Teresa!!! :O)

Ice Age Dawn of the Dinosaurs Sneak Preview!

2009-06-18T13:25:00.001-07:00

Oh my goodness, Oh MY GOODNESS... I'm so sO SO EXCITED for this! YaY!

http://www.iceagemovie.com/sneak/

Here's the website that has the list of theaters that are showing the sneak, so you can find one in your area. :)

Animation Mentor Student Testimonial

2009-05-28T21:39:00.000-07:00

lol, here's the new Animation Mentor Student Testimonial video.
I'm on it toward the end (2:30) for about 2 seconds (the part about how would you describe AM in one word). I was a bit excited and used more than one word. I love Animation Mentor. Best school experience I've ever had! :)
It's so cool to see my friends on there!

The Magical Music of Walt Disney

2009-05-19T13:19:00.001-07:00

Last Friday I saw an excellent Symphony pop concert for my birthday titled "The Magical Music of Walt Disney." It was truly amazing! I can't even imagine how wonderful it must be hearing a full orchestra perform the pieces for the first time in a recording session.
They performed everything from an opening Disney Medley to “Tarzan,” “The Little Mermaid,” “Mary Poppins,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Rescuers Down Under,” “Aladdin,” “Mulan” and “The Lion King.” For an encore they played "Pirates of the Caribbean."
Along with the music they had rare Disney stills as well as fully animated scenes projected on a screen. Anyways, this concert really inspired me and reaffirmed why I went into animation to begin with. I'm so excited to be telling lasting stories for a living! Animating is the best job in the world! :)

These are just some videos I found off youtube.. not the same symphony or even the same songs.. but still good :)

This is the same song they played for the encore, but different group.

Acting and Believability in your Characters

2009-05-19T12:33:00.000-07:00

The other night Tom Hanks was on Charlie Rose. It was a fascinating interview, however, I found one part of it particularly valuable.
(it's something I want to be sure and remember to make my animation stronger)
He talked about why some of his most successful performances were successful (almost every role Tom Hanks plays is believable and convincing).

Anyways, his trick is to find out how his character is alone in the world and think about that as much as he can.
"In the past, Hanks has described himself as, deep down, a loner. ‘Everybody has something that chews them up and, for me, that thing was always loneliness."
Loneliness is something everybody can relate to. We all realize we are alone in the world and desperately try to form relationships to appear otherwise.
This is something everyone in the audience can relate to, because everyone knows what it feels like to be alone.
Tom Hanks thinks about this and incorporates it into his character's body language throughout the film.
Anyways.. I just thought it was interesting and a good thing to think about when animating characters and making them come to life.

Here's the full episode if you're interested.
(it's mostly on the upcoming Angels&Demons)

Fiddling Around...

2009-05-13T00:08:00.000-07:00

Alright, so I hope to be posting my latest animation shortly.
I'm working on the current 11 Second Club entry. This will be my first time entering the competition after year or so of watching from the sidelines. I reckon there will be a lot of entries this month as the audio clip is particularly sincere and exciting to animate too!

In the meantime....
I've been playing the fiddle/violin for an awfully long time. Anyways, I normally try to find weird ways to hold it and attempt to trick fiddle. It just spikes my interest and challenges me to try to get it to sound good.. sometimes I'm successful..sometimes not so much.
Last summer, however, I was inspired by the Beverley Hills Hillbillies at Disneyland to try and play the fiddle in a completely different way!
Lately I've been practicing holding the bow between my knees and playing like that.
It's still pretty rough.. but I'll get there :)

The first song is "In the Mood" and the second is a little bit of "Orange Blossom Special" (haha I have a long ways to go with that one for sure)

Anyways... I'll keep working on it.. but I thought I would share :)

My Website is UP! :)

2009-05-06T23:09:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,
Just thought I'd let you know that I created my first website today! yay!
I will still be blogging.. I just wanted a site to keep my demo reel, resume, and everything together on. :)
Anyways, you can find it at...
http://teresanord.synthasite.com/home.php

By the way I'm horrible with HTML and everything website related... huge thanks to the person who told me about yola.com! Free web hosting and step by step instructions!

