Up is the second Animated movie in History of  animated films after Disney’s Beauty and The Beast
to be get nominated under category of Academy awards for Best Feature Film  .

Like you, we all were so excited to see Up winning against  Avatar, Up in the air , District 9, The Hurt locker … and all .
The Hurt locker won most awards this time including , Best Feature Film .

The diversity of skills and craft was so awesome this year.

If we look at Animated movies , i was most impressed by Up and Coraline.

The reason for Coraline is that, it has set really different Milestone for Animated films. Animated movies are not always funny but they can be more serious. The colors , characters designs,background music has really great impact and  story concept is really awesome.  And it also says that Animated movie can be anything , anything that can entertain and hold you for two hours , it goes beyond some traditional way of Animated films, which is really appreciable. Before that i had same feeling for Wallace and Gromit !!

On the other hand there is UP, an awesome masterpiece!!!

Walt Disney always wanted to make movies for all. He wanted to tell that cartoons are not  just for sake of laughter , humor. They are more than that , they have deep emotions like us . They have true potential to touch the hearts of an audience.
And cartoons are not just for kids they are  for everybody , they are for all age groups. From little cute kids to older person , everyone can enjoy them.

Up is the ideal example for this.

Using really cool humor , Up touches the heart so deeply. We fell in love with everybody in movie. 

The first 8 minute part of movie , The married life is so inspiring , even without words we feel all emotions. We feel the incredible love of  both Ellie and Carl.

How much she loves kids  and how much she want kids is shown in really cool way , when they are looking at sky.  The background score is really amazing.

And even though in complete movie Ellie is not there , we totally get attached to Ellie , its like we know her too, we can feel  the love of them.

Character arcs, needs ,wants are showed really skillfully.

The dynamic relationships of  Russell-Mr. Fredrickson – Dug – Kavin are the best !!

Every character has its emotional and most valuable relationship, even the Antagonist

Russell and his Dad,
Mr. Fredrickson and House
Kavin and her kids
Dug -Mr. Fredrickson

This time Pixar made really different movie , they gone through the humor and told really emotional story and specially which can appeal to anybody from kids to senior citizen.

Its for all age group audience. Pixar have set a New milestone for Animated Movies after creating masterpiece like Up.

It would have been really awesome if Up have won the Best Feature Film , still there are more stories to come from Magic Bag of Legendary Pixar ..

I’m really excited for Toy story 3 ..

We can say that it’s just the starting in Animation films , in upcoming years An Animated movie definitely win the honor of being best in Best Feature Film along with Live action movies

Mahesh
For list of  winners of this years Oscar click here

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Before reading this you must read the previous article if you haven’t Click here

Well come back guys , few minutes ago we learned ,

1. Intensity of Conflict depends on Character and it works on two levels Physical and Emotional
2. We learned the Basic Loop of Change, at every iteration intensity increases
3. Intensity of Conflict is directly proportional to the Urgency to solve the Conflict
4. Comfort Zone of Character
5. Three Golden Rules for Decision making (Focus-Meaning-Action)

Now we are going to learn the core important tool, when you will learn this, you will notice it in every best movie and you will also able to apply in your story too.

Imagine a pyramid , its Pyramid of Transformation

5. Environment/Atmosphere (Top of Pyramid)

4. Do

3. Capability

2. Belief-Values

1. Spiritual (Bottom of Pyramid)

During following process , at each level he is asking The Three Golden Questions consistently.

5. Environment

So when change Occurs character tries to create The familiar Environment, which he has in his Comfort Zone,

He says to himself, “okay, its change , but if I create my usual Environment , it will be alright”

He will try to behave as if its normal , but guess what it doesn’t work ..

4. Do

So he will say to himself, “ okay , I can’t create the Environment but I know what I can do”

So he will do what he usually do in such situation ,

Guess what , this  also wont work.

3. Capability

He will say to himself, “What I usually do its not working , but I know what I’m capable of , I can do this , I can turn this around!!”

He tries hard , to make it work.

But it doesn’t work ,life is not that easy ,

Now his morale is getting down , he still don’t want to give up 

2. Belief-Values

He says to himself, “ now what I do, is not working, my capability is not working , but I believe that someone else have turn around this or I believe if I do this other way and don’t give up it will definitely work out”

He have some references in past , or from he seen somewhere , and he has belief system so he thinks he kept moving forward in this new way it will work out , but again it doesn’t.

1. Spiritual

Now its crisis,

He says to himself, “oh lord , everything is falling apart , my capability , beliefs aren’t working , what should I do!”

He is calm , he is now empty vessel.

At this Spiritual level , it doesn’t mean just God , it can be Nature , or even the character himself .

The spiritual is the part that has immense potential , those are beliefs too but they have no references , no supporting legs.

Like if I ask you , is there God and you have your own concept of GOD , its true for you , even you don’t have real references to back that idea up, but deep down we believe there is one energy behind every living thing.

Same applies to the beliefs about the character himself, which is his identity

And when the character is  in this Spiritual level , thinking about problem in totally different perspective, he taps into Great deep unimaginable potential inside. He discovers new energy within.

And now he step through all levels again , but he has transformed

His beliefs change , his values change

He realize his true capability

Now  what he does  is special

Now he have created new Environment for himself

And finally he Solves the Conflict ,

His Comfort zone gets expanded.  He becomes bigger than his problems.

