An Oldie

In light of it being so close to the end of my time here at the Sheridan, some nostalgic thinking has entered my brain. Nostalgic in the sense that I found this story reel the other day and thought, why not upload it to the blog? If not just to avoid scanning or doing something new but to look back, to reflect, to ponder, to be disgusted and perhaps mildly amused.

This story reel was done in 2nd year as our major story assignment for one semester. It still stands to me as one of the better things that I have done since being in school. Looking back at this there are a ton of technical errors in terms of axis changes, timing and continuity. Despite these errors it is still somehow is more engaging and amusing than a lot of the story stuff I have done since. This is kind of a crappy thought because I have done reels and storyboards since that I have put several times more effort and energy into than this one. Yet every time I look back at the story things I've done, this piece is way more appealing, direct and clear in its intentions. Ever since a short period in second year, the task of creating an effective story piece has been a great challange, not technically really but conceptually. There isn't anything brilliant about the concept in this reel, its simple as could be in terms of any kind of actual story stucture but it's execution seemed crystal clear to me while producing it. Achieving this feeling of clear intention and execution has been far more difficult since, maybe it just seems that way, the stories have gotten, admittedly more complex, the projects, larger in scope. I guess what I really learned in school more than anything else is that artistic inspiration isn't just something made up by art history professors but is really the single most frustrating element of doing anything creative. You can try all you want and work harder than you did before but it won't mean anything unless there is cartoon light bulb thats glowing over your head. Why this light bulb isn't on all the time is the most elusive of questions.

Sad, yes, but true... no? Yeah, whatever.