Bye bye, until next time

     Well, it is finally that dreaded time again, saying goodbye. Having finished everything, I'm putting it all in a Google Drive for higher quality preserving, which you can access here. Organization is good, which is why I put all components there. Having finished the project still has me wanting to do more, as I still have ideas I can implement, and things to brush up on. Even if I don't resubmit, which I doubt I even can, I'll still save it for the future, and include it in a future portfolio. Either way, here is some more organized links.

Google Drive (includes Instagram, short film, and postcard)

            Front of postcard teehee

            Back of card teehee x2

Instagram:

Wrapping up with inspiration part 1/?

    Things are slowly coming to an end, and while I am still not done, I did watch something that gave me a lot more to reflect on. While it can be counterproductive to get inspiration when wrapping up a project, I have been doing what I can to keep it from affecting me. 

    Either way, I watched Jujutsu Kaisen 0, which gave me a lot of ideas and inspiration in terms of animation work. The movie looks spectacular, not just the animation, but the effects as well, as is the case with anything MAPPA makes. Much like the show (that I have only watched clips and like three episodes of), there was no compromising in animation, as there wasn't really a time limit as much as with serialized releases seen in the first season of the sequel(?). It works well as a prequel, as it embodies a lot of the same charm of the series, condensing it into a single experience. While good for animation, I felt like it hindered the storytelling. Although the pacing was good, I found that I wasn't really invested, and a lot of what the series conveyed either felt bland, or wasn't developed enough to get me invested in it. 

Jujustu Kaisen 0, which deals with the prequel story of Yuta, has again been blessed by MAPPA's dedicated animators. Reception in both Japan and the US were good, as it earned 1st and 2nd box office placement for each respective country. I enjoyed it a lot, and you could too lol

    

    I also watched Thermae Romae Novae, another anime series that also gave me some inspiration. Although it wasn't as visually appealing as Jujutsu Kaisen 0, it still had a charm to it. At the end of every episode, the author of the original manga visits a hot spring that served as inspiration to her. She also makes a drawing relating to the place she visits. The series itself is also a lot simpler, with the plot being fairly redundant, but I still enjoyed it, as every so often I found new or interesting information regarding Ancient Roman and Japanese culture. After watching it, I thought of how having a simpler story doesn't mean bad, as some people can still enjoy it, reinforcing my previous ideas of having a simple story. 

Thermae Romae Novae is a simpler series, that still has it's own charm. I enjoyed quite a lot of it, as it felt sufficiently informational, while still adding humor and interesting visuals.

    Aside from this, I worked on more of my own ideas, streamlining them to my hearts content, even if I never make anything of them. I like watching any sort of content, as I always find something to appreciate or learn from.

More copyright work

     Copyright, who doesn't love it? Everyone should be the answer, except for greedy people. Anyways. I'm again finding ways to work around copyright by showing one specific example I've followed trying to use copyrighted music, that isn't as enforced compared to other songs out there. Some music that has recently being quite a battleground for content creators is the Minecraft soundtrack. Not only is it popular, but many streamers and video makers use YouTube to publish, which has allowed some people to steal content ID, even though this goes against YouTube's terms of service.

    Outlined in not only Minecraft's official page here, but also in Daniel's official website here; the Minecraft soundtrack is very much free to use, so long as it's kept as background music, and other content is made to go over it. There's been many times YouTuber's have used the music to play in the background of their streams, or even played the game and still got content ID by fake companies trying to steal money. To make sure the same doesn't happen to me, I researched a bit more, and even emailed Daniel's agent, which he suggests on his own website.

An email prompt on Daniel's website. Simple and effective we'll see if it works or if he's busy teehee

    It feels pretty nice to reach out in a casual way, and learn about something one of my favorite composers likely has had to deal with constantly. Either way, bye bye!

The dread of every project: Copyright

     One of the most annoying things any creator has had to deal with is copyright. Things are always messy, and even after years of streamlining it is far from perfect. Even if you are given permission to use a work by the copyright holder, a company, or even an individual can swoop in and steal profits or even take down your project. To put it simply, it's complicated, especially when debated in courts, and even across countries. 

    In general, a copyright law is just a protection over a work you've made, entitling that you own any original work you make, whether it's published or unpublished. One type of work, relating precisely to media, is what makes this so much more complicated, music. Although an artist can create music and generally own it, depending on the deal they have with a record label, they may or may not hold the copyright to it.

    Aside from this basic principle, there also exists free use and attributions. Some licenses allow you to use a work freely, so long as the original author is credited, and you don't edit the original; while other uses require the work to not be monetized. Free use laws also fall under this, as they allow you to freely use a copyrighted work so long as you do not claim it as yours, and add your own creative input to warrant its use. Having learned about this in class and by reading terms of service for models and YouTube, things certainly don't seem at all complicated, as just reading a bit helps unsure fair use. However, social media and services convolute everything. 

    One such example is in YouTube, where even if a work (more typically songs) fall under fair use, you can still receive copyright strikes, and have your channel deleted, as YouTube doesn't follow copyright laws, but it's own policies that prevent content stealing. This has happened with movie and show reviewers who used footage of what they were critiquing (something that falls under fair use), who have their channels deleted after a company sends claims to YouTube. More typically this can happen when a critique of something is unfavorable o the company, and so in an attempt to get rid of negative PR, they delete unfavorable content, on grounds that they don't fall under fair use. The same can be used with songs, as some companies allow music to be used in the background, so long as the music alone isn't part of the content. Even then, streamers and video makers can have content deleted for playing a song in the background of a game or other content (without the intent of it). This has gone to extreme lengths, as sometimes even humming or playing a song that sounds too similar to another one can result in banning as bots automatically pick up on it. Even if you manage to get through all that legal mumbo-jumbo, your content can still be claimed, even if it is not copyrighted, as extorters can make a claim based on absolutely nothing, meaning anyone can do it.

    But why is this relevant? Because music. As I want to include and maybe publish my work, I have to make sure it won't be taken down. As such, I've found websites that compile music and scores that can be used by others, without as much danger as just using the first song I see. 

    Aside from websites such as Dova-Syndrome, Chosic, Purple Planet, and even YouTube's own audio library, among other paid and free services, I have browsed a few to find fitting music for my project.

    I'm certainly no legal advisor, so here's some more info on copyright! https://www.baylor.edu/copyright/index