See when I was going down the pyramid from Environment  to Spiritual,

The intensity of Conflict was increasing .

Finally at last level he transforms , steps up in each level and finally conquers that Conflict

That’s how my friends Intensity of Conflict increases and the Character Finally discovers his true potential and wins over the conflict.

So for the whole movie , sequence is like this

SET UP + CONFLICT = level 5-4-3-2-1

Conflict reaches at its peak

RESOLUTION= level 1-2-3-4-5 .

THE END

Now take movie examples and it will be even more clear .

In Kung fu panda

When Poo gets selected as Dragon Warrior

Environment

1. His environment changes , in training he tries to create  the familiar environment with others but everybody ignores him

Do

2.He tries to fight like he used to in his dreams , in funny way it doesn’t work

Capability

3. He thought he was capable of until he realizes he have to stop Tai Lung and he tries to run.

Beliefs-Values

4. Deep down he believes he can make it work , he works hard until he founds that there is nothing in that Dragon Warriors Scroll for him

Spiritual

5. He gives up , he realizes he is just normal , not special and not Dragon Warrior, and he is blank , and then he realizes that there is no Magic Ingredient , and You have to believe that there is and make it special.

Beliefs-Values

6. His beliefs change about himself,  he realizes he is Dragon Warrior

Capability

7. His capability changes, he knows that he can Stop Tai Lung

Do

8.His Actions change

Environment

9. His environment changes

The End

Now lets look at

Master Shifu

1.When Master Oogway chooses Poo as Dragon Warrior , Shifu gets a naive  student , who is cranky , fat, crazy , funny with no quality of Warrior,  he tries to be with him like he behave with others but it doesn’t work

2. He teaches Panda like he usually teaches other students , that even doesn’t work

3. First he thought that if Master Oogway thinks that I can teach him , then I may be capable of teaching Poo too , so accepts Poo as student

4. When Oogway dies and until now he was believing that somehow he and Oogway will make Panda as Dragon warrier , but when Poo tries to run , he even finally gives upon his beliefs too

5. Then he realize he cant do anything , without Oogway and he is blank , helpless and he remembers the Words of Oogway, “There are no accidents” .

Now he believes in the words ,which has no references for him , until he sees Poo eating the Monkeys Food ,

Master Shifu  Transforms

6. He realizes he can make it happen, he now believes “there are no accidents”

7. He realizes his capability , he realizes he can teach Fat Panda

8. Now what he does is Unconventional , new way to teach Panda

9. He creates the environment that will able let him coach Panda very effectively , finally he achieves it and makes Panda a Dragon Worrier

THE END

In Toy Story

1. Buzz thinks he’s on different planet , he tries to behave like he is in space
2. He acts with Gadgets like as if they are real
3. They don’t work , but he thinks he has the capability to destroy Zerg
4. Then he realizes after seeing advertisement (Not a flying Toy), he is toy and no special, no real space ranger, still he believes he can jump out the window , it doesn’t work , and his identity , beliefs get lost
5. He is blank vessel, acts like a looser , and tells Woody that , for the first time he is thinking , and Woody was right all the way .

And he is just meaningless toy.

But then Woody convinces him , that Being a toy is way more special than being a space ranger, because there is kid in that house who loves you more than anything in the world.

At this point its virtual reference for Buzz ,and when he sees the name of ANDY on his shoe , he is in spiritual level , he feels amazing connection between Him(Buzz) and Andy , a spiritual connection.

And he Transforms!

1. His beliefs change about him being a Toy
2. He realizes his true capability , and removes Woody from box.
3. He acts differently
4. He creates now different environment , not the previous of Space but the real Environment

THE END

If you watch any great movie  Up, Meet The Robinsons , Cars, Ratatouille, Incredibles,Coraline any awesome movie that touched you emotionally it goes through this Pyramid

5-4-3-2-1-2-3-4-5

From 5 to 1 the intensity of Conflict increases and 1-5 character transforms and wins over the Challenge.

In Up , when Russell leaves and Mr. Frederickson is alone seeing the Elley’s Diary , he have reached up to level 1 i.e. Spiritual and when he sees all the Diary ..

He realizes the amazing connection between him and Kavin – Russell-Dug.

You can see him transforming, at that moment , his back spine becomes straight , its like he have got new energy.

Guys If you see any movie, and that didn’t touch you emotionally it’s only because they didn’t go through pyramid overall for their characters.

We have discussed so much , I hope that will help you lot , and don’t read this stuff , apply to any movie you will watch , apply to your favorite movie , don’t just buy it because I’m saying . try it.

And this Pyramid Concept, I have learned from our Coach Tony Robbins.

Guys please give your feedback.. What you liked in article?  Or where should I improve? Or anything that you want to see in next articles…

So here guys  I’m signing off, see you next time , until then

Keep Animating .. Keep contributing .. Keep Growing

don’t forget that “We are committed to CANI! ” click here

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Mahesh

Hey guys, actually its after long time , I’m writing the article, I’m working on something about story  if it works out , it will be awesome for us!

I’m also going to discuss about “Character” in this but don’t worry it won’t be too much , I will have whole another series for Character like this one.

