The New Face of Polaroid

Being a long and loyal lover of traditional Polaroids, I have mixed feelings about this new advancement.

Polaroid Digital Printer Camera Doohickey

I suppose it's better than nothing, but it still isn't the same as watching that magic rectangle develop in front of your eyes. I also believe that not having the ability to pick and edit Polaroids is half of their beauty.

Brace yourselves, I'm about to rant about digital photography for a moment. Digital photography in my opinion, has greatly facilitated vanity in human beings. Think about all of the little teeny boppers on Myspace and Facebook who take hundreds of pictures of themselves looking sexy. You know they delete 8 out of 10 pictures they take because they didn't look perfect. With a Polaroid you can't do that. A picture is an investment, both monetarily and artistically. You grow to appreciate the candid nature of these shots in a way you never can with a digital image.

But now with the LCD screen and editing options you are no longer stuck with the unflattering pictures. With the click of a button they can be simply erased. There will be no more strange Polaroid finds on the side of the road. What will Found Magazine have to print? FOUND Polaroids

No one will print the awkward shots. There's something about that that doesn't sit well with me. I like the idea of not being able to erase a moment- no matter how unflattering or awkward it may have been.

A Polaroid is a piece of physical evidence of a moment, which is what makes it so awesome in the first place.

Like I said, it's better than nothing, but it's still not the same. That film won't be compatible with my SX70. :(

R.I.P. little guy.

NEW! flash player!

So I'm continuing to teach myself bits of action scripting. I still don't really have a firm grasp on what I'm doing, but I'm learning a bit here and there. I'd really like to be able to take a class on it sometime. I'm sure it would be mighty helpful. Anyway, here's what I made:

FLASH AWESOMENESS!!!!

The bunnies are so damn cute I couldn't help but squeal when I was animating them.

Let me know if you have any problems with it or have suggestions to make it more user friendly!

Total Bummer

So I finally heard back from Soup2Nuts:

"We have received and reviewed your test and unfortunately your skills do not coincide with our current job openings."

This was disappointing to say the least. I wonder what was so bad about my test that I didn't pass. I've always been told by people that I'm very strong in Flash, so why can't I get a Flash based job?

In ToeJam and Earl there's a present called TOTAL BUMMER. When you open it, it kills you immediately. Unfortunately I'm afraid I just opened one.

Rainbow Rabbits and the Employment Drought of 2008

I illegally downloaded Toonboom (don't tell anybody!) a few weeks ago. I finally decided to give it a go. I thought it was ok, certainly a nice drawing interface, but I suppose I'm so acclimated to the Adobe setup that it took me a while to get used to it.

Then I decided I wanted to play around with some stupid effects in AE, since I had never really explored the possibilities of cheesy particle generators and such. Here is the result- strange I know.

I finally called Curious Pictures today, only to find out that they don't want me to start until MID JANUARY! OH NO!!! I was originally told I was to begin in mid December. Now I have a month of nothing to do and my parents continually breathing down my neck to get a crappy job at Target (this is not an exaggeration). At least when I'm interning my parents leave me alone because they feel like I'm doing something productive. I was so excited about starting there so soon. I can't believe I have to wait another month and a half. What the heck.

PLEASE DO NOT LET THIS HAPPEN TO ME:

So I've begun the never fun task of sending out rounds of emails searching desperately for paying work before I debase myself and ask for an application at another department store.

I saw another RISD friend the other week (also unemployed and living with the 'rents). It seems most everyone from my graduating class is in my shoes. Who knew 2008 would be such a bleak time for artistic opportunity?

I need a Christmas Miracle.

In some good news, a nice man whom is a friend of a friend's family found my page and referred it to a founding father of Curious. Apparently it was then sent on to the talent/development people. HOPEFULLY something good will come of this. Looks like I've got more emails to write!

Some day in the not too distant future I plan on getting back to my trampoline film. More of that to come.

But.... I am now a volunteer at a cat shelter! Kitties!!!

