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feral-anarchy · 5 years

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The Etiquette of Roleplay

I've been working on this for a little while and i’m pleased with how its come out. These are the standard rules that I play by and I hope that others will read and learn from it as well to ensure that your experiences are just as enjoyable for not only yourself, but for those your interacting with too.

Shoutout to @claudia-talks for inspiring me to do this with your super flattering message :D

Here we go:

This is probably the most important part- Be grateful that your getting a reply at all because if your thread participant/s are too slow for your liking, please consider that they may have real life, other duties, or other threads to reply to, too. Your thread may be plot-centric to your character, but not so plot-centric to their character. If a thread is progressing too slowly for your liking, you can always place it on hold or it and try again later or try it again with a different character or even suggest you drop your current thread for another one.

But please bare in mind that sending a bunch of thread starters may just overwhelm the person your trying to play with, communication with the Mun behind the scenes in DM is always appreciated if not darn near a mandatory.

Give Action: Note your character’s quirks, movements, body language, gestures, and so forth. Don’t overload your posts with action. Do remember that if your post is all thought and speech, there’s very little for the other writer to respond to. If you throw in a little bit of action into each roleplaying post, it makes the thread that much more interesting!

Respond To Action: If the other character made a move, action, or betrayed something in their body language (and your character was likely to notice), do respond! If their character stepped forward in their roleplaying post, perhaps your character steps backwards. Or — doesn’t, depending on the interaction. Make sure you’re not skipping over anyone else’s action that requires response, either — such as a handshake, high five, etc.

Dont Forget The Scenery: Especially in long threads, the scenery is sometimes neglected. If the characters are standing outside in a forest talking for hours, maybe the sun starts to set and they have to begin making their way home. This can change the flavor of the thread from simple idle chat to a real adventure — and a great way for two characters to bond. If the characters are sitting in the main camp tent late at night, perhaps a few NPCs join them for drinks and dancing?

Show Dont Tell: This is important in roleplaying and writing. Rather than telling your audience flat out how your character feels, you should show them instead.

So in short: What is your character doing with their hands/feet/body/other? Where are they? Outside, inside, by a fire, by a window, lounging with their feet up on someone elses head? What time is it? Is it dark or light? Are you underwater or in space?

Is your character cold? Perhaps they are hot? Maybe they cant feel anything, whats that like? Give the other person something to go off on, something to react to.

The glory is in the details, bulk up your posts- its not hard and can make for a much more enjoyable experience for everyone involved.

Lame: “Azazel felt awful for what he had done.”

Better: “Azazel’s ears drooped and his eyes fell to the ground, unable to look at the other canine. The corners of his lips drooped in the beginnings of a frown, and when he opened his mouth to speak, he found shame had taken the words out of him.”

Even NSFW material can be SFW safe if you add in the correct details and neglect the ‘ehem’ finer points. Remember: Body check, surrounding check, words. It goes back to the above list; action, scenery, show dont tell.

Try not to respond to every bit of speech. Give non-verbal responses — nods, stares, shakes of the heads, funny looks, waves of the hand, thumbs up, smiles, grins, shrugs, crossing of the arms, and so forth. This simplifies the thread and can help prevent awkward speech patterns between roleplaying characters.

Try not to overthink. Don’t immerse yourself completely in the character’s head. It’s great that she’s thinking of her dead parents in this somber moment, but it gives the other roleplayer very little to reply to. Make sure your post doesn’t consist solely of thought — it’s verydifficult to reply to.

Try not to overdo the action, either. Don’t over-stuff with action, changes, and alterations. A slight change of scenery, like the sun beginning to set, is great. A major shift — such as a cliffside cave beginning to flood — may not be so appreciated by the other rpger(s).

Don’t be over-controlling. It’s important not to entirely direct the course and flow of a thread. AKA God-Moding. Allow the other player to make some decisions, even if it’s an unplotted thread—this is easily done by leaving open-ended replies. For example, if two wolves are hunting a moose, the first character’s reply could detail their approach, the second could detail the selection of suitable prey, the third could detail the actual attack, so on and so forth. Each roleplayer gets to dictate a different part of the interaction and advance the storyline a little; it’s more fun for everyone this way.

The sandwich method is a common strategy you can use to construct paragraphs within a paper and to prepare the elements of a particular paragraph. Clarity and unity are keys to well-constructed paragraphs. The sandwich method helps you frame a paragraph with introduction and conclusion statements that provide the "bun" for key points within the "meat/veggies" of the paragraph.

The sandwich method is my absolute favorite and you can see me implementing it on various threads if you happen to follow me.

I strongly believe that if your going to make a post, you might as well make something worth the other person’s time. A give and take, if you will.

Not only does the sandwich method help me bulk up a post, but it offers something for the next person replying to go off of so that they dont feel as if they are starting an entire thread all over in their reply.

Basics

The sandwich method essentially uses a sandwich as a metaphor for the structure of a typical paragraph. The opening statement provides direction for the paragraph and mirrors the top bun of a sandwich. The middle, support statements provide details and mirror the meat and ingredients within the sandwich. A closing statement summarizes or ties up the content within the paragraph in the same way the bottom bun holds the sandwich together.

Top Bun -- Opening

The opening statement is a critical launching point for a distinct, clear paragraph. Each paragraph within a paper should touch on one key point. The opening is a general statement that frames the subject of the paragraph. In a paper outlining top strategies to find a job, you might start a paragraph on networking with the sentence “Carl’s sandwiches are the best sandwiches in all of New York." This statement introduces the topic of sandwiches and leaves the reader asking "Why?"

The Meat -- Detail Statements

The meat of the paragraph is made up of supporting, evidential or detail statements that answer the reader's question about the topic sentence. They clarify or give evidence to support the main point. In supporting the networking topic statement, you could have a second sentence stating "Carl’s has won multiple awards for best sandwich in the national championship sandwich making competitions." A third sentence could build on this with "Not to mention ive been coming here for years and I absolutely love them so they have my stamp of approval." Both of these sentences speak to the reader's "Why?" question.

Bottom Bun -- Conclusion

Interestingly, a concluding statement in a paragraph is considered optional, though a missing bottom bun on a sandwich would likely make a mess. In the conventional sandwich paragraph, the last sentence wraps up the paragraph's topic or summarizes its key points. If you have an especially short paragraph with just two to four sentences, a conclusion isn't necessary. In a typical paragraph with five to seven statements, it makes more sense. In the sandwich example, your bottom bun statement could say "While you can look up the awards and take my word for it, your always welcome to try them out yourself and make your own conclusion- here, lets go grab some for lunch."

Once again, please remember that we are all people- we have lives and cannot always be here to play. Do not send threats or hate or hurtful messages. Communication behind the scenes with any and all Muns you play with is key to creating a wonderful story together that will bring both of you joy- Thats why we do it. No one is getting paid for this (and if you are lucky you and where do I sign up?)

Now go forth and PLAY! :D

#How to roleplay #rpg #tips and tricks #sandwich method #how to write #Feral's writing method #etiquette

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exidtotheleft · 6 years

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The Tattooed Lady | 02

Pairing: Jin x Reader

Genre: Circus AU/Fluff

Summary: When a circus from Korea takes their act to America for a better audience, a certain audience member, who happens to be the daughter of the owner of New York’s first tattoo shop, catches the performers’ eyes. Since the circus is in need of new help, they decide that their consistent audience member would be a good candidate. Unknown to them, their choice to hire an unusual woman in the year 1871 would invoke mixed reactions from all over America.

Chapters: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

You eagerly grabbed a dollar from your savings before leaving your house the next night. Luckily, the circus had been set up locally, so walking to the event was no problem. You still had no idea what to expect from this. You didn't even know what the outside looked like, but you had a feeling you wouldn't be able to miss it. You had heard that the traveling circus went city to city by train and set up a huge tent for the week while they performed, only to tear it down and set it up again in the next town.

So you wandered down the street of Manhattan, not sure what the target you were heading for looked like, but you knew you would find it. The flyer had told you the general area of the circus, so you didn't doubt that you could find it. And as your short heels tapped across the brick pavement, you saw what you expected. A red and white striped tent with the name Kim’s Ring of Fantasy spread across the front sign. You couldn't help but smile, it was almost exactly what you had imagined. Whimsical and unexpected. As you walked closer, you could hear a boisterous voice shouting. But it wasn't aggressive, rather entertaining and enticing. As you got ever closer, you could make out what he was saying. “Step right up! Step right up ladies and gentlemen to become the first crowd in all of New York to see, ringmaster Kim Namjoon and his fantastic performances with your own two eyes. Witness stunts like you wouldn't imagine and acts that will have you wanting more! Only a dollar ladies and gentlemen, only one dollar!” and he continued. Handing out flyers and almost harassing everyone that walked by. You loved it, you loved it because it was probably throwing the New Yorkers that were walking by on a normal day for a turn they never expected. It was like they were entering your world, because this was already right up your ally. The bright lights you could see from miles away, the excitement that radiated just from the outside of the tent. You eagerly waited in the short line and paid for your ticket.

As soon as your ticket was handed to you, you hurried your way inside. Walking past the tall man that had been outside the tent and walking into the atmosphere you had been so excited for, and it lived up to what you expected. It was loud because of the amount of people speaking, but not because of the amount of people there but rather the volume of their voices. The crowd that went to see a show like this was the less classy and reserved kind of people. They were naturally loud, and mostly men. That being said, you got a few looks as you walked in. You didn’t have to be an attractive woman to get attention from these kind of men, though you were, you just had to be a woman. They would make comments on anything. You just ignored the stares and whispers and sat down in the front row. A spot had been available there, so you took it. Wanting to get as close to the action as you could.

You looked around the tent and smiled to yourself again. The show hadn't even started but the parallel white bars suspended across from each other over the sandlot in the middle had your interest peaked. Wondering what they could do with such an odd set up. As you looked around, someone sat next to you. It was a family, a married couple and their child who appeared to be about 7. “What brings you here alone?” the wife asked after she had sat her son next to her.

“Just curiosity.” you replied simply.

“Really? I’m not too sure about this myself. I don’t think the crowd is my type, but, my son wanted to see this so I didn't see the harm in giving it a shot.”

“I’m excited. Things like this don’t normally do well here but that’s why I came. I have high hopes for it, I’ve never seen anything like this.”

“You can say that again.” she nodded, before turning to her son who was making a fuss about something. “Excuse me.” she turned to you and said before turning back to her child.

“Of course.” You turned back forward and bounced your foot in anticipating. Sometimes you wondered, how would woman like that react if they knew saw what was under your sleeves. It amazed you how quick people could judge by appearance, she probably only sat by you because you looked perfectly normal and approachable. Oh how that would change if you invested in short sleeves.

As you thought about it, the lights began to dim before it went almost pitch black. “Ladies and Gentleman.” a loud voice said, and you saw a man in a unique red suit step out into the sand part of the arena as a light fell upon him. “People of Manhattan, New York. Welcome to Kim’s Ring of Fantasy, a night of acts you could only imagine await you. And the unimaginable for your own two eyes.” as he said these words, you sat on the edge of your seat. Seeing what appeared to be about six other performers appear from the shadows as music began to play. And they sure did make an entrance. Not a single one walking in normally. They were all doing a combination of flips, some of them jumping over each other, all of them doing something to catch your eye. You heard the child by you let out a big “wow!” and you giggled a bit. Wanting to do the same.

“My name is Kim Namjoon, I will be your ringmaster, your leader, if I may, for the night.” with that, the small audience applauded and cheered, ready for more. “The performers you see around you will be the ones to steal your eyes as well as your heart, I guarantee you will want to be back for more after tonight.” The performers around him froze in there spots after his words obviously in a set arrangement. Your position in front and center allowed you a fantastic view of all the performers. That was when you noticed that they were all men, all Asian. Though that didn't surprise you. Many people from outside regions came to America in hopes of fulfilling their dreams. Or what was commonly known to you as “pursuing the American Dream.”

“Without further adieu, I present to you, the show you’ve all been waiting to see.” the Ringmaster then took off his hat and bowed forward with an almost smirk. The lights then dimmed and you could slightly make out the outlines of the performers running off except for one who was making his way forward. As the lights came back on a man clad in a black suit with a cane and a top hat stood in the center. He was on a platform, with his cane on the floor and the fingertips of his left hand, poised on the brim of his hat.

“I advise you,” he said before sliding his fingers across his hat and looking up. “Don’t look away for a moment, don’t even blink. Or you might miss something.” he began before quickly snapping his hand away from his hat and to his side. Once his hand was out by his side, a deck of cards was fanned out in his hands. A deck that wasn't visible before. Your jaw almost dropped, along with the rest of the crowd. The show had hardly even started and you were already so sucked in that you wanted to come back the next night.

“Now.” he started before flipping his white cane under his arm so he could shuffle the deck of cards. “You see here a normal deck of blue cards, correct?” he asked before fanning the cards out again and showing it to the audience. “You’re right, it is a normal set of cards, but it’s what you can do with the normal,” he shuffled the cards again, bridging them before showing them again to the crowd again, but this time they had turned to red cards. “That makes it magical.” he finished, the crowd letting out more 'oohs’ and 'awes.’

He walked closer to the front of the crowd where you were, a smile on his face that had your heart melting. It was so charming an genuine, like he was enjoying himself. And the smile fit his face perfectly. “Now, I’ll need a little help for this next trick. Let’s see.” he explained before the smile slipped from his face and he walked close to the audience, seeing who he should choose before he stopped in front of you. “Perfect.” your heart almost melted. You didn't know why, but he came off as attractive to you. You smiled as he held the deck of fanned out cards to you. “Pick a card, doesn't matter which one, I can work my magic no matter which one you chose.” you looked at him before looking down and picking a card that was on the right side, holding it to your chest. “Now, you can look at it but don't tell me what kind of card it is, and show it to the lady here next to you.” you took it away from your chest and showed it to the women after you looked at it yourself, it was the 6 of spades. “Once you have it memorized put it back in the deck.” He instructed and you followed, putting the red card back. “Now. Let me work that magic.” he said before shuffling the cards again, they all turned blue again, right before your eyes. He looked at the cards, as if confused. “That’s odd.” your heart was pounding, had he messed up? You hoped not, that would be embarrassing and add to the circuses bad reputation. “It should be here.” he pushed the deck back into a pile rather than a fan and put them into the inside pocket of his dress jacket. “Let’s see, it must have ran off somewhere, where is it.” he checked the other side of his jacket, closing it when it wasn't there. Your eyes were glued on him, so fascinated to what his next move would be.

He then took off the top hat that was on the back of his head and looked inside. “Aw, here we go.” he reached inside and pulled out a red playing card. “Now, tell me miss. Is this your card?” he asked once he pulled the red card from his hat and showed the suite to you.

“It sure is.” you assured and the women next to you did as well for confirmation. He laughed triumphantly, showing the card in his hand to the crowd.

“You can keep that card, my gift to you from our Ring of Fantasy.” He handed you the card back and you took it before putting his hat back on and taking the cane out from under his arm. He turned to the rest of the crowd and threw his arms out with that heart melting smile again. The crowd applauding and cheering.

“Ladies and Gentleman, you're opening act! Hoseok the Magical!” Namjoon came out to say again, taking the man now known as Hosoek by the wrist and bowing. “Remember, it’s a new show every night, if you want to see a new magic trick, come back a second night and I guarantee you will see something just as amazing.” The lights went down again, and some music started up again, it was intense and driving, you were anxious to see what was next. As the lights came up, there were two more performers in the ring, both of them on their knees on separate sides of the ring, the one with his back to you had raven black hair but was clad in white, and the one of the other side of the ring had orange hair and was wearing all black.

You watched as the two danced and mirrored each other to the music as the two white bars that had caught your interest lowered to their level. The two men met in the middle of the ring and spun around each other, switching sides before running and jumping onto the bars. Swinging in perfect unison as they pulled themselves up. They both turned on the bar while in a vertical handstand so that they faced each other. The one with orange hair that was in front of your side of the ring made a smooth transition so that he was hanging onto the bar by his knees.

You gripped the card tightly in anticipation. Not knowing what they would do next. But you nearly yelled when the man in white let go of the bar and effortlessly flew towards the other, grabbing onto his wrist and swinging. He kicked one of his legs through his arms before bringing it down and using the force from his kick to land his feet on top of the bar between the other’s knees while the other let go. The man in white grabbed onto the ropes holding the trapeze bar up. While the other grabbed onto the bar around the other’s feet and let his knees go so that he was swinging by his hands. Once he was at the height of the swing, he let go, flying and grabbing onto the other bar that has slowed to a standstill. He then quickly pulled himself to the top of the bar and sat on it as it lowers from the frame it was assembled on. The other bar doing the same as the act came to an end. The two performers dismounted from their bars and took their individual bows. You noticed then the makeup across the man in white’s face. He had a black slit running over his left eye. The two then walked to the middle and bowed together. You could see a bit of white makeup on the others face. What looked like a diamond over his right eye.

