#I redraw his best card of him as a photographer

[robin-birb]

Disney Princess Diavolo

[oneofthosebells]

All right, starting my rewatch and jotting down some thoughts, one episode a day until Sunday...

Wilhelm already looks so worried about his mother in the opening seconds of the show, didn't pick up on that first time round. Probably already already blaming himself as well.

Simon in the palace. 😭 You can really see the magnitude of it all hit him.

I was SO surprised on first watch that the video/drugs issues were resolved so quickly after two seasons of build up! But I guess it makes sense that if it's not going to be a big part of the season, might as well wrap it up and move onto the next part rather than dragging it out for no reason.

(I was always like 90% sure it would end in a settlement though, because there's no time for a trial in the timeframe and you don't want to leave it as a loose end hanging over the characters' heads.)

Linda comparing the royals to the Mafia. 💀 There's a reason the British royal family is nicknamed The Firm... (For anyone not aware, it's a term for gangsters/organised crime in parts of the UK.)

Simon failing to warn his mother that the drugs thing might come up is so teenager of him, bless him. He's still such a kid at heart.

Kristina once again referring to the video as a 'scandal' and not a crime committed against her son, sigh. And then immediately pulling out the Erik guilt trip card. Kristina is the result of her upbringing just as Wille is - no royals are normal! - but it's gutting to watch.

Felice's grief for the end of her friendship with Sara kills me. 😭 I'm so glad they showed how heartbroken she was over it.

Maddie is the best. Stella and Fredrika are the WORST. (Apologies to their fans if they have any, but in a show full of rich, interesting, complicated characters, I view Stella/Fredrika and Henry/Walter as basically slightly annoying wallpaper.)

Linda finally realising she has no clue what her kids are really up to...

August pours himself only a glass of water when everyone else is eating a full breakfast. The show has done his ED really well and subtly over the three seasons I think - it's clearly there but not been laid on too thick. Compare Maddie's worried looks at Felice not eating however over Nils and Vincent not noticing or caring that August never eats.

Photographers on the way to school - did someone tip them off that the prince was coming back or have they been hanging round the school gates ever since the Jubilee?

Felice (plus Maddie) is behind Simon at the lockers when Wilhelm returns to school which feels deliberate but they don't acknowledge each other at all (until the later scene anyway) - a hint that Wilhelm's going to be very wrapped up in Simon (and kind of self centred) this season?

Followed by Wille completely glossing over Simon saying he's uncomfortable with the staring, ouch. Some painful foreshadowing there.

Felice wanting to know how Sara is. 😭😭😭

Of course Marcus talked to the press. But honestly, I'm a little disappointed at how tame it was. If you're going to be a snake, go all out! Make up lies! Call Simon a cheating whore and a gold-digger! 'Their relationship seems problematic' is just a wee bit pathetic.

Wilhelm's total naivete about what the effects of his speech would be for Simon with the online abuse etc makes me want to strangle him and hug him. He's so sheltered and he's also still such a kid (even if he no longer looks like one, my god Edvin's sudden adulthood is distracting at times!). But agh.

Redrawing the heart. 😭😭 It's so teenager in love, I love it.

Gen Z kids reading the article in an actual newspaper. Printed on actual paper. Hillerska really is its own little world, isn't it?

I quite like the school restrictions plot from a storytelling perspective, it ramps up the tension, but yeah, it's not the most realistic thing the show has ever done. 😂 Like seriously, you're confiscating their phones but leaving them their laptops? What's the point? All you're going to do is annoy your rich students and their entitled, self-important parents without achieving anything.

Enjoyed that episode much more on a rewatch! I think the first time round I was thrown by the August plot wrapping up so quickly and worried my girl Sara was going to get short changed this series. I do feel like the tone of this season is quite different in a way that's hard to describe, but not in a bad way - just took me a little while to get into it first time round.

[michaelchapmanba2a]

Inanimate Objects Reflective Journal 2nd Oct - 08th Oct

This week was quite a productive week in terms of what I got done. I made a few props, did some research and found out some interesting things. Due to a small personal problem, there was a time where I forgot to update the blog, hence the last few posts may be out of order.

The week started with me looking at various paintings made by two very different people depicting people and dogs playing poker. This was quite informative as it gives me a window as how the posture has changed between 2 very different times. Whilst yes one painting is a group of dogs playing poker, he must have drawn inspiration from somewhere, perhaps seeing a game being played himself. In the first painting of the men playing Poker, one is hunched over and veering on the edge of his seat while the other is laid back and seems rather blasé over the situation. Same can be said for the dogs painting although like I say with the difference in time it shows a different scenario where all of them are laid back but one is infact cheating. How I can use this in my film is I want the Joker to be the one laid back and for the king to essentially go crazy when he realises he has lost and as a result has lost all the money.