Oh, and by the way... Animation Mentor has a new video up featuring my mom and pop! They interviewed them after my graduation and I was super excited to finally hear what they said while I wasn't around! I love them and feel so lucky to have such supportive parents! Thank you mucho!

The video is located here if you're interested!
http://www.animationmentor.com/promotions/2009/ParentTestimonial/

Art with Teresa (the art of giving back)

2009-04-29T23:27:00.000-07:00

Upon my return home from New York I have started volunteering weekly in my mom's 1st grade class. I love it! I go in every Friday and teach art for one hour and it is SO much fun, the kids are so cute!
Anyways, this weekly lesson has somehow gotten the official name "ARt with Teresa."
The other week the kids wrote a poem about our lessons and surprised me with it...

I can't even say what an amazing surprise it was.. it feels so great to be giving these kids an experience they might not have had otherwise. I myself always sketch in pen.. there is something about overcoming the fear of messing up and not having an eraser.. so I have passed this along to the kids. In my lessons they are allowed to use whatever drawing tool they want... as long as it's not a pencil (hence the markers part of the poem).
I was so excited that the next part of the poem was "we think." I honestly could not believe one of the kids had put that in there... that is exactly what I have been hoping to teach them. My goal is to teach them how artists think and how drawing doesn't need to be intimidating if you know how to think and observe. I'm teaching them to break things down into shapes. Drawing is like anything else, in that the more you practice, the better you are. For some reason or another, however, we are told somewhere early on that some people can draw and some can't... so those who can't and need to practice don't even try, because they are worried about how it will turn out. Everybody has 5,000 (or whatever it is) bad drawings inside of them and the faster you get them out the better! I want to teach these kids not to be afraid to make mistakes... not to be afraid of a blank page. I scribble in the corner of a page if I think I'm afraid to mess up, so that way it's already messed up and I won't worry about it. If a drawing turns out poorly and not how I planned, oh well, it was one of the 5,000 bad ones and the next one will be better.

Anyways, the first week I went I decided to stick with just teaching them how to draw Ice Age characters to get them excited. We drew Scrat and Sid and they turned out soo soo cute... I wish I would've taken my digital camera.. but I wasn't thinking. I taught them that even famous movie characters are made out of basic shapes and I challenged them to design their own character. They were all given the assignment of designing the Easter bunny being as it was Easter weekend. Some rabbits had round heads while others were more realistic.. some had clothes, while others had fur, jewelry, and uni brows. It was entirely up to them and they turned out brilliant! (lol, I never liked the coloring dittos in school where we colored in a bunny holding a basket and eggs.. it's so much cooler to design your own).

(oh, I do have a couple of Sid and Scrat pic's because of this darling little girl who went out and bought a sketch book after I showed them mine and she practices in it constantly. She was so excited to show me it the next week and I was able to snag a few pic's of some of the pages)

Week 2- I sort of jumped into the deep end for week 2. The lesson was extremely challenging and I could definitely tell it was a stretch for the kids. I started off making them draw hands.. one of the most feared subjects of many artists.. and not just draw hands... I had them draw their hands as a blind contour drawing. They were not allowed to look at their paper or worry about how it came out.. Blind contour drawing is one of the best ways to force yourself to really really concentrate and observe what you're drawing instead of drawing what you think you see. It was a struggle for a number of the kids. Some were just not okay with drawing a drawing of their hand and not having it look like a hand. Many peaked and just drew 5 or 8 little generic fingers and didn't want to try again. Somehow by the early age of 6 or 7 the notion that some people can't draw has already been implanted in them. I was impressed to see some of the kids truly going completely blind and drawing detailed scribbles of their hands over and over again.. one on top of the other. I was so excited that I held them up and showed them what a cool design it made when it covered the whole paper and how some artists do this just to create an interesting background. Showing this example seemed to help some of the kids who were struggling. The reward for this tough lesson was another movie character, Manny, the woolly mammoth.. granted not the easiest character to draw in the world, but yet again they turned out adorable. (I brought my camera this week, but the batteries were dead and I unfortunately don't have any pictures)

