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secondwintersoldier · 3 years ago

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tw: parental death, manipulation, heavy on the abuse/dv, murder, lots of BAD THINGS!!! IC PORTION; BASICS —

CHARACTER NAME/ALIAS: Richard James “RJ” Boyle / Winter Solider (II)

FACECLAIM: Noah Centineo

AFFILIATIONS: HYDRA, The Task Force

AGE (physical age as well, if different): 21. He was injected with the super soldier serum shortly after his 21st birthday, and so RJ will remain physically 21 until his death.

SPECIES (human, metahuman, alien, etc): Complicated. RJ started out entirely human, though he has been permanently altered by the serum, making him a meta human.

IS YOUR CHARACTER’S IDENTITY SECRET OR PUBLIC? Secret, for the time being.

IF SECRET, OR YOUR CHARACTER IS A CIVILIAN, DO THEY HAVE A CIVILIAN OCCUPATION?: He’s fully controlled by the ISA

DOES YOUR CHARACTER LIVE IN THE MOUSEHOLE? IF SO, WHAT ARE THEIR DUTIES? No

DESCRIBE SIX TRAITS (3 positive, 3 negative) YOUR CHARACTER HAS AND HOW THESE AFFECT THEM:

+ CHARISMATIC: RJ hasn’t lost his charisma, even with all of the brainwashing, conditioning and abuse. Prior to HYDRA, RJ was a goofy kid and some of that still remains. He’s an assassin that will talk your ear off while actively trying to kill you, boyish smile and all. RJ is, overall, horribly under socialized and takes every and any opportunity he can get to chat and be social.

+ QUICK-THINKING: RJ is always one step ahead, always ready, always waiting. He’s quick on his feet and isn’t easily frustrated or swayed when shit inevitably hits the fan and things veer off plan. He usually has back-up plans to his back-up plans, but he’s excellent at thinking on the fly as well. He’s resourceful and has been trained to use whatever is available to him, and has a good eye for these types of things.

+ PATIENT: RJ will lay in wait for however long is needed of him. He spent years in a HYDRA facility staring at a wall to pass the time, and so it is safe to say that he could literally wait to watch paint dry. This certainly aids him when it comes to missions and field work. RJ’s able to put in the leg work, do the recon required for his missions without jumping in too soon. He’s trained to wait for the perfect, most opportune moment, and he’s quite good at it.

- OBSESSIVE: RJ has tunnel vision when it comes to...most everything. He fixates and he is unable to see the bigger picture. When RJ is on task, it’s hard for him to think of anything else other than the steps that will get him to the end result. He isn’t easily side-tracked, which could be considered beneficial, but RJ’s tunnel-visioned to the point of absolute obsession. He won’t sleep, won’t eat, won’t do anything else until the task has been completed.

- UNSTABLE: After everything he has been through, ‘unstable’ is an absolute understatement. RJ is unpredictable, prone to violent tendencies, and his moods come and go like the wind. He’s impossible to predict and has little to no handle on his emotions and the actions that follow.

- DESPERATE: RJ, above all else, wants to belong. He will do whatever it takes to please the hand that feeds him in hopes that he might receive praise or love in return. He’s never been worthy, according to Mr. Colt, and RJ has run out of ideas of how to please his handler and superiors. He’s done everything they asked, and will continue to do so. They say jump, and he asks how high.

POWERS AND/OR ABILITIES: RJ is a master assassin. With this comes the general expertise in a vast assortment of weaponry and hand-to-hand combat. His training has been very thorough, and it is safe to say RJ excels at every challenge thrown his way. RJ is a master tactician and strategist, and speaks a wide assortment of languages. Due to being injected with the super soldier formula, RJ was gifted enhanced strength/durability/speed/agility/reflexes/healing and also (in theory) an extended lifespan.

WEAKNESSES: RJ is a puppet, and his handler holds the strings. For the most part, RJ has not required “activation”” as he goes on his missions quite willingly, though the threat is there if needed. His identity has been stripped from him, and all that he’s known for years is the Winter Solider. He does not remember a time before HYDRA with only fleeting memories passing as dreams from his childhood. RJ is unstable and is prone to episodes of becoming unhinged where he exhibits extreme violence and lack of restraint. There’s a sense of desperation to him, an instinctual need to be loved by the hand that feeds him, though to be honest the best RJ has gotten is kicked while being fed from the floor. In a sense, he’s very naive for the fact that his social skills are greatly lacking and he’s desperate for any sort of affection or love that he’ll take what he can get.

IC PORTION; DETAILS —

WHAT BROUGHT YOUR CHARACTER TO SOKOVIA? The ISA. RJ doesn’t quite know where he was before Sokovia - he was kept indoors mostly, and the windows of every car he was transported in were dark.

DID THEY SIGN THE ACCORDS? WHY OR WHY NOT? No, simply for the fact that he wasn’t asked. He’d do anything asked of him by his handler, so this is a possibility in the future.

PROVIDE 3-5 HEADCANONS RELATED TO YOUR CHARACTER:

RJ loved any and all media he was able to get his hands on during his time in HYDRA, the majority of which were old and classic movies. He watched the variety he was able to keep in his room to the point of memorization, and old/black-and-white movies are his comfort.

That being said, a big bulk of how RJ learned how to socialize at all comes from these movies. His only interaction for over a decade was with HYDRA agents and Colt, and so most of his knowledge of how socialization works was gathered from the same ten movies he watched on repeat.

