by mtonta20 | Sep 19, 2014 | FILM FESTIVALS
Animation Festivals Submissions Tips/ Tricks This article is a part 2 continuation from the article Submitting to Animation Festival pt1: Avoiding Rookie Mistakes. In the last article, we wrote about rookie mistakes to avoid when submitting to an animation festival, this article is focused more on other aspects you might not be aware of that may bog down or help your submission too that goes into a bit more details. Today’s guest post are tips to understanding Animation Film Festival submissions adapted from an interview with our very own talented animator Allyssa Lewis at Floyd County Productions working on Emmy Nominated Best Animated Series and Critics Choice Award Winner 2014 Archer and current Vice President of ASIFA-Atlanta. *Different Festivals may have different ways of judging and criterias. IF YOUR FILM HAS DIALOGUES…YOU MIGHT NOT WANT TO HARDCODE YOUR SUBTITLES While most short animation may avoid the second level of animation complexity by avoiding talking characters or lip syncing altogether, there may be a time you will have to venture into the zone of having text to help out your story or dialogues. In this case, subtitles are very important to how far your animation may go. The two basic languages you should at least have for your animation is at least english and french subtitles. These subtitles should also be at a professional level, otherwise you should not embed them straight onto the animation. Instead, choose to have a transcript or have it closed captioned instead of hard-coded into the animation. This way, if a festival likes your film or wants to send it off to other films, they have the choice to use/not use it....
by mtonta20 | Sep 12, 2014 | FILM FESTIVALS
Animation Festivals Submissions Tips/ Tricks As an animator, there comes a point in your career you might want to consider submitting your work to Film/Animation Festivals but where to begin? While your animation might have top-notched quality animation aesthetics and story, there are many reasons that could stop it from being chosen. Knowing about the rookie mistakes and some tidbits behind how the animated short selection process works from one of the jurors working directly behind the scenes might help you understand better how your film can have a better chance at being picked and give you an advantage over other submissions. Today’s guest post are tips to understanding Animation Film Festival submissions adapted from an interview with our very own talented animator Allyssa Lewis at Floyd County Productions working on Emmy Nominated Best Animated Series and Critics Choice Award Winner 2014 Archer and current Vice President of ASIFA-Atlanta. RESEARCH/ KNOW YOUR SUBMISSION CATEGORY As with most things in life, research is crucial to how successful your submission might be. If you have a film you are submitting to within a category, make sure it’s under the right one. While a film can be more than one thing, try to aim for what it mostly is. A documentary or live-action with a little bouncing animated ball as an additional animation element probably wouldn’t really be considered very strong in an animation category. If it isn’t under the right category, don’t always bank that the person watching your film will help you put it under a more fitting one…they might just find it easier to nix it altogether. Which also leads...
by mtonta20 | Sep 8, 2014 | COMPETITIONS
GLOBAL GAME JAME: WINNING AGAINST TIME When it comes to a tight time-restriction as a main component such as the Global Game Jam where you only have 48 hours to execute and create a game prototype, I’ve learned from experience that there are certain things you can do to put yourself at an advantage. As much as competing against others as you think you might be, you are also competing mainly with time. The priorities are different and these are just some tips/tricks I’ve learned during my experience that I believe are adaptable traits that were helpful in helping us place first not only in the Global Game Jam-Atlanta 2014, but other timed competitions such as the ASIFA-Atlanta 12N12 Competition 2012, and the SCAD Generate Competition: Animation Category 2012. DO YOUR BASIC RESEARCH It is at least a fundamental to know what kind of competition you are competing in before enlisting yourself. As an animator, I was a bit wary at first joining the GGJ as it was a gaming competition and I did not know if I would have the sufficient skills to be able to pull the project off so I looked up the scope of previous projects, read the briefs, and talked to past competitors and organizers about what they would suggest having as skills in joining the competition. Sometimes all it really takes is a quick 20 mins of google search to do a brief research on previous winning projects and make a mental note on what you think was the strength or weakness as different types of skills may be needed and you want...
by mtonta20 | Sep 4, 2014 | TUTORIALS
This blog is the second part to the series of how to create your own LINE sticker focused on Tips and Tricks on marketing and our guest blogger Tenkaminari’s personal experience on having deployed his own set! If you missed out our first part on basic instructional from our guest blogger Tenkaminari, click here to go read the first part. *Disclaimer* This is a process filed in Thailand so it might be a bit different than in the US. This post has been edited to condense the content. BASIC MARKETING FOR YOUR LINE STICKERS (Tenkaminari’s Personal Strategies) Building your Foundation of fans from your Friends Public promotion are important, but the real deal is actual usage. Build up your network from your own friends and family. Some of your fans and friends would buy your Sticker as a “help” but I believe that it is the actual usage that boost your sale. From friends passing to their friends, if they like it too, they’d buy it and continue using and it goes on from your friend’s friend’s to their friends again. It will go beyond your friend’s network.Making Stickers Usable for Daily ConversationsTen thousand sets of stickers available on market, and some are even (limited) free from corporations.You would think that you should make something different from others, something not available in other people’s sets. Well…it’s true in some ways. But seriously, if you made something so unique that nobody had the chance to use it, who would buy it? Interacting with your Fanbase or Sticker Buyers (Inserted Tip from Ginger) One of the few things I believe Tenkaminari does pretty well is to...
by mtonta20 | Sep 2, 2014 | TUTORIALS
Chances are if you are in Asia, especially in Thailand, you have probably heard of the super popular LINE chat application or have it on your phone. If not, it’s similar to WHATSAPP, GCHAT, and other instant messaging applications you may have on your smart phone. As of recent though, LINE has also been making a huge wave in pushing its way into the US with its cute stickers and celebrity endorsements. So while, there is a wave to ride, would an artist like you perhaps want to learn how you can create your very own LINE stickers and make some money on the side. Although we are focused on some basic steps on how to do this, you can also visit the directions on the official site HERE so today’s post is more on trial and errors and tips and tricks on how to creatively market your stickers. This post is sectioned into two parts= 1. THE BASIC HOW TO 2. TIPS AND TRICKS ON MARKETING YOUR LINE STICKER Here are some tips and basic steps in today’s guest post is written by my friend who goes by Shih-Hwa J. Tenkaminari who has created his own sticker set: SISAKA CHAN. *Disclaimer* This is a process filed in Thailand so it might be a bit different than in the US. This post has been edited to condense the content. PART 1: THE HOW TO 1.) How to Apply In my case, I’m already a LINE user before they open for submission. So I didn’t have any problem with registration at this step. I’ve heard that non-user can register too, but I...
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