Week 3- Was super successful. I started off yet again by telling them that artists look for shapes when they draw. I also touched on how we see in 3 dimensions.. but paper is flat.. so artist need to find a way to draw shapes that have dimension. We drew a couple cubes and cylinders for practice. I then asked them how many people thought drawing people was hard (almost all the hands shot up, not surprisingly)... I then asked how many people in the room could draw stick figures...
I told them that lots of the time artists just start out with a stick figure, because it's fast, easy, and you can get all the information you need before the person moves. I then continued to show them how it was easy to draw people if we broke it down into simple shapes (I had my little wooden art model with me). The results were amazing! I was so proud of all of them! (pic at the top)
Oh, and lastly.. we ended the lesson with movie characters (again) that were made up of extremely simple shapes.. and this time I had my camera ;)

Anyways.. I really can't wait to continue teaching them all these things I think everyone should be taught at a young age. I don't remember being taught how to draw people when I was in elementary school.. All the art projects were always geared toward having a pretty result to take home to mom and dad (cut and paste, make it pretty, color inside the lines)All of the stuff that makes drawing seem intimidating later on, because you're so worried about the final product. You just have to turn part of your brain off in a way and not worry about how it turns out. That is how you truly learn.. by making mistakes and loads and loads of bad drawings!

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince Final Trailer

2009-04-17T00:27:00.000-07:00

I'm so ExCitEd for this movie!!! Honestly! I really can't wait!
I was so upset when they pushed back the release date from last November to July...
Oy.. it really looks amazing!
I just re-read book 6 last week.. and it was just as good as the first time.
I have grown up with the Harry Potter books and love them so much! I received the first one on my 11th birthday from my mom, because the boy in the book was 11, lol. Didn't even know they were going to become popular!

There's a slew of movies coming out soon that are on my list of must sees for the Spring:
The Soloist
Up
Ice Age 3 :)
and HP6!!!!

How awesome is that? I can't remember a time I've been so excited about so many movies coming out so close together!

BTW- I have no clue why my blog is so skinny that the youtube clip hangs off the side.. frustrating, but oh well :)

The Waiting Game

2009-04-15T19:49:00.000-07:00

Alright, so one thing I've always been horrible at is waiting patiently for a package to arrive in the mail.. but what I've discovered I'm even worse at is... getting overly excited when applying to animation jobs/internships!!!

I'm pretty sure I'm driving my parents crazy! Every couple minutes I get this sparkle in my eye and blurt out "wouldn't it be cool... if this works out. Do you know how awesome that would be? I can't imagine! ... Somebody has to get it... but I know the odds are huge.. I shouldn't get my hopes up, but wouldn't that be cool" :)
and then I stare off into space with a glazed look as I daydream.

I've been getting as much sleep as a little kid the night before Christmas, seriously .. but every single night!!! I just can't stop daydreaming about how awesome it will be if any of these job opportunities work out... but I know that I won't hear anything back for weeks and weeks.. if at all...

lol, how do I clam down and not get so ahead of myself? lol :) help!

Help WEA

2009-04-14T16:17:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I normally try to keep my posts to animation or happenings in my life... but if anybody gets a chance to help.. I would really appreciate it.

The goal is to send as many fliers as possible to Washington State Legislators, because the education system is facing huge huge budget cuts this year.. and many teachers are at risk of losing their jobs.
Almost everybody in my family is a teacher except for me.. and they all teach in Washington.. so this is super important to me. :)
Anyways, it would mean the world to me if you took a second to visit the site and send a flyer even if you're not in Washington State. Thank you so much!

http://ourvoicewea.org/

*hugs*
teresa :)

Back Home

2009-04-07T13:05:00.000-07:00

I just realized I never posted a picture of my puppet or the last Lost Boyz episode! Here it is even though it's late :)

Warning: language as always...

I had a WONDERFUL last 2 months!
It was TOTALLY AWESOME.... :)
I learned so so so so so so so so so so so so so so SO much!
The team at Blue Sky is super amazing and talented.
I can't even begin to tell ya how thankful I am for the experience.
lol, it was by far the most challenging and overwhelming thing I've ever done, but definitely the most rewarding.
I made so many friends and just had a wonderful time!
I really really can't wait to see the movie on the big screen!