The crowd had been applauding and cheering since the second the bars began to lower. You really were amazed by all of that. Like you said, things like these didn't come to your town, but you were glad this one did. Never had you seen anything like that. As the two trapeze artist left the arena, rather than the lights dimming out to introduce the next artist, the Ringmaster came back out to speak. “I hope our audience isn’t afraid of reptiles.” he said with a small smirk. “Our next act is something new to us, and new to America.” as he spoke, a white haired male with only half of his hair down walked behind him, holding a black box in his right hand. He had a creepy demeanor, and his make up certainly added to that. He had black slits running down over his eyes and a pale complexion. “This is Reptilian, and, though he doesn't talk much, he’s here to do something we guarantee you’ve never even imagined.” he closed his eyes and tilted his head to the side as he spoke. His expression blank. “I’ll just leave you to it then.” he said after a small pause. The audience laughed a bit at that comment as he awkwardly walked away, leaving the man called Reptilian in the ring alone.

The lights went dim, and you could see the performer kneel down on the sand. The only thing you could focus on was the box and what was inside of it. The lights stayed dim, so that you could just barely make him out but enough to see him clearly. Some music faded in as he opened the top of the box, reaching in and leaving his arm inside. You could see something slither up his arm. The audience gasped when they recognize it as a snake. A fairly large yellow python. It slithered up his arm perfectly, as if it had been trained to slither around the back of his neck and down his other arm.

He held the head of the snake up that had stopped in his hand for everyone to see before putting the head by his hip where it then slithered down his leg and nestled itself in front of him before he danced off to another box that had been brought out during the darkness, opening it and doing his acrobatics over to a third box, opening that one and walking up towards the yellow snake. Two more pythons from the other two boxed following him over.

He did a kickflip over the yellow snake and it then uncoiled from his spot and followed behind him like the other snakes. Once he had lead them to the center of the arena, he turned to face them then they stopped in their tracks. He did a turn as a transition to a kneeling position with his right arm and leg straight out on the floor. The yellow snake climbing up his arm stopped once it had crossed the back of his neck and rested on his shoulder. The one on his leg coiling around his thigh and resting on his hip. He then reached out for the third snack and it wrapped around his arm.

He stood with the three snakes hugging his body. A smirk rose to his face hearing the impressed sounds from his audience. But his act wasn't over. He tilted his head to the opposite side of the yellow snake and it slithered down enough for him to put his hand under it’s head and hold it to his face, looking into its eyes before quickly pecking where the lips of the snake would be.

You were so fascinated by how he was able to hold the weight of three fairly sized snakes. Also with how well they wrapped around him. It was almost sexy seeing the reptiles wrapped to his black uniform. He looked into the audience, almost directly at you with the serpent still by his face. The lights faded down and he lead the snakes off of him as Namjoon came back out. “I supposed you had never seen anything like that?” he asked and the audience cheered again. “Since you seem so invested in our animal acts, we have another one for you. Once our Reptilian is done putting his friends away, another kind of charmed wild animal waits for you.” the crowd cheered again, totally invented in the performances.

As the snake charmer took his boxes out of the arena, the lights went dark again, and you could see someone carry out a fairly large ring. Others rushed out and set up various obstacles it seemed. Behind him was another man with a large beast next to him. The crowd gasped as they saw the figures walking into the arena. The ring was handed to the man with the animal and then the lights came back on, the animal figure you had seen was a tiger. “Before I even think about doing an act, I must tell you.” the blonde man with the Tiger began. “This is no force to be reckoned with. This, ladies and Gentlemen, is a Siberian tiger. The most dangerous of the large cats.” he explained before cracking the whip in his hand towards the back of the wild animal, causing it to sit as he walked away from it. “It can never be domesticated, so I assure you, I am putting my life on the line for your entertainment.” he said confidently, the crowd laughed a bit, including you. “So please, be entertained.” he said before cracking the whip in his hand again.

The tiger then sat up and walked over to the tamer as he walked backwards. He walked next to a ramp and sure enough, the tiger walked up and down it, following his tamer. He went where he was lead and when the performer held out the ring he had been given the tiger jumped through it, getting an applause. He held out the hoop in several different spots, the tiger jumped through everyone of them. Before his act was over, he put the ring on a stand and someone ran out to him and struck a match before holding it under the ring, causing it to catch on fire before he stepped back, and let the tiger do what it had been trained to do and jump through the fire. He bowed after the trick and the audience cheered once again, equally impressed with each act.

The people who had set up the stage came to put out the flame and tear it down, as well as Namjoon. He spoke again as the performer lead the tiger backstage. “Give it up again for Taehyung the Tamer!” he said before everyone cheered again. “We have one more act for you, but before we close, all of us want to thank you for being our first New York audience. Without you, our acts and work would be in vain.

“Now, our last act is of another breed, but were afraid it’s not fully completed.” the crowd let out sounds of disappointment, but you couldn't help but be intrigued. In what way was it incomplete? “We’re missing a person in the act due to a lack of numbers. But I assure you! The act is still worth staying for, and will certainly be completed by the next time we come to your lovely city! So, the moment you’ve been waiting for, your closing act, Killer Blade!”

The ramps and hoops had been replaced with targets of different heights and sizes. And a tall man wearing a suite with a frilly and pinstriped undershirt with sleeves that flare at the end walked out. He threw his arms out to greet the audience as Namjoon passed him. “Now, what you see here,” he started before pulling a knife out of a holster he had on his pants. “To you is just a weapon, to me, is a form of art.” he said before throwing a knife backwards and hitting a target without looking at it.

That action really shook you for some reason. You found yourself gripping the card again. The idea to you of using knives in such a way caught your attention. Such a thing had never even crossed your mind. You found yourself wondering why there was a missing person, and what they would do in this act. You watched the performer walk pass the remaining three targets, throwing a new knife as he passed each one and hitting them every time almost right in the center. The crowd applauded as he grabbed more, larger knives from his holster. “Please, we’re just getting started.” he said before throwing a knife straight in the air and doing a roll under it and catching it as it fell. He then threw the knife at another target as soon as he caught it. Doing the same thing 2 more times but doing a different trick under the blades each time. Hitting the same target but the knives clustered in a triangle on the target. He threw his arms out and bowed before taking the last knife on his hip and hitting one last target, almost as if that was his encore.

The lights went down and you found yourself wanting more. You were upset that that was the end of the show, you wanted to see more. But as the lights came back up, the six performers and Ringmaster all came out with something from their act. The magician with his cards, the trapeze artists were both sitting on a single trapeze as it lowered from the metal frame, Reptilian had the yellow snake on his shoulders, the tamer with the whip and the hoop and Killer Blade holding a knife. They all took a group bow and the audience roared in applause. Some people around the arena stood for them and you joined them as you clapped. A real smile across your lips. The magician who had approached you looked at you as you stood, flashing you his winning smile which made you giggle.

You didn't want to leave. As you saw some people leaving their stands and hurrying out of the tent, it upset you a bit knowing that you too would have to walk back out onto the dull streets. But maybe you would come back tomorrow, or if not, the next night. They were in town for five days so you had a few chances to see it again. You hoped the word spread and they got a larger crowd as their stay carried on.

As the waved goodbye and the lights went down, you followed behind the family who had sat next to you. Walking behind them as they headed out. You let out a breath as you stepped outside and onto the pavement. You walked in silence back to your home, playing over what had happened in your head, deciding that you would go back for sure.

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xx-ingie-xx · 6 years

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A Summary of All Changes in the Fortitude Revision So Far (Chapters 1-35)

Rather than submit individual posts each time I update the Fortitude revision (aka Epic Edit), I’ve decided to outline all the changes in one continuous summary post, and I will reblog this same post with updates until the revision is complete.

Every chapter has received a thorough editing to improve style and flow, and many have been almost completely rewritten. This summary outlines changes to the story or characters. Details after the break:

Chapter 1

- Trimmed down and/or improved background info and general descriptions. Some sections have been placed in other chapters for better, more gradual pacing through the background story (I hope – this was very difficult!). - Removed the Council member Lord Pierson, simply because I couldn’t remember his purpose, lol. He seemed redundant to Lord Timothus. - Gave the ministers all last names. - Briefly explained the Alliance and made Impa Hyrule’s representative.

Chapter 2

- Introduced Lady Ariella and made her the Chamberlain, which is basically the castle housekeeper. - Edited more background info - Described the throne room (which is called the Audience Chamber) - Changed the conversation with Zelda’s ladies-in-waiting

Chapter 3

- Edited the conversations between Link and Zelda to sound more natural - Removed scene between Vasilis and the necromancer (too short to be important and no longer fit timeline, removing it also adds to the mystery) - More background info changes

Chapter 4

- Edited the conversation between Link and Zelda - Trimmed down the journey to the rendezvous site - Impa accompanies Zelda at the rendezvous - Improved the conversation between Zelda and Ashton

Chapter 5

- Basically unchanged, just lots of rewording and general polishing

Chapter 6

- Edited the scene between Link and Zelda

Chapter 7

- Placed a section from Ch 8 at the end

Chapter 8

- Added a new section during the journey to the camp - Ian accompanies Zelda (and Adam and two other guards) - I dropped subtle hints regarding Zelda’s pregnancy, so her miscarriage seems less random (and so her loss of magic is consistent throughout the story)

Chapter 9

- Basically unchanged, just lots of rewording and general polishing

Chapter 10

- Gave the Alliance city a name: Antheia - Removed Adam Carlen’s hearing scene – summarized instead (distracts from the main plotline, not important enough for a whole scene) - Impa leaves sooner - goes to Antheia to inform the Alliance of Ashton’s use of dark magic - Ashton does not have his second staff when he storms the castle (this will be important in coming chapters)

Chapter 11

- New scene added with a conversation between Ashton and Vasilis hours after Ashton conquers Hyrule. I felt I needed to set the tone of Ashton settling into Hyrule Castle. I also wanted to explain a few things that were previously left unmentioned. - Zelda’s conversation with Siena has been changed: - Siena tells her the Hylian soldiers are being kept in a Vandelian prison (I was pretty vague about what happened to them last time, so I changed it to make more sense) - Zelda does not promise to have Clef released (she doesn’t have that kind of influence this time) - Siena tells her an awful rumor about Link is spreading, and some people are angry or fearful enough to believe it - middle class and nobles alike.

Chapter 12

- The background story of Link’s narrow escape from death during the Retribution War has been altered to make more sense (realistically Link could not have been delivered to Hyrule Castle on horseback due to his distant location and the seriousness of his injuries). - Zelda does not plead for Clef’s release to Ashton but instead demands to know the awful rumor about Link. Ashton tells her in front of the court, and she pleads with them not to believe his lies. - Ashton also tells her the Alliance came and went while she was ill, they apparently bought his lies and chose to watch him from afar (as Zelda feared they would).

Chapter 13

- Zelda plans to meet with the other tribe leaders of Hyrule and search for the Triforce of Courage. - A section from the old version was removed – when she overheard some grounds people talking about Shade. In reality they would be too afraid to say such things within earshot of the Vandelian guards. This time she hears about him from Siena and at court – which makes more sense anyway. - Zelda does not seek out Shade; he interferes with her attack in the alley by chance.

Chapter 14

- The scene with Ashton and Vasilis has been changed – Vasilis is concerned about the Alliance discovering the second staff and about Link escaping the necromancer’s lair. - Most of the dialog between Link and Zelda has been rewritten and some changes have been made: - Link plans to go rescue the Hylian soldiers. - Link does not tell Zelda to stay at the castle. I realized he absolutely would not send her back to Ashton >.> Face palm moment there. Instead Zelda chooses to stay to keep the Vandelians off his back while he organizes the Resistance. - Zelda convinces Link to take the Ocarina (I realized she would not take no for an answer after everything that’s happened >.>), and he promises to return it.

Chapter 15

- Removed Siena’s third visit - redundant, unnecessary - Removed Great Fairy scene - that was a weak attempt to start the gradual downward spiral Hyrule faces with Ashton on the throne, but in retrospect it felt like random filler - Took one of Zelda’s visions from 16 and placed it at the end

Chapter 16

- Added a little more background info on Link’s and Zelda’s past - Added a small part where Zelda gets the Ocarina back

Chapter 17

- Nabooru talks about the rescue mission Link mentions in 14 - The necromancer’s lair is located in a place called Gerudo Chasm - More Gerudo accompany Zelda and Nabooru to the lair - Zelda finds Link’s wedding ring in the lair

Chapter 18

- Improved the dialogue/interaction between Link and Zelda to feel more natural - Link talks about the first time his scar spread. (There is now a specific trigger/pattern that will become evident in future chapters.) - The book they find in the necromancer’s lair has been changed a bit – it’s now a journal containing an account of the Imprisoning War (the torn page they find still contains the prophesy they can’t read) - Zelda returns Link’s wedding ring - I moved some conversation around to better work with the flow of the chapter

Chapter 19

- Improved the dialogue/interaction between Link and Zelda to feel more natural - Link asks her not to return to the castle, but Zelda is too terrified to do it (for multiple reasons, primarily Link’s safety) - Zelda doesn’t freak out about the necromancer telling Ashton about Link – I figure that would have already occurred to her (it still comes up but differently) - Zelda asks Nabooru to help keep her informed about Link’s scar - Link tells her there may be a second staff

Chapter 20

- Changed some details about the funeral as well as Zelda’s thoughts (some parts felt digressive or repetitive) - Ian is present - Renae and Kinsley speak (though I wrote a bit of dialogue for Kinsley only; the rest is summarized) - This chapter concentrates more on the public and how they react to the funeral. - Zelda’s interaction with Ashton has changed – Alicia is not present (I felt it was too similar to a scene in 12). Her treasonous comments will happen in a later chapter. - Zelda decides to find the staff, not destroy it (since they need it as evidence against Ashton).

Chapters 21 & 22

- Zelda still uses Ashton to get into his bedroom and find the staff. She does find it, but she fails to obtain it. - The necromancer makes another “deal” with Ashton regarding Link. - Link does not reveal himself, and Ashton keeps his survival quiet by locking Zelda in the dungeon. - There is no annulment, since Link is still declared dead. - Heather visits Zelda in the prison (under Ashton’s orders). - Zelda asks Heather to sneak her the Ocarina, which she uses to escape and find Link. - Zelda finds Saria in the Sacred Forest Meadow, and Saria brings her to the Resistance camp for the first time. (Link is not there.)

Chapter 23-25

- Zelda is brought to Goron City after she loses consciousness. There she speaks with Darunia for the first time in the story, so I pulled some text from Ch. 29 and posted it here instead. Darunia tells Zelda where Link is. - Those obnoxious Resistance members that mistreat Zelda in Ch. 23 have been deleted, mainly because I don’t think such amateurs would have direct access to Link. He’s too important. Only people he really trusts would work with him directly (outside the camp), and he would be better protected for the sake of secrecy. - The Resistance hideout in Kakariko Village is in Cleia’s cellar, not Impa’s house. Vandelians have claimed Impa’s house for their own amusements. - Since the annulment hasn’t happened, Link and Zelda’s conversation has been altered (Link is not so cold this time around). Their conversations in Ch. 24 and 25 have also been edited accordingly. - Zelda (willingly) tells Link she’ll stay with him in Ch. 23 but she still ends up surrendering to the Vandelians to create a diversion, so she’s unable to keep her word (for now).

Chapter 26

– Zelda’s visions in the very beginning are new. – Zelda fights back and tries to flee the castle before she passes out – The scene where Maddox treats Heather has been altered to flow better. – One of the biggest changes to the story overall: Zelda does NOT agree to sign the annulment. I was never happy with that part of the story, but at the time I thought Zelda didn’t really have a choice. After all the changes I’ve made, I felt it no longer made sense for Zelda to bend to Ashton’s wishes. To start, she has every intention of leaving the castle as soon as possible, so why break her vows to Link when Kaepora might turn up with the Ocarina at any moment? Second, Ashton has publicly declared Link dead, so he risks Zelda publicizing the annulment if he forces it on her – which would reflect pretty badly on him, since he lied about Link’s death. The last thing he needs is people doubting his word. Zelda knows this, so she uses it to her advantage. Also, Ashton doesn’t want to keep Zelda in a cell. He wants to parade her about and marry her before the entire kingdom – putting her in prison isn’t nearly as fun for him. Zelda knows this as well, so she calls his bluff. This scene is meant to show how Zelda and Ashton are playing a twisted game of sorts, each seeing how far they can push each other. Ashton may have sole rule over Hyrule, but Zelda knows too many of his secrets.