Last time we learned about the “Progression of Conflict”, in this article I’m going to cover the Intensity of Conflict.  In this article, we are learning so much stuff , so just be comfortable , read slower , this ride going to be pretty big than usual.

That’s why I’m dividing this whole thing into two chunks , so after finishing this article read the next one immediately.

We learned in last article that, A story is all about “Change”, and “Cause –effect” relationship. Its all cause set in Motion.

Something changes, and that causes something else and chain continues further. Generally in Story as it progresses forward the Conflict starts to reach at its peak, its grows and grows , the speed of Story also increases. You can say that “Intensity of Conflict” also increases.

But what determines the Intensity of Conflict?

See it’s all about the “characters”, they face the conflict, it becomes hard for them to bear the pain of it!

And it works out on two levels

1. Physical
2. Emotional

When “Conflict” is bothering so much on both levels for “Character”, the intensity increases. It forces him to take action .

Basically,

Its Basic Loop of Change

1. Something Changes
2. That forces Character to take Action
3. He takes action and that causes something else..

it loops back to step 1,and every time Intensity of Conflict increase until the Conflict is not resolved.(or character gives up)

You also can see that for the Character,

“Intensity of Conflict” is directly proportional to “Urgency to solve the conflict”

i.e more the intensity – more the urgency to solve it

or less the intensity – less the urgency to solve it

Before going to learn about “Intensity of Conflict” in detail, we need to learn two small Concepts

1. Comfort Zone

2. Three Golden Questions

1. Comfort Zone

Once again, “All story is about Change”

Now imagine a Small Circle , suppose the Center of Circle is Your Character and the area of Circle is your character’s Comfort Zone.

That means , anything happens and which is in his Comfort Zone , he can handle that easily.

Now when Conflict occurs , Character gets Challenge , and all problems are outside the Circle and they are banging on the edges of Circle.

Now if he doesn’t do anything , the Conflict doesn’t go away , it increases and  now imagine the Circle is getting smaller and smaller.

The intensity increases , Character feel immense pressure to solve the problem , and Finally he takes massive action , pushes himself , now his Comfort Zone  expands he becomes more than he was before the Conflict.

So you got the basic Concept .

Now let’s dig little deeper. So that we will learn about Intensity of Conflict

2. Three Golden Questions

When change occurs Character takes Action.

He makes a Decision and then takes Action, right?

How does he make decision ?

Consciously or Unconsciously he asks 3 Questions ,when change occurs

1. What I’m going to focus on?
2. What does this mean?
3. What I’m going to do?

If two guys fail in exam after studying so much ,

One might “focus” on  How bad it is ?   How unfair it is ?

He will say this “means” End , this means I’m failure , this means studying is useless

He will decide that what he is going to “Do”, that’s why this time I’m not going to study at all!

Other guy will “focus” on , okay it isn’t that bad , he will focus on that he have got another opportunity .

He will assign meaning that the result says that the way I studied and written papers wasn’t proper , I need to implement something new strategy .

He will “Do” something different and efficient than his previous attempt.

Now watch any movie,when character makes decision and take action , before that he evaluates with these “3 GOLDEN Questions” (focus-meaning-action)

This is another incredible thing I learned from our Coach Tony Robbins.

When we will go into Character series, we learn even more about how character makes Decisions. For now these “3 Golden Questions” will be fine, okay?

In few seconds , I will meet you for learning how exactly the Intensity of Conflict works with really good examples from Animated Films like Kung fu panda, Toy story , Up.. click here for next article !

don’t forget that “We are committed to CANI! ” click here

Mahesh

This tutorial will mostly cover the basics in one point perspective…

so-

What is perspective, actually?

Ehm, ehm.. ”the theory or art of suggesting three dimensions on a two-dimensional surface, in order to recreate the appearance and spatial relationships that objects or a scene in recession present to the eye

OR

the appearance of objects, buildings, etc., relative to each other, as determined by their distance from the viewer, or the effects of this distance on their appearance”

There are three kinds that will help you put magic into your scene…

One point perspective

Two point perspective  and

Three point perspective.

blah, blah, blah everyone knows the things that are far from the eye appear smaller.. so when we copy this into a 2d paper.. it re creates a feeling of depth to the scene.
You may find hundreds and thousands of books on perspective all ready to confuse your already confused mind..
I was too, but the thing is perspective is really easy to understand, just shed all your fear that comes with it…

You’ll need:

A paper sheet

A good pencil

Eraser [obviously]

ruler [I strongly recommend scribbling so that you don't have to use the ruler to rule out everything]

So we begin with the horizon..

The horizon is nothing but the line that we see where the earth/sea meets the sky.. even if it is not visible in your drawings.. there is a horizon line… you can draw it up or low as you want

Tip: place the ruler’s edge perpendicular to the papers’ edge to get a straight line

Make a vanishing point…
This the the point where your buildings, rails, roads seem to converge into one single point on the horizon.

Draw the size accordingly of the part of the block facing you, the height and the width,

Connect an imaginary line called as orthogonal to the vanishing point and the sides of the block  there’ll be four in total but three visible in this case.. Draw horizontal lines where you want your block to end [parallel to the horizon]
and vertical line where you want the side of the block to end [perpendicular to the horizon]

PHEW!

