I'm Free to be the Greatest

Super sorry for that last post that should have been posted in May, but for whatever reason was not.

Anyway, a quick update.

Kramer is actually doing well.

The animation has been selected to show in 14 festivals, was a semi-finalist once, nominee once, finalist twice, and even won once during a festival in India!!

So, yeah, Kramer is doing well. I'm hoping he gets into one or two more at least, but I'm very proud of him already.

Life update?

I'm currently in Orlando working at Disney World in attractions. Nothing to do with what I studied, but I really felt like I needed a time to take a breath after going straight from undergrad to grad-school.

I'm in the running for a few Disney Professional Internships right now. After attending the CTN Animation Expo in CA again last week am also applying to many other companies to actually start this annoying adult life.

Right now I'm sure that the main thing holding me back is myself. I've never been all that confident, especially in my work. But I'm working on it.


Well....that's about it. If Kramer gets into a few more I might give another post. Other than that, thanks for reading!



I'm Free to be the Greatest
-"The Greatest" by Sai

It’s Been Fun But Now I’ve Got to Go

((This post was written back in May, but is only just now getting published...sorry.))

So today was the last meeting of thesis class. 

My Thesis Packet is turned in.

The committee has met and APPROVED my animation!

I just have to wait for my department head to sign my paper and I’ll be DONE!

(Okay, I have 2 more finals to turn in but they are finished already.)

Now I just have to move out of my apartment and prep for graduation which is in 9 DAYS!

Future plans?

Well, even though I applied to a bunch of places I didn’t get any call backs so I’m going off to Orlando to do the Disney College Program and work in the parks as an attractions operator. Sure it isn’t exactly what I wanted out of college for my MFA, but I get to work at Disney and I’ll still be applying to other jobs and doing some personal projects.

…..maybe I’ll make a blog about it? ((Didn't happen))

I might update if the animation gets into some festivals. Who knows.

Now, if you where playing along, you might have gotten that the blog post titles where lines from different songs. Below is the answer key—

What’s the Tale Nightingale?

-“What’s the Story Morning Glory” in Bye Bye Birdie

Livin’ On a Prayer

-“Livin' On a Prayer" by Bon Jovi

It’s Been a Hard Day’s Night

-“A Hard Day's Night" by The Beatles

Climbing the Mountain, Never Coming Down

-“Wind" by Akeboshi

Let’s Start at the Very Beginning

-“Do Re Mi” in Sound of Music

Wait For It

-“Wait for it” in Hamilton

If There’s a Prize for Rotten Judgment

-“Won’t Say I’m in Love” in Hercules 

Nobody Learns Without Getting it Wrong

-“Try Everything” in Zootopia by Shikera

And All Belongings

((Honestly can't remember where this is from right now...))

Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad

-"Two Out of Three ain't Bad" by Meat Loaf

Let’s Get Down to Business

-“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” in Mulan

I Had the Week That Came From Hell

-"Something I Need" by One Republic

And Breathe……Just Breathe

-“Breathe [2am]” by Anna Nalick

Getcha’ Head in the Game

-“Getcha’ Head in the Game” in High School Musical

Tired Feeling Never Enough

-“History Maker” in Yuri on Ice!!! by Dean Fujioka

Running Out of Breath

-“The Greatest” by Sai

After Today I’ll be Cruz-’in

-“After Today” in Goofy Movie

It’s Been Fun But Now I’ve Got to Go

-“When Can I See You Again?” by Owl City in Wreck it Ralph

After Today I'm Gonna be Cruz-in

Oh my gosh people.

I.

Am.

Done.

FIANLLY!!!

….

Okay, lets break it down.

So last week was the submission date for the final project. I was very much working up until the last moment since I was redoing several backgrounds and still had the hardest bit of animation to do.

Thankfully I was rendering the scenes as I worked on other stuff and the renders weren’t taking as long as I thought.

Funny bit: Most of the things that had to get fixed where with the legs or pants layers. So I’m looking to the pants layer, talking out loud to keep the stress down, just chanting “pants. Pants. Pants. Pants.” Not trying to sound like I was stopping myself from cursing, but defiantly sounding like that was what I was doing.

Hint: Be careful with your music selections. By Monday morning I had exhausted all my music ten-fold and turned to the Kingdom Hearts II soundtrack that I love. Of course this is mostly battle music and combined with the stress of trying to finish and no sleep my adrenaline was pumping like crazy.

Of course there had to be a hiccup.

We had to submit a compressed file, un-compressed file, 5 high-res stills, info page, and resume all on a flash drive.

The drive I bought for it was 32GB. The files all together where 34GB.

Well Pants.

I ending up allowed to submit it on my hard-drive to later copy over onto a 64GB drive.

Good.

Of course once I was done I dropped.

Because I want to submit this to festivals I won't be posting the video, but you can look at some stills.

So done.

Kind of.

Thesis committee still needs to meet and review my animation. And guess what? That means that there is still a chance that I won’t be passed and therefore not graduate.

Fun.

…

Now this last week wasn’t exactly a walk in the park.

The paper is still needed so I’ve been woking on that.

There is also the screenings coming up. Two to be exact. One is off campus and only for a select few that the teachers vote on. Second is the one on campus which is all animations turned in for BFA and MFA.

I found out on Friday that I wasn’t in the selected screening, and kind of broke down.

Literally went to find my thesis advisor, convinced that not being selected meant I was going to fail committee and not graduate. 

Okay….I did more than “kind of” — I completely lost it.

Completely.

And totally.

Lost it.

I was crying, hardly able to talk, and still unconvinced no matter what I was told.

Eventually I calmed down enough to go back to working on my paper. I felt numb all over though and decided to go home to Jersey for the weekend just to reset myself.

I really needed it. To be home, with my own bed, my dog, my parents - just to chill. It also helped that Saturday was very sunny so I’m sure some natural vitamin D also helped.

Now, back at school, I’ve gotten back to work getting the animation ready for festivals.

I’ll be doing one more update next week to let you all know what committee says.

Here’s hoping for a pass.