My exact same reason. I had been wandering from job to job until I started doing some work in multimedia and computer graphics. Pretty enjoyable, I thought, so I let my clients go, rented out my home and moved into a friend's attic, and attended a full-time, specialized CG program.
Upon finishing my coursework, I moved immediately to Los Angeles and after a brief internship, became a CG developer for a medium-sized visual effects studio. But I wanted to work on film, not episodics. So a few months ago, I moved again; this time to New Zealand....and I couldn't be happier.
I never thought I'd find anything that I was good at AND liked. And when I did find it, graduate school loans, leaving friends and family, all that stuff, felt like a small price to pay. And now I've got visitors booked for till the New Year.;)
In the end, I just didn't be a little old lady who just simply got by. That fate doesn't exist for me anymore. Now I've joined the tribe of wandering CG developers. If I don't screw up and work really hard, I'll be able to work anywhere I want. Life is now on my terms. And none of this would have been possible unless I had gone to graduate school.
....people always assume I'm an animator. They never, ever ask. Actually, I'm a shaderwriter (develop plugins, too) and when I explain what I do, there's usually a little silence, and then the inevitable statements of "why did you choose that"? There are absolutely no words to describe how exhausting it is to always be the tiny minority in users' group meetings or at E3 or at Siggraph. It doesn't mean I don't go -- I can't help myself -- the field is fascinating! -- and I'd never stop attending because of this, but I get tired of being isolated during the social hour because the guys just don't know how to talk to women. And to make it clear, I don't stand there, waiting for someone to talk to me; I take the initiative. I walk up to folks. I've made some good contacts and good friends. But I am just so freaking sick of booth babes.....of exotic dancers as appropriate entertainment at social functions...of cool CG being described in sexual terms. I love what I do and I don't want to do anything else, but believe me, I'm not staying in it because the environment is fantastic. It's really gotten better over the years, but there's quite a bit to go before I'll be completely relaxed.
Imageworks, for example, used Chubb-Chubbs as a pipeline test of sorts for Polar Express. Nice that they awarded on Oscar, too!:)
If you compared the look of Boundin' to Cars, I'd guess that similarities would be easy to find...and that Boundin' is an expectations setup/test balloon for Cars.
For last two years, my girlfriends and I catch the flicks at a movie house that has lots of screens and a bar (how perfect is that?). I polled them and these are the movies that stuck most in our memories.
1) Man of La Mancha - we love Terry Gilliam and what red-blooded girl could pass up Johnny Depp? It was an interesting record of a beautifully failed experiment. The little footage that was shown, along with the animatics, made for informative viewing.
2) The Italian Job - fun genre movie with cute, cute, cute cars. We thought it was great to see an action/caper movie that didn't have the practically mandatory mostly unclothed female and/or ridiculous sex scene. Yes, I know I am on Slashdot, but as a geek (I do software/VFX) and a girl, it just gets a bit tiresome....but if we could get more semi-clad totally buff boys, objections might be retracted!
3) Whale Rider - what a pleasure it was to see magical realism used outside of Spanish fiction. There wasn't all that much CG (in fact, it was a low budget film) but the idea of evolving mythos of the Maori (New Zealand) (the symbiotic relationship of whales and the tribal head) was moving.
4) Cowboy Bebop - yeah, it was like a really long episode but we like Spike. Bad boy. Unpredictable. Good kung-fu. Purrrrrr.
5) The Friedmans - brilliantly executed documentary leaving you uncomfortably stranded on the island of ambivalence. We wanted to pick sides, if only to be able to say, hah! we disapprove and get in some righteous finger-pointing, but we couldn't. The disintegration of the Friedman family due to its past and present was disconcerting to witness.
6) Triplets of Belleville - We know it hasn't come out, but the trailer is so brilliant. As much as I love 3D, I still find pleasure in iconoclastic traditional animation (take that Disney!).
You are absolutely right. The VFX company that created the CGI was Zoic Studios -- those guys were the producers responsible for Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly and Miracles. Zoic also handled the finale for Buffy. The final battle was extraordinarily long - I haven't seen anything that long or as complex used on the small screen - but yet decipherable. I loved the way fighters manuevered by rolling in all dimensions as opposed to how we've seen more traditional sci-fi fighters.
