Announcing a New Class For The Fall Semester: MM491 Mashups and RIAs

I will be entering my fifth year of teaching at Bradley this fall. In that time I have taught several classes on multimedia authoring, using tools like Director and Flash to produce microsites, games and simple applications. I have also taught a senior level capstone class where Rich Internet Applications were designed and prototyped, then composited with devices in original video shot by my students in a “Starfire”-like what-if video depicting ubiquitous wireless connectivity. You can see that one here. Additionally, I have taught course on server side development using PHP/MySQL and a intro to web design class that focuses on web standards and covers XHTML/CSS and JS. Well, I have another one to add to that. Read on to find out more about it.

Introducing: MM491 Mashups and RIAs

In this class, students will use HTML/CSS, PHP, AJAX and Adobe Flash/Adobe Flex/Actionscript3/Adobe AIR to access and digest webservices and APIs made public by third parties to create and publish mashups, web applications that combine data from more than one source into a single integrated tool, on the web and desktop. Additionally, rapid application development tools will be used to create client side rich applications that connect to existing services or web sites to provide application functionality to the user.

Students are required to have completed Multimedia 213, Multimedia 215 and Multimedia 365 prior to enrolling in this course. Students are recommend to have completed or be cross enrolled in Multimedia 313, and Multimedia 465 before trying this advanced field of web design and development. While user interface design patterns and strategies will be explored, with students getting a chance to exercise their CSS skills and user interface skinning ideas, a good portion of the time in this class will be spent editing code and connecting XML and other data formats to the components to complete their masterpieces.

Students will be expected to download and install the freely available Adobe FlexBuilder and the Adobe Air SDK to their development computers prior to class commencing. Students are recommended to read and complete the tutorials on Adobe Flex at Adobe.com’s Develop center over the summer. Students will be required to register for a free account at programmableweb.com for posting their mashups to the web.

All in all I’m very excited about this on… it should be great!

The Process Diary

So a few weeks ago I added a link to The Process Diary on my sidebar but never bothered to explain why.

The Process Diary is a blog and podcast which chronicles the creation of Paul Caggegi’s short film: Character Development. Much like Moon Town, this site is full of fantastic information for anyone interested in creating their own short film.

I find it to be very cool to have the opportunity to peek behind the curtain and watch as the director not only creates, molds, and invents, but also stumbles, makes mistakes, and become frustrated with themselves.

It makes me feel that I am not alone in all of this.

Kung Fu Panda is Kicking Tail

Kung Fu Panda currently has an impressive 87% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Here is some of what people are saying:

… Dreamworks Animation has finally managed to touch the brass ring of animated storytelling that has been exclusively in Pixar’s reach for over a decade. -Kevin A Ranson, Moviecrypt.com

There’s an old saying about how a great musical will “leave ‘em dancing in the aisles.” Well this movie provides the kung fu equivalent of that. -Mike McGranaghan, Aisle Seat

A master [course] in cunning visual art and ultra-satisfying entertainment. -Richard Corless, Time Magazine

Because of the baby, I won’t be able to go see this in theaters unfortunately, but I can’t wait for the DVD! (Isn’t it weird how having a kid drastically alters your “movie going abilites”? I have taken a -90% hit in that skill.)

Presto!

Pixar keeps bringing the goodness, Here is a preview of Presto! A short film set to release with Wall-E. The rabbits facial animation is hilarious. It seems that CG animation has made huge leaps in recent years. The characters are starting to feel much looser, more organic, and much more alive. (something that 2D animation has benefit from for 80 years or so.) Which is funny considering that Pixar’s next big release stars a robot.

Another Interview with Andrew Stanton

First Showing has an interview with Andrew Stanton about Wall-E. And its not the typical fluff that your likely to find when it comes to animated feature interviews.

The only thing I did that was a little unconventional, is the manner in which I formatted the script. I was very inspired by Dan O’Bannon’s script for Alien. His description paragraphs were not your typical paragraphs, they were actually small phrases that were all left justified, almost like a haiku, and they created this rhythm of just being in the moment of quiet and visual. And you found yourself reading the descriptions much more than you normally do a script because of that form, instead of just skipping to the dialogue. It really kind of paced you as a reader and gave you the much more visceral feel of what it will be like to watch that movie. So I used that for Wall-E — it really helped.

The article brings up an excellent quote that Andrew Stanton is known for saying: “The day we start thinking about what the audience wants we’re going to make bad choices.” I love this quote, and it is so true.

When working on a piece, you want to always put yourself in your audiences shoes, but you never want to let your audience dictate what you will present to them. I think that is where so many films fail these days.

As Andrew puts it:

we were so driven on Toy Story, we just knew we wanted to make this kind of a movie and nothing was going to stop us no matter what anybody said. When the dust settled and the film came out and it was so well received, we realized so much of that was because we listened to our gut, and I would say the filmgoer part of our gut, not just the filmmaker…

…I don’t go to see another filmmaker’s movie hoping he’s guessed what I want. I go to see it because I like his sensibility and I want to see what he wants to do next, or she wants to do next. Because that was such a direct reason Toy Story worked, because we just finally got to this point of crisis and said, let’s just go with what we want, we’ve been trying to please people for all this time, that we just know that that is the way to stay from here on out, no matter what people say or do.

Rule #1: You need to set your characters up before you can knock ‘em down.

Ok, I am sitting here and watching South Park, drinking a nice glass of wine, and revising my treatment…again…

I showed it to my boss and friend Jim Ferolo and he came back with a few suggestions. Mainly that my main characters motivation for his actions later on in the piece were pretty vague. Which sucks because its SO important to the story that the audience gets whats going on in the mind of the Man right away.