Now you’re pretty much done there! just erase the orathgonals and Bingo! you have a 3d real looking block which you can convert into anything

Just be sure to use a single point for all the objects

Tips:

1. Draw the orthogonal lightly so that you can erase them easily.

2. Google the word ”One point perspective” and find out more techniques and images, try to draw the scene on your paper… try to figure out the vanishing point in the given scene

3. Add details to your drawings, like windows, sills, telephone poles and people..  just follow the orthogonal to decide the height or width of the object/person/creature.

Here are some random examples from the net that can help you to get started

That’s it for today, meet you in the next tutorial, which is two point perspective.

Enjoy making your own worlds!

Please feel free to add any comments and critiques.. this is a way of showing that it has helped you in some way…

You can check Mitali’s Blog and her works here

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• Jeff Bridges in “Crazy Heart”
• George Clooney in “Up in the Air”
• Colin Firth in “A Single Man”
• Morgan Freeman in “Invictus”
• Jeremy Renner in “The Hurt Locker”

Actor in a Supporting Role

• Matt Damon in “Invictus”
• Woody Harrelson in “The Messenger”
• Christopher Plummer in “The Last Station”
• Stanley Tucci in “The Lovely Bones”
• Christoph Waltz in “Inglourious Basterds”

Actress in a Leading Role

• Sandra Bullock in “The Blind Side”
• Helen Mirren in “The Last Station”
• Carey Mulligan in “An Education”
• Gabourey Sidibe in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
• Meryl Streep in “Julie & Julia”

Actress in a Supporting Role

• Penélope Cruz in “Nine”
• Vera Farmiga in “Up in the Air”
• Maggie Gyllenhaal in “Crazy Heart”
• Anna Kendrick in “Up in the Air”
• Mo’Nique in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”

Animated Feature Film

• “Coraline ” Henry Selick
• “Fantastic Mr. Fox” Wes Anderson
• “The Princess and the Frog” John Musker and Ron Clements
• “The Secret of Kells” Tomm Moore
• “Up” Pete Docter

Art Direction

• “Avatar” Art Direction: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Kim Sinclair
• “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” Art Direction: Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro; Set Decoration: Caroline Smith
• “Nine” Art Direction: John Myhre; Set Decoration: Gordon Sim
• “Sherlock Holmes” Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
• “The Young Victoria” Art Direction: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Maggie Gray

Cinematography

• “Avatar” Mauro Fiore
• “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” Bruno Delbonnel
• “The Hurt Locker” Barry Ackroyd
• “Inglourious Basterds” Robert Richardson
• “The White Ribbon” Christian Berger

Costume Design

• “Bright Star” Janet Patterson
• “Coco before Chanel” Catherine Leterrier
• “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” Monique Prudhomme
• “Nine” Colleen Atwood
• “The Young Victoria” Sandy Powell

Directing

• “Avatar” James Cameron
• “The Hurt Locker” Kathryn Bigelow
• “Inglourious Basterds” Quentin Tarantino
• “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Lee Daniels
• “Up in the Air” Jason Reitman

Documentary (Feature)

• “Burma VJ” Anders Østergaard and Lise Lense-Møller
• “The Cove” Nominees to be determined
• “Food, Inc.” Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein
• “The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers” Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith
• “Which Way Home” Rebecca Cammisa

Documentary (Short Subject)

• “China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province” Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill
• “The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner” Daniel Junge and Henry Ansbacher
• “The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant” Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert
• “Music by Prudence” Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett
• “Rabbit à la Berlin” Bartek Konopka and Anna Wydra

Film Editing

• “Avatar” Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron
• “District 9” Julian Clarke
• “The Hurt Locker” Bob Murawski and Chris Innis
• “Inglourious Basterds” Sally Menke
• “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Joe Klotz

Foreign Language Film

• “Ajami” Israel
• “El Secreto de Sus Ojos” Argentina
• “The Milk of Sorrow” Peru
• “Un Prophète” France
• “The White Ribbon” Germany

Makeup

• “Il Divo” Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano
• “Star Trek” Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow
• “The Young Victoria” Jon Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore

Music (Original Score)

• “Avatar” James Horner
• “Fantastic Mr. Fox” Alexandre Desplat
• “The Hurt Locker” Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
• “Sherlock Holmes” Hans Zimmer
• “Up” Michael Giacchino

Music (Original Song)

• “Almost There” from “The Princess and the Frog” Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
• “Down in New Orleans” from “The Princess and the Frog” Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
• “Loin de Paname” from “Paris 36” Music by Reinhardt Wagner Lyric by Frank Thomas
• “Take It All” from “Nine” Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston
• “The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)” from “Crazy Heart” Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett

Best Picture

• “Avatar” James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers
• “The Blind Side” Nominees to be determined
• “District 9” Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham, Producers
• “An Education” Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers
• “The Hurt Locker” Nominees to be determined
• “Inglourious Basterds” Lawrence Bender, Producer
• “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness, Producers
• “A Serious Man” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Producers
• “Up” Jonas Rivera, Producer
• “Up in the Air” Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman, Producers

Short Film (Animated)

• “French Roast” Fabrice O. Joubert
• “Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty” Nicky Phelan and Darragh O’Connell
• “The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)” Javier Recio Gracia
• “Logorama” Nicolas Schmerkin
• “A Matter of Loaf and Death” Nick Park