Chapter 27

– No one, not even Heather, knows about Zelda’s pregnancy. Zelda fears that telling anyone would endanger not only the baby, but the person sharing her secret. – Only those two women suspect Zelda’s pregnancy, and Zelda quickly fabricates another explanation. These women represent the fact that not everyone supports Ashton and that some do fear for Zelda. It also shows how increasingly difficult it will be for Zelda to keep her secret, which emphasizes her desperate need for the Ocarina. – The scene where Zelda treats Heather’s wounds has been significantly expanded to build Heather’s character and develop her bond with Zelda. Heather’s and Adam’s background has also been edited slightly – Adam now excels at carpentry instead of cooking (so that will be changed in 29 as well). I felt this change better suited Adam’s character as well as the OoT universe, since there are actually carpenters in Kakariko in OoT. Another bigger change is that Zelda does not tell Heather that Link is alive. – The scene where Ashton presents Zelda’s gown for the engagement gala has been altered. Zelda is still troubled by the gown, but I chose to dwell on it only briefly. Zelda acknowledges her humiliation, but she has much bigger concerns on her mind. Zelda also reacts to Ashton’s advance and instinctively twists his wrist. This demonstrates the growing tension between them – Ashton knows she’s not helpless, and Zelda knows she can’t lash out like that. All she can do is cause as little damage as possible until the Ocarina arrives. – I also moved the engagement gala to the beginning of Ch. 28.

Chapter 28

– The scene where Zelda is dressed for the gala has been removed – it felt utterly pointless in retrospect and didn’t demonstrate any tension that hasn’t already been established. – The gala is significantly altered. Zelda’s brief flashback to her engagement party with Link is has been removed because I didn’t think she would daydream about something like that, given her current circumstances. All she can think about is the present and her immediate concerns. As the night progresses, however, she does start to feel as though she’s been thrust into the past, and it haunts her. During her walk she sees one of Ashton’s lovers (something she dealt with back during their first engagement) and remembers how Link convinced her to defend her own happiness. Ashton then appears to reestablish his control over her. The private “exchange” between Zelda and Ashton shows how unpredictable and possessive Ashton has become, but it also shows that beneath his horrid exterior he is a damaged, misguided person, desperately trying to reclaim the past. – Zelda’s conversation with Alicia is new, but it did replace a similar conversation I removed from an earlier chapter (and gives Zelda reason to later ban Alicia from the court for treasonous behavior). Zelda is also dancing with Ashton when she faints instead of some random lord. – Maddox doesn’t have the chance to figure out that Zelda is pregnant, since her escape is completely changed. I wanted to create a stronger sense of urgency compared to her previous escape. That she left Ashton in the middle of his gala made it all the more satisfying, I think. :D – The scene where Zelda and Heather take refuge in the Temple has been removed because Zelda loses consciousness. I had to cut it for the sake of pacing, but I might reinsert it somewhere else in the story if I see an opportunity. – Zelda’s reunion with Link has been completely rewritten. I felt the chapter flowed better without the scene where Link finds her and Heather in the Sacred Forest Meadow. I wanted to focus on the strong sense of relief shared by Link and Zelda, but I also emphasized the difference between Link and Ashton. This is symbolized in the way Link removes the uncomfortable gown and accessories that Ashton forced Zelda to wear.

Chapter 29

– The first scene with Ashton has been altered to make sense with the changes to Zelda’s escape. He also questions Kinsley instead of Maddox. I wanted to emphasize Ashton’s growing paranoia/irrationality in this scene. I also hinted at his plan to hire Jedrek Khar, so it doesn’t feel so random later on. – Originally there were two scenes between Link and Zelda–one where she wakes in the middle of the night and one where she has breakfast with Link. Those two have been replaced by one new scene taking place in the morning. I don’t remember why I did two in the first place, but it was unnecessary, and I really wanted to improve the conversation/banter between Link and Zelda. – Link is more aware of Zelda’s nervousness about the people of the camp distrusting or even resenting her (as well as her fears about the baby). – When Link and Zelda meet with the other Resistance leaders, Zelda addresses them herself. Having Link speak for her in the original was just dumb. *facepalm* – Link still asks Cleia to come and care for Zelda, but it is (and will be) much more fleshed out. It was so “oh by the way” in the original, which was dumb. – Zelda still promises to stay in the camp, but that scene is completely rewritten, and this time Link takes the Ocarina with him.

Chapters 30 & 31

- Zelda frets more about her reputation - A Resistance fighter from Aboda defies orders and rides to the Resistance camp to tell Zelda about the situation in Aboda, he also begs Zelda to come and help the victims of the Black Sleep, despite the obvious danger - Link and Zelda’s argument is not resolved as it was in the original and they don’t discuss Zelda’s insecurities regarding the baby. That comes in a later chapter. - Link and Zelda do not have active roles in the funeral; that is reserved for the people of Aboda. They are attending simply to pay their respects. - I created more tension when Link urges the people of Aboda to evacuate. They are proud and more reluctant to flee their beloved village.

Chapter 32

- Zelda goes to the Chamber of Sages to summon Ruto, Nabooru, Rauru, and Impa so she can alert them that a cleansing might be Link’s only hope of survival.

Chapter 33

- Zelda takes a much more dominant role in trying to wake Link or treat his wound. This includes climbing Death Mountain (through the crater) to speak with with the Great Fairy. - The scene where Cleia assures Zelda her chances of a miscarriage have lessened has been removed. In a situation like this I see Zelda being very single minded and focused solely on saving Link. I removed her conversation with Heather for the same reason. Both scenes felt like digressive fluff that disrupted the flow of the chapter. - Another major change to improve the poor pacing in this section of the story: Impa does not return at this point. She is still in Tar Alem and possibly in trouble. Because of this, the Black Echo curse is not yet revealed. - Zelda visits the Great Fairy in the desert like she did in the original, but Nabooru escorts her there. Zelda does not collect a fairy as she did in the original, but the Great Fairy arranges for one to guide her in the Lost Woods. This is an example of taking some artistic license when minor and somewhat cumbersome gameplay details don’t translate well into storytelling. - Darunia, Saria, and Zelda take Link to the fountain (without Impa). - "Cutting the fat” allowed me to move some content from Ch. 34 into this chapter, ending it where Link finally wakes. This improves the pacing and gives me more freedom to focus on Link’s and Zelda’s confrontation/discussion in the next chapter.

Chapter 34

- Link still wakes in the fountain, basically the same scene but without Impa

- Their conversation in the Lost Woods has been altered, but it’s more or less the same concern as before = Link’s safety and well being

- In revising this story I’ve noticed I had a tendency to address too many personal conflicts at once or resolve them too quickly. In the old version of Ch. 34, Link and Zelda talked about a number of things when they were alone in the forest, but this time I wanted a straightforward conversation about one immediate issue = Link taking a less active role in the Resistance until they better understand what the curse is doing to him. The conversation ends before any agreement is made.

- Clef isn’t the only one to be hanged this time -- Kinsley has also been declared a traitor. Zelda finds out telepathically from Darunia. I felt a need to streamline that last transition in 34, and I figured Darunia would try to inform Link and Zelda asap, since the hanging is at dawn.

Chapter 35

- I really cut back on the scenes leading up to the execution. The first time I wrote this chapter I felt pressured to explain a believable rescue plan and then have it play out from Ashton’s perspective. In other words I made it more difficult than it had to be. This time I gave just enough information for the reader to trust that there’s a solid plan, but I keep the details a mystery. Ashton’s scene--when the rescue actually happens--is more effective that way. In this case there was too much redundancy in explaining the rescue and then showing it. The reader doesn’t know exactly what happened, but they know enough to trust the Resistance succeeded without being overloaded with details. That was my goal, at least. In short, I think this approach improved the delivery and the pacing of this chapter.

- I added a scene with Vasilis and Ashton. It introduces Jedrek Khar (though he’s not actually in the scene) and highlights the growing tension between Vasilis and Ashton. Vasilis dislikes Ashton, and he fears what Ashton might do next, but he tells himself that everything would work itself out if Zelda returned to the castle. He’s in denial at this point; he can’t face the gravity of his error just yet.

- One big change is that Link participates in the rescue mission, when in the previous version he stayed behind. He frees Clef and Kinsley from the gallows and in that act he reveals to the public that he is still alive. It’s a brief moment with a big impact.

- Link and Zelda argue about Link doing stupid dangerous things (again). As much as Link regrets what Zelda has endured since Ashton brought him to the necromancer, and as much as he wants to live, he still can’t bring himself to play it safe.

- Zelda suspects that Link is struggling with some underlying issue -- that the lack of concern for his own safety stems not only from being Hyrule’s Champion but from a subconscious, incessant need to prove his worth.

#Zelda #LoZ #Fortitude #fanfic #Epic Edit

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script-a-world · 6 years

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Anon submits the following question:

Hello there! I am writing a story that has a couple characters time travelling to today from 2000 years in the future. One is a regular human and the other is his pet wooly mammoth that is illusioned to look like today’s elephant and they can talk to each other via implant that reads and translate brain waves.

His reason for visiting is 1) Collect DNA to use in more extinct species revival. 2) Collect today’s digital equipment because in the future, equipment there is too new to read old data. 3) Collect artefacts before they get destroyed in the future especially ones from his ancestor.

My main problem is keeping it consistent. First of all, he needs to speak and look like modern day people. However, his reason for coming is because he can’t read today’s media because the futuristic equipment can’t read it and today’s artefacts get destroyed in the future, which means exactly how much access does he even have to modern day. So, isn’t it going to look more like modern day people trying to understand 2000 years ago?

Obviously, the big reason we can’t understand people 2000 years ago is because things got lost and at the time there is no technology to preserve them. Anyone travelling back 2000 years ago from today will always be out of place. It should be easier for people in the future to understand today because of all our technology to preserve things, however my kink in the story is obviously today’s equipment is outdated.

But I don’t know, should there still be enough data that does survive and transferred to new technology. I mean, there are cassette tape to mp3 converters and video tapes get converted to dvds. But I do have some 20 year old video camera tapes, 3 ½ inch floppy disks and Windows 3.1 game CDs I can no longer play and no company releasing them for modern computers so it does make sense I think? But of course there are things that are just.. well completely lost and gone.

Please help, thanks.

Saphira: These are issues that will be expected by the time traveler. He knows full well that he does not have all the data- which we can use to our advantage.

The way to bridge his knowledge when he first lands from the future and actually blending in can be super exciting. How he learns to blend in accurately is a Stake Out, or perhaps a series of tests so he can self-calibrate.

This time allows him to be participatory, but passive. It allows him to take in the environment, process the information, and update what information he came with. Now we already know the modern world; so this frees you up to play with his expectations! What did he get wrong? What did he get right? What takes him by surprise? How does he handle the situation of people not reacting well to an Elephant?

The Adjustment Period can set the pace for your consistency. It can also outline his goals, and how he makes plans. Have fun with this time. This is also the easiest period to add comedy that later turns into a crisis!

Feral: So, would someone from 2018 traveling back in time to the Romanized Europe in 18 AD be out of place? Sure, mores have changed; hygiene has changed; language has certainly changed. But that doesn't mean they wouldn't know anything. We have archeology and anthropology and historical linguistics. Would Romans notice it was a bit off? Probably, but someone whose job it is to go back in time has probably done a lot of research (or has a team doing the research for them) to be as accurate as possible. You mention that all artifacts from our time are destroyed in the future? Like, every single material product of all world societies is destroyed completely beyond reconstruction? That sounds a little extreme. Did the planet blow up? Because Pompeii was destroyed by a volcano. Heraklion is under 10 meters/30 feet of water. We've got ancient cities and hill forts and tombs and a just a bunch of pottery shards buried under the ground that we are constantly unearthing and learning more about the societies that predate ours.

Maybe he wouldn't know how to turn on an iMac, but would he necessarily know nothing? No cookbooks or fashion magazines or any of the hundreds of tons worth of printed material we produce each year survived - it all gets destroyed? And yeah, maybe they get the clothing mixed up between decades (we do for the fashion of just a few decades ago) and pair Jenkos with a velour track suit top, but that's part of the fun with time travel. What people get right and what people get wrong. How people react to the specific mistakes the time traveler makes is a great source of conflict for your story.

Brainstormed: How much support did he have before jumping back? How much preparation? The language (I'm assuming English?) has changed, not even accounting for the slang. Food has changed, and the customs of eating it, so is his palate suited to today's food or will he be disgusted? Common social customs like greeting and small talk have probably warped too. Hygiene may be different. He's carrying germs that are stronger than today's germs by 2000 years, will he get everyone around him sick? Your character may be focused on technology, but a good way to show consistency and the disparity between his time and today is the little things that he may not have prepared for that have nothing to do with technology. Aside from that, if none of his future tech is compatible with today, then just have him acquire some modern technology like a phone or laptop. Have him grouse at how slow or stupid or limited it is, and how future technology is so much better, which gives you a chance to illustrate the changes tech will undergo in the future. Constablewrites: Also give some thought to how much of a focus you want the fish-out-of-water stuff to be in relation to the larger story. It's perfectly fine to make the story about that jarring change. It's also fine to decide that having to come up with new ways of describing stuff your audience is already familiar with is getting tedious, and you're just going to give your traveler a crash course and get on with things.

Feral: As an addendum to how everything was destroyed... how did the DNA of the woolly mammoth survive to be cloned? And how did they know to disguise it as an elephant? That would suggest that the future people do understand something about their past although they are simultaneously ignorant of the absolute panic that would result from an elephant traipsing around outside a zoo (unless this happens to take place in one of the few locations where elephants are just roaming around and doing their thing). Honestly I think most people in 2018 would react to bizarre clothing with a shrug - it must be a prank or a party or a cosplayer doing a character I've never seen - but the elephant is much more extreme. It sounds like the kind of detail that would be in something more absurdist in tone and/or genre. If you plan on having a bunch New Yorkers or Londoners or whoever-ers just roll with an 11 ft, 13000 pound animal hanging out, then honestly, anything can happen! Any reactions to the time traveler's dress or behavior or speech would theoretically be acceptable to the reader.

#pylons #time travel #language #data #submission

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cameron-ashurst22 · 5 years

Text

Year 2- Weekly Summaries- Week 1

Day 1- Film Language

Film Language Research Lecture- 23rd September

Film language it has grammar we need to learn how to write film language.

Examples:

The fall (2006)

Director travelled around the world to incorporate shots and scenes.

The girls performance completes the story and essential to the story itself as she makes the audience care.

Goeman (2009)

Asian film - Completely different direction

Relates to comics

The Red Balloon (1956)

French film - story told completely visually no words or subtitles

Nosferatu (1922)

Silent film

9(2009)

One man made the film happen by sending it to different studios with a shorter cut of the film

Mirrormask (2005)

Sky captain and the world of tomorrow (2004)

Homework

-look at he backstories of films and find out how they were made and the direction of the film

-broaden horizons and watch everything

-choose three films

Brilliant and one of your favourite films

Christopher Nolan films The dark knight

One film that is dreadful and should have never been made

-Sharknado

One film that has never been seen or rarely seen /unusual film

UNIT BA2a: Experimentation and Application Research Project: Film Language for Animators Project 2 of 8

Start Date: 23/09/2019

Oral Presentations will take place during the unit.

Your progress for this research Project will form part of the mid unit review.

Submission Date: Essay and Research blog on 25/11/2019

Time spent on the project: 9 weeks

Unit ends: 07/02/19 Tutor: Mhairi Fraser

OVERVIEW

You will explore film language in the context of animated content culminating in a 1,000 word essay.

DESCRIPTION

You will build on the specialist animation knowledge and skills established in Year 1. This Unit will allow you to explore film language in greater detail both theoretically and practically within your studio work and related to the projects set within this Unit. You will be required to demonstrate the application of more complex processes and appropriate methodologies related to the explorative and intellectual nature of this level of study. This project focuses on the analysis and application of film language in animation.

The project will stimulate investigation and critical discussions related to your own practice and application of appropriate vocabulary related to this area of study. To enable dialogue, debate and an exchange of ideas you will give presentations as you go through the unit. You will examine different approaches to narrative and different techniques in film making which will feed into your studio projects throughout this unit. You will research a range of films which will help promote your understanding of film language and how it is utilised in animation.

You will consider genres, narrative approaches, medium and methodology of production throughout this project and produce a critical analysis related to the comparison of two distinct and comparable subjects, providing a summary of this in the 1,000 word essay. Working individually you will produce an online research blog that evidences self-directed research, documents learning and reflection as well as evidence of the impact this project may have on your creative practice.