Just to toss another two bits in: Doesn't this man vs. machine (along with the religious overtones) smack a bit of Ludditism? Adama was so adamant (ooh that was weird to type) about not allowing networked computers...he's swimming against the opinion of BG's society which has embraced computers and networking to (his point of view) an alarming level.
I've been using this camera since I was a teenager. Aluminum body, nice and heavy (and pretty tought to break), which makes it easier to steady. But what is really great about it are the lenses. The basic 1:4 lens has terrific depth of field which gives the shots rich detail.
Last time I travelling with friends through Paris, we shot much of the same sights. But the when we compared our film a few week later, it was unbelievable. My friend was shooting a midpriced Canon, around $500, and her shots looked visibly flatter (we had afternoon light, so there were no flash/lighting issues). Just checked eBay and there seem to be a couple in the $100-$250 range - reasonable.
Overall, using a manual camera allows you know what f-stops really mean and what needs to be pushed to get the shot. There is one more advantage to using a manual camera: no autowinder. That means that you have to plan what you want to shoot because you need to assess the environment (light, angle, aperture). It makes you truly look at what is around you.
You end up seeing more than you think....and sometimes finding a shot you might never have considered.
(plus wherever I go, cute boys also stop to check out the camera...makes my girlfriends jealous!)
,,,DHS is not the only department deploying non-MS apps. Back in 2001, U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) adopted StarOffice 5.2 because of ability to operate on multiple platforms (Linux, Solaris, & Windows). Same thing with Department of Defense - according to May 2002 press release, DOD has about 15,000 users. I couldn't find source, but I thought I remembered that DOE also had installed StarOffice.
I find Buffy compelling because of the genre/setup is used to explore certain societal questions, the character development and affectionate dynamics of the core players (Giles, Buffy, Willow, and Xander), and the episode vs. the season idea. And I'm a girl so it ain't the schoolboy-fantasy-thing.
Many things have been written about the use of the teenage years as a framework for addressing complex adult issues. Other shows have tried to explore the nature of maturing human condition in adult scenarios with much less success. Think of NYPD Blues - it's pretty much all about Andy Sipowicz and how he grows up. But it is almost impossible to see because of all the other noisy components of real life: stressful job, money problems, spouse problems, previous child abuse, alcoholism, on and on.....but with the teenage years, the stress is the same (and always will be) but the amount of baggage in the setup is less; they have shelter, pocket money, and they can't get fired from their jobs if they don't do their homework along with a bit more freetime than in adult life. Most importantly, the teenage years (for most of us) are in the past which means hello! selective memory. This lean and mean setup accentuates the issues at hand - nothing lost in the noise.
I know I listed character development but I'm running out of time, so I'm going to jump to the last point - episode vs. season.
Agreed. Watching one or two episodes is does not impart enough information to fully engage the viewer - you actually need the whole season. It's a gestalt thing - the sum is greater than the parts. Buffy and the Scooby gang are not placeholders with unchanging reactions; they are scripted as evolving humans who do not behave in predictable ways. This means that their nature and full spectrum of personality is not displayed every episode in order to inform the viewer of what the character is all about. And because they are all mostly sort of grownup, they can speak in that sassy, tongue in cheek patter that is just so darned appealing!
It is the scripts that make it strong - if taken as a larger body of work. Can't think of it as episodic TV - try and look at it as a book of many chapters. What pulls me to Buffy is the girl parts: wanting to be cool, feeling a little vulnuerable, and (wishful thinking here) kicking a bit of ass everynow and then, with friends who just don't let you down. Oh yeah, older, tall, mysterious, dangerous bad boy as a lover. It also appeals to wanting to believe in something mystical and unknown without turning to religion-thingy.
Cinefex, the visual effects periodical, Cinefex has released two very good issues regarding the VFX for both FOTR (#89, April 2002) and TTT (#92, January 2003).
Issue 89 has over 40 pages of techy-goodies on the making of FOTR. Most of the article is set up as scene by scene breakdown paired with the technical aspects faced on the show (VFX and SFX). Also has a nice cover of Sam facing the Balrog which looks like it came from the Special Edition DVD.