RJ has a sweet tooth that he has little to no control over. This could be due to the fact that he was vastly food insecure for the entirety of his adolescence, but RJ will eat an entire pan of brownies all to himself in just a matter of minutes.

Sleep is evasive to RJ and has been since his training began, though it has gotten much worse since he was injected with the super soldier serum. He survives on just a few hours a night, and that’s enough to keep him functioning.

RJ keeps a journal, and it details his training from the time he began at HYDRA up until the present. It’s elaborate, spares no details, and is helpful for him to try to keep his head on straight.

RJ’s activation sequence has never been used, though he has been conditioned with one. It is: crimson, wistful, thirteen, current, snarl, eclipse, seven, anguish, twenty-one, voyage.

CHARACTER BIO —

tw: parental death, manipulation, heavy on the abuse/dv, murder

In truth, RJ remembered nothing before HYDRA. He did not even know what “RJ” stands for. That was likely their intention, and they were successful. His file, inaccessible to him and under highly restricted access, would detail the following:

Richard James Boyle was born on Christmas Eve in the year 1999 in Woodbridge, New Jersey. His father was a conman, an outright criminal in his own right but he was good at what he did. His mother was sickly and his father couldn’t make ends meet, and so Richard Sr. turned to bigger crime in an attempt to keep his family afloat. Six bank heists in two years, and then he was caught and sent to prison when RJ was still a baby. His mother made do, they survived best they could until they couldn’t anymore. She passed away when RJ was five, and his memories of her even before HYDRA were fleeting. He dreamed of her sometimes, even still, but he could never remember her face.

Foster homes were the name of the game for the rest of his childhood.. Nothing was consistent, it felt as though as soon as he got settled he was packing up his belongings in a big black trash bag and being shipped off to the next one. This happened for several years, until his tenth year. The final family he was with sold RJ over to HYDRA for the cash, and with that RJ Boyle ceased to exist in the world he was used to and his training began.

He was handed over to Colt, who was RJ’s handler and responsible for both raising and training RJ. He was raised in a HYDRA facility, in a room that could be described as something one would see in a prison or a hospital, with Mr. Colt coming and going. The brainwashing began almost immediately, as Colt and his superiors wanted to ensure that their new asset was fully under their thumb.

RJ was the newest addition to the Winter Soldier program, an initiative that had been long since abandoned. The history that followed was painful at best, and absolutely formative. Mr. Colt could be described as cruel, manipulative and abusive. RJ was not fed consistently, often beaten and tormented, and was taught that love and affection would be something that he would have to earn. RJ was told he showed potential, was gifted with talent and it was his duty to use that talent and potential. RJ was told that any worthwhile person would not waste their potential, would grab it by the horns and take it, and only then would he have value. His early trainings and missions were sloppy, and RJ was punished severely for this. He didn’t like killing, wasn’t particularly good at it, but that would change soon. He found it was easier not to think about it, treat it like any other job, and that was when things began to turn around.

His education was limited, certainly not formal, and only included what HYDRA and Mr. Colt thought would benefit their long term goals. So much of his training revolved around the Winter Soldier, whom RJ was taken in to emulate. RJ spent hours on end studying all the footage there was on Bucky Barnes, the original Winter Soldier, and reading every single file HYDRA had on the man. Over time, he could dictate the files from memory alone and could replicate the Winter Soldier's fighting style. Better yet, he knew his weaknesses, and his real mission became clear: to defeat the Winter Soldier. On top of this, RJ was shown the files of every other vigilante that HYDRA had at their disposal: he studied and studied and studied, and then practiced what he had learned.

He was seventeen when HYDRA began to fall, and RJ was shuffled around more often than not, moving from base to base as the organization struggled to stay hidden and alive. RJ’s training would continue, and he began to exceed expectations. He won every spar, he could assemble and disassemble every weapon handed to him with his eyes closed before using the weapon in question in record time. He was damn near undefeatable in the field, and finally he felt worthy. Mr. Colt disagreed.

On Christmas Day in 2020, RJ was given the super soldier serum after eleven years of training. He had been preparing for this for years, had studied and worked harder than he thought he ever could, and he finally proved worthy to the program. RJ was better than before - faster, stronger, more resilient, enhanced in every way. He was put through a myriad of tests, several field missions, to put his skills to the test and RJ aced every single one of them. One better, he did not require the hypnosis in place to force his hand and went on his missions willingly.He was no longer sloppy - he was clean, precise and deadly.

He was shipped off to Sokovia in February of 2021 with instructions that he would be working for the ISA’s Task Force. He was an agent, and would be at their disposal. Mr. Colt would not be coming with him, something that RJ was unsure of how to feel about as he had been the hand to feed him all these years. He would have a new handler, an unknown, and RJ didn’t like those. After all, it was his job to be prepared and stay one step ahead.

But it was nice to have a little more freedom. RJ Boyle was instructed to immerse himself in Matchak, to gain intel, to get comfortable with the lay of the land. The Winter Soldier would be needed soon, and it was RJ’s job to be sure he was ready.