Short Film (Live Action)

• “The Door” Juanita Wilson and James Flynn
• “Instead of Abracadabra” Patrik Eklund and Mathias Fjellström
• “Kavi” Gregg Helvey
• “Miracle Fish” Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey
• “The New Tenants” Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson

Sound Editing

• “Avatar” Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle
• “The Hurt Locker” Paul N.J. Ottosson
• “Inglourious Basterds” Wylie Stateman
• “Star Trek” Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin
• “Up” Michael Silvers and Tom Myers

Sound Mixing

• “Avatar” Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson
• “The Hurt Locker” Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett
• “Inglourious Basterds” Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano
• “Star Trek” Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J. Devlin
• “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson

Visual Effects

• “Avatar” Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones
• “District 9” Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken
• “Star Trek” Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

• “District 9” Written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell
• “An Education” Screenplay by Nick Hornby
• “In the Loop” Screenplay by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche
• “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher
• “Up in the Air” Screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner

Writing (Original Screenplay)

• “The Hurt Locker” Written by Mark Boal
• “Inglourious Basterds” Written by Quentin Tarantino
• “The Messenger” Written by Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman
• “A Serious Man” Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
• “Up” Screenplay by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy

source : Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

It has been a long and tedious way till here, but let me tell you this… every result is worth it, so pack your backpacks and join me on the adventures we’re gonna have!

… Now,   Did you ever have this idea/character roaming in your head for too long, how you wish you could only draw it to life? but only if you had this secret ingredient to make it…
I searched far and wide for this secret ingredient until I saw Kung fu Panda.. [there is no secret ingredient to it]  it’s just practice and perseverance!

So long Miss talk it…. where to start? ?

#1 Passion…
”B- But I thought….”      I can almost see your faces in amazement.. Yupp! neglected and left aside… a fuel that’s gonna light your fire when you’re down.. you have to burn for it, you have to crave for it!  you can’t sleep without it!

#2 Exposure…
Read, see, observe.. what’s worth taking.. what’s around you.. what’s in you. Watching blogs and sites such as deviant art.com can really start you up and start with a strong basic foundation of what you wanna do, you have to know where you want to reach up to…

Tip: make folders.. like guns, girls, armor, villain etc for references
Tip: make an deviant art account.

#3 Practice and dedication…
So you’re ready, eh?  Are you? Then be ready to take hundreds and thousands of critiques and be able to carry on… be there to practice.. nothing comes easy especially art, be ready to be criticized till the point that you crave for critics… so you thought criticism was a bad word, eh?
But there are certain myths that I’d like to bust before I move on..

You can draw if it’s in your genetics… duhh
Many a times I hear people saying, ” Oh she can draw well , you see her father and grandfather’s an artist…”  I have never heard such a thing being an obstacle for anyone, sometimes being able to see someone draw can be helpful but it’s almost helpful as watching a fire miles away and getting warmth from it.. remember Birbal kids?

It’s too hard
Yeah, it’s not hard but little by little, everyday you will do it.. don’t let go.. if I post some of my earlier works.. you’ll all gather round and laugh at me! [so I'll not post it]

You see, I’m not creative kind of person…
Do you remember scribbling away happily when you were a kid.. but something happened.. at some point your logical brain said.. it doesn’t look like I want it to be… I won’t draw anymore!! yeah that’s what happened…Grab the pencil/eraser, bring back the child within you and start with us!
————————————————————————————————-

The numero Uno!
Scribble your way to top!

Start with some paper and pencil sit in a comfortable position and get ready to scribble!!

Scribbling is something like doodling.. but with more concentration and defined shapes.

All you have to do is free your hand on paper and get used to the pencil..most of the times my hands and wrists would hurt , so I think this strengthens the hands, wrists and fingers as well draw anything.. shapes, sizes, and curves and straight lines, of course!

Avoid doing this..

Avoid scratching...

Avoid anything that is not rhythmic… I know this is obvious but many of them do it..

Your pad should look something like this..
circles, curves, lines, rhythm, ovals..and curls

something like this.. but you can add your shapes as you like...

Not only you enjoy this... it's a good exercise

This is more like a warm up before an exercise, and it will get better.. try to get those circles as circly as possible… exact and of same shape.. these dudes are gonna do magic for us later..

As I know.. this exercise is to be continued till the end of your life if you’re an animator..don’t get disappointed, just imagine your idol such as Jackie Chan or Rocky Balboa training, this is your training…

Remember to warm up before every drawing that you make… it will improve your quality and confidence in drawing strokes …

Now try varying the stroke pressures as you move on…
something like this:

Try to get control over your strokes and imagine the stroke on paper before drawing

try with lines.. try with curves..

Tip : try not to get carried away with other thoughts and let your circle become misshapen lumps or whatever!

Oh you like it, don’t you!

That’s it for today, the most basic but a magic ingredient for a strong foundation in drawing!
Hope to see you scribbling, guys!

Please feel free to add any comments and critiques.. this is a way of showing that it has helped you in some way…

You can check Mitali’s Blog and her works here

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And now

There’s a new podcast on the web that is “Speaking of Animation”, created by 4 Dreamworks animators!

1. Ben Willis

2. Adam Strick

3. Jacob Gardner

4. Stephen Melagrano

Their first Podcast is with Ted Ty!

