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My Assignment, should I chose to accept it was:

Attend the capstones on Dec. 9, sometime between 4-8 p.m. Interview at least one captsone presentor. Ask the following questions:

 What has this week been like for you?
(Game Development)  
 Team Dustin Ostrum & Joel Bergman :  "Hell"
Dustin: A major annoyance.

(Sequential Narrative)
Team Tim Andrick & Jeff Himes 
Tim: This Week was fine because it was done a few weeks ago. 

If you could change anything in how you did your capstone, what would it be?
Dustin:  Change the amount of time we focused on it, and compile all the important stuff first.  (Essentially do the important stuff first.)
Joel:  Not working on it the night before!


Tim:  I'm a video student, that didn't have any video or sound involved in my project.  For the time being I just had to get it done.

 How close is the final outcome to what you originally thought it would be?
Joel:  Ended up cutting two levels, we originally planned 3 levels, and we redid the art style, a lot was changed.

Tim:  Oh, about 90% there.

If you had one more month to work on the project what would you do?

Joel: Get it done a month early, use last month to polish and play test.

Tim:  Facebook comment integration, didn't work out.  But, would loved to have had it.

 What advice do you have for me about working on my capstone?

Joel: If you're going to make a game, don't make it third person.  Focus on the content.

Tim:  Start early, start now! 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I abbreviated the comments as I was writing them. LOL  That's all for the question and answer section.
Next , also include on your blog a reflection of how this semester has helped you form your approach to the capstone.

1. Address the efficacy of the approach we took in this class. Umm... Well I thought it was very efficient.  We covered a lot bases.  The class made sure we were buckled and securely fastened in for our capstone.  There is not looking back now, and I'm pretty sure would cover all the major points.
2. Discuss whether or not the breakdown of the project development was advantageous.   I would say so.  I had already nailed down who my mentor was, and what kind of capstone I would be doing.  So for me it was a reiteration everything I was already doing.  It enforced the importance of making sure all the paperwork was done, and the timelines were planned out, and whether or not we should look into a secondary mentors,  planning for when $*** hits the fan.  It definitely put things in perspective.  It pretty much scares you straight.  If you aren't scared about capstones, you should be.  I mean that in a good way though.
3. Discuss the advantages and/or disadvantages of the student guest speakers for forming your own approach to capstone.  An advantage to the student speaker was learning that they all had some commonalities in the things they pointed out for capstone.  Things like starting early, make sure you're always working on it, things of that nature.  I would say though, some speakers were more helpful in their opinions than other were, I won't say any more than that.
4. Were there any assignments that you thought were particularly helpful? Please elaborate. Yea, looking up a secondary mentor is always good.  You get opposing information at times, and sometimes they both collectively agree on what works for your project.  At the end of the day you sort through that information yourself, and you decide which direction you are wanting to take your project. I would definitely recommend it.  Just be careful whom you chose.  There are teachers out their who are detrimental to your work.  Yea, I said it...  I'm not naming any names but I said it..
5.  Were there any assignments that you thought were particularly useless? I'll be honest, the splitting up into teams of capstone students, so that we could review each other project was kind of a bust. =(  We're terrible at giving each other feedback, mostly because we're so rapped up in our own stuff that we forget to help others.  We're in that cocoon stage of our college year.  Perhaps a metamorphosis will occur for some of us before we graduate.

 

Progress Report

It is time to submit a progress report on the status of your project. Each discussion point listed below is worth 10 points for a total of 50 points for the progress report. Please post answers to the following on your blog before the due date and upload the URL to that post here:

1.What concrete progress have you made on your capstone project since you submitted your proposal and timeline? Include specific examples; if possible post some examples to your blog.

I made enough progress to know that I'm hitting a very big wall almost 5 months in.  I chose a story that was both near and dear to my heart, and because of this I'm finding this is turning into to be a mistake.  The timeline has fallen into the cracks.  I've decided it is time for a different story that has no strings attached.

2. How many times have you been in contact with your mentor? Please list what you discussed.

I talk to my mentor every other Friday.