By the end of this project you should have the following work completed which will become part of your submission at the end of the unit.

● 1,000 word essay

● Research Portfolio

Essay due 25/11/2019

Key Terms

Rushes- an unprocessed film

Wallace and Gromit the wrong trousers

Title sequence - Dull colour but lively music in the theme tune is played over the top.Sets the scene as music reminds us of Yorkshire as Wallace has a Yorkshire accent. Three rockets resemble the ducks on the wall in the home but is also an in joke about the first film where they go to the moon for cheese.

Camera is panning across to a picture of Wallace an Grommit then to a shadow of the trousers. Ominous shadow used with canting turning almost looking up at it resembling 1950s horror films. Music changes key and pace which is also reminiscent of the type of film.

Fade to black

Initial Grommit meet - Mid shot, portrait all about Grommit. He’s making tea, warm soft colours are placed behind him. Waiting till he leaves the frame before cut moving to the next frame of the calendar , this exposition shows the backstory of Grommit. Cuts to midst and Grommit’s eyes turn he’s thinking about something else, by following his eyes it leads you into the next part of the sequence and finally to the initial meet of Wallace. By looking at his watch and up it leads straight to Wallace and he is still asleep. Grommit reacts to a sound and moves towards the sound cuts to the pile of letters at the backdoor.

Close up shot how’s the importance of the letters and gives clues to what they are. Over the shoulder shot helps show the speed of him flicking through the letters until he finds his name. He leaves shot and it cuts to a new area.

Living room- Grommit walks back into shot and the train is introduced early on, starting to tie threads together as the train is used after on in the film. We now know more about the house and the space within.Grommit now comes into shot but the length of him coming into frame is immediate if it was 12 frames we would know time has passed.Cut away to the blackboard and shows us information on there lives. He leans back and looks up and pulls the lever leading the viewer towards Wallace in the next shot.

Cut in motion- As Wallace falls through the floor into the trousers. Cuts as he leaves the first floor and re-enters fully after the cut still falling.Squash and stretch follow as Wallace gets dressed

Cut to grommit- anticipation builds through sound and Wallace’s appearance as he anticipates the toast. The toast is held in the air for four frames and this adds to the comedic timing.Cut away to the toast and jam to give a better next shot of Wallace. Dialogue is in mid shot and camera is normally on the person reacting but because grommit doesn’t speak it is held on Wallace for longer.

Two shot- wider and grander shows the interaction between the two characters. Helps to allow Wallace to stand up and move. First cut when Wallace is still in frame then happens to eliminate showing him walking around the room. This allows a change in camera angle to show the details of the safe.

Shot of train and cutting on action on his hand allows camera angle change without it looking odd. Cuts to a mid shot of eye lines to show where the characters are looking and this gives us clues. Grommit looks directly at the camera when he opens his present and this in shot establishes a connection with the audience. Sound begins to change like he title sequence and there is a shot to tease and build up suspense of the new trousers.Grommit backs away out of shot and there is a light, shadow and colour change. Slowly through cuts of Grommit’s fear and the trousers builds suspense. Suspense breaks when he realises that it is a present.

Scene change to a park- Tree , fence and park established within the first few seconds of being on

Day 1- Introduction to inanimate objects

Briefing - Welcome back Monday 23rd September 2019

Year 2 25% of Degree

[email protected] - for absences

Week 9 indépendant study week

Week 17 is submission

BA2a inanimate objects

4 weeks contact time

- Sound design

-10-15 seconds

Examples

Rockin’ n Rollin’

Cravendale last glass

Scenario

-Night time

-The world is asleep

-The kitchen comes to life

Rule 1 : Narrative

Establish

Conflict

Resolution

Rule 2 : only 3 shots

Close up

Medium

Wide

Can move the camera and can slightly cheat so zoom in from a medium etc

Rule 3 : title and credits

Rule 4 : No squash and stretch / no talking

Process :

-Thumbnail board

-storyboard/animatic (temp sound design)

Black line for line work

-Layout/blocking

-Concept art

Style frames

Source reference imagery

-Animation

Film language and composition

countless combinations that can be explored

Bring film language research into this project

Rule of thirds can make the image more visually appealing

Cut on action

Lighting research develop own look through experimentation, consider realistic lighting sources but do not be afraid to apply artifice.

Learning outcomes

-LO1 demonstrate knowledge and application of the key techniques, materials and processes associated with your subject

-LO2 identify relevant historical ,cultural and ethical concepts and principles and apply them to a range of contexts

-LO3 Demonstrate knowledge of problem-solving approaches used in your discipline and show a critical approach base in your practice and in your work

-LO4 Critically reflect on the boundaries of your knowledge and learning

-LO5 Articulate the findings of your research and practice using appropriate means of production and communication

Submission 27th November

Folder on the Vle

Animated sequence 1920x1080 25fps

Experimentation reel

Reflective journal

7 pages max summaries what you have done

Clearly outline your understanding of the process tackled and evidence and independent learning

Day 2- Lecture

Lecture by Carla relevant to two personalities project

Idea, character and world development

World Building

Re-work reality taking elements of experience and skills we have learnt to enhance/ enrich the world to excite and please the audience.

Example of excellent world building - Blade Runner

Real or unreal , your world must have internal integrity

World building exercise

What does it sound like at night time?

Urban cityscape overhead monorails pass by almost like the sound of a subway. Flickering of street lamps.1920s/1930s music plays from bars and cafes as people walk the streets.

What does success look like?

In this world successful is owning large amounts of money and business through unlawful ways. Bootlegging and the distribution of alcohol is a profitable business. Only is power and to beat the law you have to own the law. Officers are on payroll and leave if your name is heard. Based on the big mob presence in America during the prohibition era.owning a club is seen as successful and betting on horsing is also prominent so rigging the betting creates more successful income.

What do you see out of the window?

Overhead monorail platforms , dull city lights flickering . Shady characters in large trench coats and suits walk the streets in pairs never as a three in fear of being attacked. Smoking is prominent and very few cars are driven around .

Film examples

Run Wrake - Rabbit (2005)

A selection of 1950s educational stickers, discovered in a provincial junkshop 20 years ago, provide the ingredients for this adult fairytale. Once they were new, delivering a simple message to those also young. Like us, however, they have grown older and now present a more complex meaning. Rabbit tells a tale of lost innocence, greed and the random justice of nature. When a boy and girl find an idol in the stomach of a rabbit, its magical abilities lead to riches.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fw3XyOyl47Q

http://runwrake.com/portfolio_page/rabbit/

Ghost Cell (2015)

Director and CG artist Antoine Delacharlery’s Ghost Cell re-imagines daily life in the French capital in almost microscopic – but somewhat imperfect – detail using point cloud and wireframe imagery. Indeed, the tag line for the six-minute short is “a plunge into the guts of an organic Paris seen as a cell through a virtual microscope.”

https://www.cartoonbrew.com/cgi/ghost-cell-uses-cutting-edge-cg-tech-reveal-new-side-paris-138954.html

Worlds are tone ,atmosphere, story, history and character

Think about politics, social politics ,religion, climate ,resources, geography ,geology ,etc

Character

Characters have roots experiences and memories ( these do not need to be on screen)

They care about something. They have to have wants and needs.These may be different. They may or may not be achieved.

‘plot is what dramatists throw at characters to reveal their wants and needs’

Use archetypes not stereotypes

Antagonist can be human characters ,or conflict can exist between the protagonist and :nature, technology, society, supernatural forces, herself, etc.

If you’re struggling to give your character an emotional life, reflect on the most vivid and long-lasting visceral emotional memories you have

Think about:

-Body, environment, experience , beliefs

-Wants and needs

-Does your character change?

Use

-character mood boards

-Russian doll exercise

Russian doll exercise

5 facts on character

Orphaned at birth

Exceptionally skilled with numbers and money due to being an accountant but it is a gift at how quickly he can calculate problems. His decision making is exceptional

Socially anxious dislikes crowded room

Hates interactions with people he doesn’t really know

Runs a a 25 cent coin through his fingers constantly from right to left three times always stopping on the ring finger

4 relationships they have

Relationship with previous foster home

Has an overpowering boss who exploits his ability with number

A friend who is in the mob

Has a house cat

3 hopes, dreams or desires

Too leave his job and find a new challenge

Too make serious money and be financially affluent

Too find love

2 obstacles to their fulfilment

The mob

Their own anxiety

1 secret know only to them

They have a sibling who was lost at birth

Your characters birth

Dark rainy day , ice cold. Characters short of breath. Born under the table in a bar and born with a twin with use of c section. Quickly moved away from the mother rand set to separate orphanages.

Day 2- Life Drawing

Today’s life drawing was one of reflection. We started by recapping previous techniques from last year starting with the 16 poses in charcoal each taking 3 minutes each. I found this relatively easy as I soon grasped the form of the pose by using lines of action to guide the process. I started using this technique due to Pixar animator Ben su who uses lines of action to determine the length of the form. However, I found it difficult initially to judge the length of the legs and some appear short in the early stages of the drawing. The next exercise was to create a drawing of the model in 40 minutes. I found this easy to begin with as I quickly placed each part of the body. However, upon Wills instruction I had to shorten the length of the second arm as it appeared to large relative to the models frame.Unfortunately, this was cut short due to terrible circumstances as the model fainted and needed medical attention.

Day 2- Inanimate objects

Today I had a group feedback session with Peter and a collective of my course mates. The focus of this session was to discuss ideas for the inanimate objects project. We each individually spoke and was asked question about our idea. I found this to be very beneficial as it gave the sense of what working in a studio would be like. For my idea I was inspired by the early Nike football adverts of the 2000s and decided to have the fork taking the free kick against a goalkeeper (spoon) . I found that I spoke well to the group addressing them as a collective and stressed how I was struggling for the movement of the fork. The feedback I received was that my idea was well thought out considering the types of shots used through the 10-15 second film. I asked would it be beneficial if I tried to recreate the movement of a fork in real life and film it. The group suggested that I should tie my legs together to fully show how a fork would hop towards the ball.

Day 3 -Inanimate objects

Today we learned how to rig the objects used for the animation. By rigging the objects it allows us to move the assets with ease. To do this I created two circle one at the base of the object to control the position and one at the neck of the fork for rotation.I then parented the fork to the neck and then to the final circle. Next I decided to play around with the camera keeping g the key frames in stepped I tried to create a transition from a close up that would pan around the scene into a wide shot.I found this worked well but it needs to be over a longer period of time to create the emotion of a football match. As this was only a test it gave me a better understanding on what needed to be done to transition between shots and the timing needed for each of the shots. I then tried to understand how the fork would move within the scene and placed a simple walk cycle within the scene. I found that the camera angles complimented the imperfections of the walk cycle and ultimately this led to the fork kicking the ball through the rotation of the neck control. I am looking forward to having another go at this on Monday and completing the first pass of the project.

#weeklysummaries #weeklysummary #year2 #ba2a

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tihalttechnologies · 5 years

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Web Development Life Cycle - Tihalt Technologies

Web Development Life CycleWeb Development Life Cycle is same as like software development project, a particular method should be followed to make sure the project consistency and completeness.

The exact core part of a website and design is not necessary for coding the entire process. Indeed few technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript give a specific way that we are able to easily interact with the information and play with website development and usually certain things which stay behind the scenes and being the crucial part of website development company in Bangalore are few stages of Preliminary information gathering, analysis, detailed planning, post-launch maintenance.

Alright, let’s see what are the things need to be followed while developing a website in Tihalt. Its strength seems like baffling for most of you but every people should be aware of the development process. Especially, if you are looking to hire a website development company in India to build one, you must be aware of some ideas to know how a project works and we going to give you a brief explanation about the seven stages of a development cycle in General, Particularly we follow in Tihalt Technologies.

Straight away let us get into the seven points,

Information Gathering in detail.

Planning before the development,

Designing

Content writing and organizing

Coding

Testing, Review, and Launching,

Maintenance of the site.

Website Development Timeline:

When there is any requirement of developing a website usually everyone gets confused around two major issues – pricing and time. And these two relay on the requirements, size, and scope of the website. The whole process, you can add in a website timeline, involving tasks, establishing milestones for the project. This is the very best way to keep your project on track and to ensure you keep up with the deadline.

Step 1. Information Gathering: Purpose, Main Goals, and Target

Often every developing company believes it starts with a development process but the fact is to understand the client’s needs and this is the crucial one, most ignore it. Identify and understand what the client exactly needs, in most cases if the client has a technical background, it would be much easier to understand their needs technically in projects. However, when the clients are entirely new to the website world then it would need little more clarification for further proceeding, to the processing we ask several questions to know their requirements to serve better. The stage of understanding and researching makes how the subsequent future will look alike. A most important task is to get a clear understanding of our Clients future website purposes, and our main focus is to target the audience to get attracted to your site. These kinds of website development strategy helps to develop better project management. Each portal differs from one another, the news portal, entertainment websites, online resources for the teenagers differs than the site for adults. The difference in the website provides customers or visitors with different functionality. Technologies should be used according to different functionalities. Well described planning of a project prevents from the issues that occur in a later stage like, spending extra on getting the exact result or might be design change or adding extra functionality that was not planned in the early stage. The estimated time for planning a project in Tihalt Technologies if 3 to 5 days.

Step 2: Planning

Above we mentioned, understanding the client’s requirement is the crucial stage? Also, we add one more point in the list, it is planning. Strong planning requires deep research and analyzing the exact map towards the destination. At this part, we provide Gantt charts with the timeline and the resources we need to complete the project based on the needs explained. The other two major decisions are such as calculating sitemap, wireframing, Layout Planning, UI/UX, choosing the fit technology stack are done at this stage. Meanwhile, wireframe and mockup in the planning stage give the client a perfect outline of the web pages, a low fidelity frame without logo and Pictures. You can find many tools out in the market that gives ease of creating a wireframe. At this stage, all the planning is done with the client’s involvement so the client will come to an understanding of how the blueprint of the project is formed. Here is the example of a sitemap how it looks like:

The sitemap has to describe the connection between the important areas of your website. This kind of representation can help to understand how usable the end project will be. It can make you understand the relationship between different pages of the client’s website. The main reason for creating the site map is to build a user-friendly website. The created sitemap from Tihalt Technologies could have given an inner structure of the entire project looks like but doesn’t show you a user interface. At times before you start coding or even before your designing process, it is must get the client’s approval whether he is ok with a mockup. So that you can start you’re designing phase. If the wireframe is created, it can be a visual representation of a user interface that going to create. It only describes the elements, location kind of outer sketch of a drawing. The most website development companies in Bangalore use any mockup to do this purpose but we use particular stack technologies and few other to create a mock-up. Selecting technology is also an important part. Estimated time for creating mock-up would be 1 week.

Step 3: Designing

In this designing stage, the customer’s website takes shape. Includes visual content, for example, images, photos, and videos are created at this designing phase. While working off the designing part it is must keep in mind, the customer and target audience. The best designer’s work can be seen in the website layout that can be a graphic sketch or an actual graphic design. The prime function of the layout is to present the information structure, visualizing the content and demonstrating the base functionality. Most of the web developments company in Bangalore and their layout has colors, logos, pictures and gives the client a common understanding of the website. After the completion of the layout, the client can review the layout and send his comment. If the customer is not satisfied or not sure about some perspective of your design, you have to change your design again according to his need and send him back. This will repeat until the client is satisfied with the design. Estimated time for designing part in Tihalt Technologies would be 1 week.

Step 4: Content and Organizing

In general, writing the content and compiling normally overlaps with the other stages of the website development lifecycle. Its importance cannot be underestimated, at this phase of writing content is necessary to add in mentioning the very essence that you’d like to interact with the audience by using your website. All website development company in Bangalore has this features of wringing content, this involves the developing catching headlines, Line editing, writing a new text, compiling the existing text, organizing it accordingly, etc. this takes time and effort. As the thumb rule, the content for the website has been ready to migrate to the site which the client undertakes to provide. It is always better to provide the contents of the website on or before coding. Estimated time would be 4 days.

Step 5: Coding

Finally, we came to the coding nitty-gritty of website development. In the coding phase, the client approves all the above steps and it transformed into a working model. The website development process includes two major stages which are frontend and backend. Graphic elements mentioned in the previous stages are used to create the actual website. Normally in Tihalt, the homepage is created first and all the subpages are added as next, based on the web development hierarchy that was created before in the form of sitemap or wireframe. It is needed to check the server whether it can handle the installation and set-up everything smoothly by implementing Frameworks and CMS. Every static web page that is designed during the mock-up and layout creation should be tested and special features like interactivity should be added. Hereby we are about to see frontend and backend in a detailed manner.