WRITING SAMPLE —

EXTRAS —

Myers Briggs: ENTJ Hogwarts House: Hufflepuff Zodiac: Capricorn Sin: Envy

#srisingintro

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brightbeautifulthings · 4 years ago

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THE MALL BY MEGAN MCCAFFERTY BLOG TOUR & BOOK REVIEW

"Totally rad! This former 1990s mall teen loved The Mall, an ode to tall bangs, boys with good taste in music, and female friendship, set in the only place that mattered. What a joy to have a new book from Megan McCafferty, who knows exactly how to make us laugh, cry, and fall in love with her characters." -- Amy Spalding, author of The Summer of Jordi Perez and The New Guy

New York Times bestselling author Megan McCafferty returns to her roots with this YA coming of age story set in a New Jersey mall. The year is 1991. Scrunchies, mixtapes and 90210 are, like, totally fresh. Cassie Worthy is psyched to spend the summer after graduation working at the Parkway Center Mall. In six weeks, she and her boyfriend head off to college in NYC to fulfill The Plan: higher education and happily ever after. But you know what they say about the best laid plans... Set entirely in a classic “monument to consumerism,” the novel follows Cassie as she finds friendship, love, and ultimately herself, in the most unexpected of places. Megan McCafferty, beloved New York Times bestselling author of the Jessica Darling series, takes readers on an epic trip back in time to The Mall.

About the Author:

Megan McCafferty writes fiction for tweens, teens and teens-at-heart of all ages. The author of several novels, she’s best known for Sloppy Firsts and several more books in the New York Times bestselling Jessica Darling series. Described in her first review as “Judy Blume meets Dorothy Parker” (Wall Street Journal), she’s been trying to live up to that high standard ever since.

Review:

"Troy's dislikes were about so much more than ridding controversial items from my wardrobe. They were about removing controversial ideas from my brain."

Year Read: 2020

Rating: 4/5

Thoughts: I'm honored to be asked to read this book, since I'm not sure it's one I would have requested on my own. Its title doesn't do it justice. The Mall makes it sound like it's a story about vapid, Clueless-era mallrats--no hate, I adore Clueless and I'm fond of malls, but this story is far more charming than the title lets on. First of all, it's a love letter to the 90s. If the mall of the 90s was your natural habitat as a teenager, then you're sure to enjoy all the nostalgic references to stores that are no longer around, like Kay-Bee Toys, Orange Julius, and Sam Goody. It really took me back to days of hanging at the mall with my friends, stocking up on 10 for $10 jewelry at Claire's, and searching for clearance band/horror movie t-shirts at Sam Goody, Suncoast, and Media Play before there ever was such a thing as a Hot Topic at my mall. I love that McCafferty set her story in this time period, and it's sure to resonate with readers slightly older than the average YA audience.

It's also fun for anyone who's ever worked in a mall, since they develop their own weird inner cultures. Cassie has Kool-Aid and Everclear and a Cabbage Patch Kids treasure hunt; I had urban legends about cursed objects and The Buckle challenge, wherein employees of other stores try to make it to the back wall of The Buckle without being pounced on by another retailer. The treasure hunting plot is fun, not unlike the teenagers trying to crack Russian codes in Stranger Things (without the guns and monsters). It gets enough attention to keep the plot moving, but as in life, it's not always the obvious things that end up having the most impact. The treasure hunt turns out to be secondary to the real plot development of the novel, which is Cassie's self-discovery and her friendship with Drea. It's a funny, moving coming-of-age story that handles its issues with humor and just the right amount of heart.

I like Cassie; she's my people. She's a straight-A student and an over-achiever, and her brand of know-it-all humor is just my style. McCafferty manages to capture that purely teenage arrogance that comes from being one of the smart kids without making Cassie wholly unlikable. She obviously thinks she's too good to work in a clothing store, and the mall is just a holdover until her real life starts in New York. Yet the book pushes her (not always gently) toward a more adult perspective that there are all kinds of worthwhile jobs in the world and that being a snob to people who earn their living in a mall isn't acceptable. I enjoyed her conquering her fears of her ex-boyfriend and discovering new sides of her personality, her cute new summer romance with "Sam Goody", and most of all her friendship with Drea. They're opposite poles, with Drea being the popular, sophisticated friend with panache, and I like how the book allows them both to be vulnerable in different ways. Cassie is far from a perfect person, and she doesn't give Drea's dreams the respect they deserve but, as with the best characters, she tries hard to learn from her mistakes. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I received a free e-ARC through NetGalley from the publishers at St. Martin's Press and an invitation to join the blog tour. Trigger warnings: sexual harassment, slut-shaming (mostly countered on-page, or at least hilariously avenged), divorce, cheating.

Twitter | Get Your Copy

#book review #blog tour #the mall #megan mccafferty #st. martin's press #book promotion #booklr #ya contemporary #netgalley #4/5 #rating: 4/5 #2020

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1400762-personal-showcase · 8 years ago

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Weekly Journal

Week 1 (September 26th -30th)

Over the summer holidays I got a headstard on my idea. I want to do a story about a little Prince trapped in a tower who gets rescued by a female knight. I was thinking how sad it must be for princesses that are trapped in towers and how alone and depressed they must be, and I thought that their struggles must be as tough as the struggles that the knight endures to find her, but no-one ever thinks about how the princess feels. The gender reversal happened just because I thought 'why not? What's stopping it from being a prince instead?' then I thought it would be a sad twist that the reason why he doesn't get rescued is because he is not a princess. All the strong knights want pretty princesses that they can marry and flaunt, not a little boy to save. So I stated to make an animatic for it very early on in the summer, because I knew that this would be a big project. I really want to do an animation which tests my storytelling skills and the point of that is having enough time to create a story and tell it. I don't just want to rush everything and tell the story, I want to learn the best ways to tell it, concerning visuals, sound, timing, 'show don't tell', all of that. From the briefing it seems as though I wont have enough time to do the full animation but I will see what I can do, I really want to create something that can test my narrative skills, not just the animating skills.

