring, not to mention intimidating! I find myself watching movies when I get a moment of some down time and have noticed that I'm really studying the Actors/Actresses subconsciously. Their movements and facial expressions. So, I guess I'm starting to think like an Animator.
As far as my animation world goes. I picked up another contract working on my 2nd feature length film. This time animating Cars! Whoa, it's so fun. I remember before Pixar's Cars came out and hearing from the Animators. They all said it was the most fun they've ever had animating. I can now see why. I'm working on my first shot now, it has 6 characters and it's roughly 6300 frames. It's going to be a fun project and I'm anxious to see how many shots I can pull off. For the 1st project I worked on I finished 8 shots for the movie... I'm working on a dialogue shot from the movie Rounders with Matt Damon. I just started planning everything out and some basic layout stuff. It's a more subtle piece of dialogue, but I need practice doing some of that. The Job Hunt: I've been sending out links and reels and still nothing... the job hunt has been almost a year and reels sent to well over 60 studios. I'm getting frustrated and anxious and discouraged and annoyed and jealous..... I guess, is all that I can do is to keep striving and learning to become a more desired Animator for these studios.
New Years is coming up and I think that resolutions are silly and for the most part a waste of time.... but this year I'm going to re-live an old resolution from 4 years ago... and that's to play more video games. I still have a bunch of games I've owned for years and have yet to beat. I really want a PS3 but can't justify spending that kind of money until I beat my existing games. So hopefully by next year I'll be able to get one. They should be much cheaper too.
So, recently I've seen not one, but two movie sequels coming out that I really enjoyed their predecessors, and am uber excited for the sequels!! Kung Fu Panda 2 and Cars 2. Cars 2 looks like a really fun movie and completely different from the first one. I'm curious to see what Pixar does with it. KFP was an all around great DreamWorks film. I wasn't too happy with the voice talent but the action was great and the story rocked!! Both movies will be coming out around the same time next year and I'm curious to see them battle it out in the box office!!