3. How has your timeline changed thus far? Discuss what has changed and why you changed it.

I have to write a new timeline.

4. What do you still need to complete in preparation for the beginning of your N499 course? Identify key aspects of the project that need to be taken care of before your official capstone starts.

Need finish timeline, new outline, new script, new roughs.

5. If there have been significant changes to your project since your proposal, please discuss them.

 Read question 1 again?

If you have any questions, please let me know.

Project Development Issues

A little not to my self of all that is needed.

Time management issues?
The big issue is managing my stress.  Things move more smoothly when you aren't freaking out.
Time to complete the story seems to be the major issue.  

My capstone has to compete with 4 other class. Fortunately I planned a head for this, and I tried to take classes that weren't project intensive.  Things like Tai' Chi (good stress management class), and Violin lessons which together take up 3 credit hours.   Also since I'm taking this Project Development class, it's just reinforcing what we already have to do in our Independent study.  The only class my capstone is competing with right now is Stop Motion Animation.

Skills needed to complete the project?
Some Creative Writing
How to use programs such as Photoshop, Corel Painter X,  and Illustrator 
Figure drawing skills
Digital Painting skills
Design skills
Photo manipulation skills
Color Theory 
Sequential narrative skills

Resources needed (people and technology/materials)?
Adobe Creative Suit 5
Corel Painter X
Wacom Tablet
*New Computer (Bought it at the beginning of the semester)
Business Cards
Water Colors/ Gouache paints
Chalk
Acrylics 
Micron Pens
Copic Markers (Maybe) 
*New Printer with Scanner
Books on figure drawing
Books on digital painting
Books on the art of comic book making
Herron Art Professor
New Media Sequential Narrative Professor
Possibly some set production...

Budget

Ugh, well let see... So far what I've spent
Macbook Pro:                                   $2,500.00  *Ouch*
Printer:  Kodak Printer                          100.00
Ink for Printer (when Ink runs out)         35.00
Adobe Creative Suit 5 (School brand)    20.00     
Corel Painter X                                       30.00
Comic Paper                                           30.00 
                                                        ---------------
                                                           $2,715.00     

There is the Gas expensive that haven't been totaled yet
Haven't checked into business cards yet
And I haven't thought out how much the whole presentation is going to cost me. 

Team issues (even if it is just you and your mentor, that forms a team)
Feedback on time might be an issue, for mentor and of teams.

Other issues
 I find that while I'm working this project I'm waiting on feedback for the go ahead from my mentor.  So I work on it as if I have the go ahead, probably to find out later changes have to be made and pages half to be scrapped.   Seems like an innovative use of time.

Mentor Profile

*Note this blog entry has changed several times, due changes I've made outside of class with current mentor.  I got a brilliant idea though as far as mentors, so humor please.

For class we had some questions we needed to answer about a secondary mentor.  See this is where it gets tricky, I'm currently working on my capstone. Well, last Friday on the 16th, after I talked to Powers he told me to stick with a comic.  Doing just a comic for capstone was okay with him.  But it had to be awesome...  I can do awesome!   This changed the role of the secondary mentor I was looking for though.   Instead of looking for those people who specialized in animation, because I already had a mentor who specialized in sequential narrative,  now I had to figure out what I was looking for in a secondary mentor.  As I was thinking about this, the dynamics of the presentation of my story changed too.

1. My capstone idea in 100 words or less.   So I got a new brilliant idea.  I'm going to create a sequential narrative where the emotion and message of the story is in the medium.  I know I'm referencing Marshall McLuhan, but I think it would be an interesting way to convey a fantasy story that is both filled with humor, horror, suspense, perhaps mystery, and coming of age aspects.  To have the main story told out right, with an underline story seen perhaps through the medium itself? I can't give you more than that at the moment, it's on the top of my head brewing like a volcano.
2. Four key components I was searching for in a mentor.  So what do I need as far as a secondary mentor?  Someone who can help me think inventively and help me stretch my mind.   Someone who has an art background.  Someone who doesn't mind the idea of mixing experimental ideas with traditional  ideas.  And lastly, someone that has a knack for dynamic narrations, sequential narrative, and dynamic characters.
3. Three potential mentors from the MAS faculty I would like to approach to discuss my capstone.   Also I need to "make sure one of them is someone from whom you have never taken a class," Like I said, humor me.  I am a woman on a mission!  And since I've already started on my capstone, I hope you don't mind if I took a slight detour from plans.  I already have Powers, and I already enlisted the help of Steve Mannhiemer, who is very good at encourage one to think outside the box.  And I also enlisted the help of one other, Anita Giddings.  She's actually from Herron.  I need her help with color theory, composition, and design.