Week 2 (October 3rd – 7th )

I went to see Peter to show him my animatic and see what he thought about it. I don't think I will be able to animate the whole thing for the deadline. I didn't realise that only half of the year was dedicated to our personal showcase so I'm a little disappointed that I don't have the whole year to focus on it. Peter really liked the animatic I had so far and really liked the story, but he felt that something emotional was missing. The basics were there, showing the princes lonliness but I wanted it to be more sad, darker, I really want my audience to sympathise with this prince. He advised I go see Helen Schroeder as she has a lot of knowledge on storyboarding and is working on the storyboards for Watership Down. Helen mainly had questions, which is a good thing because if I'm to learn how to tell a story to an audience, I don't want the questioning things they don't need to. The first thing she thought was 'where is his food coming from?' I'd thought about this but didn't bother to think about it because I hoped people wont notice, but I suppose that if I noticed then anyone could. If I figure out a way to show how he gets food then it will likely make the character and the story feel a lot more real. She also said I should come up with a backstory about why he's there and where he's from. The audience doesn't need to know this but it will help me understand my own character better. Nice advice, I will have to think about it and improve my story.

Week 3 (October 10th – 14th )

While thinking about my animatic I've also been working on a walk cycle of my prince. I'd also like to do one for my knight but I will have to see if I have enough time. I like it so far, I love animating a characters sketch work, I have so much fun and I can really feel the movement. But I struggle so much with the clean up and colouring, something about my animation syule feels inconsistent. I don't know if it's me being sloppy or it's normal but I want to work on it because every animation that I've done, I've loved until I've gotten to the colouring, and then I just feel as though I mess it up because I'm an incompetent colourist. It's strange through because I love colouring still images and comics, I'm actually quite proud of my line art and colouring when it comes to comics, I don't know why I struggle so much with animation. I went to see Lynsey to talk about my dissertation thoughts and look at the kind of chapters I want to write. She said I should get down what I want my chapters to be and then start writing the first one just so that I have some words down. My essay is about cartoons and other pieces of media sending bad messages to an audience so I'll look at what things I want to discuss specifically and see if I can put them into relevant chapters.

Week 4 (October 17th – 21st )

I showed Helen my walk cycle and she also agreed that I need to work on the consistency of my animation. She said that things like the legs were thicker in other frames and thinners in others. She also said that his head is bobbing up and down too much. She said that it was good, though, which is why she is 'nitpicking', so that's reassuring. I went in to see Phil Archer in the sound room also and asked him for some advice on music. I have never touched music writing in my life, I once tried to play guitar in year seven but never kept up and I have no idea how to make music, I don't know what chords are, I don't understand how people put notes together in a way that sounds appealing, but apparently I thought it would be a good idea to write my own song for my animatic. I think knowing the basics of making music is a really good skill to have, especially in animation where sound can go a long way, and I feel as though one of the things that could hold me back from making more films is the fact that I can't make backing music. So the idea of making my own music for this animatic is really exciting to me and I hope will give me some good skills. I went in to see Phil and he was kind enough to give me a lesson on the beginning of the basics, he explained chords and notes to me and I really enjoyed myself learning something completely new to me. I went back home and now I'm actually trying to write my own song on FL Studio. So far it's very basic but it has the kind of 'happy' Disney tune to it that I want and considering I've never made a song before, I'm proud of myself. I will go back to Phil again for another lesson and hopefully he can take a look at what I have so far.

We had our briefing for the Collaborative project and have decided our group. I worked with Tia and Adzie last year for the final project and we had so much fun and really loved what we created, so we agreed to working together again, but we have included Jordan and Catherine. Tia, Adzie and myself are all 2D artists, Catherin is stopmotion and Jordan is 3D, so we were thinking about creating something with mixed media similar to 'The Amazing World of Gumball” style. We are hoping to meed up often so tat we can discuss our idea and our job roles.

Week 5 (October 24th – 28th )

I changed up my animatic. It focuses a lot more on the Prince growing up in the tower and trying to cope than the knight finding him. I realised that the majority of the last animatic was time spent having the knight take the prince away, when more focus and time needs to be on the prince himself. I've resolved the issue of food and created an outside presence that sends him food under a hatch in his wall which he gets daily. I showed this update to Peter and he felt this was a lot better, he felt he connected better with the character in this animatic and that it shows his struggle, isolation and loneliness in more detail. I'm so much happier with this version, I still have yet to finish the new ending but so far I find myself also being more attached to this character than I was before. I haven't shown Helen yet, but I hope to soon, when I went to see her she suggested that I start work on an animation test. I've decided to animate the clip where the prince picks up the opened lock and looks at it in shock. I've chosen this clip because I feel as though something simple means that I can pay closer attention to the character acting and expression. I went to see Phil again to get advice on my song and so far he thinks it's a good start. I told him I wanted it to derail into something sad, so that as the animation goes along and gets darker the music goes with it, but I was struggling to understand how to put chords and noted together to make it sound sad. He helped a lot and I've managed to find a musical rift to go to the sad moments of the animatic.

We went in to see John about our collaborative idea. At the moment we had this idea about creating a world that leads to different dimensions, which would mean we can add different types of media easily. I thought the idea of a hotel would be good, in the kind of style like 'Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends'. Sort of wacky, funny, quirky and strange. Adzie would like to do the character design but overall we like the ides of this character being a small monster who is on vacation, he gets given his room for the hotel and then goes to explore the other rooms. We have yet to decide on an idea or a reason for him to look around the hotel, but we are piecing the world together.