Ted has a awesome experience of animating in both Classical Animation and CG.

He’s worked on following films: Pocahontas, Mulan, Lilo & Stitch, Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda and is currently working on Shrek Forever After.

This interview is really inspiring, he talks about his passion, his decision to make career in Animation , his transition from classical animation to CG , and

the most important belief I’ve got is “Give them what they want but not in the way they expect” and there is so much great stuff he talks about , and don’t forget to say thanks to these guys for such amazing podcast , I heard this podcast again and again..

And another awesome thing is they are interviewing Ted again , and you guys can ask the question you want , so guys hurry, before it gets too late ..:)

So visit here

“Speaking of Animation”,

Here is the link for the Ted Ty interview page : click here

Mahesh

* For Animation Story Writing  Series ..click here

“We are committed to CANI! ” click here

There are some guys  chasing a girl .. shooting bullets at her, she is running and hiding .. he is looking all the picture he thinks that “ its insane , poor girl ..”  , one of the guy is about to shoot her and immediately he pulls trigger , and shoots the guy , that guy is not dead .. He finally manage to save the girl and taking her to safe place, those guys are chasing them ,no wonder ..

He realizes that he shot a cop for a criminal girl ..  she claims that she is innocent .. he is detective but that causes problems because he have created a lot severe problems for all detectives ..  and because of girl the bad guys are after him .. (they want something from her ) , cops are after him , one cop goes mad and he starts killing the detectives because his friend is killed by a detective .. some detectives are after him(the hero) because if he don’t die he will create even more problems .. and whole city goes nuts because of  insane killing all over .. cops killing detectives .. some detectives killing cops ..

And another bloody story … here I come again..Its typical cliché story, I know nothing special in it… But I thought this would be good example to tell the

“Progression of conflict”

See, every story is cause set in motion..

Actually sometimes we live life like a cause set in motion..Continuously reacting to something, that’s horrible, no wonder we get frustrated by others sometimes.. Another thing I learned from coach.

So in every story, you will see , there is always a “cause- effect” relationship.

Let me explain ,  in every story something happens , that causes another thing and then another.

Depends on the story , but you will see a lot in any story ,

Something happens character makes decision – takes action – that causes something – …. And chain continues depending upon the story .

Conflict unfolds the same way , look at my story how many “because “ are there ?

Have you noticed the way conflict is developing step by step and its started when he pulls of the trigger to save the girl!!

So what kind of cause-effect relationships can be there?  lets find out .. I’m going to take small example and we will build up on that , okay ?

If you watch Tom and Jerry or Mickey’s Friends a lot , this will be fun

Let’s create some trouble(conflict) for Donald ..

Donald has to put book in shelf ,

1.

One way to create conflict is

when he puts book on shelf another book falls down or may be a globe falls down , when he put that one .. guess what another one falls down

Lets make it more difficult ..

2.

When he puts the book on shelf , another two fall down ..

When he put that two , four fall down , when he put that four  and it continues ,

Guess what finally whole shelf falls down…

Now make it even interesting ..

3.

When he puts the book on shelf , the globe falls down, now this time the globe bounces towards the TV and Donald immediately manipulates that it can hit the TV so he runs to stop the globe ,

His leg gets stuck in telephone wire he is still running , he runs grabs the Globe and the telephone gets dragged and hits the TV .. he screams throws the globe angrily and the globe creates …

4.

Now another way is if Globe smashes the TV , there is electric short circuit so oven explodes the electricity of town is gone Donald running  for water , telephone wire gets stuck in his legs , he rolls from Globe and fells out the window .. he falls on …

So u can continue from here

And the final and more interesting ..

Its not logical when Donald puts book

5.

Goofy is sleeping in his house , the book  from his shelf falls down ,so when Goofy puts book on his shelf the book from Donald’s shelf falls down … and both go nuts ..

You may thinking I’m making up anything and no connection whatsoever ..

So look at here ..

The first example of Donald signifies that  one type of problem cause that same or related kind of  problem in chain reaction (Domino Effect)

In second example ,

One type of problem cause same type of problems and multiplies like a snowball (all shelf falls down ) (Cascade Effect #1)

So same type of problem can create same problem or problems and they can multiply ..

Both Domino and Cascade come in the Category of  Compounded Conflicts(Similar Type of problems stack on each other)

Rests of the three are Accumulated Conflicts (Different Type of problems stack on each other)

Another is different type problem can create several different problems

(Cascade Effect #2)

and

They can multiply spread over (Ripple Effect)

And the fifth one is one thing creates another problem that has no logical connection to

each other .. (Butterfly effect ) as in book its given that as if Butterfly flaps her wings in part of world and it brings storm in another part of world

Look all the Donald examples again .. they all are ordered in sequence from one to five

I) Compound Conflicts

1  Domino effect

2 Cascade effect#1

II) . Accumulated Conflicts

3  Cascade effect#2

4.  Ripple effect

5 Butterfly effect

You can notice the use of all them  in small gags easily Tom and Jerry , Road Runner . .

And for movies you will have to take a closer look most of the times they are one or two level chains ..

Like one thing cause similar or several different problems ,

In Toy story 1 ..  Because of jealousy(see there always comes cause and effect  remember the Cause set in motion ) , Woody tries to push Buzz under the table ..

