God Bless Ubuntu

The Backstory:

After postponing for a while, I finally met up with a client and collected my work for their next project. I did what I always do: copied all the needed files in a pen drive. Usually, I'd format it before taking it with me, but somehow it just slipped. The only thing I had in that pen drive was Ubuntu Studio, along with some other random files. I knew there weren't any viruses, so there's really no point in formatting my drive (other than to look neat).

The Plot:

I met my client, came home, had lunch, and plugged in my pen drive, only to find this:

The files I need are inside that folder....the selected one.....which has now become "DATA.exe"....

GREAT!!

Apparently, I picked up a virus.

Now, I can't fix this on my mac without installing some random software, which I really don't want to do. Judging from the damage, this seems to be a rather simple virus, something even Windows Defender could handle. On the other hand, the virus would become active the moment I plug it into Windows. It's probably not going to do much, but I can't risk losing those files. (I don't want to end up asking my client for another copy; that's just unprofessional)

Eventually, I decided to fire up Ubuntu (not the one on my pen drive), and see how that flies. So, I booted up, mounted my pen drive, and guess what?

Lo and behold, I can access my folder again! I love how you can see both the original folder, and the virus! Ha ha. 

So, I backed up what I needed, formatted the drive, and went back to catching up on this years Oscar Nominations. (My money is on Eddie Redmayne. Better luck next time DiCaprio!)

The Conclusion:

And that, my friends, is the story of how Linux, an open source operating system, was more helpful to me than either Mac or Windows! You don't need to be a geek to use Linux! (I'm not saying that I'm not one, but hey, that's just me). You don't even have to use it, just have a copy lying around for times like this! What harm could it possibly do you?

Download your copy of Ubuntu now!

Musical Maturity 05: Time (or) Meter

It's' been 5 and 1/2 months since my previous post in this series, (sorry) so I'll need some time to get back on track. Okay....(for my older blogs in this series, visit nkmaudio.weebly.com)

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What is Time?

In 9th grade, my physics teacher told me that time is something that could never be clearly defined. Wikipedia defines it as a measure in which events can be ordered from the past through the present into the future, and also the measure of durations of events and the intervals between them.....perhaps a bit confusing.

In music, time  refers to the time signature, or meter of a song. Despite the large number of time signatures in existence, there are only 2 meters: duple and triple.
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Duple: DOWN, up, DOWN, up
Triple: DOWN, up, up, DOWN, up upAll time signatures are derived from, or variations of, these 2 meters.

Time signatures define how many beats are in a measure (or taala), and the notational duration of each beat. In western music, it's represented as a fraction:

3/4

This time signature signifies that there are 3 beats per measure, where each beat has the duration of a quarter note. This is an example of triple meter.

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Why do we need it?

Time signatures do more than just indicate the structure of the song. Each time signature has certain rhythms associated with it. For example, 3/4 indicates waltz time. 6/8 is commonly used for fasterdance music. My point is, time and rhythm go hand in hand.

Listening to music and trying to identify the meter, time signature, and the rhythms are excellent ways of improving your sense of music. Later, think back and try to group certain rhythms with certain meters. You'll soon find patterns emerge, correlating these 3 elements. Unfortunately, this is something you need to experience for yourself. Listening to uncommon time signatures helps a lot. My personal favorite signature is 7/8

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How does this help compose?

Any rhythm that you play has to finally fit in your meter. Understanding how rhythm intertwines with time signatures can help you make "intelligent choices" in your music. For example, if you want your song to be interesting, the first thing you need is a catchy rhythm. Okay.........how do you get compose a catchy rhythm? Force yourself to use a catchy time signature, of course! 

For example, 5/4, 7/8, 11/8, 13/8, 15/16

I think you get the picture. Any signature with an odd number of beats, will easily churn out an interesting rhythm. Unfortunately, 3/4 can't make this category, because it's pretty much over used, and, a bit slow to form an intriguing rhythm. 

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Final Thoughts

I realize that this has been a rather ambiguous blog. There's really nothing here about how to come up with a complex rhythm. I'll delve into that a later time......hopefully. Until then, keep analyzing.

Visualizin Zigzag: Teeth

We've been talking about Zigzag a LOT, right? Well, we're not done! Have you noticed his teeth? Yes, they're perfectly straight, no, there's nothing wrong with them. So, why did I bring it up? Let me give you a lesson on human teeth, that will distract you so much, that you'll be staring at people's teeth instead of paying attention to what they're saying. Okay, here we go:

If you observe someones mouth when they talk, look at the position of their teeth, with reference to their lips. Most of the time, you'll find that you can predominantly see their top set of teeth, while the bottom set peeks out occasionally. In some cases, you'll find the opposite to be true. Although, from what I've seen, people always show their top teeth when smiling (even if they predominantly display their bottom teeth when talking).



Now, according to Richard Williams, Vincent Price (voice actor of Zigzag) inspired the teeth on this character. Apparently, when Price delivers his dialogues, you would sometimes see his top teeth, sometimes see his bottom teeth, and sometimes, you could see both sets of teeth at the same time! Personally, I am sorry to say that I haven't seen any of Vincent Prices's movies (he's actually an actor), but when I do, I'll be sure to keenly observe his teeth!

Coming back to the topic at hand, look at Zigzag's teeth. You can almost always see both sets of his teeth! .....That kind of creeps me out a little bit. Hey, he's an antagonist, so, the creepier the better! Haha.


