Final Video Project: Final Version

All done and ready for tomorrow!

Video Final Project: Closing Comments

There have been some issues between the rough cut and final cut of my project. The biggest issue was that almost all of my actors were sick. One of them could not perform at all, while another was stuck at home due to car trouble. In order to shoot something and still have time to edit, I had to write out the late actress and use myself in the shots as a main character. I carefully set up the camera beforehand before preparing to shoot the desired footage. It all mostly went according to plan; the acting was on script, the shots were done with room to edit, and everything flowed smoothly. Unfortunately, a lot of the shots were over exposed with glare, so I still have to Color Correct them, but it looks good other then that. I'll upload the Corrected final edit later today.

Video Final Project: Proposal, Production, and Big Plans

So when I first got the final project, I wanted to do something funny that was Pokémon related. Usually whenever I did a FCP project, I recorded video games to make my music video or how-to guide, but I don't have that advantage here. Plus, I wanted to try something different: using actors in a piece directed by myself! Luckily, several of my friends agreed to help me out and one even let me borrow his camera! I had to type up the script, direct the actors ,and coordinate them as well. I had to change the video idea twice due to it being too long.

The general idea was to stage a Pokémon battle between two people using stuffed toys and stop motion, but that was two complicated. And given the minute cap of the time, it would take up WAY too much time. So, I changed it to make it more comical as it showed an argument between a Pokémon Trainer and two thieves who want to steal his Pokémon. This also however took up too much time, and the actors complained about the lack of continuity in the script. Given that, I changed the script and plot a third time.

I ended up filming the rough edit in a different location then I originally wanted, but it turned out to be so much better. It was quieter and less busy in the nature trail when compared to outside of Eickhoff. Unfortunately, one of my actors was not feeling well, so I stepped in for the time being. Other then the mass amounts of goofing off, the shots I got were quite good. The plot combined the argument from the second idea and the battle from the first, plus a few new ideas.

The battle would be shown by FCP's filters acting as the Pokémon's moves and background music to keep things lively. I thought the camera would not pick up voices as well as I thought, but it turned out better then expected. After a few revisions to the script, all that is left to do is let the actors study their lines and gather their costumes for the final recording.

Clip it Good! Yeah!

After our first assignment in Final Cut Pro, we had to take at least 10 shots to edit together later. While some of mine showcased some of TCNJ's landscape:

 Like the outside of T-Dubs or the treetops,

Most of my shots were of casual people about the campus, acting natural for the best results

 They were all such good sports :)

 Now who's this handsome devil?

And rapping it up, I was lucky enough to catch a clip of this little guy below.

Squirrel! :D

Midterm Works Revealed! Character Edition!

Finally finished and keeping to my original plan: 2 character concept works from a dark Visual Novel from the Magic Circle, 2 original character works from my in-progress RPG game, and 2 pages of concept Fantasy enemies from an old project I worked on in High School.

[Disclaimer: the art you see here are all original characters or concepts. Do not take them under any circumstances! Thank you]

Now the dark works from the Visual Novel. First:

In this Visual Novel, the Protagonist acts as a character trying to escape alive from an insane asylum in Hell. The Artist is one of the characters that he could interact with. "The Artist" is a sadistic sort of crazy, using parts from animals (and eventually people) for his masterpieces. Because he is in an asylum, he has no way to get fresh paint, so he uses his own blood to fuel his creative drive. Hence the paintbrushes lodged in his arm. Notice the intestine belt, small skull decoration, and overall creepiness. I loved how this came out, and I used another layer for the shadows.

And now the big baddie:

This man put himself on top of the asylum hierarchy, but his face is the look of a old man who suffered his whole life. He thinks of himself as a deity-like figure and shows it by his pope looking lab coat. But he has practiced in dark arts, hence the rune circles and blood spattered over him. His black and gray hair actually spikes up to look like horns, and his jagged scar is because of a rather dangerous demoness inmate...

And now for the RPG characters. Here is the protagonist and player character:

This is not Clifford everyone. Domino was a toy I owned as a child, and he was used in a Flash animation last year about discrimination. He's loyal, like a dog should be, and is the total hero package, abit hasty and stubborn. Domino moves to the fictional town of Greenville to prove that he can survive on his own, but was utterly defeated by the main antagonist. His main weapon is a medium-sized hammer, and can command the element of ice. He can also use a charge attack to "roll over" enemies.

Speaking of the antagonist:

Once again an old toy back with a vengeance, Darkball is a star scorned from the heavens for his intrigue in the dark forces below. He was corrupted, and kicked out. To claim his revenge, he and his army of robotic machine-gunner bugs go to Greenville to ravage it, for underneath the soil somewhere is a hidden temple said to hold an artifact capable of moving the heavens themselves. He naturally resonates a green energy, to which he can shape into a pair of claws.

And, finally, the 2 Enemy works. Page 1:

The theme for the project I was involved in focused on dreams and fantasies of the like. Here we have a monkey jester with two guns and no legs (called Bobo), a man-eating treasure chest (called Cannibox), a living severed tongue in a knot (Tongue Twisted), a sentient cloud of pollution (Fog), a cute marshmallow with a large wooden mallet (Mashmallow), and a faux rabbit-shaped explosive (Bunnibomb).

And Page 2:

These last two showcase some of the best the enemies had to offer. This time we have an evil bloodsucker in the top left corner (Dark Bat), a head-eating hat (Mad Hatter), a possessed tree corpse (Oakrot), an animal/scorpion hybrid (Scorpio-Beast), a sentient mass of acidic sewer slime (Slimeball AKA Sludge), and a massive hybrid between a canine, rhino, serpent, dragon, and gorilla with an energybolt-firing mace tail (Dogmegus).