Anyways, I spent one week in New York with my mom and dad before I came home.I absolutely love Broadway shows and we saw two amazing productions!
The first one we went to was a Broadway Play that won 4 Tony Awards and named August: Osage County.

It was incredibly well acted and so intense. I've honestly never ever seen such an intense play as this.... Oh, and the set was amazing! I found a picture of it online via good ole google images :)

We also visited the Natural History Museum where I was able to pay my last respects to Manny and Ellie....

I thought it was pretty interesting that most of the dinosaurs were dug up in Montana.. I didn't know that...

Oh, and we also sat in a box seat at Carnegie Hall which was super fun! It was such a great place to sketch... here are a few scribbles I did...

The second Broadway show we saw was the musical Billy Elliot, which had the most amazing dancing in it!!! (more pics found on google)

Oh, and on our last day we rented a car and drove up to Connecticut to see Mark Twain's house. It was super interesting! I guess back when he built it the average annual income of a working man was $300 and he spent $40,000 on this house!!!
(yet again more google pics)

This is the room where he wrote most of the books he's famous for like Huckleberry Finn.

Anyways, everything feels like such a whirlwind since graduation in January... I still can't believe all that has happened.
For now though I'm back home where I plan to continue animating and continue applying for summer internships and the sort :)

Almost time to go home

2009-03-15T12:59:00.000-07:00

Wow! It's crazy to think about everything that has happened so far in 2009.
Very very crazy.
Time is flying so fast. I can't believe I only have 2 more weeks at Blue Sky! I'll be home before I even know it and wonder if this all really just happened?
I have had such an amazing experience, it really is incredible. I'm so thankful that I was able to have the opportunity to come out here for two months. All of the people at Blue Sky are extremely talented and fun, they have helped me learn more than I could have ever imagined. I'm really going to miss everyone.
(although at the same time I'm totally excited to see my family and everyone back home, yay!)

Going into the city has been so much fun... but when I was there last night.. all the bright lights and advertising made me SO excited to go back home to this....

As for what comes next.. or what the future will bring I don't know... I'm going to go home, keep animating, and keep applying... I'm just super happy to be doing what I love!

Oh, I do know that no matter where I am come this July.. I will be visiting a movie theater for two highly anticipated films.... I cannot wait to see Ice Age III and Harry Potter! :)

Treehouse Stuidos!

2009-03-03T20:23:00.000-08:00

Just thought I'd post the latest episode.. I think it's my favorite so far!
(if you look carefully you might even be able to spot me :)

The Ottoman

2009-02-06T20:46:00.001-08:00

Oh, I wanted to post about this too...
I've been lucky enough to be let in on a short film project that my good pals Mike Stamm and Dimos Vrysellas have been working on (on the side) for awhile now.
It's not quite ready for animation yet, but the rigs look fantastic and fun to work with. I'm super excited about the concept art and just really excited to help contribute when the time comes.

The site is up though and finally public, so I can share it with all of you!
Take a look if you want to see more or just let us know what you think! :)
http://www.the-ottoman.com/blog/

Lost Boyz video about Blue Sky Temps :)

2009-02-06T20:05:00.000-08:00

hehe.. so I thought I would post the new Treehouse video, because my family wanted to see it! (btw hi family and welcome to my little blog that probably not that many people read..anyways, I miss all of you :)

So here's their most recent post... and I'm also going to include their disclaimer ;)

"This industry survives on temps….and a lot of them. So here’s an insight on what it’s like to train them during “crunch”. Although this video makes them seem like a bother, the truth is that we couldn’t finish any films without them. So special thanks to all you temps out there!!"

Oh, and here is the link to their blog if you want to follow or look at the other videos..
http://treehousestudios.wordpress.com/

Blue Sky!

2009-01-29T18:31:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I wasn't able to update my blog right away, because I was too busy packing and moving!!!! :)

I'm in NY working at Blue Sky Studios for a couple months as a temporary animator on Ice Age 3!
It's incredibly fun and exciting. I know I'm going to learn a ton!!!
My first day at the studio was Monday and everybody is so helpful and friendly, I love it. It was really great to finally meet everybody!