Week 6 (October 31st – November 4th)

I've updated my new animatic and went to shot Helen, she much preferred it but there are still some things she picked up on. She felt that the introduction could be shortened if I needed to save time, I could cut out the part where he pulls the lantern under the sheets, the scene where the books are piling up doesn't make much sense. I said that it meant he was leaving them untidy and abandoned but I suppose it still shows his depression with the plates piling up. And then there were a lot of things concerning the screen direction and film language that need to be tweaked which I have written about on my blog. She said that the general story comes across well, but there are areas of detail that could make it a lot better is fixed. I feel really greatful and honoured to have Helen's advice, she has taught me so much and I am so willing to change anything in the storyboard to make it perfect. I really want to learn how to execute a visual story successfully, I knew from the beginning that I would be changing a lot of my storyboard so I had no worries about being given criticism. (That's why I wanted to get the basic storyboard done before I came back to the first term, so that I had time to change it). This project to me is more about progressing my narrative skills as well as my animation skills, so the majority of my focus in based on all of the development I'm putting into my storyboarding rather than focusing so much on one animated clip. Having Helen around to criticise my storyboarding is so beneficial to me, I feel like I am learning so much from showing her what I have, receiving her comments, and then changing it. I can see it in my work that from the first animatic, I have improved the feeling of the story so much more with her help and perspective. I'm starting to figure out what I want to specialise in in animation, I think I want to specialise in storyboarding and character animation. Helen also recommended that I start working on my animation test, and as I've started to do so, I realise how much I also love to do character animation. Story and character is where I want to go. I also went to see Helen Piercy later this week to show her both animatics and see what she thought. She felt more emotional towards the second animatic but she preferred the ending to the first animatic. I then sat with her and showed a classmate, Lila, to get her thoughts also. Lila felt a lot more connected to the second one and also preferred the ending.

There was a Narrative and Character workshop for the Collaborative project. I wanted to go in but overslept and so I turned up later to meet with Adzie and Catherine during the second half. They were doing a character design activity, and weren't focused much on the collaborative project, just on creating their own characters. I said that I would meed them next week for the Narrative workshop, then we could discuss the story for the project more in detail.

Week 7 (November 7th – 11th )

I finished the sketchlines of my animation test and went to receive feedback from Helen and Robin.

Firstly they felt it was a well made animation with great expressions. Robin really liked the way the eyebrows were drawn and said they moved well as a unit with the eyes and face, which pleases me because expression is really important to me and one of my favourite things to draw. Helen felt that I needed to look more on my overlapping and secondary action, and a lot of it moved at the same time and it would look better for it to almost go in a wave, the whole general motion moving in an arch. I'm pleased with this advice but she also said I need to watch my time and that I should try to get it finished. I want to hopefully finish this test soon then get straight onto animating my showcase. As the animatic is far too long to make into a full animation, me and Helen discussed the idea of taking just a segment of the animation to animate. Most likely a part that has a basic beginning, middle, end to it. I wanted to make a trailer possibly but I think I would be able to show my still better if I took a scene from the animatic and animated that. I can't decide which part though, because I don't want the scene to look out of place without a story to it. I might do the end scene or a part where he's growing up.

We spoke more about our Collaborative idea and we are still trying to give the character a reason for leaving his room. We're unsure of the ending as we feel that it's too simple, or is not the right moral for the character to go back to his comfort zone. We are planning to go into the Narrative Workshop next week so we can get some advice from Helen on it.

Week 8 ( November 14th – 18th )

For my animatic Helen felt that I needed some scenes of the prince trying to escape, which makes a lot of sense. It's so clear to me now that after he realises he's not being rescued, he'd try to escape the tower himself, anyone would. So I'm going to add two scene, I've got one where he tries to bang on the door and get whoever is there to let him out, but then food just comes in and he is ignored. Them I'm going to do one where he escapes the window. I couldn't decide what to do with him, because he needs to not actually get out of the castle so I'm thinking that either he is too scared or it's too high for him to get down safely, or there's some kind of spell keeping him trapped in, like an invisible wall or something. I'd like to do the invisible wall but when I suggested it to a few people who had seen my animation, they felt it might be difficult to portray, including Helen. I'm going to go with a magical chain that suddenly appears on his arm when he tries to escape, so that his efforts to muster up his courage proves to be pointless. I finished colouring my animation test but I'm not sure I like it. I really struggled with colouring. I managed to find a tutorial to draw clean lines with the polyline tool and then use the paint bucket tool to fill but the animation looks too jumpy at the same time. The shape of his face is inconsistent and seems to change in every frame, making it look quite jarring and jumpy. I think what I'll do in my actual animation is have more layers and leave unmoving parts still, but hopefully I can still animate the whole thing overall to not look too still.

We attended the Narrative Workshop this week to discuss our ideas and learn some things. We answered some questions about our project, and found answers for what the character does and his motives for doing it. We did have the idea of him being bored with the 2D room he was given so he goes to look at the other rooms, then he becomes so creeped out by what he doesn't understand that he goes back to being happy with his comfort zone. When we spoke to Helen she suggested that that might not be a very good moral to a story and we should think up something more. We started thinking that maybe he takes something back with him from one of the rooms, so that he's happy with his comfort zone but is not opposed to exploring and the unknown. One of us suggested that he should be a kleptomaniac and steal things from the hotel, it would start with mini shampoo's and a shower cap and a dressing gown, then he would explore the other rooms and leave the hotel with his back full of weird objects. I like this idea, because I find it funny in the context of being a hotel guest and how we all take the mini shampoos and stuff, but I'm not sure about it completely because I really liked the innocence of the little monster character.

