I love the start of term. There is lots of promise of the interesting new level you are embarking on and how great you are going to be at keeping up with all your work. I already have a ton of work to do but am trying to revel in it as I am sure it will only get heavier. I know that I am going to try and enjoy this year as much as possible because I really like being at university and unless I decide to do a masters, this is the last year that I will be.
My big decision at the moment is what I will do for my final year project. My issue being that I don’t know. I feel much like a jack of all trades and a master of none on my course. My area is Animation and VFX I have got that far. However it is not as simple as just being an Animator, there is such a spectrum of specialised areas in the industry. Do I want to do character animation, rigging, modelling texturing, compositing and the list goes on. So it’s almost not a question of what do I want to do my project in but what do I want to be?
I think anyone could guess from the title which film I have seen. In a departure from the 3D wave everyone seems to be very excited about Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. It is a great film, one of those that looks good in the trailer, and it is good when you watch it. The design and the pacing are amazing, and Gary Oldman is excellent (to think that I only ever used to refer to him as ‘Sirius’). The only disappointment was that it was a little too easy to guess who the mole was and I prefer that kind of storyline to outwit me.
Friday, 30 September 2011
Wednesday, 31 August 2011
Preparation for third year!
The main part of Clearing is over now and we are progressing onto the time of online registration when people are going to become fresher’s! Because I changed my course I got to be a fresher twice, that was lucky for me because the second time I has fresher’s flu all week. Now I am looking at embarking on the scariest bit of any degree, the last year; this being the year that gives you your classification and where you have to make all the moves to propel yourself into the world of work.
To prepare for my third year I have been reading the books from my reading list and deciding what graduate schemes, company programmes and postgraduate courses I am interested in applying for so I don’t miss any deadlines. I am particularly enjoying ‘Ideas for the Animated Short’ which is an easier read than ‘The Art and Science of Digital Compositing’ although both very interesting.
The film of this blog is Fright Night. Not one that I initially might have gone for, however I was very kindly given a free ticket by my friend as part of the Sky movies previews at Cineworld O2. I normally run in the opposite direction to horror films because of my overactive imagination that has left me sleeping with the light on for lesser things. However Fright Night isn’t really a horror film, it’s funny, and it’s funniest when David Tennant is on screen. Colin Farrell looks like he is enjoying his role, he has a way of looking like he is having a ball when he is a funny baddy, somewhat like when he was Bull’s-eye in Daredevil. The guy who plays the main character I have seen in ‘Fierce People’ and ‘Charlie Bartlett’ and although the first of those films was five years ago he looks almost exactly the same. Really good film that keeps you on the edge of your seat and also gives you a laugh at the same time.
To prepare for my third year I have been reading the books from my reading list and deciding what graduate schemes, company programmes and postgraduate courses I am interested in applying for so I don’t miss any deadlines. I am particularly enjoying ‘Ideas for the Animated Short’ which is an easier read than ‘The Art and Science of Digital Compositing’ although both very interesting.
The film of this blog is Fright Night. Not one that I initially might have gone for, however I was very kindly given a free ticket by my friend as part of the Sky movies previews at Cineworld O2. I normally run in the opposite direction to horror films because of my overactive imagination that has left me sleeping with the light on for lesser things. However Fright Night isn’t really a horror film, it’s funny, and it’s funniest when David Tennant is on screen. Colin Farrell looks like he is enjoying his role, he has a way of looking like he is having a ball when he is a funny baddy, somewhat like when he was Bull’s-eye in Daredevil. The guy who plays the main character I have seen in ‘Fierce People’ and ‘Charlie Bartlett’ and although the first of those films was five years ago he looks almost exactly the same. Really good film that keeps you on the edge of your seat and also gives you a laugh at the same time.
Monday, 8 August 2011
Cars 2 and Captain America
Working in clearing over the summer is good, but it’s the evening and weekend activities that I look forward to the most. This week I saw two movies and I saw the show currently on at the Coliseum called ‘Napoletango’, which is a show you come out of wondering whether you thought it was good or just downright strange. However Bruce Forsyth and Antonio Carlucci (TV chef some people have never heard of and some people think is really famous) were there to see it.
So for the movie section, the viewing this week was Captain America. Possibly not one I would have been interested in if I did not know the people I do. It was a good, well put together, comprehensive film. I enjoyed it; it had many of my favourite British actors in it, a tiny bit from Richard Armitage (Robin Hood/Spooks/Vicar of Dibley) and Natalie Dormer (The Tudors). As well as Dominic Cooper (Mamma Mia) as Howard Stark and Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter (The Duchess)in more main roles. It is always nice when you see people who you have watched on British Television and the National Theatre stage progress to the big screen. Less British, but no less excellent small parts came from Stanley Tucci and Tommy Lee Jones. Stanley Tucci is one of those people is always in supporting roles but also nearly always makes a movie.