If you haven't checked out the Treehouse Studios Lost Boyz videos... take a look :)

http://treehousestudios.wordpress.com/2009/01/24/episode-6-pete-makes-it-on-tv/

These guys work a few rows away from me and are hilarious!
I'll embed their last episode here, because it has a real tv interview at the studio.. :)
here's the real tv interview:

lol.. now here's the Treehouse episode..

So funny! I love work! :)

Animation Mentor Graduation 2009 and more!

2009-01-20T01:01:00.000-08:00

Wow... so I know it has been awhile... so this is going to be a big post!

It's entirely too late to be typing this but I can't sleep, lol... I'm too excited for sleep ;)

This last weekend was amazing (to say the least)!!! I honestly don't know where to begin... so I apologize if I jump around :)

How about starting out with my first ever animation demo reel...

Teresa Nord Character Animation Reel 2009 from Teresa Nord on Vimeo.
Since my last post I have been super duper busy finishing up my short film in class 6 and putting this reel together.

I honestly cannot believe how much I've learned in such a short amount of time. It truly has been an amazing 18 months and I wouldn't change it for the world. Thanks so much to all of my friends, family, mentors, and of course all of the staff at Animation Mentor.

So.. I flew down to San Francisco Friday morning with my parents and we just got back tonight. Friday was a long haul since we got up at 3:30am to catch the plane in time to make it to the Animation Mentor Job Fair by 1pm. The Job Fair was so amazing though! I had such a great time not only talking to recruiters but also seeing all of my friends again and just ... I don't even have words for it.. it was awesome! I'm so convinced animators are the most fun people to hang out with ever! :)

btw- I didn't take a whole lot of pictures myself.. but I love a bunch of the photos Alexiss Memmott took and I dare say she wouldn't mind me posting them :)

Ok, so moving along..... Saturday... Saturday was a HUGE day :)
I graduated from Animation Mentor at Fort Mason, oh and btw the weather was beautiful.... (70 degrees in San Francisco in January and crystal clear? honestly? who could ask for anything more? ;)

TO BE CONTINUED IN SAME POST
(I don't think I can possibly write this entire post tonight.. I'm finally tired...so I'll try to get back to this tomorrow and finish it the rest of the way)

Short Film Update- blocking plus

2008-11-09T04:17:00.001-08:00

BLOCKINGPLUSshortFILMmusic
Originally uploaded by teresan18

As you can tell...I still have a lot of things that need fixing and a long ways to go... but I thought I might as well update this. :)
I'm really having a blast animating my short!...but I'm very tired at the moment and need to go to bed...so here it is....

(oh, and what do you think of the music? I'm in search of some kind of soundtrack???)

Universal Short Film?

2008-10-29T17:35:00.001-07:00

Digital Camera 001
Originally uploaded by teresan18

Lol...
My mom teaches 1st grade and one of her students created this today in writers workshop. The translation is...
"I had to share my barbies with my sister Reina, she wanted to play."
What cracks me up is she has herself as the girl on the left..in the exact same position as the girl in my film.....on her knees and her sister comes in on the right standing up... and waving the barbie around.
heheh anyways, I just thought it was cute! :)

Acting and Physics

2008-10-29T13:49:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to link to some things that we've been talking about in class. Mostly for future reference so I can always find them! :)
This site is a great resource for animation physics...
http://www.animationphysics.com/

and here are some great Michael Caine videos on acting...

Acting is sooo important in animation!
I really am convinced I need to watch The Odd Couple now... what a great example of power centers and really great acting!

lol, while I'm on a youtube posting spree... I might as well throw this one in as well! :) I just re-watched Beauty and the Beast the other night after talking about James Baxter and spacing... what an incredible movie.. I love this one so much... and to slow-mo through parts of it...so amazing!

Oh, and I found this too... animated by my mentor Sean Sexton!

Anyways, enjoy!

Pet of Horror Sketch

2008-10-26T22:02:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick little sketch I did for fun.
The theme of this week was Pet of Horror.
I decided to go for a pun on a horror movie...