Week 9 (November 21st – 25th )

I've had to change some other parts of my animatic and decide on what I'm animating. I've decided I'm going to do the scene where he gets caught by the magic chain while trying to escape. Firstly Helen felt as though I need a better angle to establish the hight with he's on the window ledge. I changed the angle so that the camera is from outside of the tower, below the prince and pointed up at him while he looks down. I also went to see Sarah Harris earlier where she suggested that the character needed a closer acting scene. He needed to show his disbelief that the chain appeared, so I added a scene where he inspects his hand where the chain appeared. I changed a few other bits in my animatic where Helen felt the camera direction could have been improved, such as the scene where the scene where the plates pile up, I've combined that scene with the scene of him in his bed. Now the plates pile up and the camera cuts to show him in his bed, clearly ignoring the food, suggesting time has gone by. This is to cut some time short. I've started working on my animation. I've been taking some video references for myself, one of my tying something around my waist, one of my pulling something tied to a post and one of me stepping up onto something as if onto a window ledge. All of these references have been so helpful to my animation and have made my first scenes look so realistic. It's made me realise how important taking reference is, I know that I would have been very frustrated if I was to animate that all from my head.

We mainly focused on our personal work this week but we did meet up to do wome collaborative work together. I created a style frame, Adzie created the character sheet, Catherine worked on the PDF and Jordan began work on the appearance of the hotel. We had a good day that day and got a lot of work done.

Week 10 ( November 28th – December 2nd )

I've done more for my animation, including the first scenes and the scene where he's out on the window ledge with his clothes and hair blowing in the wind, then he cowers in fear at the side of the wall. So far I'm really pleased with, I love doing the under-sketch work for the animation. I feel a lot more free when I'm sketching and I feel that comes across in the character movement. Helen had some suggestions for changing my animation to make it a bit better. We discussed some different camera angles and felt that when he puts his hand out of the window, there should be an outside profile view. I kind of wanted to keep the camera inside the tower to keep the audience 'trapped' with the prince also, which she understood, but I think this is a much more dynamic camera angle than what I had before, so I'll go with it. She also suggested I add a last frame of him from inside of the tower, showing him collapse on his bed in defeat, framed in the centre of it. I think this is a good idea to end on, I can try to make it quite dynamic, which is good because she felt that I did not have enough wider shots in my animation, which I agree with. I went back to see Phil Archer in the sound room, this time for help in my sound design for my animated scene. I said I really wanted a nice sound to go with the chain appearing so that it could sound all sparkly and mystical, basically to make the point that it's a magical chain caused by a spell. He put together some cool sounds. He reversed the sound of a chain clinking, so that it sounded unnatural and a bit mystical, then he added a kind of reverb and 'sparkling' effect to it to make it sound shiny and magical. I'm really pleased with that he helped me come up with. He also helped me get together some basic sounds like the wood creaking on the bed post and the wind blowing.

Me and Catherine went in to speak to Jon this week about our updated idea. I explained that I liked the kleptomaniac idea but I was also unsure as I wanted the character to remain fairly innocent, and not as though he had a mental disorder, I wanted the animation to be about the wacky hotel, not the monsters mental disorder. We started thinking from a different angle and came up with the idea of the Hotel actually being a simulation that the monster can go into to experience a holiday. It would be a twist that the weird and wonderful hotel didn't actually exist and almost be a statement on our entertainment. The Monster takes the VR helmet off when the experience gets too weird for him, he goes home to his boring room and wonders whether his reality is better or not. At first we were going to make it a human, who uses the monster as an avatar in the VR but we realised that would include finding an actor, filming, sets and props, which we wont have time for.

Week 11 ( December 5th – 9th )

I've changed my animation, adding shots of Helen's suggestions, not the animatic shows him leaning out of the window from a profile view and there is a last shot of him in his room. I've also updated my animation. I've essentially finished the first half of the sketch work, getting up to the shot where he jumps out of the window. I've also painted some backgrounds for all of these scenes. I'm really pleased with my backgrounds. Last year I did a lot of colouring practise for comics and backgrounds and I've really been trying to improve my paintings so that I can create better colours and perspective. From doing the animation test, I'd found the best way to make backgrounds so that they still look good but don't take too long. These backgrounds aren't as detailed as the one in the animation test but I feel that I have been able to produce more in less time by painting them this way and they still look acceptable to me. Aside from the lines and colouring, the first half is done.

The rest of the group seems okay with the idea me and Catherine had for the ending. We've decided Job roles. Catherine is the producer, I will be storyboarding and creating the animatic, Adzie will continue with the character designs and expressions, Jordan will create his 3D room and Tia will create her room. Catherine is also making a model puppet for the stop motion scene. I'm excited to keep working on this, although I also have a lot to do. This idea and concept excites me and I really hope that we can pull it off with quality. I started the storyboard during our meet up on some post-it notes, I will digitally re-draw them later.

Week 12 ( December 12th – 16th )

I've updated my sketched animation to him leaning out, all of the movements of the body are completed but I have yet to include his clothes, hair and face. The final frame is just his tiny body collapsing onto the bed so I only have a few frames there to show that, that won't be a difficult scene to complete. I also added a bit to a previous scenen. Helen said that when he's is about to jump, that would be the point where she would check the tie again to make sure it is still sturdy. I think she make a good point, so I added a action where he does that and suddenly he seems so much more real. I've been working on the background for when he falls back onto his bed, camera from out side of the window. Previously I'd made some floor plans so that while doing the storybaord I'd be able to know where everything is positioned in every frame. For this shot, with the camera being from the outside looking in, taking reference from the floor plans I made was a really big help for painting this background. Once I get the animation sketches done, which shouldn't be long, I'm going to start thinking about colours.