Anyway, actually about the film! It is another super hero origin movie but it’s not a cliché, it is set in the 1940s and the Captain’s super powers are due to medical science. It is also part of a “set”, the Marvel Hulk, Iron Man, Thor and Captain America films title characters will all be in The Avengers next year. I have seen all of these films and have to say I don’t think much of Hulk, Iron Man is all right, Captain America is good and solid but my favourite is probably Thor. Its humour and the impressiveness of the worlds of Asgaard and Jodenheim are what tip it on top for me.
I also saw Cars 2, as a digital animation student this was an interesting one for me. It was undoubtedly gorgeous with a lot impressive effects in terms of explosions and the scene with Finn McMissile. Being a Pixar film you would expect nothing less than the best animation around. In terms of story it’s about Mater not Lightning McQueen, however I felt the same about it as I did about Cars. It’s really good but other Pixar films are great. Look out for the adverts on the London race track that say ‘Lassetyre’ after director and overall genius John Lasseter. Absolutely go and see it, but as soon as it finishes run away because the song over the credits is awful.
So for the movie section, the viewing this week was Captain America. Possibly not one I would have been interested in if I did not know the people I do. It was a good, well put together, comprehensive film. I enjoyed it; it had many of my favourite British actors in it, a tiny bit from Richard Armitage (Robin Hood/Spooks/Vicar of Dibley) and Natalie Dormer (The Tudors). As well as Dominic Cooper (Mamma Mia) as Howard Stark and Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter (The Duchess)in more main roles. It is always nice when you see people who you have watched on British Television and the National Theatre stage progress to the big screen. Less British, but no less excellent small parts came from Stanley Tucci and Tommy Lee Jones. Stanley Tucci is one of those people is always in supporting roles but also nearly always makes a movie.
Anyway, actually about the film! It is another super hero origin movie but it’s not a cliché, it is set in the 1940s and the Captain’s super powers are due to medical science. It is also part of a “set”, the Marvel Hulk, Iron Man, Thor and Captain America films title characters will all be in The Avengers next year. I have seen all of these films and have to say I don’t think much of Hulk, Iron Man is all right, Captain America is good and solid but my favourite is probably Thor. Its humour and the impressiveness of the worlds of Asgaard and Jodenheim are what tip it on top for me.
I also saw Cars 2, as a digital animation student this was an interesting one for me. It was undoubtedly gorgeous with a lot impressive effects in terms of explosions and the scene with Finn McMissile. Being a Pixar film you would expect nothing less than the best animation around. In terms of story it’s about Mater not Lightning McQueen, however I felt the same about it as I did about Cars. It’s really good but other Pixar films are great. Look out for the adverts on the London race track that say ‘Lassetyre’ after director and overall genius John Lasseter. Absolutely go and see it, but as soon as it finishes run away because the song over the credits is awful.
Monday, 25 July 2011
My Summer
After a hiatus in the US my summer is returning to its usual path. Since 2009 I have spent my summer holidays working at university for Clearing. Although I enjoy working for Clearing at the university, A-Level Day can be a very intense time with understandably stressed callers and last year I found myself looking forward to the start of the term for a change of pace.
I had a lovely holiday; I spent two weeks in Orlando and one in New York, being as touristy as possible in both locations. I particularly enjoyed The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Universal Studios and also Hollywood Studios in Disney World. The shops at Downtown Disney are very impressive, including a Lego shop with a life size Loch Ness monster in the river outside (not that the size of the Loch Ness monster has been definitively decided)!
New York was also impressive and in just four days we covered the Statue of liberty, Ellis Island, The Rockefeller Centre, The Empire State building, Fifth Avenue, New York Library, Times Square, a Sex and the City tour and a showing of The Lion King. Not to forget the fantastic Alexander McQueen exhibition at the Met and the Harry Potter prop exhibition at Discovery: Times Square. A very enjoyable part was the Whole Food market at the bottom of the Time Warner building.
By my exploits on holiday you may have picked up that I quite like Harry Potter. I did go and see the last film last Friday. I am terrible and trying to critique Harry Potter films because I am a fan of the books, a film is never as good if you have read the book. Let us just say it was good and leave it at that. In terms of cinema I am looking forward to Cars 2 because I revel in anything Pixar and Captain America, because I saw Thor and it was much better than I expected.