But  1. Buzz falls out of the window

2. All think that Woody tried to kill the Buzz

Because the Buzz falls , Woody and Buzz fight and both get lost the way of home ..

And because of that …  You can continue further ..

It depends on story , but mostly they are on or two level conflicts , one creating one or two (same or different ) and they goes one further one level of chain

So what is the outcome of these Conflicts

1. They build curiosity
2. They increase the intensity (but this does not mean that to increase Intensity of Conflict you will have to create more conflicts its just one way)

And there are few more outcomes but I can explain them well when we learn another tool called “Spine”

How can we use these?

You cant just go and say that I’m going to use this conflict , it totally depends on story ,

So here is the best way ,

Lets suppose that for any story to tell there is only one most effective way to tell the story such that you will successfully convey “THE EMOTIONS YOU WANT TO FEEL THE AUDIENCE FROM THE STORY”

That Emotions will decide which kind of Progression of Conflict is necessary.

This may sound some theoretical junk but in next some articles when I will write on “How to tell the story” I will be telling you how to implement practically

One of the important use of this Progression of Conflict is

“ YOU CAN CREATE A SMALL STORY LIKE I DID WITH DONALD ,  it may be cliché’ but you can play with these tools an you definitely can come up with awesome story, believe me, even you can play with your friends ,

combine all,

be logical ,

somewhat illogical and

you will have great Gag or any emotional story to tell .

Here is the last and most important point while creating Progression of Conflict always START from Small and build up on that like we did in Donald story ..

If you start with huge at the end it will be a giant thing and you will struggle in RESOLUTION

For more transparent use of this you can watch all Final Destination movie parts.

Once again , I’ve  learned this types from book “Finding And Building Stories- ideas for animated short by Karen Sullivan , Gary Schumer, Kate Alexander”

and This is must have book for any Animation Student

So here I’m signing off  .. see you next time and guys please leave your valuable feedback, its our energy drink and

don’t forget that “We are committed to CANI! ” click here

Mahesh

From Bramhaa’s Creative Team , I want to wish You all guys very Happy Animated New  Year ..

I want to give you all guys  “GIFTS” .. I can see your smile .. so get ready to receive .. before that I have Story, as usual ..its true story .. and its not mine .. and the END OF IT there are FREE GIFTS for you ..

There was a kid , from middle class family

Who used to like scribble with pencil, he loved the comic strip books so much .. when he was  7-8 years he saw “Mickey mouse” .. and the seeds of passion for Animation began to grow ..

At 11 years old , he saw the “Jungle book” , it was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen ..  and decided to be an Animator ..

He decided to write a letter to Walt Disney Studio, asking how to be an Animator , and what are important skills ..

And Amazing thing happened , He GOT THE REPLY from Studio…

It had information about what it means to be an Artist

The day, he realized the exact meaning of all the things they had describe in reply.

He committed to his passion. He committed to his dream to be in Disney Studio.

He worked extremely hard , to give his best shot for Disney Studio. He made his own way so  that he will be in Disney Studio..

He believed whatever he is doing , if he kept improving and adapting , this way definitely take him to Disney Studio ..

And you know , if  you have great  passion for something , and you are working really hard for it , amazing things will happen on the way!!

As the saying  ,“Ask and You shall receive”

And finally he made it , he prepared himself to the standard that he will be in His Dream Studio .. Walt Disney Animation Studio

And he is one of the awesome animators from Disney Studio .. He had a great passion , such great passion that he Got The MENTORING from “Disney’s Nine Old Men”, when he joined the Studio!!

He is the example which shows,

“If  you are immensely passionate about your dream , you will definitely make that happen”

His name is the great animator “Andreas Deja”

Deja is best known as the supervising animator of some of the most memorable Disney villains: Gaston from Beauty and the Beast, Jafar in Aladdin and Scar from The Lion King. He also animated Roger Rabbit from Who Framed Roger Rabbit, King Triton from The Little Mermaid, the title character from Hercules, Lilo from Lilo & Stitch, and Queen Narissa from Enchanted. In addition, he is the current resident specialist for the animation of Mickey Mouse. .. for more info click here

One of the gift is Our Resources page

If you go through all these resources you will be astonished by the Knowledge you will gain from all these Resources .

http://www.bramhaa.com/web/

And the story I told you , which you can hear from Andreas Deja himself , and there is so much he talks about, just soak up whatever you can!

Its just one story , but there are so many legends whose audio interviews are shared by THE AWESOME ANIMATOR “Clay Kaytis” , who is Animator at Disney Studio

Andreas Deja’s interview is the first interview from his podcast

His website is Third best thing on the PLANET for ANIMATORS

1. The book “The Disney Animation : Illusion of life”- Ollie and Frank
2. The book “Animator’s Survival Kit”- Sir Richard Williams
3. The web Animation Podcast -the voices of Animation www.animationpodcast.com by Clay Kaytis

You can download all the awesome interviews for free!!!

Its priceless treasure

Just DON’T FORGET  to say thanks to  CLAY ..

We are really really fortunate that we can get access to such miraculous things about animation ..

Can you imagine Andreas  didn’t have any book about Animation , not even Institute that Teaches Animation ????

Still he made it …

So again , “HAVE A HUGE PASSION”

Bye guys ..May this Year You guys become even more Passionate about your dream ..