Frontend Development:

Well, the name itself would give a short understanding. This is a general step that is followed by all the other web development company. As the name refers, this development takes place in the client-side app and that is seen by the users. Previous stage designs are converted into HTML pages with other features like animation and effects. If there are some other needs, We would add some sophisticated functionalities such as JavaScript framework/Libraries like React, Angular, Vue, etc. according to latest growth of mobile devices, it is equally important to develop a mobile app or mobile-friendly website development.

Backend Development:

As per the name refers, this development takes place in the server-side which is the soul of frontend and makes the user interface into a working web application. Backend developer creates the server-side applications, integrates logic, a database that works underhood. Most website development company in Bangalore use CMS for site creation. Also can install CMS plugins in this phase if there’s any necessary. After developing a website, equally important to do SEO (Search Engine Optimization). This can help your site to attain higher rankings in search engine elements. At last the valid coding is pretty important for SEO. Estimated time would be 1 to 3 weeks.

Step 6: Testing, Review, and Launching

Here comes, after developing the web app, before deploying it into the server, it goes through several stages of the test. To find there is no bugs or issues in the coding which could cause final stage error. Tihalt has a quality team who performs tests like functionality, Usability, performance, compatibility test, etc. this make sure that the website is ready to launch, Testing also helps in identifying the paths to improve the website for the client in better ways. Once the green flag is shown from the quality assurance team for the web app, it is deployed in the server through File Transfer Protocol. We commonly use BeanStalk, Bitbucket, Github, and FileZilla. You should run yet another after uploading all the files after you check and re-check and be sure that all your files have been installed correctly. Estimated time would be 2 weeks.

Step 7: Maintenance

What’s important to remember after deploying the coding, it is not important to hand over the website to the client. Should ensure that all the pages of the website working fine and everyone is satisfied with the product to deliver and on the other hand also be prepared to make a change in another case. Yet finished, there is several post-effective task need to be carried out by the website development company in Bangalore such, providing the customer with the source code and project documents. Feedback system will be added to the site it allows the client to detect the problems end-users face. There are few other things which equally important they are support and maintenance.

The highest priority task is to fix the problem as fast as you can. If negative, you might find one day the user moved to another website rather than putting up themselves with the inconvenience. Tihalt Technologies is good in keeping your website up to date and we use CMS, that will prevent you from bugs and decrease security risks in the future. Estimated time would be ongoing.

Conclusion:

However, you should always keep in mind that the website development doesn’t start straight away with the coding and end by launching it. Web development life cycle includes certain stages that have to follow to get a good result. For awesome result, it might take some time. Tihalt Technologies gives you a neat explanation about the steps that are followed and there is a lot of website development company in Bangalore catering services to the clients from various countries. Projects will be agile and flexible enough to change the website according to the user’s feedback. Better keep in mind that there is nothing as a significant website development life cycle that would prevent you from unexpected errors or troubles. Finally, we give you confidence that everything flows with how it should be and have full control over the project. Believing, this blog provided valuable information and you can easily develop your dream website with us.

More Tags: Web Design Company in Bangalore | Digital marketing company in Bangalore | best SEO agency in Bangalore | eCommerce website development company in Bangalore | Mobile application development company in Bangalore

#tihalt #tihalt technologies #Web Development Life Cycle

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annashipper · 7 years

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Sojourner Anon Submission

I’m in a similar situation to the Confused Anon - I’ve known about Benedict Cumberbatch since 2007 (Atonement), and had seen him in a bunch of stuff over the years prior to Sherlock, but wasn’t impressed enough with his acting to take an interest in him until Doctor Strange and TLD (it helped that he was smoking hot in both of these - scruff really does wonders for his face). Naturally my first course of action was to go on a bender through Tumblr for a couple of months, which is how I wound up on skeptic blogs. I’d seen pictures of Benedict with his wife in the past (mostly from the 2015 awards season) and I was aware that there existed a faction of fans that didn’t like her - mostly because of something that had happened to a friend of mine about two years ago.

I don’t wanna go into too many details, since I don’t want to expose her to more hate, so I’ll keep it simple: she’s a huge Benedict fan, not a UK resident but got to stay there for a while back in 2015, during which time she saw Sophie and the baby at some kind of event she (my friend, that is) attended - something that got her torn apart by the skeptics. Now, I’ve known this woman for ages. I’ll grant you that she’s a nanny, but most of her friends are, at best, very casual fans. She’s not a BNF, nor an attention-seeker or a consummate liar, so I find it truly hard to believe she’d make up something like that. There was literally nothing for her to be gained by saying she’d seen Benedict’s wife and baby (I doubt she’s on his PR’s payroll, considering she’s not someone followed by a ton of fans or anything remotely close).

I’ve seen the uncensored pap pics where you can see the face of the child being carried. His resemblance to Benedict is almost uncanny, which is saying something because Benedict doesn’t exactly have a very common face. If they really did hire someone, they did one hell of a job finding a kid who looked like the biological son of both parents.

Furthermore, I agree with what Confused Anon had to say. It’s one thing to get your friends and family to cover for you, but this is a man who’s constantly surrounded by virtual strangers that don’t owe him shit. There’s nothing stopping them from going to the press, and yet not even CDAN will publish a blind contending Benedict’s children are a lie (when it had no problems publishing such things about other celebs).

And what happens down the line, if he did create a fake family? They’re too young right now, but in a few years Benedict’s gonna be expected to discuss funny anecdotes about his children on talk shows - like that cute gifset you recently shared, with all the Marvel actors saying how their kids were embarrassed by them. You can bet your ass someone’s gonna ask Benedict what his sons think about him being Doctor Strange, and people will wonder why he’s not bringing them on set like other Marvel actors… and later, he’ll have to start regularly showing up in public with them, or gossip rags are gonna wonder aloud how come he never brings his children to any public events, like others do with theirs.

I don’t pretend to know what spurred this relationship, although I do have a theory that he panicked as he was nearing 40 with no kids and just jumped at the first opportunity to be a father, maybe hoping he’d learn to love Sophie along the way. Sadly, I’ve met couples like that IRL… but I digress. Whatever the real reason, it can’t have involved a fake pregnancy, or he would’ve said “not mine” a long time ago and jumped ship. At this point, that kind of admission would destroy his public image and career for a very long time, possibly even for good, so unless Benedict is EXTREMELY stupid - and he doesn’t come off that way to me - there’d have to be at least one child.

And yes, I’ve seen the photo collages of her pregnancy. I too have been pregnant and given birth, but unlike the rest of your mom anons, I don’t think that makes me an authority on either pregnancies or babies. No self-respecting medical professional would opine on a stranger’s pregnancy by just looking at photos, and neither should laymen who only have anecdotal evidence at their disposal. In other words, sorry, but drawing outlines on pictures isn’t how gynecologists determine pregnancy.

I’ve seen how you react to people who disagree with you, so I just wanted to say upfront that I’m not really expecting a serious answer beyond a sarcastic gif or sending me to those archives that don’t actually answer anything. My infatuation with Benedict has already begun to subside (I mean, it’s been almost six months, there’s only so long I can fangirl). I had five minutes to burn on my daily commute and that Confused Anon was something of a catalyst, so I dropped you a line. Have a great day, Anna, I hope both you and Benedict find happiness in your lives. (Please accept my apologies if this comes out too long, incoherent or misspelled; English isn’t my first or even second language).

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Hi Sojourner Anon!

First off, since you’ve seen how I react to people who disagree with me, you probably already know enough to expect a serious answer from me when you’re being as cordial as you have been. I reserve sarcasm and snark for the obviously baity Anons who’re just looking for trouble.

Anyway, as your submission has indeed come out a bit long, I’m going to try to keep this as short as possible and simply address the points you’re making in the order that you made them:

Regarding your friend and her being torn apart by Skeptics, I don’t expect you to be aware of this since you’ve only just recently discovered the Skeptical community for yourself, but we have a long standing rule about sightings. They have to make sense (to at least be taken seriously) and they have to come with photographic evidence attached (to be believed and included in confirmed sightings). As I don’t know what your friend saw and where, it is impossible for me to argue whether what she saw was legitimate or not. The one sighting of Weirdo and Pilo at an event I can remember, is the one where Weirdo supposedly took (a very young) Pilo (at the time) to an Ian Mc Kellen reading, and that’s simply because there was a lot of back and forth about it being legit. Skeptics who are much more social media savvy than I am and have far higher powers of Google Fu than I do were able to find multiple pictures from the inside of the venue and ... guess what: No matter how many brunette women the Nans pointed to as being Weirdo, it turned out she wasn’t in the audience. If this is not the sighting you’re alluding to, I would be more than happy to discuss this with you privately in case you’re inclined to provide me with more details.

On the matter of your friend being torn apart by Skeptics, let me also add that I personally have never ventured outside of Tumblr for any reason whatsoever and have made it a point to try to deter my fellow Skeptics from doing so as well. For the record, all real Skeptics know how to stay in our lane. The ones who don’t are not considered real Skeptics (and yes, there are a number of trolls who have infiltrated the community since the beginning of this showmance and are posing as Skeptics just to make us look bad).

I’ve seen the unblurred pics of Rent-A-Pilo’s face too. At first I had the same reaction as you did. I thought Rent-A-Pilo looked remarkably similar to Ben and went on record saying so (on a post which I haven’t deleted, because I don’t delete posts). Here is the LINK. Notice how even immediately after seeing Rent-A-Pilo’s face for the first time and posting under shock I still didn’t believe Weirdo had gestated a real human baby? I still don’t.

Seeing how the pillows are only ever mentioned / trotted out when Daddy needs to sell a new project or Mommy throws a tantrum to get a new pap walk, I don’t believe they’re surrogate children either. I just think they’re imaginary. It goes hand in hand with the fact that Ben knows next to nothing about babies. 2 hour skyping sessions with a 5 month old, filthy props from a movie set being used as teethers by a 10 month old and babies eating sliced apples are only some of the things Ben doesn’t seem to understand are not the norm for children of Pilo’s age. I won’t even mention the lack of bathtime.

I don’t think Ben is extremely stupid. I think Ben is extremely desperate not to come off as a man who faked a relationship / engagement / wedding / pregnancy / fatherhood for an Oscar he didn’t even come close to winning because he simply chose an unstable famewhore to play the part of his red carpet girlfriend.

I have to say I’m disappointed you don’t see fit to counter any of the arguments we pose via the bump comparisons you mentioned seeing as you’ve obviously studied them. I have been posting / reblogging / arguing using these bump comparisons as evidence that Weirdo faked the first pregnancy for the better part of the past two years and not a single Anon has ever offered a convincing counter-argument regarding how ridiculous Weirdo looked with a bump that kept inflating / deflating / changing shapes / inflating again / folding over / disappearing altogether / inflating again / staying the same size during the last trimester of that weird pregnancy. I would really like to hear your thoughts on that if you feel inclined to have a mature back and forth about it. Be forewarned: arguments such as “I can’t accept anyone would be crazy enough to fake a pregnancy like that while being papped left and right” and anecdotal evidence such as “my sister’s friend’s mother’s cousin’s (twice removed) never developed breasts / never got swollen ankles / belly kept deflating / bellybutton kept popping out and in and out again, etc” won’t be taken seriously. For obvious reasons.

I hope the above answers some of your questions about my take on this showmance and I apologise for getting a bit snarky regarding the pregnancy that never was on my last paragraph, but faking that pregnancy is a very sensitive subject for me personally.

I have a couple of very close friends who have been trying to conceive and I know how taxing it’s been on them. Let’s just say a famewhore faking a pregnancy just to establish herself in the public eye rubs me the wrong way.

It’s why I keep coming back to the first pregnancy (which we got to document through numerous pap walks unlike the second one), it’s why I’ll keep calling Weirdo ... weirdo and it’s why I intend on remaining an active Skeptic for the foreseeable future.

Apologies to everyone reading this blog as I think my answer to Sojourner Anon may actually be longer than her submission was. What can I say? I’m a rambler...

#sojourner anon #submission

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hitachihanoi · 5 years

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Using Youngsters and Parents as Beta Visitors for Kids Fiction

When I sat decrease and composed this publication, I experienced a hodgepodge of sensations: excitement, dread, anxiety, and wonder were being just a few. Actually few items in this world believed scarier to me than wanting to write a guide, but writing a reserve for kids got the top area.

Let’s deal with it: Knowing the mind of an child is only one thing, although writing a book this parents can certainly stand at the rear of and really encourage their child to study is an fully different animal.

Pleasing every parent it not just difficult, it can impossible. Is actually parents who have buy textbooks for their children, so I felt stressed about reaching the “right” parents even though pleasing the kids themselves. Whenever all had been said in addition to done, which parent do I want in my corner?

In the long run, I decided to use parents from the narrative and speak solely to the youngsters.

I may not be able to figure out mothers and fathers and their a multitude of motivations-after all, I’m not a parent, yet I has been once a kid. I can keep in mind the good and the bad as if these were yesterday. The range of thoughts children go through is surprising, all while trying to get caught up with schoolwork, sporting activities, extracurriculars plus more. I wanted any book that could somehow talk with every kid on a number of level. Whether it be about their looks, their intellect, their ethnic background, their sexual category or any some other facet, linking with them was vital.

I selected to write this book for every child who have ever experienced a moment connected with insecurity. I desired a publication that spoke of the importance of kindness, strong character, along with friendship. However this publication also needed to be fun to see, offering youngsters an adventure that kept them interested as well as anxious switch every web page.

When I see the first version of the report back to personally, it sensed happy as well as childish, and i also honestly believed it to be a home-run. Who didn’t want to see any chubby minor kitty get over his doubts by running into the park? But also in truth, the idea felt sticky sweet which has a tearful, over-the-top “storybook” finishing. There was zero villain, living was just about all peaches in addition to cream, and the animals were living together inside a little thinking about.

So , My spouse and i sent the 1st manuscript out to be study by some adults and kids. The reviews came back it turned out a “fun” and “cute” story that will perhaps needs to be transformed into a picture book for any younger target audience. They treasured the people but had asked me a variety of questions: Exactly how was the ticking clock pressuring the story onward and how was it keeping kids interested? Where may be the urgency regarding Phatty to get to the park and again? What was right now there to stop the dog from obtaining his desired goals? Where is the story’s villain? Why would Phatty threat everything if he did not have a serious situation on his paws?

Just read was all great questions. It was my 1st go at writing, and I hadn’t carried out an outline. In fact , I had been making the story as I proceeded to go along, pulling bits and pieces coming from what I got seen the animals complete. I don’t stop till Phatty transformed his anxieties and made the idea home into the apartment successfully.

It was merely after the reviews came back that we decided to sit back and grab the story separate. My insecurities about this entire process arised an all-time high. We filed situation away, thinking I didn’t have what it takes to write some sort of book.

But after a 12 months went by, My partner and i took it and examine it yet again. I decided to give it a different go. Now I needed to produce a new degree of intimacy along with my viewers. My publication lacked scenarios that would press kids to bear in mind their actions and challenge their considered processes. I had developed to add problems to the story which may promote personality traits incomplete in today’s young ones.

Zetta Elliott on Starting Her Own Imprint & Character Development with Children’s Fictional

But it was obviously a fine series to wander. I failed to want to offend anyone by going too far. My spouse and i didn’t desire to lecture young children on how to always be kind simply by teaching these individuals right and also wrong, but alternatively to create situations that would enable readers to achieve right from inappropriate by example of this. I needed to develop situations that will parents would applaud for your character expertise I was talking about. However , I also needed readers to feel attached to the characters, to be rooting for them for the reason that adventure unraveled.

Once the subsequent draft ended up being completed, My spouse and i began a brand new step in the procedure. I needed to determine first-hand what kids genuinely thought about the story and its figures. Did they identify with this characters? And when so , the way? To get feedback, I dispatched the story for you to more than 50 kids plus a book report form for them to fill out. Looking back, I recognize having all these kids while beta readers was important my method. I failed to have young children of my personal, and I decided not to know what this kids were seeking in a story.

On the sample I asked the beta audience:

Exactly what is currently your selected book?

How exactly does this account compare to your preferred?

How long manages to do it take you to definitely read this e-book?

Was the e-book hard to finish off https://thehomeworkportal.com?

Did you love the story? And if so , why?

Was there any character from the story you actually identified together with?

Are there any people you would like to acquire after and exactly how?

After which there were the hard questions-the questions that expected them to talk about some complaint.

I asked your children straight away: Did you enjoy the story? Has been this an account you would inform your friends to study? I asked all of them if whatever was incomplete in the account that would allow it to be better. We even expected them if they disliked some of the characters and when they could modify one thing in this particular book, actually would be as well as why.