Secrets of Body Language Summary

2008-10-20T11:59:00.000-07:00

The History Channel had a special on the Secrets of Body Language and I found the show super interesting. It could almost be a school lecture in itself!(if you missed it they are replaying it quite a bit I think) Anyways, I just thought I'd take some notes here on what I think the most interesting parts were (well notes as in, going back through it, pausing, and trying to type out what they say in the most interesting parts of the show).

The explanation of the show states "Experts report that 93 percent of all communication is through gesture, facial expression and body movement, not words."

Body language says it all if you look beyond the words.
"When you can read body language...every moment you spend with others you can make it valuable and if you're in business profitable." I would say it's crucial for animators to read body language so we can put our observations from real life into our animation and make the characters really come to life!

They described a video clip, of Vladimir Putin and President Bush,as a striding contest between two powerful world leaders. The faster you stride..the more powerful and fit you are. (I tried to look on youtube for the exact clip, but can't find it)
It's not just the speed of walking that sends out messages. Vladimir has an animal power, a strong man power. He walks by having his shoulders bounce back and forth and he makes gestures and is very active (described as a sexy walk). Bush on the other hand has a traditional American power. There is very little movement above the shoulders, he's trying to look controlled, there is no extra wasted energy.

The next clip shows 3 world leaders trying to go through a door. There is great meaning behind who goes through the door first. In the west it doesn't really matter, it's polite maybe... but in the Middle East it has significant cultural impact. The host, power person, says I'm in control I'll help you through the door and show you the way. The last man through the door is the winner.

Even when friends and allies meet subtle cues reveal who's top dog. (George Bush and Tony Blair are the example here). Tony Blair should be in charge and the boss, but he accepts the seniority in place here is Bush. So the president is in charge of the choreography and goes through the door last, even putting his hand on Tony Blair's back to help him through. He then gives him three little taps on the back. A tap on the back is one way to demonstrate power, getting the upper hand is another.

(picture from www.gwu.edu)
When world leaders get together they know there is one sure way to show power and that's in the hand shake. They always want to be on the left of the picture so that they can be on the top of the hand shake. The visual impact of important hand shakes was first appreciated in 1970 when Elvis Presley famously visited Nixon at the white house. Nixon has the upper hand. They then had a clip of Putin greeting other world leaders, where he was positioned to be on the left of all the photos. When George Bush comes in he realizes he's on the wrong side and immediately crowds Putin, so Putin's left arm is in no position to grab hold of Bush's right arm. As soon as Bush turns out he immediately goes to tap Putin's back, to actually give him a push, but not to be out done Putin puts his right arm out and gives Bush a tap as well.

(left to right, Winston Churchill, FDR, Joseph Stalin)
Even seated the bodies of world leaders can speak volumes. February 1945, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Joseph Stalin, and Winston Churchill famously met at the Yalta Conference. The allies had worked together for 3 years, but with the end of the war insight that was all about to change. We see three men wanting to dominate. Visually Roosevelt was in the center and the center figure always appears to be the most important. Even when Roosevelt is talking to Stalin he turns the opposite way and Stalin leans in and follows FDR, Roosevelt is the real leader of the two. Churchill's body language is conveying Britain's diminishing status. He doesn't look like a fully engaged participant, he has both of his elbows out. You can see how each of these men, each a master in their own country, interact with each other on the world stage.

A politician's body language can easily give him away, especially when he's under pressure. November 13, 1973 Watergate is at its height and Nixon holds a live televised question and answer session. His body language says it all.... (I couldn't find a very good clip online..the show had a much better one where you could see his hands behind his back and how he really was leaning on the podium). He has his hands behind the back that gives the indication that he has nothing to hide, open front. However, he is holding his wrist and rubbing his arm, which is called the self-touch gesture. His words are combative but his body language betrays anxiety. He's holding himself away from the podium like he's going to be attacked, he's trying to defend himself from searching questions. After he says "I'm not a crook" he immediately goes into retreat. When somebody makes a definitive statement and immediately retreats we know they didn't tell the truth, they're escaping that lie. Then he crosses his arms right away to protect himself. He displays tellingly defensive body language throughout the speech.