I think that’s the best gift anybody can have ..

We love your feedback so much .. its like energy drink , which gives more and more  Energy, so please share your valuable opinions ..

“We are committed to CANI! ” click here

Hey guys, I guess you must have watched “Avatar” and if you haven’t then first go watch the movie and comeback to this article..   I’m just kidding, because if you have watched it then while reading this article, You will say , “Oh that’s why they did this? Or oh that makes perfect sense or Boy now all the story writing articles i read  make even more sense”

And for all those guys who haven’t seen AVATAR , you will get even awesome practical application of all the stuff we have studied until now regarding story ..I promise that I won’t tell you the story of AVATAR at all ..

Now it sounds strange that how can i discuss the Story Structure then  .. just stay with me .. okay

Here is link where you can read about the terms i’m going to use ,so that you will get even more understanding of structure

http://www.bramhaa.com/animation-storywriting/

AVATAR is an Incredible movie , everybody must watch it because  what one can imagine and create , is something beyond our expectations and where we can feel actually that imagination , and we don’t want to come back to real world ..

It will win many awards about different things (sfx,animation ….), and IF THERE IS  AWARD CALLED “THE PERFECT SET-UP AWARD”, its totally for AVATAR.. !

This movie is Case study for all of us , where it shows the importance of “SET-UP” in story .. there are so many reasons to see it but to all of you guys who want to study the STORY first .. this would be one of the good reasons to watch

The first half of movie is SET-UP!!

And the director knew the importance of SET-UP .. he have taken as much as time he would need that’s why its slight long than usual movies . Its like test cricket , take as much as time to set on pitch , then go like rocket launchers

See if in AVATAR they didn’t have take time for SET-UP , then we the audience would not have feel deeply about the new World and Characters ..

AVATAR is one of the best examples for SET-UP

We have seen that SET-UP has following elements whose seeds are planted in SET-UP and they grow during the STORY ..

1. World
2. Rules
3. Character
4. Character Relationships
5. Motivation and Goal

See one of the important thing is to know that WHAT’S THE OUTCOME OF SET-UP?

For AVATAR ..

1. At the end of SET-UP audience must be emotionally  got attached to the new world (Pandora)
2. They must understand the Character, character Relationships
3. THE AUDIENCE MUST FALL IN LOVE WITH NEW BEAUTIFUL PLACE
4. They must care about the new world and the good Characters and their relationships
5. They must learn about the strength of NEW caricatures , there strength and Weakness (the Rhino type animal, the flying dragon type characters, the wild wolf type characters)
6. What are the Rules of new world?
7. What is their energy source ?
8. What is their idea of LIFE?
9. What is their culture?

See motivation and Goal of Story , Motivation and Goal of each Character is clearly shown . (of Protagonists (Heroes), Antagonists(Villains),Allies.)

The biggest challenge is IF YOU ARE CREATING NEW WORLD LIKE PANDORA , that is totally different that has each small insect different than normal ,

You will have to teach the Audience everything, every little detail about the world and also tell the story , so that they don’t feel like a new world documentary.

Do you remember i have discussed before , that its ALWAYS GOOD IF THE HERO Learns about the new world , and along with him audience also learns about the new world. Like Lion King, Bambi, Spirit .. in all these movies They  all were just starting to learn ..

That’s what we see in AVATAR .. THE SET-UP is totally dedicated to that because their must outcome is that WE MUST FEEL THAT IT is BEAUTIFUL and PEACEFUL place ..

Only because IN CONFLICT WE MUST FEEL BAD ..

All the things planted skill fully in SET-UP , so that it can be used in CONFLICT and RESOLUTION effectively ..

The yellow unique dragon, the wild Rhino and wolf sequences, the video personal diary, every small detail .

These masters planted every little details skill fully in SET-UP and used all the things awesomely.

See only masters can do all these things smartly in basic structure.

Another thing is,Showing beautiful doesn’t mean audience will associate the same feeling.

Its only happens through “SITUATION”,  that’s why “Situation Tool” we studied is so much important ..

Seeing somebody crying don’t bring tears in audience’s eyes .. its the “situation”  that matters..

That’s why there are tears only once in movie..it strengthens the situation.

But even without crying characters, there are situations where we feel deeply touched only because of PERFECT SET-UP.

And another important thing,

AVATAR is good example of how can you take cliche’ or simple concept and give it totally new look that audience doesn’t even feel that they have seen the story before.. I’m not saying that its copied from any movie or story but the basic plot is no special but the WORLD, THE CHARACTERS are SPECIAL, PRECIOUS .. it holds you such that you don’t want to come back from the world ..

Its world that’s special .  Its World that’s new and that’s why they needed the PERFECT SET-UP ..

So I’m signing off.. i don’t want to make article big ..  i have just explained some stuff … and have so much to tell about every small detail .. But i know you are smart enough to figure the structure even more clearly ..

Use the following articles, read them you will learn a lot of things and you can figure out how to create an AWESOME STORY.. its my promise .. Because i notice a very very tiny detail in Story that how are they using it and how can i use it ..:)

http://www.bramhaa.com/animation-storywriting/

Don’t forget to share your views.. Specially regarding concepts we have learned so far in Animation Story Writing articles..

“We are committed to CANI! ” click here

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