This week also saw the completion of both of my animatics. However the first and second one I felt had both good and bad elements in terms of shots. So feeling a bit unhappy, on the Friday I combined the two to make in my personal opinion a better version using shots from both the first and the second, and honestly I’m much happier with this. I can admit I may not be the best drawer in class, to a point where someone jokingly offered to redraw the whole thing. However I as well as others can understand what is happening. I also drew it in different shades of grey with Helen S. saying last year that when doing an animatic or storyboard it needs to be done in grey and not black, which surprised me as I saw no one else follow this rule. If there is one thing I could do, if I had to do this animatic again I would perhaps introduce a tad more colour into it, but as it stands it’s practical and works to tell what happens in the story.

This week also saw the completion of some props that I made, The stacks of money and the two tables. As someone who is somewhat interested in going into the prop side of making. What I made was somewhat simple. The money as I explained were just cut up bits of green card with double sided tape to look like the band. The table however is a different kettle of fish. I made two tables after jon recommended I make a circle table which I did have a go but I just couldn’t get the right dimensions and as a result made it a tad bit small. Instead I used the remaining wood and literally stuck two pieces together to make a longer table. My fear is that whilst it has not a table cloth, and now I’ve stuck the table with more tape underneath, if the table will hold. It’s at an unfortunate place where I fear the middle might buckle. Filming is this Wednesday so I’ll have to see how it holds up. Luckily I do have another filming session on the Wednesday 18th if this one doesn’t go to plan.

I also did some research into the types of guns they use, which I found quite interesting and also found a work around. The type of gun the gangsters from back in the day used had a short barrel (The chamber where the bullet comes out from) And might be a lazy work around but a project I did last term involved a cowboy with a similar gun. I decided to use this as it’s a near match, and even at the angle I plan to film it you might not even tell it’s a small chamber. If I had all the time and unlimited resources I would easily make the gun to be a bit more accurate but with filming fast approaching I fear I may not have that time.

I watch a 1950′s film called Breaking Point, the plot being a fisherman who hires some less then reputable men who are infact criminals from a heist. There was another reason why I watched this however. When researching films I should watch, this one was recommended due to it’s bar/club scene which the other film did miss. As for what I imagined a bar scene from that time period would look, it’s right on the money. It’s dirty, grimy, smoke fills the air and there’s some card games in the background by the looks of things. It was this film that did make me consider if I should have some elements like that behind my main film but i fear it might take away from the actual stop motion.

I did some lighting tests this week, I went in the stop motion studio on the Thursday for about half an hour just to test various lighting set ups, tried 1 and 2 theatre lights. I went in thinking one light may be enough but I left with thinking that perhaps I should use 2 lights instead of one. On my filming day I will test this again to see what looks better.

I also looked a photograph of the most famous gangster playing card, al capone. And whilst I do not know the full story, I can see there is quite a great sence of power in the balance. with Al Capone looking quite smug with his hand while the other player looking somewhat scared by playing him, ultimately doesn’t help there is a unknown hand round his neck. I think this was a picture of the power balance between a king pin and someone who is lower then him in terms of power.

I also remembered that in the previous term, we were given a similar project to make a flour sack come to life and show an emotion with no words being said. I opted for doing a drunk style of flour sack and in this week I looked at a professional as well as look back at my own work and analysed it. I concluded that whilst mine was a valiant attempt I didn’t think it held a candle to other flour sack animations. However what I can learn from it however is that I can time the inanimate objects better as this looks a bit only timed even if he is supposed to be drunk.

In the last few days of the week, we had a sound talk which was really quite informative as I learnt how sound can convey any scene you put it in, I finished making some props which I think and hope should be ok for filming on Wednesday however it does put doubt in my mind if the table holds up, finished the animatic as mentioned previously. 

I also looked at one final example of inanimate objects coming to life, instead this time it was done in stop motion and not 2D like the previous example and it was just quite inspiring to see this being done in stop motion then 2d, as previous examples I could find were all done in 2D. I’m just as glad to see it work as well if not better in stop motion. It really inspired me to do as well if not better in my film.

So that was the week. What I hope to accomplish next week is filming on the Wednesday to go as a success and hopefully start editing it the following week. I might do a small more bit of research and hopeful get a few sound bites in.