My Journal
March 10th, 2015:
I walked into the elaborate NHPTV studio expecting cameras everywhere, or something along the lines of any studio that you see in a movie. However, the studio is much more of an office workplace, cubicles and all. I began the day by sitting in on about an hour long staff meeting. Although this did not have to do with animation, it was very interesting to see exactly what gets put into each and every show from a studio. The meeting was small, maybe 15 staff members, but all contributed a specific role for a specific show. It made me wonder if this much time gets put into an animated feature staff meeting. These members were discussing the smallest things like captions, but apparently even minor details play a vital role in the production of a show. After that, I got to sit down with Susan Adams, the Education Manager at NHPTV. We explored the world of animation and where I should look to next. She pointed me in great directions telling me about the “3 categories of animation”, as the background of PBS Kids, and their 'initiative to learn' moto. We talked a great deal about what is put into a children’s show nowadays and how that has changed over time. Ms. Adams said that shows nowadays 'focus on what’s being tested', primarily meaning STEM, with the aspect of literacy as well. Topics like geography are not incorporated as much simply because 'they are not being tested'. From there, I was able to do an ample amount of research on the topics that Ms. Adams showed me, from today’s 'learning goals' to the 60’s 'Dark Age of Animation'. At the end of the day, I had a long interview with Jeff Price, the screenwriter for films Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Shrek 3. The interview was great. He gave me a great amount of information about what is was like to be in the industry relating most of the information that I have been researching. Mr. Price was able to give me a different perspective on most things. The interview lasted 30 mins.
March 11th, 2015
I spent this day doing a lot of research. Ms. Adams and I agreed that it would be a good idea to focus on how animation has affected other media, such as games, or apps, anything other than what is broadcast on television. Through this research, I was able to find a great amount of information that PBS uses for 'child development' surrounding iconic characters, and shows like Arthur or Clifford, The Big Red Dog. I was able to look at MAD magazine as well, a major tool for animation nowadays, that has served to be the 'inspiration' for shows today. Another piece of information I was able to tackle was the story behind Disneyland and connecting it with animation. Walt Disney’s vision for the park and how his features of animation would play a role in that. The day was long, but a large amount of good research was conducted.
March 12th, 2015
I started the day off with another staff meeting. this meeting was a bit different, it involved the entire staff of NHPTV, not just the small television people. This meeting was different from the other staff meeting because this one went into much greater depth about upcoming shows. There seemed to be a nervous feel to the room as these deadlines seemed to approach, when in reality they were more than 3 weeks away. Again, this meeting was able to put in perspective how much time goes into television planning and they don’t even produce the shows there. The rest of my day included more research. I was able to chat with Ms. Adams about a venue that she is taking part in. The venue is for kids learning the subject of STEM. Although it did not have anything directly to do with animation, we talked about how there were characters from PBS shows that were advertised on some of the activities. This idea led me to do extensive research on how animated characters are used to promote products and services, such as these learning activities.
Overall, the experience at NHPTV was very interesting. It was not exactly how I pictured my internship going, but it was worth my time in the end I believe. I was able to learn a lot on PBS, while also having the opportunity to research other animation domains.
March 14th, 2015
I visited the Barker Character Comic and Cartoon Museum in Cheshire, CT. The museum was amazing, full of toys dating as far back as 1890. I was able to spend a very long time speaking with Ben George, the docent of the museum. Ben was an immense help to my project, sharing amazing details of animated pieces, as well as cartoons. An example of something Ben informed me was “The Yellow Kid”, which was a front for some of the first political cartoons. Through false drawings that were published in the newspapers, it went on to play a major role in the commencement of the Spanish American War by publishing inaccurate cartoons. The museum had literally every single piece of merchandise that has to do with an animated character. There was so much rich history that I am very excited to use for my project. The reason I found this visit so amazing for my thesis is because although this museum did not target the actual cartoons, or whatever, I know that I need to look at how animation has influenced society, and how the characters are used for marketing purposes, such as Donald Duck Bread. Some other great pieces that I learned was that a huge amount of toys and products use animated characters to better advertise their products such as Pez. Overall, I loved the museum and I amvery happy I went.
March 16th, 2015
I started to work on my own animation piece for my experience. I’ve been working with an online program called “GoAnimate”, which is a business-friendly animation program that makes intricate animation a bit easier to a rookie like myself. In about 2.5 hours of work on it, I was only able to make a 30 second clip. This is really showing me how incredibly time consuming it is to make a full length animated movie or television show. In my piece, I am looking at the entertainment value, rather than education, or instructional. Making the video is tough, but I am committed to making as many little tweaks as possible to achieve my idea of perfection.
March 21st, 2015
I went to the Sundance Film Festival: Animation hosted at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston. This showing featured six short films of about fifteen minutes each. Each film was completely different in their form of animation, but animation nonetheless. It was very interesting to view these shorts, some resonating with the audience more than others. I was able to notice that a character with more human characteristics makes the audience feel more connected to that particular video. It was great to see how animation has developed to be able to strike people with such emotion where I heard some people laugh, yell, even whimper because of the strong emotion that was able to be produced from the films. It was a nice little festival. Glad I went.