-NKM

Visualizing Zigzag: Fingers

Okay, we've covered hands, but don't they still look kind of weird? Is there something you're missing? Take a closer look - not at the hands as a whole, but at the fingers individually...yes it's creepy, but why? Certainly not just because it's long.....(or that he has so much bling)

Let's look at bone joints shall we? Human fingers have a knuckle, and 2 more joints above it. Except for the thumb of course, which only has one middle joint. Now take a look at Zigzag's fingers.

He has 3 clearly defined joints, but an ambiguously positioned knuckle. Well, the knuckle isn't drawn in as a lumps, unlike the other 3 joints. But this kind of thing is not that uncommon among animated characters. Besides, let's think logically; the lowest ring on the finger is below the 1st joint. That would be physically impossible if that joint was a knuckle. So, clearly, there has to be a knuckle below it. You just cant see it. That's all. The thumb, as expected, has 2 joints above the knuckle, instead of just 1. This is clear in this image, (just look at the rings), but hard to see in other poses. You'd be hard pressed to spot it when the movie is playing. Take a look at Zigzag's model sheet to try and notice all this in the other poses. It's fun :D

As I've already mentioned, animating a character with 6 fingers on each hand is hard enough, but adding an extra joint on each finger is just insane! Sure enough, you never notice any of this stuff when watching the movie. It just goes to show that Richard Williams truly is a master animator. 

-NKM

Visualizing Zigzag: Hands

Take a good look at Zigzag's hands. Notice anything? Well, aside from the fact that they're extremely long......Have you tried counting the fingers?

6 fingers!! Now let me tell you something: making fingers move believably is one of the most difficult parts of animating any character. Many cartoon characters only have 4 fingers, and dealing with 5 is hard enough, but 6! Man! What leaves me even more dumbstruck is that, I've seen the Thief and the Cobbler many times, over the past....well...15 years I'd say! In all these years, I never noticed this quirk. I only found out when I heard it in a documentary. 

Let's put things in perspective. Humans have 5 fingers. When we see a character with 4 fingers, we notice right away. It just slaps us in the face! Zigzag has 6 fingers.....and yet, he's animated so convincingly, that you don't for a second, doubt that he has anything other that 5 fingers! The thought never even crosses your mind!

Well that's it for today. I'll be back tomorrow with something along the same lines of this same topic. Keep your eyes peeled!

-NKM

Visualizing Zigzag: Posture

I'm assuming you've seen the Thief and the Cobbler by now. I'll kick off my series starting with character designs and personalities. First up is my favorite character, Zigzag. Evident from the title, I'll discuss his posture. 

Take a moment to look at the above picture. Do you see anything unique, or....out of ordinary? To be honest, there are LOTS of weird quirks hidden in this character, and I'll walk you through them, one at a time. For now, lets start with the most obvious-the position of his head. Compared to the rest of his body, shouldn't the head be a bit higher up? 

Notice how his shoulders stretch way up. It's physically impossible for a human skeleton to position itself that way. Try it out! So why is it like that? Yes, I'm aware of the exaggeration principle of animation, but Richard Williams was trained by Ken Harris, who was known for his excruciatingly minimal use of exaggeration. [Ironically, he worked for Warner Bros.]

This posture isn't there by accident. Zigzag is designed this way to come across as a menacing foe. Take a closer look. Does he....resemble something familiar?

AHAA!!

His shoulders are actually the wings of a vulture! This gives Zigzag the look of a predator, waiting to devour a decaying carcass. But this is only one of his oh so many quirks. Stay tuned for the others, and until then, keep observing!

-NKM

The Thief and the Cobbler: The Greatest Animated Film Never Made

If you have heard of The Thief and the Cobbler, then I applaud you. Unfortunately, chances are, you haven't; and there are reasons for that. Personally, I feel that this movie deserves to be known. It was supposed to be Richard Williams's animated masterpiece, but sadly, never saw the light of day.

I'd like to mention upfront that in this blog, I'm not referring to the Miramax edition [the one with horrible songs], or Lionsgate's "Princess and the Cobbler". Both of those are horribly butchered versions of Williams's original intentions. I am referring to Garrett Gilchrist's fan-made restoration, the "Recobbled Cut". This happens to be the closest thing to the originally intended masterpiece.

Have you heard of Richard Williams? No? Have you heard of Who Framed Rodger Rabbit? Well, Williams was the director of animation of Rodger Rabbit, and won 2 academy awards for it. He also won an Oscar for his animated version of Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol". In fact, A Christmas Carol was actually a test of sorts to see if it would be possible to create such an impossible movie like Thief and the Cobbler.....have I sold it enough yet?

Now you might be wondering what makes this movie so special. Well, I'm glad you asked. You see, this film was in production for 28 years, only to be mercilessly grabbed out of the director's hand, sliced into an unrecognizable pulp, leading to an inevitable box office failure. I would like to spend the next several months going into details about all this history, and why I love this film. I promise to keep the blogs short, and to the point.

In 2012, director Kevin Schreck made a documentary about the tragic story behind this movie. Ironically, this documentary titled "Persistence of Vision", won many international awards and was screened at film festivals all over the world. I haven't had a chance to watch it yet, but would obviously love to!

DISCLAIMER: Thief and the Cobbler is not a movie for the fainthearted. If you are not a fan of animation, then this film will most certainly bore you. What you are seeing is an incomplete film.....just wanted to put that out there.


Trailer of Thief and the Cobbler (Recobbled Cut):

Persistence of Vision Trailer:

Thief and the Cobbler (Recobbled Cut): Full Movie: