So as you probably know, every year my family travels to upstate Michigan, near Traverse City and attends the Interlochen Arts Camp. Usually I'm a Day Camper and enjoy everything that goes along with that title: going home to a warm or cool house, depending on the weather, Internet access in that home, a TV, regular food for breakfast, lunch and dinner, riding a bike to all my classes and waking up in the morning whenever I want. This year though, I am attending Interlochen as a boarding camper. That means I get basically the opposite of everything a day camper does, but with more of a social life.
Usually I'm a music major and my day looks pretty different, but this year I'm an Animation Major, so this is my average day: I sleep in a cabin every night with 14 other girls including our counselor. Every morning at 6:40, we are awoken by a mixture of my counselor Nicole waking us up and the trumpet. I slither out of bed, put on flip-flops, and go to line-up. This means walking out of the cabin to around 60-40 degree temperatures, walking through basically a forest, and standing in tennis courts while the division leader of High School Girls gives announcements (I make it sound bad, but it's just a part of Interlochen, and I love it). Then I walk back to the cabin in a crowd of about 400 girls. From there, everyone's days split up. The musical theater majors in the cabin get ready as fast as possible, dressing in the standard uniform of a tucked in polo with the Interlochen insignia, navy blue shorts, knee high light blue socks, same colored lanyard and assorted shoes (and sometimes jackets and sweaters if it's cold).
I should also mention that we have capers every morning to clean up the cabin which we are then
later graded on. I have had to clean the showers, sinks, toilets and sweep the cabin this week, which was fine, but I always got a little grossed out using our cleaning sponges cause those things are NA-STY! So after they've done all that and leave, I get in the shower. Most of my cabin members leave for 8 a.m. classes, but mine don't start until 10 a.m. Once I get out of the shower, which includes toweling off in the close confines of a 2'-2' shower with only one paper thin yellow shower curtain to separate me from the rest of the cabin, I get dressed, blow-dry my hair, do my caper and walk to breakfast with one or two cabin mates. I'm one of the only girls that takes a shower in the morning, so at least I don't have to fight for a shower in the morning because that would be a whole different kind of mess. After breakfast, I walk to a practice hut and practice violin for an hour, then visit my mom at JIG infirmary, then go and read at the library until my first class.
Just to clarify, Animation is the smallest adjunct of the smallest group of majors, the Motion Picture Arts department. Needless to say, the animation majors become a tight-knit bunch pretty quick. I get into our one room and we begin class.
Over the past week we have begun learning how to animate by watching examples of what we are learning, and then actually animated the following types of animation:
1. The loop/transformation animation. We each drew one object twice, handed one copy of our drawing of our object to the person on our right and kept the other, and then transformed our object into the picture of the other object we have been given. Then, because we each had one frame of the same object as another person, we put all our animation together to create one big transformation loop that could go on forever and ever. Thankfully everyone in the animation program this year can draw well, so the animation looked pretty sick (I did a shoe that burned up and then turned into fire).
2. The ball bounce animation. This taught us how to draw and animate dynamic motion which is basically how to make an object go fast or slow, and come to a stop. This is also when we learned timing. 24 frames of animation per second is what makes the human eye connect those frames together to get an animation, not just a series of pictures. So we use 24 fps for all of our animations, but 24 is divisible by 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, and 24. This means if you want something to be smooth and fast, you draw in 1's and draw 24 frames per second which is a whole lot of work. 2's is almost the same but with less drawing and slower and smooth, or fast and a little choppy, 3's is used to shoot when you shoot at 2's or 1's and then want to slow down movement, and 4's are used when drawing key-frames which I'll get to later. So we also learned about timing. Most of the time you want to shoot with the same timing and then shoot at a higher frame rate to make things go faster.
