Fan community

The term fan can go pretty far, from being someone who really likes a program or fad, to buying every known purchasable object, and glorifying it in your shrine aka your room. I'd say I'm less of a fanatic, and more of a casual fan of things, one of them being the recent show steven universe. I've done  a few fan pieces for the show, and I think its really a prime example of where television and cartoons is heading for kids in America. The show has everything from action to comedy, to even accepting others as they are no matter what gender they are nor what gender they like. It's truly an innovative show in all regards.
The shows backgrounds are beautiful, and has big artists such as Sam Bosma, and Kevin Dart working on them. The animation is very well executed, and is even flashed out sometimes in storyboards, just to make sure the creator and storyboard artists vision comes across. It's an example of what art and shows should be like and moving towards. It's not made to make money, but to tell a story that has positive messages, and beautiful art. I'm am a fan of the show, and highly recommend it.

Youtube Inspiration and motivation

So my inspirations on youtube goes pretty far back, I've worked on Bravest Warriors which was incredibly fun and amazing, I've done work for Machinima, which was also unique and gave me great experience with filming and story telling. But the show that started my peak and interest into everything started between ego raptors early work, and the show Red vs Blue.

Red vs blue is one of the earliest concept of machinima, and became incredibly popular over the years after its initial release. It used in game character models from halo, and voices that replaced the original audio over them. It used witty dialogue and banter to tell a strange yet interesting story about two factions, red and blue, to fight one another. It was through this show i began Machinima myself, and wound up working for the company doing similar shorts. After a while my film work felt limited, and i couldn't capture everything I imagined. So I saw cartoons were becoming popular on youtube, and I began to take up drawing in the pursuit to learn animation.

Ego raptor was one of the many animators on youtube that caught my eye, his strange sense of humor was very modern, and overall just natural and goofy. I always laughed because of the circumstances he'd place his characters in such as the short poke-awesome, a pokemon parody. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHG-JO8gIGk&oref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DrHG-JO8gIGk&has_verified=1

After I lean red the fundamentals of drawing at Ringling, I took it upon myself to make my senior thesis an animated 2D short, and was very happy I was able to accomplish what i sought to do for so long. I plan on continuing animation after school, and pushing my skills and knowledge even further.

Writing Assessment

1. There are symbols in the story, but the most prevelent one is the narrator/ mad scientist who wrote the story for his partner. The character is a symbol of the unknown/ becoming known. It represents the basis of the story, and drives us ,the unknowingly partner, along to see why the fiance is a crazy scientist.
2. I made a strange connection with the mad scientist, not that there were any other characters to connect with. I connected with the will to put hard work into a subject, and then sharing it with the world. In the story the shared connection is a secret evil lab of some sort, for me  it's an animation I've worked on for the past year. In some way we can typically connect with characters, even if they are the exact opposite of how we behave.
3. If I had to adapt this story into another medium I'd probably choose graphic novel. The biggest change I'd make would be adding illustrations of course, but I'd want the story to move and be told in a similar pace. As the story progresses, It would be interesting to show and see what the mad scientist is referring to in his personal stories.

Anime importance and understanding

In todays culture I personally think its incredibly important to have an understanding, of anime, and to watch closely with how they set up their storytelling. All through High school i didn't think very highly of anime, until one day I sat down opened Netflix and binged almost everything. The first anime I watched out of sheer luck was Gurren Lagann. Which was Easily one of the most inspiring pieces of animation I have seen to date. It tackles everything I could ever think of in a story narrative, in only 24 episodes. It typically takes at least 50 episodes of a typical show to accomplish half of what Gurren Lagann did. It centers around a young boy named Simon who literally digs his way out from under the dirt, and into the stars using sheer will and courage, as well as moral support from his friends. As cheesy as it may sound it sells the message by using giant mechas as the enemy, and regular people outwitting, and being united. It really inspired me personally to hopefully tell a tale like it some day.

However enough of Gurren Lagann, I also grew up watching dragon ball, and loving the training sequences, that always led up to the martial arts tournament, it's now that I realize that most of the anime I love, is about showing that hard work, a positive attitude, and determination all pay off if you never stop, and I think these morals are very spot on to how people should try to live their life. Im not saying you should run around being the next Goku, but to find something you love and stick with it. Thats a very powerful thing to show in a kids show.