Requesting these questions to kids who have didn’t understand me or maybe the real-life people was important. I needed to know if this was a decent account that youngsters would relate with and enjoy, or if this was going to be a huge mistake. I had been pleasantly surprised together with the results-my effort had repaid. The time spent reworking, editing and also researching were found to be worth it. My confidence risen spectactularly. I sensed like I put accomplished often the impossible. And while I was happy that the youngsters had reacted so well to the story and it is characters, I got shocked and also beyond grateful to see the way happy their parents were starting to find that it had been a child book with substance. We were holding not only over joyed to have a report that built relatable problems meaningful, but in reality loved the debate on kindness and character development.

Seeking back, I must yell in myself for sitting within this story for so long. My spouse and i let my own, personal insecurity data file this account deep with my hard drive for longer than a year. In place of asking concerns and getting opinions, I chose to leave it obtain cyber airborne debris deep in my computer, correct next to this recipe We insisted in keeping, but knew I might never make use of. I noticed that putting this anxieties as well as self-doubt aside was the only way to move ahead. I needed that will put myself on the market in front of the universe, and only in that case could I truly consider me personally a article author. And to boost the comfort, it wasn’t until somebody introduced myself as a fresh author it sank within. I thought, “Wow, I’m genuinely an article author. ” I wish I could describe to you awesome that experienced, but you will find no words. I can just hope that a person day you may feel the item firsthand yourself. Happy producing.

Jessica Unanue has always been an avid viewer and the activist for children who are teased. As a kindness advocate, she hopes to motivate children around the globe to remember to be able to always take care of each other along with kindness and compassion. Your girlfriend debut reserve The Activities of Phatty and Arlequ?n: Central Park is an First Reader Chapter Book (August 2018). The girl with the former single point of Trips with Marie , a weekly traveling review plan. Marie lives with her husband Andy and their animals within NYC in addition to Mantoloking, NJ. Visit your ex at www.letsallbekind.com, and stick to her in Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

The post Using Youngsters and Parents as Beta Visitors for Kids Fiction appeared first on Hitachi Hà Nội.

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hrk4 · 6 years

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The year that was...

Dear Friends:

Season’s Greetings!

Standing between the two armies eager for battle, Krishna’s exhortation to his friend in dismay was, in essence, this: Why do you hesitate to do what is most natural to you? Why are you so afraid to be yourself? Why are you combating your own temperament, making a mockery of your hard-earned proficiency, and behaving in a manner singularly ill-suited to what you hold dear? Arjuna’s despondency was a consequence of his own sentimentality and hence Krishna inspires him to return to himself, reminding him constantly of his true nature as a warrior. A twenty-first century Krishna would have most certainly appended a proviso to his famous utterance – “Try to excel in the work and path aligned to your nature, even if it is flawed or less glamorous. It is better than following the way of others. You will never feel guilty if you follow your inherent nature.” In that rider, he might well have illustrated the various machinations of society that detracts from the individual the opportunity to stay true to the Self. At every turn in the road of life, people—even with the noblest of intentions—await the slightest of chances to misguide the traveller, gently nudging him away from the inner path. He is expected to tread the beaten track; he is directed to follow the well-known route.

For someone who has relentlessly strayed from the banal passageways leading to predictable endpoints, I faced a profusion of advice and admonition this year from family and friends, badgering me to recognize, nay embrace, the multi-hued, dazzling avenues that would lead me to some goal or achievement or outcome of their choice, which in turn would be hailed by the people of the world as something that perhaps justifies my existence. I’m glad to place on record that all such attempts have failed miserably and I continue to be myself, treading the inward path wholly aligned to my nature. What is particularly memorable is that I did not react to the advice and admonition with anger or arrogance (I must admit that at times I was tempted to flash the middle finger but such murderous thoughts didn’t last long); instead, I quietly accepted it as a gift that is useless to me but given with warmth nevertheless. I smiled at them, not condescendingly, nor artlessly, but with the awareness that nobody is in a better position than I am to evaluate my mind, and therefore any such attempt is bound to fall short – at least in my eyes. Of course, the dark side of this whole business is that my instincts have driven me—often unconsciously—to be more careful around such people – the unsolicited advisors and admonishers; this has translated into the unfortunate measuring of utterances and the calculation of gestures – clearly a deviation from the natural flow of the self. Therefore the informal tête-à-têtes with such people are bound to decline albeit gradually and in not-so-obvious ways.

In my view, friends are those exceptional individuals with whom you can be yourself, in addition to the unmistakable emotional connection. This is both a function of the attitude of the friends—whether they continually judge you or not—and of your own preoccupation with what the world is thinking of you. The less they judge you and the less you agonize over what others’ think, the more comfortable the relationship. As a silent witness I observed some of my close friends moving far away from me and some of my casual acquaintances moving closer, becoming friends. Through this transitory phase, I tried to remain calm and accept the changing reality, which is inevitable. In such instances, I find solace in recollecting memories with old friends of mine whom I hardly get to meet but every time I do, we start from where we left off, even if that was months or years ago.

When I sat down to gather my thoughts on what the year 2017 has meant to me, more than what my ‘achievements’ were, or even what my ‘learning’ was, my mind was forcibly drawn towards where I stand as an individual; my focus was primarily on how I transformed through the course of these twelve months. ‘Achievements’ implies ego; ‘learning’ suggests an unfinished process; but ‘transformed’ connotes a newer, perhaps better, state of being that has already been effected. That said, to record some of the completed tasks and learnt lessons might be valuable for future improvements, and hence I have found it appropriate to archive them here.

My activities in 2017 were largely confined to the following domains: i. Writing, ii. Music, iii. Research, iv. Design, v. Publishing, and vi. Monkey Business (what my friends at Infy would call ‘इत्यादि-इत्यादि’).

I. I wrote some articles/essays and did a fair bit of translation/editing for Prekshaa Journal as well as for my upcoming books. Apart from having two short stories published (in Indian Review and Cha), I also spent some time writing a detailed outline of my first novel. I taught two courses at Bangalore Writers Workshop and was also a judge at the annual Deccan Herald short story competition. (Lesson learned: Working without constant expectations is both pleasurable and profitable; fretting over deadlines and unfinished projects is counterproductive.)

II. I formally dived into the amateur circuit of Carnatic classical music with an hour-long solo violin concert at Chowdiah Memorial Hall in November. Earlier in the year, I played a couple of chamber concerts. (Lesson learned: If playing in your room is tiring and playing in front of your guru is sweat-inducing, playing in front of an audience is in a different league altogether.)

III. This has mostly involved reading some of the important texts of the Hindu tradition, both primary and secondary sources. This has also meant my taking baby steps into the worlds of Sanskrit poetry, ancient Indian polity and law, history, Kannada literature, and the Epics.

IV. I designed close to fifteen books and four album covers, the highlight being the Prekshaa calendar. I also explored a bit in the area of Indic fonts and hopefully will have a breakthrough soon.

V. For all practical purposes, I didn’t write any book in 2017; I only published books (through W.I.S.E. Words Inc., the Indie publishing setup I run along with Dr. Koti Sreekrishna); eight in all: Stories Behind Verses (by Arjun Bharadwaj and Shashi Kiran B N; in collaboration with Prekshaa Pratishtana), பகவத்கீதை தற்காலத் தமிழில் (by Sripriya Srinivasan), The Song in Pictures (in association with my photographer-friends Anirudh, Anshuman, Divya, Frank, Navneeth, Prathigna, and Skanda), and five anthologies of essays by Prof. M Hiriyanna (a republication of otherwise unavailable classics).

VI. Apart from getting addicted to cryptic crosswords and card magic, I did some voice-acting on stage and voice-over work in the studio. Two short videos produced for Shaale stand testimony to what they’re worth. I signed out of Twitter and LinkedIn. I also spent a few extra hours sorting out my finances. Plus, I started cooking regularly. (Lesson learned: Without all this monkey business, my life will be meaningless.)

It is impossible to write down all the wonderful things I learnt in 2017 but it might be instructive—to my future self, if not anyone else—to document some learnings from my gurus as well as the wonderful artists I had the good fortune of meeting this year:

A. Ever since I was getting ready to perform on stage, my guru Dr. L Subramaniam has been consistently pushing me to improve my art; his focus has entirely shifted from the technical aspect of violin-playing (which was the mainstay during the early years of my lessons with him) and moved to the aesthetic and emotional aspects of music. To give life to every note, to add emotion to every phrase, and to make every performance unique has been his refrain. LS sir has often said: Even if you play for five minutes, it should be something sublime.

B. My entry into Sanskrit poetry and literature has been a direct result of the single-minded prodding, encouragement, and support given to me by Śatāvadhāni Dr. R Ganesh. His emphasis on the importance of familiarity with Sanskrit literature and classical art forms of India��particularly dance—for any student of Indian culture has influenced me deeply. Time and again I have felt that any student of Hindu heritage will benefit by embracing the holistic approach as advocated by Dr. Ganesh as opposed to the numerous other approaches, far more seductive in appeal but piecemeal all the same.

C. Dr. S L Bhyrappa made the astute observation that as a novelist and philosopher, instead of getting affected by a certain individual’s actions (often antagonistic in nature), he tends to go deeper into the psyche of that individual—regarding him/her as a character in a story—and analyzes the more fundamental reason that makes him/her behave in the said manner. In another instance, when Dr. Ganesh asked him during an interview, “What in your opinion keeps a relationship going? What truly sustains love?” he replied with a single word: Mārdava (tenderness, gentleness, compassion).

D. Every visit to Dr. S R Ramaswamy’s office room—rather karmabhūmi—in Chamarajpet is equivalent to reading a pile of books; he teaches us so much, not only by his eloquent speech but also by the force of his personality. When a friend of mine inquired about his fragile health condition, he merely said, “From my twentieth year, I realized that I’m just an āgantuka (stranger, guest, visitor) here in this world.” One seldom finds that sort of awareness—not merely in word, but in action as well. The wonderful paradox in SRR’s worldview is that although he feels like a visitor, he toils with the gusto of a landowner!

E. I have learnt so much just by observing Prof. L V Shanthakumari, an epitome of tranquillity. It baffles me how a person can transcend such pain and yet not make any bones about it. Her presence itself is calming and reassuring but not without a healthy dose of humour and wide-ranging discussion. If only our society had more elderly sages like her.

F. During a conversation I had with Mantap Prabhakar Upadhya, he spoke a great deal about the mind of an artiste during performance. He underscored the importance of art leading to self-forgetfulness; unless the artist can become one with the art, the connoisseurs will not get the ultimate experience. He then told me that when he dances, he doesn’t do it for the applause or for appreciation but as a means of washing off his ego.

G. In my interactions with Nirupama and Rajendra, I found unmatched zest for innovation and a relentless pursuit of self-betterment, not just as dancers but also as human beings. I am reminded of an old saying—One can accomplish almost anything for which one has unlimited enthusiasm—whenever I meet them. When there is absolutely no need to do anything different, when the formula works, and when things are going smoothly, and yet you choose to innovate, that is when you become a pioneer.

H. The continual learning from the extended Prekshaa family—it would be gross injustice to use a term like ‘team’ or ‘crew’—is something that I cannot fully put in writing. I have never seen a more selfless bunch of people, always putting the needs of the organization over their own, making mock of their own travails, and creating an atmosphere of riotous fun without ever subtracting from the tasks to be accomplished. To me, this is nothing less than lokasaṅgraha in action.

2017 started off with a celebration of my mother’s sixtieth birthday (in February) with a small get-together and large doses of music. On the occasion, we brought out her book Sixty Years, Sixty Episodes, a collection of interesting anecdotes from various dimensions of her life. By mid-year, our family was going through a terrible phase with the sudden deaths of members of the immediate and extended family. My grandmother, Smt. Malathi Rangaswamy passed away in July at the age of eighty-five. She was perfectly normal even the previous evening—afflicted by neither a fever nor a cold—and the next afternoon, she was gone. To live according to your terms is rare but rarer still is to die according to your terms. Those who knew her surely felt that with her passing, an era had ended. An old school orthodoxy that had its own warmth and beauty in spite of its obvious limitations. A life of rigorous economy and wise investments. A determination that always placed principles before passions; a firmness, even rigidity, that put faith above joys and comforts; motherly love that knew no discrimination; and benevolence that knew no bounds. The end of 2017 brings with it my father’s semi-retirement from his erstwhile semi-retirement. After a few successful consultancy assignments, he is setting out to write a book chronicling his twenty-year journey of social service in the area of Avoidable Blindness; quite aptly, he has chosen to call the book Eye-opener.

My travels this year were mostly limited to South India—south of the Vindhyas, to be precise,—a place that is my home and that satisfies me more than anywhere else on the planet, with the sole exception of the Himalayas.

The more I read international news and the more I talk to friends living in the US and Europe, the more I’m convinced that as on date, India is—in addition to being so vibrant and diverse—among the safest and sanest places to live in the world; doubtless, we have our own problems but when a population of over a billion is governed by less than a hundred thousand police stations and yet able to maintain peace by and large, then it has definitely something to do with our ‘civilizational maturity,’ as one of my friends put it.

Speaking at the launch of his most recent book, Dr. S R Ramaswamy recalled a wonderful remark by his guru D V Gundappa: “If we were to think that the Supreme [or Destiny or the universe; call it what you wish] bestows upon us those things that we deserve—ex officio—then we would have absolutely nothing. It is because of His immense kindness that He grants us—ex gratia—all the things that we have.” In sum, we don’t get merely what we deserve, but far more than that. And I shall leave you with that thought.

Here’s wishing you and your loved ones a great 2018!

Cheers, Hari

#memoirs #newyear

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pushingsocial1 · 7 years

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How A Ticked Off Client Forced Us To Get Real About Content Marketing Tactic Overload

Every day there is a new “must do” B2B content marketing tactic you need to add to your growing list. Here’s how to identify what works and align your strategy with your time and resources.

“Screw it. I’m done.”

I saw this coming. My client, a marketing manager at a mid-sized B2B company, was overwhelmed by the crushing load of supporting a content marketing program all by himself. I had watched his frustration build over several weeks. Lately, every time I visited he walked in the conference room, looking like he had been hit by a bat.

Frankly, it was my fault. His boss expected quick results and we were throwing every tactic against the wall to see what worked. Every new idea resulted in 2-3 hours of more work on his plate.

Today, he was ready to throw in the towel and probably our contract with it. Like an ER doctor, I slipped into triage mode to save the program (and my client). I told him to let me by him an early lunch. Three hours later, we had a game plan that aligned his resources with a pared down plan.

That experience taught our team to approach content marketing strategy with a minimalist approach, an approach that recognizes that the best plans fail when a business doesn’t have the time to execute it.

Today we’ll take you through the best practices we’ve developed to maximize time and results.

Get Real About Your Content Strategy

Pop quiz:

Can you access your complete content marketing plan in the next 30 seconds?

Have you edited your content marketing plan in the last 30 days?

Those diagnostic questions show where your time has gone.

If you can’t access your plan it means that it’s either hard to find or doesn’t exist. Either way, it means that your plan is reactionary and vague. Instead of executing your plan, you spend most of your time hunting for another tactic to carry out. If you have a team, you probably spend most of the week explaining your thinking or reacting to emergencies.

If your plan hasn’t been edited in the last 30 days then, your plan isn’t relevant or doable.

For example, our team learned that blog posts that are longer than 1200 words attract the most links from third-party websites. Based on this data, we went back and tweaked our process and deadlines to accommodate a longer writing timeline for our writers.

The famous Abraham Lincoln quote offers the common-sense wisdom of having a plan:

“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the ax” – Abraham Lincoln

Creating a specific content marketing plan saves time because it set’s the direction, tempo, and intensity of your content marketing activity.

Stellar Content Marketing Is About Focus

Like most effective marketing strategies, content marketing isn’t simple or quick. Fortunately, your content gameplan doesn’t have to be overwhelming.

Adopt this mindset – do what’s required based on objectives, resources, and time. My favorite quote from Bruce Lee is an excellent guide:

“I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times” – Bruce Lee

The guiding thought here is that stop doing everything poorly and focus on doing 2-3 three tactics masterfully. When I’m asked what Pushing Social does, I often say, we help businesses find the one content marketing tactic that will dramatically improve their position in the marketplace.

Trying to do everything is a fool’s errand that wastes time. Get real about your resources and start trimming your plan. By the way, it’s never too late to streamline your content plan. In B2B marketing, time IS money.