Reading body language you look at what is normal for that situation and what is normal for that particular person. That way you have a "norm." If someone's body language departs from the norm it can often be a sign that all is not well.

My favorite part of the show was when they talked about President Bush's body language! I don't know why but it really reminded me of talking to Carlos and how they animated Skinner in Ratatouille. Carlos said that they animated Skinner with the attitude of a 5 year old I think (or something along those lines).. and he would pout. Anyways.... it's not the same because Bush doesn't act like a little kid when he gets angry.. it just reminded me of that conversation for some reason.

One world leader has a unique way of using body language to slide through any situation no matter how embarrassing, George W. Bush. The thing with Bush.. no matter if he says something wrong or makes a mistake, he gets like a kid. He becomes this little six year old kid, like "oh, I made a mistake." It's this playful likable trait that if you saw your 5 yr old kid you'd want to pinch his little cheeks..but it's the president.

This is a classic example of George Bush getting lost in what he's saying. He pauses a long time and knows the next word is "shame on you," but he also knows he's completely lost the next sentence. Then he comes up and misquotes the next part. There is a long pause where he is evaluating whether he's made a complete fool of himself, but then carries on regardless.

Image is everything!

Politicians realized body language was powerful in 1960 where John F Kennedy and Richard Nixon debated in the first televised debate. Nixon looks far less assured in front of the cameras than Kennedy. Nixon had only just come out of the hospital from an injured knee and he refused makeup for the camera. He also sweat under the lights, he compared unfavorably with the tan and fit looking Kennedy. In the polls after that debate, Nixon to the radio audience that only heard him, won by a landslide..but the poll of the audience that saw the debate, Kennedy won by a landslide.
Many politicians employ coaches to shape their image.
These clips about body language in politics on youtube (these aren't from the show, but I just ran across them on youtube trying to find clips and thought I'd include them)

Coaching give aways, are when the gestures don't feel natural, when the beat is off slightly... when I'm thinking and then I'm showing. When you coach a politician you have to create an illusion that they're loved by many... so to do this you pretend there are people out there that you know personally, people you are thrilled to see. They point to the audience and say "hey thanks for coming." Then when you watch it on tv you think "wow, she knows so many people."

Every good speaker expresses from the heart. Bill Clinton expresses from the heart, he gestures on the beat. In telling whether somebody is authentic you want to see if they're gesturing just a second before they say it.
You feel it, you show it, and then you say it.
The real mark of a body language master though is how they deal with a difficult situation. They show a clip of Bill Clinton where he gets a question he's not happy with and he does this little thing with his mouth where you can tell he's unhappy..but then he quickly gains his composure and answers it.

Ok, well I need a break... so I'll post this for now..and maybe later I'll finish going through the show, lol. :)

Thoughts... and hunting the dream!

2008-10-13T18:35:00.000-07:00

I was reading the Tips and Tricks article, in this months AM newsletter by Shawn Kelly, and it really hit home for me. I could completely relate to everything Shawn had to say. His article really solidified my dream to animate and I am actively hunting that dream down, now, more than ever! :)

It's easy to get discouraged with graduation looming.. (which is indeed a most happy event!)... but with it comes the worry about looking for a job. Questions arise, like am I good enough? Will anybody see my potential? Will my dream really come true? Who am I kidding anyways? What in the world am I going to fall back on if I don't get a job in animation? It's all I've ever wanted to do since I was 7! (that's right..7) I have no back up plan and to be honest, that's a bit frightening.

Anyways, if you let yourself get caught up in all this worry it can be downright miserable... I have been trying my hardest to push all of this self-doubt aside and remain positive. After talking with my friends, watching The Pixar Story, and reading Shawn's article I feel like I did when I was 7. I feel like anything is possible and I can't give up... no way.... not after I've come this far. This is my dream and I'm going to give it all that I've got! The older I get and the more research I do... there is all this talk of how much competition there is out there..and how unrealistic it is to dream of getting into Pixar or a big studio.. but you know what? I'm a big believer of if you want something bad enough and work as hard as you can to get there, then why not give it a shot? Somebody has to work there. My high school teacher always repeated the quote "luck is when preparation meets opportunity." Well... when that opportunity comes knocking, I'm going to be ready! I love how Shawn said that you shouldn't be afraid of the competition, and that if you want it more than anyone else and work harder than anyone else.... it's them who should be afraid of you. I've got to start telling myself that so I don't get freaked out and fall back into that self-doubt.