3. Hand interactions. Animation isn't just drawing but can be stop-motion, clay-mation and so many others. We are still learning about drawing simple animations, so we only did stop-motion with our hands interacting with our drawings, but some people shoot whole 5-10 minutes long animations using stop motion and all real objects. It's almost like they're filming, but the objects move with your imagination, meaning they don't usually act the way they would in real life (that's why people use stop motion). My hand interaction is a tractor that comes into the frames like it's going to pick up my hand, but as it stops and lowers its bucket, my hand comes alive, opens up like it's a monster and my tractor backs up really quick.
4. Walk cycle. Basically you have to design a character, and design a walk that goes along with them. Then, you start your key-frames. Key-frames are moments in your animation where there is a significant change. Like going from a spread out part of the pose to lifting one foot while the other stays straight to the spread pose again. Then you shoot the key frames at 4's or even 6's just to see how well your character moves. Then after key frames, you draw in-betweens, just drawing action in between each key frame to make the movements smooth. This also includes dynamic motion, so you have to space your frames so sometimes feet move faster or slower to get a specific strut to your characters walk. Then for our assignment you have your character turn, face the camera and perform an action. My character, who has his hands in his pockets, brings up his hands and pulls on the hood of his hoodie.
In between everything that we are actually performing and making, we are first learning about and watching examples of all of these principles. It's the perfect balance of relaxing while watching videos, breakdowns of the specific type of animation and then actual work. Just to give you a perspective of how much work hand drawn animation is. A 1 second walk cycle that can be looped took me 7 hours to key-frames, inbetween, then clean up and ink as well as add color to them. Plus like 4 more hours for 13 frames or a second of action, and my animation still could have more frames and be smoother. Good animation means a lot of work. So I'm enjoying and learning so much in animation. Plus since we spend literally days together, the animation students all go to lunch and most dinners together and now have a group text (because we're a small enough major, literally everyone in animation fits on a group text :))
So my major is going great, we have really good people, and we hang out a lot, and the same is true of my cabin. All my cabin mates are great, we talk to each other, we hang out, we have fun at night, but let's just say some girls dig themselves into a hole and then cry and complain about it. Anyway, camp has been great, the nights cold, so I can bundle into my sleeping bag and the days long and hard, but so much fun and so good.
Interlochen is a beautiful place and I'm glad I can be here. Plus I can go back into the real world every once in a while when I need to and get some Outback courtesy of my awesome mama who is working at Interlochen and staying with me while I'm here. It's been really good and I'm excited to learn more, but I am missing music a little bit, especially at the concerts today... Interlochen Magic :)
I should also mention that we have capers every morning to clean up the cabin which we are thenlater graded on. I have had to clean the showers, sinks, toilets and sweep the cabin this week, which was fine, but I always got a little grossed out using our cleaning sponges cause those things are NA-STY! So after they've done all that and leave, I get in the shower. Most of my cabin members leave for 8 a.m. classes, but mine don't start until 10 a.m. Once I get out of the shower, which includes toweling off in the close confines of a 2'-2' shower with only one paper thin yellow shower curtain to separate me from the rest of the cabin, I get dressed, blow-dry my hair, do my caper and walk to breakfast with one or two cabin mates. I'm one of the only girls that takes a shower in the morning, so at least I don't have to fight for a shower in the morning because that would be a whole different kind of mess. After breakfast, I walk to a practice hut and practice violin for an hour, then visit my mom at JIG infirmary, then go and read at the library until my first class.
Just to clarify, Animation is the smallest adjunct of the smallest group of majors, the Motion Picture Arts department. Needless to say, the animation majors become a tight-knit bunch pretty quick. I get into our one room and we begin class.
Over the past week we have begun learning how to animate by watching examples of what we are learning, and then actually animated the following types of animation:
1. The loop/transformation animation. We each drew one object twice, handed one copy of our drawing of our object to the person on our right and kept the other, and then transformed our object into the picture of the other object we have been given. Then, because we each had one frame of the same object as another person, we put all our animation together to create one big transformation loop that could go on forever and ever. Thankfully everyone in the animation program this year can draw well, so the animation looked pretty sick (I did a shoe that burned up and then turned into fire).