Thank you for reviewing my Midterm! I hope you enjoyed it :)

Midterm Proposal

For my midterm exam, I plan on doing a portfolio of character art, as if I was presenting them to someone for a video game, visual novel, or something of the like. I like this idea because it would push my own creative limits as I give color and detail to both undeveloped characters and characters that never have been shown to the public eye (or really any other person besides me). What I plan to incorporate in the portfolio would consist of:
- two concept characters for a developing visual novel in the Magic Circle.
- two characters from my own personal developing RPG videogame.
- two pages of concept enemies, from an old fantasy-based game I worked on in High School.

If anything does not work out, I will post the changes to the blog as soon as possible.

A Picture Tells 1000 Lives

For my narrative assignment, I made 6 images recurring to a Warped Reality theme. While all the pictures are of real places around the TCNJ campus, everyone in them is from a video game like Zelda or Pokémon. The main picture is a collaboration of said 6 images, but I'll explain the individual images too.

Picture 1: Pokémon

In this picture, the red ball on campus is discovered by a few Pokémon, who decide to make a few...improvements. And while Togepi (the egg) is quite pleased with Smeargle's (the one painting) latest work, Pikachu found someone who may not be all that enthusiastic about the sudden change. I like how I shaded Pikachu specifically, like he's really in the ball's shadow.

Picture 2: Pikmin

In this picture, we have Captain Olimar with a group of Red Pikmin exploring the side of a tree bulge. I found a great image of him at an angle, as if we were looking down on him from above. The Pikmin were hard to keep track of though...

Picture 3: Three-Way Race

This picture has Super Mario, Kirby, and Sonic the Hedgehog having a race down one of the longer roads on campus, with Mr.Game&Watch at the starting line. Sonic and Kirby turned out well, but I could of got Mario's trail from the Launch Star better. They all have different filters to show how different their game styles are.

Picture 4: Legend of Zelda

Here, we have our Hero of Time Link working on his marksmanship with that dog from Duck Hunt. While the ducks are OK, Link's much more interested in whatever is in that present dangling from the balloon. I loved how the background looked, but I should have made Link look more cartoony to blend in better.

Picture 5: Kirby

Oh jeez. Kirby found the dessert section in Eickhoff, complete with some rare treats, like Strawberry Shortcake. While Kirby may be divided into 10 beings, his appetite remains as whole as ever! If one looks carefully, we can find Meta Knight eyeing the sweets too...

Picture 6: Mario & Sonic

Rivals since long ago, Mario and Sonic are always competing at something, but today seems like a rest day for some. Mario, Princess Peach, and Toadsworth are relaxing in the shade of a tree outside the IMM building, ignoring both Bowser Junior, Wario and Waluigi. Meanwhile, Sonic and his nemesis Dr.Eggman are at it again. This time however, Sonic has teamed up with his "Classic" self from the past, to fight an old foe: Metal Sonic!

Color Me Impressed

 For my Color Corrections, I decided to correct one image that was too dark and one that was too bright. The dark picture I used was of some bushes near the tennis courts during the day. Look at the difference between them! The bottom one is so much clearer.

 The bright picture I used was an old picture I took of my Pokémon Tepig for another project, but I didn't use it because it was too bright. It was harder to correct this picture then the other one, but I think it turned out pretty good regardless.

Compositely Cool 2

 The above composition is a picture of the campus' landscape mixed with some images of Pokémon, giving the look as if they were wandering around freely. The composition below is a filtered work of the Traverse/Wolfe with a four-armed Donkey Kong hanging off of them. I colored the buildings pink to make them look like the girders from the 1981 Donkey Kong game.

One Serious Art Attack.

So I saw the Faculty Art Show yesterday. I'm actually surprised I found it in the IMM building. But anyway, when I stepped inside that room, I felt in awe at the beauty of the paintings I saw in there! Some paintings blew me away with their detail, while with others it was the color. I liked that giant jellyfish-looking work, and those little wooden contraptions looked interesting too. But I think my favorites included this one painting on the front wall, all the way to the left. I forget what it was called, which annoys me, but it began with an S. What I liked about it was its show of depth when the artist painted that hole in the bottom of the painting. It really appealed to me. I also loved the colors shown in that Tokyo painting on the same wall, the carved wooden boat in the corner, and the deer's head on the wall. I liked the deer because of the camera they put right near its head, to show you what it would be seeing. Other then that, the deer creeped me out a bit, but that's just me. All in all, I loved stopping by there for the wonderful works of art and sculptures!

Compositely Cool

 This composite sketch above is abstract, with several photos I took myself. See those mushrooms? Those are actually those steam pipes over campus!

 Now these are funny. Above I have a giant horned lizard with UFOs attacking Tokyo, and below is an IMM-shaped alien with hands and lamp antenna. Both have filters, but I intended for the bottom to be for the free-style assignment.

Sketch it! Sketch it good!

 This is a 15 minute sketch of some landscape. It is really the school's volleyball area. (above)

 These are both a 30 minute self-portrait (above) and a 60 minute free-style sketch (below). The sketch below is actually concept art for my personal game idea, which simply is an RPG game with animals. Everything shown below is of my own creation.

About Me

Name: Brandon Alicea
Age: 18
I like video games, cartoons, anime, music and drawing. I've taken a lot of different clubs and sports over the years, like drama and tae-kwon-do. I want to create video games for Nintendo when I get older, and I have experience drawing concept art in a couple of high school clubs, specifically for characters, weapons, and enemies. I have experience working in Adobe Flash, Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Final Cut Pro, DVD Studio Pro, and Motion. I am very creative and fun, even if I am shy around new people.