Other than getting back into the swing of Clearing my other current occupation is taking in my reading list for next year. All of the books are interesting but some such as The Art of the Incredibles are particularly a pleasure with lots of concept art and a fold out colour script. I hope I will have enough information in my head by September to make the most of my last year at uni!
I had a lovely holiday; I spent two weeks in Orlando and one in New York, being as touristy as possible in both locations. I particularly enjoyed The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Universal Studios and also Hollywood Studios in Disney World. The shops at Downtown Disney are very impressive, including a Lego shop with a life size Loch Ness monster in the river outside (not that the size of the Loch Ness monster has been definitively decided)!
New York was also impressive and in just four days we covered the Statue of liberty, Ellis Island, The Rockefeller Centre, The Empire State building, Fifth Avenue, New York Library, Times Square, a Sex and the City tour and a showing of The Lion King. Not to forget the fantastic Alexander McQueen exhibition at the Met and the Harry Potter prop exhibition at Discovery: Times Square. A very enjoyable part was the Whole Food market at the bottom of the Time Warner building.
By my exploits on holiday you may have picked up that I quite like Harry Potter. I did go and see the last film last Friday. I am terrible and trying to critique Harry Potter films because I am a fan of the books, a film is never as good if you have read the book. Let us just say it was good and leave it at that. In terms of cinema I am looking forward to Cars 2 because I revel in anything Pixar and Captain America, because I saw Thor and it was much better than I expected.
Other than getting back into the swing of Clearing my other current occupation is taking in my reading list for next year. All of the books are interesting but some such as The Art of the Incredibles are particularly a pleasure with lots of concept art and a fold out colour script. I hope I will have enough information in my head by September to make the most of my last year at uni!
Sunday, 29 May 2011
Holiday?
My second year of university is finally and completely over. Big sigh. So naturally I have bought a reading list book for my first essay next year and started thinking about how best to prepare. I will also spend my summer working for the university in Clearing. It will be my third summer spent doing this but at the moment university entry changes so much that it has never been boring. It is a chance to get really good work experience dealing with people in stressed situations and an environment where information is rapidly changing.
I am looking forward to having a holiday. However I am concerned that my wonderful plans will be scuppered by the ash cloud like so many flights were a few months ago. Big kid that I am, I am extremely excited about doing the theme park thing in Orlando then the sightseeing thing in New York. I have been to the USA once before but only on a jaunt around the Mid-West, the biggest stop being Chicago.
While I am out in Orlando I will probably see a NBA finals game. Both the two playoff rounds and the conference championships have taken place. The Dallas Mavericks won the Western conference and the Miami Heat won the Eastern conference so they will now go head to head for the NBA Championship.
The Marathon I have mentioned a few times is now over. Ouch. There are lovely views on the course in Edinburgh and lots of friendly people. I had never been to Edinburgh before (Aberdeen being my Scottish city of choice) and can confirm like so many others before me that it is very lovely. There is still time to support the British Heart Foundation at www.justgiving.com/Emily-Luff. I promise that’s the last time I will write that. Many thanks for the great generosity and help I have received from all of those who have supported me.
I am looking forward to having a holiday. However I am concerned that my wonderful plans will be scuppered by the ash cloud like so many flights were a few months ago. Big kid that I am, I am extremely excited about doing the theme park thing in Orlando then the sightseeing thing in New York. I have been to the USA once before but only on a jaunt around the Mid-West, the biggest stop being Chicago.
While I am out in Orlando I will probably see a NBA finals game. Both the two playoff rounds and the conference championships have taken place. The Dallas Mavericks won the Western conference and the Miami Heat won the Eastern conference so they will now go head to head for the NBA Championship.
The Marathon I have mentioned a few times is now over. Ouch. There are lovely views on the course in Edinburgh and lots of friendly people. I had never been to Edinburgh before (Aberdeen being my Scottish city of choice) and can confirm like so many others before me that it is very lovely. There is still time to support the British Heart Foundation at www.justgiving.com/Emily-Luff. I promise that’s the last time I will write that. Many thanks for the great generosity and help I have received from all of those who have supported me.
Monday, 9 May 2011
End of Term
Term is winding down now; I have just come out of the other side of two crazy coursework weeks. By that I mean nights with no sleep, computers having technical faults and too much running around. In my previous blog I mentioned the NBA playoffs; the second round has started now, so there are only four teams left in each conference. Recently Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls (the same team as Michael Jordan) won Most Valuable Player and their coach Tom Thibadeou got Coach of the Year.