Here are a few guidelines to get you started:

If you are a one-person business or marketing team,

Then focus on:

Consistently creating four quality articles

Promoting these articles on 2-3 platforms suited to your audience

If you are a small B2B marketing team in a business with a sales team,

Then focus on creating sales-focused content that reliably turns visitors into sales qualified leads

If you are a medium-sized team that has a content marketing lead,

Then focus on

Creating content that generates marketing qualified leads

Craft a reliable system for vetting MQLs to get them ready for the sales team

If you are a large marketing team with a dedicated content marketing group,

Then focus on:

Strengthening the fundamentals: Even at the height of his career, Kobe Bryant still made time to shoot 400 successful shots during his practice sessions. You can always refine your work by:.

Consistently publishing of well-crafted content,

Developing sales enablement content

Testing and optimizing of content based on core KPI (Key performance indicators)

Establish Time-Saving Habits

I’m often asked to evaluate the performance of content marketing managers. I always start with attending the content professional’s meetings and reviewing their day-to-day routine. To be blunt, time leaks occur when leaders waste time making decisions due to poor preparation.

I’m not a productivity guru, but here’s what has worked for me after writing over 700 blog posts for Pushing Social and creating over 2000 pieces of content for clients:

5 Time-Saving Content Leader Habits:

#1: Editorial guidelines: Your content creator needs a clear understanding on what content will be approved. Create these guidelines and stick to them.

#2: 30-Minute Huddles: Once a week, invite everyone to a stand-up only meeting to discuss obstacles and issues. Limit the obstacles to 1 or 2 per meeting. I ask team members to send their obstacles before the meeting so the team can come prepared with advice or resources.

#3: What Then Why (Data then Opinion): Marketers are susceptible to relying on uninformed opinions dressed up as “gut instinct.” I’ve watched gut-instinct marketers go bankrupt. Instead, gather data and use it to inform your decision-making. This approach cuts down on hours-of-hours of speech-making masquerading as ideation.

#4: Key Performance Indicator (KPI) One-Pagers: I believe 80% content marketing teams can streamline their reporting to one-page. Start with your top 3 key performance indicators, annual goals attached to KPIs and how the metric is tracking against your annual goal.

#5: Ask the Meeting Question: Before you schedule a meeting ask, Do we need to have this meeting and who doesn’t need to be here? I’ve regained 5 hours a week doing this.

3 Time-Saving Content Creator Habits

Your top priority is staying out of meetings. As a creator, you need to get in the zone and stay there as long as you can.

#1: Planning before doing: Start your week with a game plan for achieving your content creation goals.

#2: Outline before creating: Use an outline to game plan your content creation sessions. In my experience, blog posts that start with an outline, always outperform posts created on a whim.

#3: Use a three-day content creation cadence:

Day 1: Creation Day: Focus on outlining and drafting your content unit (i.e. blog post, podcast, video, etc.). Restrain from editing it will just slow you down and waste time.

Day 2: Editing Day: Turn good into great by paying attention to the details and editing the snot out of your content.

Day 3: Publishing & Promotion Day: Promotion is your content’s oxygen. Spend a day executing your promotional checklist.

You can download our Publishing Checklist in the Content Toolbox. Register or login here to get free access.

Keep It Simple

Take a breath.

Give yourself permission to let a few balls drop and use the tips we discussed to architect a sane and successful content marketing strategy. A simple and focused plan will work. However, if you don’t know where to start, let us take a look.

Image Credits: KLSADAKO

via Pushing Social http://ift.tt/2rrBFpA

#IFTTT #Pushing Social

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janewimbledon · 7 years

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Collaboration Process: Working with a director

‘The Good Soul of Szechwan’, Bertolt Brecht, with director Evangeline Wang

At the first meeting, we discussed our initial ideas about the play. The main things we took away from this meeting were the links of the play to Taoism, and one of the main themes of the play that good exists with bad, every good has a bad side, and the theme of balance. We both agreed that we pictured it to be abstract and on a large scale, which is one of the reasons why we choose the Olivier theatre. Evangeline had first wanted to have it in the Dorfman, but we reconsidered and thought it could better suit Brecht’s idea of the audience as a clear outside objective observer, which would be easier in the Olivier, rather than trying to be closer and more immersive for the audience as the Dorfman might do.

Initial research into Brecht

Brecht was interested in the other possible perspectives on a particular play rather than merely presenting one thing to the audience. His method was to try to make the audience feel estranged from the play so they are as an outside observer and can think rationally about it, rather than emotionally connecting and empathising with the characters. In terms of stage design, his views, which he held together with his collaborator and set designer Caspar Neher, should show the fact that it’s in a theatre, often showing structures like scaffolding holding up the set, rather than disguising and trying to present accurately a particular scene or landscape.

With ‘the Good Person of Szechwan’ he attempted to provoke the audience to change society, rather than presenting general good and evil as black and white. He creates contradictions in the characters and shows sides of all of them that we might not agree with in order to help the audience be more objective about them rather than completely empathising with them. For example, at first we are drawn to Wang, we sympathise with him but then alienated from him when we realise he is cheating. Another commonly used device in the play, as well as his other works, to distance us from it is interludes.

Marxist influence on the play

Brecht was greatly influenced by Marxism, which can be seen in ‘the Good Person of Szechwan’ in themes like living conditions, social classes, business and capitalism and how this affects morality. The play deals with social conditions and how the people in those situations react to it and towards each other. Rich and poor are juxtaposed throughout the play. Marxism is against the institutionalization of religion, which in the play can be seen in elements like the gods who are in fact powerless and a little comedic and leave her in a bad situation. The characters are caught between a material world and aspirations for kindness and goodness.

Taoism

One of the main points of Taoism, and especially one that relates to the play, is about good and bad existing together, the balance between two opposites, that good and bad cannot exist without each other. There are many opposites in the play, good and bad, materialism and morality, rich and poor, but the boundaries are blurred between them. This duality is symbolised by yin and yang in Taoism, the unity of two energies. In Taoism, materials are also given properties, or classed as yin and yang energies, for example wood is yang and metal is yin, which is why in our design we used a combination of wood and metal.

In the Chapter Two of the Tao Te Ching, it says:

Since the world points up beauty as such,

There is ugliness too.

If goodness is taken as goodness,

Wickedness enters as well.

For is and is-not come together;

Hard and easy are complementary;

Long and short are relative;

High and low are comparative;

Pitch and sound make harmony;

Before and after are a sequence.

It tells us that nothing exists alone and makes us question what makes something beautiful or ugly. It is only because there are opposites, complimentary elements, contradictions, comparisons and balance between two elements. We could easily see the contradiction in Shen Te. Her goodness and badness are interwoven together. You may say that she is a good person when she is Shen Te, and when she becomes to Shui Ta she becomes evil because she is selling heroin and exploiting the poor for her business. In fact, as Shen Te she falls in love with Yang Sun and ignores the poor that she had helped before just because she wants to help her lover, while she sells heroin because she wants to save her and her child's life because no one would help her at that moment.

Sketches, visual research and model making

We exchanged many emails throughout our process and there was particularly one image that really inspired me when Evangeline talked about how she hadn’t known where heroin comes from, which is an important part of the play, and looked into the opium poppy. The image of the opium poppy I thought was great as it embodies the main ideas we had about the play which is the idea of good and bad existing together. It is a beautiful flower, but at the same time, it also produces opium, which can be used for helpful effects, but also from which heroin is made, which is harmful to the human body and can destroy lives.

So I started researching images of the opium poppy and artists such a Georgia O'Keeffe who have worked with flowers.

At our second meeting we further discussed the idea of balance and duality, the play questioning what is good and what is evil, that it’s sometimes not black and white, like the idea of yin and yang in Taoism. We thought about different materials, perhaps an coarse material such as corrugated iron to make the poppies out of to create contrast.

After doing some sketches, I kept coming back to the image of a large opium poppy taking up the whole stage on which the action takes place, which gradually developed into this abstract sculptural landscape. We decided to make the props out of metal to add to the contrast of natural flower and hard metal. The tobacco shop would have more wooden and metal furniture near the beginning but becoming only metallic and cold near the end when it becomes more office and business like as the heroin business grows.

I really liked the image of the skeleton poppy and the set changing from a beautiful colourful poppy to the skeleton with lights and projection, showing good and ugly, or life and death existing within the same plant. And to show the veins of the poppy with the idea of heroin spreading through human veins done by video mapping, showing the veins bleeding out from the centre of the poppy.

I showed these sketches to Evangeline on our third meeting, which she really liked. And continued from there, first doing some initial models in paper with wire, then I started work on the final piece once Evangeline had seen the mock up. I made the petals out of wire mesh, as this was easy to mould and could take the time to get the right shape, rather than some other materials such as thermoplastic which I looked into, which has only a few minutes window to shape the material before it sets. This required covering in mod rock, then plaster and sanding down so it was a longer process than the thermoplastic would have been, but the shape was right. I then covered this with Gesso and painted it with acrylic. I originally painted it red, although I had discussed with Evangeline that it might have too many connotations for the red poppy day in November. But she wanted the colour to be red and somehow we forgot about this. But after feedback from colleagues, we realised this was something we wanted to stay away from and I painted it purple which suited it much better, and gave it a darker, slightly hazy mood to help set the right tone for the play (emphasising the blurred lines between opposites as well as tying in with the opium aspect of the play).

One of the main things that I was quite surprised by initially during the collaboration process was that it seemed like Evangeline didn’t have any ideas about the play and expected me to lead the process. This was new for me as when I’ve previously worked with directors they usually had some idea of concepts they might like to explore with a play, or a direction to take it in. But this was also good practice to see how differently a process can work. Also, when I started to ask more questions from Evangeline I realised that she did have some ideas and went away from the first meeting with a few ideas that we both had about the play that we could go on and work with, such as the good and bad existing together, the influence of Taoism, which she told me more about, and we knew we both wanted the set to be abstract. As the process continued we started to go in a direction that progressed from both out ideas, resulting in a final piece that really was a collaboration using ideas and input from both of us that serves our idea of the play and the ideas we wanted to convey. We worked out the storyboard together, but mainly only once I had finished the model as so much of it depended on the shape and design of the poppy. We talked about initial plans beforehand and a rough outline, then once I’d made the model, I suggested places on the poppy where the different scenes could take place and then we went through the play together several times to finalise the storyboard.

The final result is a large abstract opium poppy, an abstract landscape that embodies our main ideas of the play on which the action can take place. In this way it hopefully does not encroach too much on the action, as some initial ideas were that the petals open to change the scene, but our tutors advised against this as it we be too much a part of the play and quite cumbersome. Also the rotation of the poppy is quite a big movement which is why we decided to keep this to a minimum and have as few changes as possible from the front side of the poppy to the back.

Costumes

The costumes we designed were for the characters of Shen Te, Shui Ta, the three gods, Wang, Yang Sun and Mrs. Shin. The gods in the Good Soul are more like human beings, they are selfish and have desire. It is also apparent that they are serving some higher gods, or have bosses over them, as they are set a task to find a good person and talk about things they may or may not do. For this reason we decided to put them in office suits, like clerks working in the company. Evangeline said that she would like Shen Te to change clothes on stage in scene four when becoming Shui Ta, so it had to be something easy to change, like the tunic style dress she is in. For Wang the water seller, he sells the water whatever the weather because he is earning his living, so he would wear a big hat which could help him to avoid the rain and the sunshine. Besides, he always meets the Gods in a dreamlike state, so we didn’t want him to wear anything too formal, something like a robe to suggest this connection to dreaming and sleeping. We also have him with water cups on his clothes so it is convenient for him to serve for his costumers. Yang Sun wants to be a pilot but never makes it, we wanted to show this somehow, his connection to his dream that failed, by using a long coat that resembles a pilot’s coat. He changes and deteriorates throughout the play which is shown by his costumes getting more worn down and losing the coat. Lastly, for Mrs. Shin, she is an older lady who is poor so her clothes are poor, causal and in more plain colours.

The costumes are present day, not from a particular time period, but slightly abstract, without normal details like buttons, pockets and fastening in an unusual way, but not obviously abstract or strange looking. Many of the characters are in loose fitting cuts with some pattern, made from thin cotton fabric as we didn't want to use something too expensive. Shen Te and Shui Ta are recognisable from a distance that they have similar costumes, yet different at the same time, Shui Ta being more business-like.

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byronwright-blog · 7 years

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MADE IN DAGENHAM BLOG 3

1. Very very briefly say what work was completed in the session. Including the warm up and any meetings. Outline the tasks. This should only be a few sentences, no more! Discuss how you used any source material e.g. script, image, mask, issue or piece of music.

During a warm up before begging we focused on focusing and working on the diaphragm, working on holding a note for longer. We then continued to work Act 2 and polishing scenes in Act 1, including my scene as Sid. Working on the pace of the scene and working on reacting to each other in the scene and on the character’s accents. We also had our fundraiser in the heart space and on the Saturday, we also went bag packing at Tesco in chesterfield we raised around £300 in total which has gone towards the show (costumes, props etc…).

2. Discuss what progress you made. How you felt. How the work was developed or how it moved forward. What new work or new ideas were created or developed? How are you interpreting your roles and the scene? Skills and acting technique used.

I continued to work on both my characters Sid and Chubby Chuff, giving them more character. Having two separate voices (accent) and acting in different ways, also working on projection especially when I want my character to get the attention of others. Working on how friendly chubby chuff is to the audience and showing he’s done this before, to show this instead of going straight into the jokes I improvisation as greeting to the audience “Hello Dagenham, are we having a good week eh?” which then help Segway into the jokes better instead of just weirdly going into the jokes straight away.

Also, been working on my vocals too, wanting to hold a note for longer so I’ve been practicing on my diaphragm breathing in and hold a note for as long as I can, plus I also have been focusing on how high I can go when singing.

3. What was the effect of what you did?

For vocals, it was to help me further my voice range and can hold notes for longer which will help with the ending of stand up as it is a very loud and long ending note

I want it to help develop the character more for the audience so they know what kind of person I am portraying him as.

4. Evaluate how effective the work completed was and say why it worked well / less well.

It works well that we went over scenes again so nothing that took time to work on gets lost, also helps with coming up with new ideas of how we can further have developed that scene to make it more memorable for the audience.

Work less as we could be putting more time into scenes we haven’t done yet as all the scenes a least needs a surface to then work from, and then we can go back to other scenes and polish them

5. Discuss strengths and weaknesses. (These should be targeted in your rehearsal schedule each week.)

Strengths- I further developed on my Chubby Chuff character more, making him act more like a professional club comedian who isn’t afraid of a few hecklers from the crowd. Also, making him more open to the audience. As a group, we have got a lot done in singing, we have run through all the songs a few times but now we need to go through them all the keep them perfect

Weaknesses- We do need to go through a few songs from Act 1 as it has been a while since we last visited them and work on harmonies, I myself need to make sure I know what I’m singing in each song. I also still need to work on the Cockney accent for Sid, it’s getting better in terms of sounding Dagenham but there are a few words I’m saying wrong which is bringing me out of the accent also I need to keep my voice lower than the character Bill’s as the two work as a comedic duo , so having different sounding voices keeps diversity between thr two characters

6. Discuss the levels of professionalism from yourself and the group. How suitable is the work at this stage for a public audience?

We did get distracted from time to time but overall we have got a lot done, we’ve gone through all of the scenes they just now need some personal run throughs, before another full run through of the play. We are starting to work as a team more making sure we have everything ready before a scene so we’re not having to run around getting props and set.

7. What do you personally need to improve on? Think about attitude and skill. Listen and respond to your feedback your director is grading you! Use correct terminology for movement, vocal, characterisation and stage techniques

Need to work on Chubby Chuff greeting so it doesn’t drag for long, keeping the audience’s attention throughout that scene, also trying not to go for high notes all the time and stick to lower notes when singing as I could damage my vocals.

Also, working on Chubby Chuff’s reactions to when he is heckled by Rita and when Beryl snatches the microphone away from me. Acting as if Rita heckling me is one of many who have already had a problem with my jokes and just want to cause a fight and when Beryl does take the mic acting annoyed but calm, every couple of seconds trying to grab the microphone back from her.

8. Discuss how your character has developed. Talk about vocals, your physicality and general characterisation. THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT!

Working on both character’s confidence when speaking to people as they aren’t afraid to make a joke or two towards people also working on my projection so I can be heard when speaking as the characters like the attention and causing a commotion. I’ve work on Chubby chuff’s physicality, he’s stood up but in a relaxed position with his hand firmly on the mic and a fag/bottle in his other hand to show how comfortable he is and is able to take small drags/drinks midway through a joke to add comedic timing.