Acting Robots

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7749932.stm

This is insane. I wonder how long it will be until they have animator robots. Then I really won't be able to find a paying job!

In my career news, my internship with Tiny Inventions is already over. I'll post the little clips I animated as soon as production is finished and I get a copy of it. I animated squirrels and bunnies! Too cute for words.

I supposedly begin an internship at Curious Pictures in mid December. I'm supposed to call them about it in early December. I'm just worried that they may change their minds or forget about me. I'm probably being ridiculous, but well, I haven't had much luck lately getting any sort of job at all.

I sent my work to another guy at Little Airplane at the suggestion of my Tiny Inventions employer. I still haven't heard back from them. Both times I've emailed people at that studio I haven't gotten so much as a peep back. Either they have absolutely no interest in me, or they are not hiring production assistants or animators. I wish I knew which one it was.

I'm still broke, still unemployed, and still trying to find someone to give me my first break. I really hope it comes from Curious. I just have to wow them.

I'm working on a silly little animation at the moment. I was teaching myself ToonBoom and have been fiddling around in AE to learn more about effects. It's totally cheesey and pretty stupid, but it's fun none the less. I'll post it later this week when it's done.

action scripting magic

This was my first foray into the mysterious land of action scripting. I was just trying to figure out how the coding worked for simple buttons. It took me forever to figure out, but here's the result. I think it's quite funny.

http://www.vanessaappleby.com/buttontest2.html

the ball is rolling...?

I didn't get hired at the jewelry store or Dick Blick. Bummer. I could've really used the money.

Despite my continuing lack of steady income, I have had some successes since I last wrote. I went to my first ASIFA open screening which can be read about here: http://asifaeast.wordpress.com/2008/10/27/asifas-open-screening/
I showed my senior film and it actually went over quite well. People laughed when they were supposed to! Hooray!

Being in New York was quite exciting. I really needed to leave the Valley for a while. I got to see some old friends from school, the Upright Citizens Brigade, and the Metropolitain Museum of Art (an old favorite). All very wonderful indeed. I can't believe how hilarious (and cheap!) the UCB was! I've got to go back there again.

As soon as I got off the bus back home, I threw my butt into my car and speeded over to Kutztown U for a lecture given by Tom Waburton-http://warburtonlabs.blogspot.com/

I was anticipating a small affair, but there were far more people than I expected. I wanted to show him some of my animation since he works at one of my dream studios, Curious Pictures. I wanted to get some feedback on how I might go about getting a job there (even if it's just removing coffee stains from desks or something). Unfortunately, despite the extended Q&A there were a lot of people who also decided they wanted to speak with him afterwards. I waited until the very end so that I could really talk with him and wouldn't interupt anyone's autograph signing. However, I got to ask him a few questions (although I wonder how succinct I was), and then the woman in charge of shutting down the auditorium kicked us out! Poo. Poo, Poo, Poo. He did tell me that if I drop by Curious I should ask for him at the desk. That sounds like a plan to me!

He, like Dave Levy, spoke of when he was first starting out, and he pounded the pavement checking out studios door to door. I mentioned that I was really nervous about doing that, but it's what ultimately landed him a job. He said some places would slam the door in my face, and some places would gladly find someone to check out my work even if they didn't have openings. I should really plan on doing this despite how invasive and terrifying it may seem to me. If it means paying work, I'm all there.

I start my internship on the 6th, and I'm very excited about that. I figured I'd make some pilgrimages to other studios around that time.

I completed my Soup2Nuts animation test, but haven't heard back from them either. I'm wondering if
A: did they get it in the mail?
B. did I do horribly?
C. do they just not have any openings and they're being lazy about telling me I did a swell job?

It makes me nervous. I was really hoping this would lead to some paying work.

Speaking of paying, it looks like my friend's parents may pay me to make a website for their business. Sounds good to me! I updated my website as well- http://www.vanessaappleby.com/