Issue 92 has Gollum on the cover (possibly in the Dead Marshes?) and is an ever bigger treasure trove of detail topping 60+ pages (excluding those lovely full page ads) and is organized in much of the same way.
Both issues have really cool photos of the "bigatures" like Argonath, Mount Doom, the flooded stage of Isengard, stage for the Black Gates of Morder, Ent maquettes and the like.
Slashdot Mirror
My exact same reason. I had been wandering from job to job until I started doing some work in multimedia and computer graphics. Pretty enjoyable, I thought, so I let my clients go, rented out my home and moved into a friend's attic, and attended a full-time, specialized CG program.
;)
Upon finishing my coursework, I moved immediately to Los Angeles and after a brief internship, became a CG developer for a medium-sized visual effects studio. But I wanted to work on film, not episodics. So a few months ago, I moved again; this time to New Zealand....and I couldn't be happier.
I never thought I'd find anything that I was good at AND liked. And when I did find it, graduate school loans, leaving friends and family, all that stuff, felt like a small price to pay. And now I've got visitors booked for till the New Year.
In the end, I just didn't be a little old lady who just simply got by. That fate doesn't exist for me anymore. Now I've joined the tribe of wandering CG developers. If I don't screw up and work really hard, I'll be able to work anywhere I want. Life is now on my terms. And none of this would have been possible unless I had gone to graduate school.
....people always assume I'm an animator. They never, ever ask. Actually, I'm a shaderwriter (develop plugins, too) and when I explain what I do, there's usually a little silence, and then the inevitable statements of "why did you choose that"? There are absolutely no words to describe how exhausting it is to always be the tiny minority in users' group meetings or at E3 or at Siggraph. It doesn't mean I don't go -- I can't help myself -- the field is fascinating! -- and I'd never stop attending because of this, but I get tired of being isolated during the social hour because the guys just don't know how to talk to women. And to make it clear, I don't stand there, waiting for someone to talk to me; I take the initiative. I walk up to folks. I've made some good contacts and good friends. But I am just so freaking sick of booth babes.....of exotic dancers as appropriate entertainment at social functions...of cool CG being described in sexual terms. I love what I do and I don't want to do anything else, but believe me, I'm not staying in it because the environment is fantastic. It's really gotten better over the years, but there's quite a bit to go before I'll be completely relaxed.
Imageworks, for example, used Chubb-Chubbs as a pipeline test of sorts for Polar Express. Nice that they awarded on Oscar, too! :)
If you compared the look of Boundin' to Cars, I'd guess that similarities would be easy to find...and that Boundin' is an expectations setup/test balloon for Cars.
1) Man of La Mancha - we love Terry Gilliam and what red-blooded girl could pass up Johnny Depp? It was an interesting record of a beautifully failed experiment. The little footage that was shown, along with the animatics, made for informative viewing.
2) The Italian Job - fun genre movie with cute, cute, cute cars. We thought it was great to see an action/caper movie that didn't have the practically mandatory mostly unclothed female and/or ridiculous sex scene. Yes, I know I am on Slashdot, but as a geek (I do software/VFX) and a girl, it just gets a bit tiresome....but if we could get more semi-clad totally buff boys, objections might be retracted!
3) Whale Rider - what a pleasure it was to see magical realism used outside of Spanish fiction. There wasn't all that much CG (in fact, it was a low budget film) but the idea of evolving mythos of the Maori (New Zealand) (the symbiotic relationship of whales and the tribal head) was moving.
4) Cowboy Bebop - yeah, it was like a really long episode but we like Spike. Bad boy. Unpredictable. Good kung-fu. Purrrrrr.
5) The Friedmans - brilliantly executed documentary leaving you uncomfortably stranded on the island of ambivalence. We wanted to pick sides, if only to be able to say, hah! we disapprove and get in some righteous finger-pointing, but we couldn't. The disintegration of the Friedman family due to its past and present was disconcerting to witness.
6) Triplets of Belleville - We know it hasn't come out, but the trailer is so brilliant. As much as I love 3D, I still find pleasure in iconoclastic traditional animation (take that Disney!).