I began to digitally draw over my storyboard but I'm worrying about finishing both my dissertation and personal animation, so I am currently focusing on that. Catherine has offered to do some storyboarding but I assured her that I would be fine to continue after Christmas. I feel as though I know exactly how to storyboard this, the shots and everything, as I've spent a lot of time on my personal project storyboarding, I can see this in my head so well. I'm excited to start.

Christmas Break ( December 19th – January 9th )

Over the Christman break I focused mainly on my dissertation but did also get much animation done. I was able to finish a background where he leans out of the window to look at the chain appear and I started working on my colouring. In Toon Boom I discovered that you are able to make more than one palettes so that if you use a specific colour, then change that colour from your palette, it will also change it in the animation. This is good because it means that if colours need to be changed then I don't need to refill every frame with the bucket too, I can just change the colour from the palette. I realised that it would be cool to have a slightly different chade of colours for when he is outside of the tower and for when he is inside, just to give a bit more atmosphere to his environment. I updated the colouring to where he is when he is standing on the ledge.

We mainly focused on our personal projects over Christmas, as we all had a lot to do, we agreed to leave the collaborative work for when we were back in Norwich.

Week 13 (January 9th – 13th )

I've continued to colour but also have been focusing a lot on my dissertation and trying to get that done. Lynsey has been a big help and has been able to review my work when I've needed her to. As for the animation, I've really just been trying to get colouring done as soon as I can, I don't know how much time I'll have left to get it all done but I still need to finish my blog and complete my Research Report. I'm not sure what else to update on, really, I can just feel myself clicking into overdrive and I feel very determined to get all of this done.

This week I completely finished the animatic for our collaborative project. I had more fun doing it than I thought I would and I realise that after doing this storyboard, I really would like to specialise in storyboarding, as well as character animation. I'm really pleased with what I've created, I feel as though I can present it as something professional. Keeping the title safe zone for each frame was very helpful also, I was able to see it all in perspective and I think I've created something that reads very well. The responses I got from the group were good also. I really wanted it to come across as quirky, even a little funny, and the group felt I'd achieved that. Mt plan was to create the beginning and end of the storyboard so that we could fit in the sections where we have individually made our rooms, but I needed some more transition shots of the character walking through the hallways and looking into doors. Catherine was a big help with this and she offered to make some of these connecting shots, we also discussed the best angles to shot it. Me and Jordan put the animatic together with everyone's work and we're very pleased with it.

Extension ( January 16th – 27th )

I've requested an extension due to some struggles and depression over Christmas. I'd spoken to Peter about it and after having been open to him about my feeling and situations throughout the years he agreed to an extension. I am using this extension to really push what quality I can under the pressure I'm feeling. I was able to finish my Research Report and I'm quite pleased with it. If I have time to go back I would like to add a section about Bojack Horseman but it already took a lot of cutting to achieve the wordcount and not go over, so I think it would be difficult to add extra information. I really don't know the best way to colour. I'm not sure whether it's just better to draw the whole frames on one layer and use the bucket tool to fill, or whether I should do a layer for the body, layer over the body for the clothes, layer for the face, layer for hair (etc) so that I can look at the overlapping and secondary actions separately. I'm doing it with the separate layers to be safe but I feel as though it's coming out a bit messy. I think the movement itself looks fine and I think that I've fixed the problem with it looking too jumpy by having the different aspects on different layers (the problem I had with the animation test) but the painting feels a bit messy in some places. Such as when he is standing on the window ledge his clothes wave in the wind but the colouring looks messy. Whenever I try to clean it up on the layers, there always seems to be a problem. I think I've made the right choice in having each aspect on separate layers but I think that I may have created too many layers and now I've confused myself. With the extension I've been able to finish the animation. I've done the colours so that when he is outside of the tower the colours are brighter and when he is inside they are darker. I want this to create more of a subtle sad reality to his situation, he can't even get to the light. I had some problem with the chain. Firstly I discovered that in Toon Boom I'm able to create a glow affect, which is fantastic because it's exactly the effect I want. I was able to do this with the first chain I drew but then I wasn't able to recreate it with the rest of them. It seemed as though the drawing of the chain wouldn't show and instead there was just a transparent glow in the shape of the chain. I was frustrated at this to begin with but I'd resolved it by learning that I had to duplicate the layer and keep one of the layers normal and the other with the glow, this is what I'd done with the previous chain. It proves my point that I had created far too many layers in this file for me to keep track of. I've finished my entire animation now and all that's left to do it put the sound together. I'm really pleased with what I have created. I'm mainly pleased with the undersketch animation but that is what I prefer to do and is in my comfort zone. The colouring came out better than I thought it would, and better than it did in the animation test in my opinion but I felt that it could be cleaned up in some places. I will probably clean this up after submission. My plan after submission is to continue with my full animatic story and create a short film of a few minutes that is partly finished and partly WIP. I would like to come away with a piece that shows my skills in character animation and storyboarding, so I really like the idea of keeping the majority of it as professional storyboarding and sketched character animation, with only a few parts looking completely finished.

