Passion Project Update 2

Update for 10/3 to 10/10
Now that we have the plot line down, we started writing a basic script. Although we all agreed to go ahead and make a crazy specific script we have go go by. This is more like a guide for when we film. Ashwin and I went to Justin's house to go over what we have and expand our plot line and script. We went to possible locations to film and decided we should all get our own costumes ourselves. That is one thing I have to look into because the others for the most part have or are getting their stuff. Something I see as a problem for our entire group is how loosely we make our script and how improv-ish we are gonna do this. Because despite having a good idea of what we are gonna do, we need to make sure we have everything ready for a certain scene.

Passion Project: First Reflections

These first 2 weeks for our passion projects have been helpful in starting our video. We have done a lot of the beginning stages. Our group has been working on our plot line roughly and been working on our characters. We have been looking for music for our video and deciding what our characters should like. I personally have took on the role of a mage in our final fantasy-like video. Although, nothing is final at the moment. We have not really encountered any obstacles really(Except for Tom learning to throw cards). However, I anticipate a lot of editing problems to overcome later once we actually start recording.

Empathy is the solution?

After listening and reading Jeremy Rifkin's thoughts, I do agree with his ideas on empathy to an extent. I do agree that empathy is the solution to unify humans as a race. Basically, Rifkin believes empathy is "the invisible hand" that can extend to everyone on Earth. Empathy is how humans can unite as a race before it's too late. I like his term as referring to nations as "fictions". Mostly because that is what a Nation is. Why identify ourselves as Americans from the U.S.? Why restrict ourselves with borders? Nationalism repeatedly causes problems, enemies, and wars. This is all true, but it's impossible to fix. Unfortunately, this idea of everyone using empathy to solve our problems, which in theory could work, is idealistic. Despite living at a time where we know more about what goes on in the world, I don't think we can empathize with the people who have completely different experiences than ourselves. I could never imagine being someone dealing with starvation every day and trying to survive. Sure, I can research the hard life some people live, but even that is doubtfully drawing a 100% accurate picture of what goes on in their lives. I may be able to empathize with people facing the pressing issue of bullying because that is right here where I can see it. But issues like world hunger and lack of any medical care is not something an average person can experience here. Not only that, but some people simply do not care, which is unfortunate, but true. Not all people can be reasoned with. Not everyone wants to empathize. Rifkin stated that if we can empathize with our own groups of religion and nations, we should be able to empathize with all humans as one race. But we can't empathize as a whole because we don't have any connections with our race as a whole except being human. Which most don't consider a connection because of how vastly different our experiences are depending on where we are. 

Passion Project Update 2nd Semester

I have made a lot of progress on my Passion Project. With the first 5 Fridays I finished my script of what I want to do in my animated movie. Although, I definitely could have done more, I think what I have done is satisfactory. The obstacles I have faced in what I have done was thinking of what I actually want to do. After all I might think I want to put something in it and realize I can't when I make the actual animation. My movie is about a normal school day because that's what I can most relate to. Of course I make it closer to MY normal day to make it easier for me. An example of something I might take out of the movie is lunch conversations because it would make my movie longer for unimportant information. The next obstacles I have to prepare for is how smooth I want my animations to be. Like if I want a crazy good movie animations. But also how should I express the people when they talk. That's the kinda stuff I have to overcome now.