9. What performance techniques have you used during the rehearsal process? What was the result of this?

Improvisation which help with bring out Chubby Chuff’s character more, making more realistic to a club comedian back in the 1960’s and help with his reactions to Rita and Beryl heckling him. Working on comedic timing to help drag out the jokes longer so the audience has time to understand them

Worked on the pace of how I speak as Sid so I can be understood by the audience and so they don’t miss anything I say which helps with the character’s jokes about the seven dwarfs. Projection to be heard by everyone in the scene and people watching. Accent so I sound more like a character from Dagenham and Working on a Yorkshire accent for Chubby Chuff so he sounds like a regular never sober character and club comedian.

10. Briefly discuss what needs to happen next lesson or what you need to remember to do, bring or complete for next session. Always do this in the form of an action plan. Please don’t write gain.

Need to work on some of the songs back in Act 1 as it has been a while since running through them

working on people reacting to what’s happening in scenes rather than sitting a obviously waiting for a moment for the to react to happen

Finish running through all scenes and begin to polish them

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cameron-ashurst22 · 5 years

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Mystery Box Weekly Summaries

Week 18

Day 1- introduction to mystery box brief

Today I had the introduction to the mystery box brief. In this introduction I had the choice of CG or stop motion when creating the animation for the brief. I want to specialise in CG as a career path so I picked CG for the project . This introduction outlined what will happen in the next few weeks of the course, I found that the character enters from offscreen then looks into the box and reacts to its contents.The sequence is to be 10 to 15 seconds longhand has a duration of 4 weeks.

Day 2 - character acting class

Today I had a workshop on developing reference for the mystery box projects. Initially we did a series of exercises to warm up and fully engage with key poses and telling the story without facial expressions. I found this workshop quite challenging as I find it hard to let loose in a public environment as I am reserved in nature. However I tried my best and am pleased with the contributions I was able to make during the workshop. I ended up coming up with the idea that for my mystery box project the character was to be a thief who would sneak into shot and then be caught stealing.We Took video reference of performances and I chose Sam’s interpretation as the on I want to adapt further as you can clearly see the line of action in his body through the key frames.

Day 3 - character acting class

Today I had a workshop on reviewing what I had filed in the previous session. The aim was to look at the poses and shapes the body made with reference to pin, ball and wall as well as pyramid body shapes. I found this workshop interesting as it helps convey emotion through the shape of the body. We reviewed clips of Charlie chaplains work and picked out specific body shapes he was making to convey the emotion in the scene.

Day 4- storyboard masterclass

Today we learned the fundamentals of what makes a great storyboard. I found out that storyboarding was developed by Disney and the role of the storyboarded was to visualise the script and that character performance is absolute key in the storyboard.

There are two types of storyboard a presentation board which is more refined and polished. The other is a shooting board which is widely used on Tv series and animated features, these tend to be rough and expressive to once again enhance character performance.Storyboarding is also used in live action as a tool to plan out complex action and effect sequences.

I also learned about visual storytelling and how a shot is a series of images in a sequence from the same camera angle. A sequence is a series of scenes telling the story from beginning to conclusion . An act is the structural element formed by a group of sequences with a longer story.

Every shot must serve a purpose and cutting is used to shift the audiences focus to important aspects of the story.

We then redacted the storyboard we had to complete using new camera angles and techniques. I found this extremely interesting as I want to enhance how I tell a story in an animation and learning the fundamentals to this is key for me to push forward in the process.

Week 19

Day 1- Mystery box animatic workshop

Today I had a workshop on how to create an animatic using the storyboard I had previously done around the mystery box project. I found that this was extremely beneficial as it helped digitise my drawings using tv paint. As over the study week I had done this on photoshop I was happy with getting to use the software again while receiving feedback. I found that my panels told a story but needed development on screen through in-betweens. Helen suggested I take some of the newer panels out of the animatic due to them conflicting with the premise of the story itself. By using the different camera angles it helped me gage the timing needed for the character to move and react to the mystery box itself. To improve on the animatic itself I will begin to use a background layer for any constant objects like the box that are not moving. In addition I will work on multiples layers the more advanced the storyboarding process goes.

Day 2 - Mystery box

Today I had the introduction to using a rig and creating walk cycles in maya. This proved extremely beneficial in helping me to decide the movement for the mystery box project. We started with an exercise on creating dynamic poses using the rig I found this difficult at first due to the mechanics of the rig. However I quickly got to grips with the software and started to really enjoy posing the rig considering the characters line of action and silhouette. The next exercise was to complete a simple walk cycle using only the legs and torso of the rig. I enjoyed this aspect of Maya as it was quite simple to do. However I did struggle with key framing as I would forget to key frame after I moved the character meaning I had to start again posing. To continue my development in the software I will continue to do a series of poses using the same rig and further develop my mystery box iteration.

Week 20

Day 1- Mystery box

Today I started my mystery box animation. I was able to complete the walk cycle through the legs but further refinement is needed as the back foot begins to slip underneath the floor. As I wanted to create `a sneaky walk cycle I watched the reference footage from the acting workshop to help create the posing of the cg character.However the opening movement for the character was too fast and gave a more determined walk. I decided to space out the key frames and the action became more fluid and resembled the reference material. I like the way the first pass places emphasis on the twist of the body and the use of the arms of the character. To improve the animation I will fix the emphasis on the feet as well as complete the rest of the animation on the arms. I am looking forward to completing the first pass of the project as I feel with refinement I can get the right character performance.

Day 2 - Mystery box

Today I completed the first iteration for my animatic for the mystery box brief. I used the advice from he previous sessions with Helen to create the animatic. I focused heavily on the posing of the character especially in the sneaking walk cycle. However there is some inconsistencies with the spacing of the walk cycle and the hair of the character as it changes between frames. In addition I decided to simplify my character down from the storyboards I had digitally created as I felt this would be easier to animate. After watching how Pixar storyboarded there film I decided to use a similar colour palette of greys and whites as well as some of the camera angles . Furthermore I found that the animatic was at its strongest when the line of action and facial expression matched up to give a believable performance.Overall I am happy with the first pass of the animatic and will try to rectify the mistakes I have made with the consistency of the character.

Day 3- Mystery box

Today I continued with my mystery box project but also looked at the posing of the character rig sitting down at a desk. This was to understand the line of action and how to offset certain parts of the animation. I then used this technique to develop my walk cycle further by offsetting the way the feet touch the ground.This helped place emphasis on the sneak and added weight to the walk. In addition I lengthened out the end of the walk as it was too fast and blocked out the next part of the animation where the character reacts to the box itself. Furthermore, I amended problems in the feet of the walk as they where disappearing through the floor and was advised to not fully lock out an arm or leg. This would detract from the overall smoothness of the animation . For the next session I will continue to focus on the arms of the character as well as add sway through the hips.This will help give a realistic walk as the character is shown to be shifting weight.

Week 21

Day 1-Mystery Box

Today I continued with the mystery box brief but took a different approach to the walk cycle. As I was unhappy with the outcome of the previous iteration I decided to start the walk cycle again. Found that the difficulty of having splined and stepped key frames was too challenging to create the correct spacing and timing for the walk cycle itself. By having splined and stepped keyframes the animation was jittery and didn’t offer the flow a stepped keyframes animation would give. In addition I found that limbs would twist and be in positions I didn’t place them in meaning It would take longer to fix them than just starting the walk cycle again.

For the new walk cycle I used reference from the animation survival guide with the tip toe sneak as I felt this best suited the character I wanted to portray. I found it easier after the practice of the previous animation to place the character in key poses. Instead of doing the separate parts of the character moving I focused on every aspect of the character. For instance instead of just animating the legs I focused on the legs and waistline together. This is because the waistline would dictate the position of the legs. With the walk cycle itself I found that the top part of the body would arch forward which intern would push the shoulder up closer towards the ears.This meant that little animation is needed on the arms due to them being held in place by the character as he is sneaking.

When creating the walk cycle I decided to use the heel roll and to roll functions. This complicated the animation as I was using the toes as reference when interacting with the floor. This led to the character feeling weightless and lacking consistency when he walk. There was no weight to his steps and he appeared to float across the screen. To fix this I began to remove the heel and toe roll as well as the rotation of the foot. By doing this I made sure the foot was firmly planted onto the floor this added weight to the step. To develop this I can now add the heel roll which will then emphasise how the foot hits the floor and how softly the character is walking.

In addition I realised that on the upwards pose on the step the characters body would have to lean back to emphasise the greater step. This would push the knee higher and up towards the mid stomach. By changing this from the previous iteration it gave a more realistic walk cycle. This is because the body now moves with the waist and drives the legs forward pulling himself along to emphasise the sneak.

To conclude, the animation needs improvements through the heel roll and the spacing and timing between actions has to be offset. I will continue to take reference video to ensure that this is presented accurately. In addition I will begin to change the position of the arm to emphasis where the wight has shifted on the body and ultimately move the head to complete the walk cycle up to the box. I am looking forward to completing the walk cycle as I feel like I have grasped the main aspects of Maya in this process. Furthermore I am looking forward to creating a believable interaction with the box itself as I feel like this will compliment the walk cycle itself.

Day 3- Mystery box

Today I fixed the foot placement and the timing on my mystery box placement. With the placement of the feet I made sure that they were firmly planted on the floor before emphasising the heel roll. This was the best way to ensure that the foot would plant against the floor and not sink into it, therefore adding weight to the characters walk. After watching the reference videos again and trying to walk myself in the same way I realised that when someone sneaks they are on there tiptoes and then place the rest of the foot down when they take a step. To complete this in Maya I used the heel roll on impact and then proceeded to straighten the foot up. This helped emphasise the walk.

The next step for todays session was to adjust the timing to emphasise the step up and act of the body. To do this I spread the key frames out on the graph editor and began tweaking each of the poses so the emphasis was placed on the line of action of the character. I am pleased with the result of this as it adds to the weight of the walk. However there were difficulties with he legs as they began to pop and create a disjointed walk cycle. To amend this I tried to adjust the position of the waist but this would cause the leg to bend in the complete opposite way. I realised that there was something wrong with the knee controls and began to straighten that out to ensure that the leg remained in the right position. This then allowed me to bend each leg and create a realistic walk cycle.

To improve further on this walk cycle I feel like I should improve the movement of the arms as they remained fixed in a position for the entirety of the walk. In addition there are certain parts of the cycle where the movement is nominally quickly and this detracts from the overall smoothness of the cycle itself. To fix this I will have to look at the key frames in the graph editor again to ensure the timings are correct in both the legs and the waist.

Day 4- Mystery box

Today I removed a large amount of key frames from my walk cycle to fix the balance of my character as he walked. The previous walk made the character become off balance on the passing pose.To fix this I moved the waist back therefore arching the the back and making the character balanced. To further the animation and walk cycle I will have to fix the in-betweens of the character and the positioning of the feet as they begin to become sucked into the leg when the cycle is placed on spline.

I also looked at how to light and render my animation to give a polished feel to the animation. The position of the lighting intrigued me and also helps to develop the visual narrative being portrayed. I decided to place one light infant of the box so the shadow passes on the face of the character and two behind him. This gave the character a roundness and showed that he was three dimensional.

Overall I am happy with the progression I am making with Maya as due to me starting over again multiple times I become quicker in key framing. Also by starting again I begin to see the benefits of repetition and the ease of which I can now produce walk cycles more rapidly.

Week 22

Day 1 - Mystery box

Today I ironed out the major flaws in the splined animation of my walk cycle up to the box as I had been previously working in stepped. I fixed the foot placement when the foot leaves the ground and lifts with the leg. This was due to the foot morphing into the leg and giving an unrealistic ankle joint . This then made the character jolt forward which detracted from the overall walk cycle. In addition I worked on the timing and spacing of each step making sure the character hung up in the air for a long period of time before suddenly swooping down to the next step. This allowed more emphasis to be placed on the sneak itself giving the character a shift in weight.

Furthermore, I decided to block out the reaction of the character to the box as he is caught for stealing. I found this difficult at the Strat as I was trying to understand how the character would spring back and act surprised. This would allow him to hold his hands up ready for the police to catch. At first I started by just having the character spring up but it gave a robotic feel which didn’t allow the character to fully perform. To emphasise the shock I shifted the weight of his body backward and tried to make him step back in shock. This then would allow for me to place head and body swivels to show that he Is looking around due to being caught. However there is improvements to be made as the spring back is not timed correctly and needs extending due to the body quickly flashing in movement. Also the body swivel don’t encompass the full range of motion as I have to make the feet move with the body instead of just sliding across the screen.

Finally, I played around with the facial expressions of the character this completed the whole performance on the walk cycle and the action. I chose to add a cunning facial expression as his head rotated to show that he is scanning the room ahead. I also emphasised the shocked look on his face as an alarm goes off fully extending his jaw down leaving it gaping.

Overall I am happy with the progression of the mystery box project and look forward to getting feedback off John in the next week.

Day 3 - Mystery box

Today I worked on my mystery box animation again trying to flesh out the back end of the animation for this I wanted the character to jump up in the air and act shocked as he is caught. This would entail him raising his arms above his head and looking around anxiously. To achieve the jump I watched a series of tutorials on how to create an effective jump in Maya. This then allowed me to understand the key framing and how the body squashes and stretches on impact.

However, after the first pass of the jump I realised that by just watching the tutorials I had mimicked the same emotion as the video and this is not what I wanted to portray. To fix this I kept the placement of the feet in each of the frames but altered the angle and position of the body. As the character has a shocked jump his arms will raise up going to an extreme above his head. They then will go down for impact and rest at a state where they are still raised. In addition I altered the curvature of the spine as it will bend more towards the ground on impact than it would as he jumps. The spine will bend backwards in this instance to emphasise the shocked expression of the character.

Next I worked on the the steps backward the character takes as he moves around anxiously after the jump. I tried to place emphasis on the facial expressions and how quickly the head turns to show panic. However I feel that this needs a large amount of work due to the character appearing to dance I stead of moving around with urgency.

Week 23

Day 1 - Mystery box

Today I began to finalise the ending of the mystery box project. I am happy with how this project is turning out as I feel I have correctly created a sneaking walk with the right sense of balance and timing as well as a jump that shows a shocked reaction . The ending of the mystery box cycle is that the character will hold his hands up and drop to the floor much like a suspect would when getting caught by the police. I tried to emphasise the timing and emotion of this by having the character place his hands to his head in disbelief at first before resuming to place them behind his head. I feel this works well as it complements the piece showing that he was incapable of achieving his goal of stealing what was inside the mystery box. To improve this I want to achieve a crying emotion like his hands and head are shaking as he is distraught at being caught. For this I could add more key frames moving the shoulder up and down swell as the body back and forth this could give the emotion I want.

Next I decided to fix the key frames around the waist of the walk as there was too many and the character didn’t have a flow to the sneak. With advice from John I decided to distinguish a clear up , down a passing with the waist. This then allowed me to elaborate and add more key frames to smooth out the animation. With the adjusted waist this added more weight to the overall walk of the character this then played emphasis on the sneak.

Furthermore , I also started to look at the lighting for the full scene. I moved the previous lights backwards as their intensity was to strong when rendered. I found that having this three light setup gave the best angles to show the characters movement and emotion. To further improve this I am going to research how to add a moving light into the animation itself. This spotlight will follow the character to the box and be placed directly on him when he is caught this creates the illusion that someone is chasing him.

Day 3 - Mystery box

Today I fixed the lighting on my mystery box project. I wanted to ensure that the lighting would cover the entire screen highlighting the shadows and shapes of the character so I used four lights. These four lights acted as a base to light the character from all angles. I kept the intensity of these lights low as I wanted to give the impression that the character is trying to steal something from the mystery box. I also introduced a spotlight that would be mobile. This movement established a sense of urgency in the characters walk as he is clearly not trying to be caught or seen. I like the way the light pans around the scene before fixing on the box when the character is caught. This helps present the sense of shock and anguish on the characters face.

Furthermore, I also fixed the initial issues on the first few steps of the sneak cycle. I found that by removing key frames gave a more fluid sense of music instead of having fixed positions for the up and downward poses in the animation. I found the most issue in the second step as the waist had failed to move as the step progressed . To fix this I moved the waist upwards on the passing pose as this would add continuity to the up pose. I then fixed the positioning of the legs and removed the keyframes I no longer needed. This left me with 3 main key frames which I could clearly distinguish each pose. In addition on the first two steps especially the legs of the character began to pop when the animation was changed to spline. To combat this I moved the waist of the character down on the keyframes where this happened. This helps to contribute to a realistic and smooth sneak cycle.

Finally, I rendered out my mystery box animation in Maya to see what the character would look like when lit. This gave me a great sense of what could be improved with the animation as a whole as I could see an almost finished article. This was a long process to render but I found that the outcome was rewarding and I am looking forward to completing more CG animation in the future.

#mysterybox #weeklysummaries #weeklysummary #ba1b

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