2. The ball bounce animation. This taught us how to draw and animate dynamic motion which is basically how to make an object go fast or slow, and come to a stop. This is also when we learned timing. 24 frames of animation per second is what makes the human eye connect those frames together to get an animation, not just a series of pictures. So we use 24 fps for all of our animations, but 24 is divisible by 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, and 24. This means if you want something to be smooth and fast, you draw in 1's and draw 24 frames per second which is a whole lot of work. 2's is almost the same but with less drawing and slower and smooth, or fast and a little choppy, 3's is used to shoot when you shoot at 2's or 1's and then want to slow down movement, and 4's are used when drawing key-frames which I'll get to later. So we also learned about timing. Most of the time you want to shoot with the same timing and then shoot at a higher frame rate to make things go faster.
3. Hand interactions. Animation isn't just drawing but can be stop-motion, clay-mation and so many others. We are still learning about drawing simple animations, so we only did stop-motion with our hands interacting with our drawings, but some people shoot whole 5-10 minutes long animations using stop motion and all real objects. It's almost like they're filming, but the objects move with your imagination, meaning they don't usually act the way they would in real life (that's why people use stop motion). My hand interaction is a tractor that comes into the frames like it's going to pick up my hand, but as it stops and lowers its bucket, my hand comes alive, opens up like it's a monster and my tractor backs up really quick.
4. Walk cycle. Basically you have to design a character, and design a walk that goes along with them. Then, you start your key-frames. Key-frames are moments in your animation where there is a significant change. Like going from a spread out part of the pose to lifting one foot while the other stays straight to the spread pose again. Then you shoot the key frames at 4's or even 6's just to see how well your character moves. Then after key frames, you draw in-betweens, just drawing action in between each key frame to make the movements smooth. This also includes dynamic motion, so you have to space your frames so sometimes feet move faster or slower to get a specific strut to your characters walk. Then for our assignment you have your character turn, face the camera and perform an action. My character, who has his hands in his pockets, brings up his hands and pulls on the hood of his hoodie.
In between everything that we are actually performing and making, we are first learning about and watching examples of all of these principles. It's the perfect balance of relaxing while watching videos, breakdowns of the specific type of animation and then actual work. Just to give you a perspective of how much work hand drawn animation is. A 1 second walk cycle that can be looped took me 7 hours to key-frames, inbetween, then clean up and ink as well as add color to them. Plus like 4 more hours for 13 frames or a second of action, and my animation still could have more frames and be smoother. Good animation means a lot of work. So I'm enjoying and learning so much in animation. Plus since we spend literally days together, the animation students all go to lunch and most dinners together and now have a group text (because we're a small enough major, literally everyone in animation fits on a group text :))
So my major is going great, we have really good people, and we hang out a lot, and the same is true of my cabin. All my cabin mates are great, we talk to each other, we hang out, we have fun at night, but let's just say some girls dig themselves into a hole and then cry and complain about it. Anyway, camp has been great, the nights cold, so I can bundle into my sleeping bag and the days long and hard, but so much fun and so good. Interlochen is a beautiful place and I'm glad I can be here. Plus I can go back into the real world every once in a while when I need to and get some Outback courtesy of my awesome mama who is working at Interlochen and staying with me while I'm here. It's been really good and I'm excited to learn more, but I am missing music a little bit, especially at the concerts today... Interlochen Magic :)
Awww baby Glo! Beautiful post Globee!!! I think I'm going to have to read through your description of frame speeds again cause that's DEEP stuff, but that just goes to show how much you're learning(: #sojealous #wishiwasdoingittoo Post some animations that you've done!
ReplyDeleteI had to read this first myself and then read it out loud to Daddy, and I'm still not sure I understand all that animation stuff! It's amazing that you understand all of that! And yes, I think we will all always associate Interlochen with music ❤️
ReplyDelete