When Shawn talked about wanting to animate on Star Wars even though they hadn't announced plans to make any more of them... that part was completely relatable to me. When I was 7 and saw Toy Story in theaters... I knew that's what I wanted to do more than anything else in the world! I wanted to animate Toy Story... so from that day forward I made Pixar my goal. Now they have plans to make Toy Story 3!!! oy... anyways....moving along...

I'm not exactly sure how to put all of my thoughts into words... but I kind of want to talk about why animation is my dream and how long it has been a dream of mine. I say that it was when I was 7 and watched Toy Story in theaters for the first time, but I think the seeds of it started even earlier than that. lol, who knows maybe it dates all the way back to my Mickey and Minnie Mouse birthday cake for my 1st birthday!

or the Mickey and Minnie Mouse birthday cake my dad made for my 3rd birthday... :)

I guess I really can't pinpoint exactly when any of it began because I feel like animation has been such a big part of my life all the time. I'm really not sure how my parents didn't see this coming.. lol, no actually they realized I wasn't going to grow out of it early on. In fact my mom has always told me to go for it!
My passion for the art runs so deep.. I get so excited just thinking that this dream could really come true! I grew up on all of the classic Disney and Pixar movies and I can't picture a more rewarding career than getting to be a part of that process and make films that will be enjoyed by generations... by kids you don't even know, but have the ability to inspire them to dream big! To just be able to give back to what I've enjoyed so much growing up would truly be a dream come true.
I loved so many great characters growing up.. and to be able to be one of the ones behind the scenes giving those characters life and personality would be so much fun!
All of the great stories touched my life and shaped me to be who I am today... a dreamer!

I really can't put my passion and love for the art in words.. but I think you get the idea...
I will end this with some of my favorite inspirational quotes from movies!

"You got a dream, you gotta protect it. People can’t do something themselves, they wanna tell you that you can’t do it. You want something? Go get it. Period."
‘Pursuit of Happyness (Will Smith)’

"Working hard is important, but there's something else that's even more important: believing in yourself. Look at it this way: every great wizard in history has started out as nothing more than we are now - students. If they can do it, why not us?" Harry Potter 5th book

Josh Groban song from the end of Polar Express...
"Believe in what your heart is saying
Hear the melody that's playing
There's no time to waste
There's so much to celebrate
Believe in what you feel inside
And give your dreams the wings to fly
You have everything you need
If you just believe"

"But I've always said to myself.....if I could do it over again, I would follow my dream. You've got greatness in you, Rodney. Never doubt it. You go to Robot City. You go meet Bigweld, and you show him your big ideas. And, Rodney.....never, never give up. " Robots

(lol...sorry about another "lengthy" post) :)

Short Film 2/3 Rough Blocking

2008-10-12T15:45:00.001-07:00

twothirdsROUGHblocking.1
Originally uploaded by teresan18

Just thought I'd post some progress on my film.
This is the first two thirds of it in rough blocking..
lol, there is so much left to do and change, but I want to get the last third blocked in before I go back and fix the stuff in here.
Oh, and I stumbled across Jack Johnson's 'The Sharing Song' this past week... and I thought it fit pretty well. I dunno, anyways.... I digress.

Progress Reel old update

2008-09-29T12:23:00.001-07:00

progressreel3kungfupanda2
Originally uploaded by teresan18

This isn't anything new... but I guess I should post it on my blog.
It's my progress reel after I finished up class 4 Advanced Acting.
I was waiting to post it until I had polished it up some more, because I didn't finish my 2 character shot... but I don't think I'll get a free chance to polish it up for awhile so I might as well post what I've got.
(I do plan on going back to finish it up eventually :)
heheh when I put this reel together I was really wanting to see Kung Fu Panda again... hence the music ;)