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makeitwithmike · 7 years ago

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How to Leverage Your Blogging Skills To Boost Your Business

By David Porter

Blogging has become so ubiquitous that the word ‘blog’ is often used interchangeably with ‘website’. Like Facebook and Twitter, blogging has entered the common consciousness and even has its own spin-offs like micro-blogging. Even your grandmother probably knows what blogging is!

What a lot of people don’t know is how effectively blogging can be used to drive traffic to websites, forge long-term business relationships, and build brand loyalty.

That’s right: a blog can be an excellent tool to help you grow your business. If you haven’t thought about blogging in that light before, it’s time to start.

In this post, I’m going to talk about how to leverage your blogging skills to boost your business.

First, hone your writing skills

The great blogs out there have highly talented writers behind them. In fact, the entire business of the internet revolves around the most basic and fundamental of skills: writing.

Sure, some people have a natural flair for words. But that’s no reason to believe that you can’t train yourself to be a skilled wordsmith. And when it comes to blogging, there are certain pillars you should always use to hold your posts together:

Headlines. These should be powerfully crafted and demand to be clicked on. They are what ultimately will drive readership of your blog. If you’re stuck for inspiration, use one of the many blog title idea generators out there to generate something that’s catchy without being clickbait.

Style. Know your voice and develop it to keep readers coming back to your blog. If you’re someone who tends to speak in a short and direct fashion, you should write that way too. In fact, in general when writing for the internet, steer clear of long, wordy phrases. Our attention spans are not the same as they once were. Keep it clean, clear and concise.

Structure. Break up bulky paragraphs with pull quotes or visual content to increase the likelihood that people will actually read your blog posts from beginning to end. Make a point quickly and then move on – in another paragraph.

Quality. Never publish a blog post without editing or proofreading it. Enough said. No excuses. Sloppy writing conveys a careless approach to business. Editing is an essential writing technique that far too few bloggers work at perfecting. Yes, it takes precious time. But it’s worth every second.

Next, apply your writing skills to your business

You’ve been honing your writing skills and they have improved dramatically. Now it’s time to take them and apply them to areas of your business other than your blog.

Many aspects of digital marketing rely heavily on writing. And the same pillars that make for a good blog post also make for a good social media strategy.

Consider this: you have to be a smart, snappy writer to stay relevant and ‘liked’ on social media. Use the experience you’ve gained from blogging to craft tweets that read like a good headline.

This is especially true for brands in non-viral markets. Case in point: Brickell Men’s Products. They sell men’s skincare products – not something that gets shared around social media very often. So they craft direct, creative social posts that appeal to their target customers.

The same extends to email marketing. This is like the bread and butter of successful eCommerce businesses. Craft simple, direct headlines and paragraphs in every email template.

It may help to think of each email as a mini blog post. It has to have a beginning, a middle and an end. Ideally it will also include a call to action – in this case, one that encourages the reader to click on an email link and make a purchase.

Finally, collaborate with other writers!

Reaching out to other bloggers is one of the best ways to grow your business as you can exchange guest posts, product reviews and customer referrals.

Guest posts in particular lead to increased exposure for your brand and boosted traffic to your website.

You don’t have to limit your guest blogging to your particular niche. Find blogs and influencers in markets adjacent to your own, then share insightful, top-quality content that’s been well-written and carefully edited.

For example, if you sell cosmetics, you might try to collaborate with a fashion blogger. This kind of adjacent marketing presents a win-win situation: you get to promote your business, the blogger you work with gets freebies, and both of you gain new audiences and/or perspectives.

It’s hard to do things alone. The writing skills you have honed through blogging are extremely valuable so don’t be shy about reaching out to people to further your business endeavors. Paid outreach tools like Buzzstream and Ninja Outreach can make finding bloggers to collaborate with easier, as well.

In conclusion

Strong writing skills are the cornerstone of a good blog and they are equally essential to successful digital marketing campaigns.

While blogging offers a great way to talk about your business, you can successfully use the skills you use when blogging to build business sales and boost conversion rates with a little creative thinking.

I hope the above tips have helped you – do let me know in the comments below how you apply your blogging skills to spread awareness and boost sales!

Guest Author: David Porter is Marketing Director for Brickell Men’s Products – high performing natural skincare & grooming products for men. Their products are sold in over 25 countries in high-end luxury department stores and spas. You can see their products in the pages of GQ, Men’s Health, Men’s Journal, and other major media nearly every month.

The post How to Leverage Your Blogging Skills To Boost Your Business appeared first on Jeffbullas’s Blog.

The post How to Leverage Your Blogging Skills To Boost Your Business appeared first on Make It With Michael.

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1400762-collaborative-project · 8 years ago

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Weekly Journal

Week 1 (September 26th -30th)

Week 2 (October 3rd – 7th )

Week 3 (October 10th – 14th )

Week 4 (October 17th – 21st )

Week 5 (October 24th – 28th )

Week 6 (October 31st – November 4th)

Week 7 (November 7th – 11th )

I finished the sketchlines of my animation test and went to receive feedback from Helen and Robin.

Week 8 ( November 14th – 18th )

Week 9 (November 21st – 25th )

Week 10 ( November 28th – December 2nd )

Week 11 ( December 5th – 9th )

Week 12 ( December 12th – 16th )

Christmas Break ( December 19th – January 9th )

We mainly focused on our personal projects over Christmas, as we all had a lot to do, we agreed to leave the collaborative work for when we were back in Norwich.

Week 13 (January 9th – 13th )

Extension ( January 16th – 27th )

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