Just to toss another two bits in: Doesn't this man vs. machine (along with the religious overtones) smack a bit of Ludditism? Adama was so adamant (ooh that was weird to type) about not allowing networked computers...he's swimming against the opinion of BG's society which has embraced computers and networking to (his point of view) an alarming level.
Last time I travelling with friends through Paris, we shot much of the same sights. But the when we compared our film a few week later, it was unbelievable. My friend was shooting a midpriced Canon, around $500, and her shots looked visibly flatter (we had afternoon light, so there were no flash/lighting issues). Just checked eBay and there seem to be a couple in the $100-$250 range - reasonable.
Overall, using a manual camera allows you know what f-stops really mean and what needs to be pushed to get the shot. There is one more advantage to using a manual camera: no autowinder. That means that you have to plan what you want to shoot because you need to assess the environment (light, angle, aperture). It makes you truly look at what is around you.
You end up seeing more than you think....and sometimes finding a shot you might never have considered.
(plus wherever I go, cute boys also stop to check out the camera...makes my girlfriends jealous!)
H.R. 2885
,,,DHS is not the only department deploying non-MS apps. Back in 2001, U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) adopted StarOffice 5.2 because of ability to operate on multiple platforms (Linux, Solaris, & Windows). Same thing with Department of Defense - according to May 2002 press release, DOD has about 15,000 users. I couldn't find source, but I thought I remembered that DOE also had installed StarOffice.
I find Buffy compelling because of the genre/setup is used to explore certain societal questions, the character development and affectionate dynamics of the core players (Giles, Buffy, Willow, and Xander), and the episode vs. the season idea. And I'm a girl so it ain't the schoolboy-fantasy-thing.
Many things have been written about the use of the teenage years as a framework for addressing complex adult issues. Other shows have tried to explore the nature of maturing human condition in adult scenarios with much less success. Think of NYPD Blues - it's pretty much all about Andy Sipowicz and how he grows up. But it is almost impossible to see because of all the other noisy components of real life: stressful job, money problems, spouse problems, previous child abuse, alcoholism, on and on.....but with the teenage years, the stress is the same (and always will be) but the amount of baggage in the setup is less; they have shelter, pocket money, and they can't get fired from their jobs if they don't do their homework along with a bit more freetime than in adult life. Most importantly, the teenage years (for most of us) are in the past which means hello! selective memory. This lean and mean setup accentuates the issues at hand - nothing lost in the noise.
I know I listed character development but I'm running out of time, so I'm going to jump to the last point - episode vs. season.
Agreed. Watching one or two episodes is does not impart enough information to fully engage the viewer - you actually need the whole season. It's a gestalt thing - the sum is greater than the parts. Buffy and the Scooby gang are not placeholders with unchanging reactions; they are scripted as evolving humans who do not behave in predictable ways. This means that their nature and full spectrum of personality is not displayed every episode in order to inform the viewer of what the character is all about. And because they are all mostly sort of grownup, they can speak in that sassy, tongue in cheek patter that is just so darned appealing!
It is the scripts that make it strong - if taken as a larger body of work. Can't think of it as episodic TV - try and look at it as a book of many chapters. What pulls me to Buffy is the girl parts: wanting to be cool, feeling a little vulnuerable, and (wishful thinking here) kicking a bit of ass everynow and then, with friends who just don't let you down. Oh yeah, older, tall, mysterious, dangerous bad boy as a lover. It also appeals to wanting to believe in something mystical and unknown without turning to religion-thingy.
Issue 89 has over 40 pages of techy-goodies on the making of FOTR. Most of the article is set up as scene by scene breakdown paired with the technical aspects faced on the show (VFX and SFX). Also has a nice cover of Sam facing the Balrog which looks like it came from the Special Edition DVD.
Issue 92 has Gollum on the cover (possibly in the Dead Marshes?) and is an ever bigger treasure trove of detail topping 60+ pages (excluding those lovely full page ads) and is organized in much of the same way.
Both issues have really cool photos of the "bigatures" like Argonath, Mount Doom, the flooded stage of Isengard, stage for the Black Gates of Morder, Ent maquettes and the like.
1..2...3...hmmm....only 9 more months for ROTK!