I walked into the elaborate NHPTV studio expecting cameras everywhere, or something along the lines of any studio that you see in a movie. However, the studio is much more of an office workplace, cubicles and all. I began the day by sitting in on about an hour long staff meeting. Although this did not have to do with animation, it was very interesting to see exactly what gets put into each and every show from a studio. The meeting was small, maybe 15 staff members, but all contributed a specific role for a specific show. It made me wonder if this much time gets put into an animated feature staff meeting. These members were discussing the smallest things like captions, but apparently even minor details play a vital role in the production of a show. After that, I got to sit down with Susan Adams, the Education Manager at NHPTV. We explored the world of animation and where I should look to next. She pointed me in great directions telling me about the “3 categories of animation”, as the background of PBS Kids, and their 'initiative to learn' moto. We talked a great deal about what is put into a children’s show nowadays and how that has changed over time. Ms. Adams said that shows nowadays 'focus on what’s being tested', primarily meaning STEM, with the aspect of literacy as well. Topics like geography are not incorporated as much simply because 'they are not being tested'. From there, I was able to do an ample amount of research on the topics that Ms. Adams showed me, from today’s 'learning goals' to the 60’s 'Dark Age of Animation'. At the end of the day, I had a long interview with Jeff Price, the screenwriter for films Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Shrek 3. The interview was great. He gave me a great amount of information about what is was like to be in the industry relating most of the information that I have been researching. Mr. Price was able to give me a different perspective on most things. The interview lasted 30 mins.
March 11th, 2015
I spent this day doing a lot of research. Ms. Adams and I agreed that it would be a good idea to focus on how animation has affected other media, such as games, or apps, anything other than what is broadcast on television. Through this research, I was able to find a great amount of information that PBS uses for 'child development' surrounding iconic characters, and shows like Arthur or Clifford, The Big Red Dog. I was able to look at MAD magazine as well, a major tool for animation nowadays, that has served to be the 'inspiration' for shows today. Another piece of information I was able to tackle was the story behind Disneyland and connecting it with animation. Walt Disney’s vision for the park and how his features of animation would play a role in that. The day was long, but a large amount of good research was conducted.
March 12th, 2015
I started the day off with another staff meeting. this meeting was a bit different, it involved the entire staff of NHPTV, not just the small television people. This meeting was different from the other staff meeting because this one went into much greater depth about upcoming shows. There seemed to be a nervous feel to the room as these deadlines seemed to approach, when in reality they were more than 3 weeks away. Again, this meeting was able to put in perspective how much time goes into television planning and they don’t even produce the shows there. The rest of my day included more research. I was able to chat with Ms. Adams about a venue that she is taking part in. The venue is for kids learning the subject of STEM. Although it did not have anything directly to do with animation, we talked about how there were characters from PBS shows that were advertised on some of the activities. This idea led me to do extensive research on how animated characters are used to promote products and services, such as these learning activities.
Overall, the experience at NHPTV was very interesting. It was not exactly how I pictured my internship going, but it was worth my time in the end I believe. I was able to learn a lot on PBS, while also having the opportunity to research other animation domains.
March 14th, 2015
I visited the Barker Character Comic and Cartoon Museum in Cheshire, CT. The museum was amazing, full of toys dating as far back as 1890. I was able to spend a very long time speaking with Ben George, the docent of the museum. Ben was an immense help to my project, sharing amazing details of animated pieces, as well as cartoons. An example of something Ben informed me was “The Yellow Kid”, which was a front for some of the first political cartoons. Through false drawings that were published in the newspapers, it went on to play a major role in the commencement of the Spanish American War by publishing inaccurate cartoons. The museum had literally every single piece of merchandise that has to do with an animated character. There was so much rich history that I am very excited to use for my project. The reason I found this visit so amazing for my thesis is because although this museum did not target the actual cartoons, or whatever, I know that I need to look at how animation has influenced society, and how the characters are used for marketing purposes, such as Donald Duck Bread. Some other great pieces that I learned was that a huge amount of toys and products use animated characters to better advertise their products such as Pez. Overall, I loved the museum and I amvery happy I went.
March 16th, 2015
I started to work on my own animation piece for my experience. I’ve been working with an online program called “GoAnimate”, which is a business-friendly animation program that makes intricate animation a bit easier to a rookie like myself. In about 2.5 hours of work on it, I was only able to make a 30 second clip. This is really showing me how incredibly time consuming it is to make a full length animated movie or television show. In my piece, I am looking at the entertainment value, rather than education, or instructional. Making the video is tough, but I am committed to making as many little tweaks as possible to achieve my idea of perfection.
March 21st, 2015
I went to the Sundance Film Festival: Animation hosted at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston. This showing featured six short films of about fifteen minutes each. Each film was completely different in their form of animation, but animation nonetheless. It was very interesting to view these shorts, some resonating with the audience more than others. I was able to notice that a character with more human characteristics makes the audience feel more connected to that particular video. It was great to see how animation has developed to be able to strike people with such emotion where I heard some people laugh, yell, even whimper because of the strong emotion that was able to be produced from the films. It was a nice little festival. Glad I went.