I don’t know so much about comics but my sister and boyfriend do, so he was very excited when my sister bought us all preview tickets to see Thor. If you haven’t heard of him apart from that he has a movie out, Thor is the Norse God of thunder that is friends with characters like the incredible Hulk, Iron Man and Captain America. This film introduces him, his hammer, the home of the Nordic gods Asgard and his naughty brother Loki who it looks like might feature in more super hero marvel movies to come. It’s a nicely put together film by director Kenneth Brannagh and its good fun with some funny moments; you don’t have to know things about the stories to appreciate it. However if you do have a penchant for a comic books you might not notice the billboard or know that Jeremy Renner’s character with a bow and arrow is Hawkeye a member of the upcoming Avengers movie.
At this time of the year I like looking forward to the summer and also making sure I am ready and prepared for what next year will bring. But at the moment I am still thinking about immediate pressures as it is not all over, I still have the marathon to come. So for the last time I will say, pretty please, every little helps at www.justgiving.com/Emily-Luff. Also, many thanks to Bryony who helped me with my fundraising, by organising a cake sale at the Bocking Mayday fair.
I don’t know so much about comics but my sister and boyfriend do, so he was very excited when my sister bought us all preview tickets to see Thor. If you haven’t heard of him apart from that he has a movie out, Thor is the Norse God of thunder that is friends with characters like the incredible Hulk, Iron Man and Captain America. This film introduces him, his hammer, the home of the Nordic gods Asgard and his naughty brother Loki who it looks like might feature in more super hero marvel movies to come. It’s a nicely put together film by director Kenneth Brannagh and its good fun with some funny moments; you don’t have to know things about the stories to appreciate it. However if you do have a penchant for a comic books you might not notice the billboard or know that Jeremy Renner’s character with a bow and arrow is Hawkeye a member of the upcoming Avengers movie.
At this time of the year I like looking forward to the summer and also making sure I am ready and prepared for what next year will bring. But at the moment I am still thinking about immediate pressures as it is not all over, I still have the marathon to come. So for the last time I will say, pretty please, every little helps at www.justgiving.com/Emily-Luff. Also, many thanks to Bryony who helped me with my fundraising, by organising a cake sale at the Bocking Mayday fair.
Monday, 18 April 2011
The Prelude to May Madness
I am sure that I have never had so much to be doing in my life before. A weekend with no plans seems like strange and rare treat these days. I am looking forward to the summer holidays! The significant factors in my life at the moment are probably finishing all my end of term coursework, running Edinburgh Marathon and the start of the NBA playoffs. Why NBA? Because my boyfriend talks about it a fair amount of the time.
For those who are not versed in the language of basketball (I only learnt this recently). The regular season has just finished so all 30 teams in the National Basketball Association (29 in the US and 1 in Canada) have just finished playing 82 games each. How many they have won out of 82 dictates how good their record is. The teams are split into the eastern and western conferences. So the teams with the top eight records in the east and the top eight records in the west go through to the playoffs. This is where each team versus another playoff team in their conference, and plays a series where they have to get the best of seven games to go through to the next round. This happens until we have an eastern and a western conference champion, who go against each other to make the world champion. At the moment we are supporting the Chicago Bulls, go Derrick Rose! MVP (Most valuable player)! MVP!
More importantly, I have been to the cinema since my last blog, but I saw ‘Your Highness’. It’s silly, and not good hearted silly like a Will Ferrell film. Some parts are quite disgusting, although it had some good and funny elements my main feeling on leaving the cinema was slight nausea. So I will not be seeing that one again but I am looking forward to Rio, when I get spare couple of hours.
For those who are not versed in the language of basketball (I only learnt this recently). The regular season has just finished so all 30 teams in the National Basketball Association (29 in the US and 1 in Canada) have just finished playing 82 games each. How many they have won out of 82 dictates how good their record is. The teams are split into the eastern and western conferences. So the teams with the top eight records in the east and the top eight records in the west go through to the playoffs. This is where each team versus another playoff team in their conference, and plays a series where they have to get the best of seven games to go through to the next round. This happens until we have an eastern and a western conference champion, who go against each other to make the world champion. At the moment we are supporting the Chicago Bulls, go Derrick Rose! MVP (Most valuable player)! MVP!
More importantly, I have been to the cinema since my last blog, but I saw ‘Your Highness’. It’s silly, and not good hearted silly like a Will Ferrell film. Some parts are quite disgusting, although it had some good and funny elements my main feeling on leaving the cinema was slight nausea. So I will not be seeing that one again but I am looking forward to Rio, when I get spare couple of hours.
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