Some shows today that clearly show the curve of western animation, with a anime blend are shows like Steven Universe, and Bee and Puppycat. Steven Universe introduces same sex relationships in a very beautiful subtle way, that doesn't leave you with any question in your mind, It shows that it should be as natural as the hair on your head, a very powerful message. Example: of how natural and subtle the show is, but delivers a very strong message that can be sensitive today. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0q-RSGsTI-0

Overall I think many shows should start moving in the direction of anime, not only for the story messages, but also for the short episode count. With shorter amounts of set up episodes the more powerful your story will most likely be by the end. There isn't much of a need for fillers today. I thnk it would be wise to follow the example of some of the stronger works of anime. However i can't say all animas is great, there are plenty of, just like american shows, bad ones too.

The contemporary hipster

The contemporary hipster is actually very interesting compared to previous forms of what is defined as a hipster. Today hipster became more  of an actual trend where, pretending to be alienated made people unite more and be more social. Thus completely dissolving the purpose of being hipster. For a while veganism became very trendy, and people jumped on board to seem like they were helping the world, when a few months later dropped the fad and moved onto something else. being hipster is just another trend in time, that will be replaced. In 21 Jump Street it is shown what happens when someone who grew up with jocks meets the new generation of the high school hipster cool kid. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSa368X1Z2w
this is a prime example of how trends have changed, and being a hipster has progressively become the more popular choice.

With appreciation today, I find that people are actually beginning to have higher standards for media. Many U.S. animation companies are making around one to two films a year, each of which are typically unoriginal content, or a sequel in the works. Many of these films now are getting less and less viewers, because the audience is demanding new and original content. I could go onto what it takes to make something original, and how it still exists, but thats another topic on its own. My point is that people are beginning to wake up and want something better with media, something that is fresh and helps benefit what they do with their lives, and how they can relate to the works. Dream works just laid off 500 employees because they haven't made the profit they needed with their last 3 films. They are now taking action, and are attempting to make more higher quality content. Whether this will happen or not is for time to tell.

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/business/breaking-dreamworks-animation-will-shut-down-pdidreamworks-studio-over-500-jobs-will-be-eliminated-108161.html


Hipster society today comes with its ups and downs just like many trends. A lot of media is jumping on the sort of hipster train, some that are original and good for the value thats behind them. Like the incredible show Adventure Time, where a boy and his dog learn many values. Like understanding that just because someone does something bad, doesn't always make them a bad guy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQ6mRmtr-K8
The show has very much a modern humor, one that was obscure at first, but has slowly taken the liking among many people.

But some shows that are just plain strange, and just don't have a the same  great quality of humor behind them. Overall, just like anything else in the world of trends, some things are great fresh and new, others not so much. But thats the ups and downs with many things in both life and society.

Jemisin and world building

Jemisin has a very interesting take on world building with The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, it isn't necessarily character driven world building, but environment, and historical world building. The setup uses an idea that has already been developed, and as time passes we learn more about the world itself. At the start of the story a cosmic force already exists in this world, discussing old gods and how they each had specific role in creating the world. The story is fairly typical having a characters parents die, and the reader and hero knowing little about them, thus making them want to dive deeper into why they were murdered. However I don't necessarily root for the hero, or have any motivation to see them overcome an obstacle, because we and the protagonist knew so little about the parents, that we can't relate or feel any emotion to them passing. 

The world itself is a similar feel to greek mythology for us. Gods can take on human form, and cause my chief with mortals. The only difference is that some mortals have control over some of the gods, and others do not. Which makes the tier of power in the world very questionable and a little confusing.  

Overall its a very interestingly built world, but it has so many similarities with other works of fiction, that are very identifiable, I personally feel this subtracts from the book.  It attempts to be unpredictable with the events that occur, but the events that are labeled as unpredictable are very predictable because of the world and events that are presented to us. 

Oz Map Area

Deep in the deserts of oz, each one unite to a cave that blows the winds of every direction. It is impossible to trek, due to the confusing shifting ends, and deadly desert joining on another. The only thing to be able to make it to the cave is one without a soul. If one has no soul the deadly sands won't affect them. The cave has a small oasis in the middle, and houses only one. This person controls the wind in all of oz, and can not leave the ave, for if he or she did, the winds would run rampant in Oz. It is said each time the person attempts to leave a large storm sweeps the land, and leaves behind foreign people from other planes. The only way the person can leave is if he convinces another to take his place in the cave of winds.