It is absolutely necessary to get this moment right in the film. And its tough, because conveying to the audience that the main character wishes to be left alone is more difficult than it sounds. I had been using his interaction with the waiter as the moment to reveal this character trait to the audience but its a brief moment that can easily be missed, miss-read, or simply ignored. Whats more, It’s a moment that relies so heavily on subtle and well-executed animation, that its really quite scary to consider the consequences should I get that moment wrong.

So, to solve these problems and solidify the Man’s desire to be left alone I needed to re-write a couple of the characters introductions a bit. I needed to give the Man an opportunity to engage in a conversation. An opportunity which he so rudely chooses to ignore. Which lead me to re-consider how I am introducing the Old Woman.

Before I made the change, The two key characters introductions read like this:

A man sits alone in front of a small bistro reading a newspaper and enjoying a fine glass of wine. He is thin and smartly dressed wearing a nice brown suit. A handkerchief is carefully folded and placed neatly in his breast pocket. He is relaxed and there is a smile on his face, yet his heavy eyes are tired from stress. He is enjoying the calm, fresh air and the quiet afternoon. Clearly he would rather be left alone.

Sitting at another table just behind the Man is an Old Woman. She has a small birdcage containing a little red bird placed on the table in front of her. She is smiling and talking quietly to the bird as she carefully sips soup from a bowl placed in-between the two of them.

Abruptly, an overweight waiter bursts through the front door of the restaurant carrying a plate with a sandwich and a glass of wine. The waiter walks to the Man’s table and places the food down in front of him. The Man, delighted to see his food has arrived, folds his paper carefully and tucks a napkin into his collar.

“Will there be anything else sir?” The waiter asks politely. The Man waves his hand in dismissal, and the waiter bows slightly and walks away.

Having made the adjustments, The introductions now reads like this:

A man sits alone in front of a small bistro reading a newspaper and enjoying a fine glass of wine. He is thin and smartly dressed wearing a nice brown suit. A handkerchief is carefully folded and placed neatly in his breast pocket. He is relaxed and there is a smile on his face, yet his heavy eyes are tired from stress. He is enjoying the calm, fresh air and the quiet afternoon.

The Man looks up from his paper for a brief moment and realizes that he is being watched.

Sitting at a table just across from the Man is an Old Woman. She has a small birdcage containing a little red bird placed on the table in front of her. She is smiling and looking up at him.

“Bonjour!” she says and with a pleasant grin on her face. The man does not respond. Instead, he returns to his paper, lifting it higher in front of his face to block her from his view.

The Old Woman, put off by the Mans reaction to her, shoots him a dirty look. She then turns to the little bird in the cage and begins talking quietly to it as she carefully sips soup from a bowl placed in-between the two of them.

Abruptly, an overweight waiter bursts through the front door of the restaurant carrying a plate with a sandwich and a glass of wine. The waiter walks to the Man’s table and places the food down in front of him. The Man, delighted to see his food has arrived, folds his paper carefully and tucks a napkin into his collar.

“Will there be anything else sir?” The waiter asks politely. The man waves his hand in dismissal, and the waiter bows slightly and walks away.

Making these changes have not only strongly established my main character, but it has also given me the added benefit of strengthening the Old Woman and giving her a more important role in the film, which is great because it gives her final moment a bit more spice which I am sure the audience will appreciate.

So the point of this fairly long posting is as follows: You need to set your characters up before you knock them down. Spend time with your script. Serious time. Hours of serious time. Seperate yoursef from your story a bit and approach it as if you were an audience member seeing the material for the first time. Ask yourself, “Does this make sense from the beginning, to the middle, to the end? Do the characters feel like they are acting and reacting in a way that is consistent with their personalities?”

And most importantly, show your script to others who might be able to point out the obvious to you. It is good to have confidence in your work, but as tight as you think your script is, there is always something to be done that can make it better.

Was it glorious?

Did you see WALL•E yet? Did you love it? Was it a great movie? Or the greatest movie? Sound off with your opinion!

Your vote can make a difference.

B.J. Aberle, good friend and Sound Designer on Annabelle’s Bistro has recently entered an online competition to remix a Glen Phillips song. He is currently doing very well in the competition, (Seriously, I listened to about 50 entries and his remix is by far the best.) but he needs your help to win!

Check out his blog for details on how to vote.

Pixar Animator Builds WALL•E Using LEGO

(It’s rare that animation and LEGO come together so nicely, so this post has me excited!)

If your looking for a slightly different take on WALL•E, The Brothers Brick (one of my favorite sites on the net) has a nice interview with Pixar animator and LEGO fan Angus MacLane.

Mostly I build with LEGO as a way to unwind from a day spent in front of the computer. The tactile nature of LEGO can be much more satisfying than working in the often intangible realm of the computer. Also, a large part of an animator’s job is to clearly communicate an idea through the pose of a character. I think this is similar to building with LEGO where part of the goal is to sculpt clear shapes that communicate the purpose of the creation.

He also has some very interesting thoughts on the popular LEGO video games. So go check it out!

UPDATE: The Brothers Brick just posted a Wall-E Round-up of all the cool LEGO WALL•E creations they could find.

Wordle: Tag Cloud Art

Chad Udell points us to a cool little mashup that generates a “tag cloud” from a collection of text or an R.S.S. feed or Del.icio.us bookmarks.

I used it on The House of Move website. Its a neat little waste of five minutes.