Why I chose them, and what I know thus far:

• Powers is enthusiastic, adaptive, innovative, intuitive, and he asks a certain amount of boldness from his students. I think this is why his head is so big.  It's full of strange worlds, and lots of information. He knows what makes good sequential narrative, and how I can keep my readers turning the pages. 
• His area of expertise is 2D and 3D gaming (game creation), sequential narrative, narration in general, characters, virtual reality, environment, and creatures.
• He expects professional grade work, and will not let a student show a B level project.
• He's currently at his limit with students he is mentoring.

• Mannhiemer because his innovative, mind bending techniques help one reach beyond their potential, and your comfort zone.  I think he will help to enhance my
•  He's also a studio artist, a journalist, strategist
• Was once a faculty member at Herron.  Added bonus.
• Said he would help me as a Secondary Mentor

• Giddings is a professor I chose from the Herron school of art.  I chose her based what she says in her bio. "The content of my work deals with the systems that we use to order our environment. How we explain the phenomena of the natural world and what that has to say about our relationship to larger ideas interests me greatly. I try to depict the abstract ideas that are associated with concepts of time, natural events and how we visualized our relative physical position in the world. My visual tricks mimic the tricks we use to tell ourselves that we know what is going on."  I felt with her nurturing nature, her background (she's actually written books on painting techniques), she would be able to help me with color scheme, composition, and help the images in my background/foreground say more.

Together it works something like this:

Someone in New Media ---------> Someone New Media/Herron Art-----------> Someone Herron Art

Full New Media Perspective         Someone with a foot in each door             Full Herron Perspective 

I'm hoping this will give me the creative, innovative, profession, refined edge I'm looking for.  Plus cycling it through three people, and having it filter through critiques might give it an extra added boost?

This begs the question though... Can you have to many mentors? 

Secondary Mentor

So as the capstone process continues I'm beginning to see that more than one mentor isn't actually a bad idea.  It's something that wasn't even considered till Beth mentioned it.   Now I'm one of the few who currently has a mentor, Mr. Mathew Powers.   He is helping me with sequential narratives since the man is a genius.  But I want to knock this project out of the ball park, so I have a really good idea on which two people I would ask to be my secondary mentors.   I was thinking of Steve Mannheimer (New Media), and Anita Giddings (Herron).  Both have art backgrounds, and I choose Mannheimer for his thinking outside the box method (as mentioned in class by Beth), and Giddings because she can help bring my art to a new level.  Together with Powers who is like the King of comic book narrations,  it would be my Triforce awesomeness. Yea, I just said that.

People who probably wouldn't be a good candidate as my capstone mentor would be someone who specializes in web design, Sound composition, and the President of the United States because I don't think he has the time.  Kidding.  Sorry, these things become tedious to read after a while.

Peer Capstone Support Information.

Just a quick update. Today I'm suppose to identify the general category my capstone falls under.  Mine falls under sequential narrative, and animation.  But there is a lot preproduction involved, so I might fall into the video category as well.  I say this because there is script-work, story boards, animatics, art that needs to done, and in a sense you have to find actors to do some voice overs.  They're similar (somewhat) in the creative process, an I think a nice cross over between video and animation would be would be very helpful.

Class Discussion 8/30/11

Last class we talk about what a capstone is, and then we sort of discussed a successful capstone.  I'm not sure I understood the whole conversation of playing to our strengths.  The question was asked (something along the lines of), is playing to your strengths playing it safe?  Capstones is somewhat of an accumulations of the things we've learned in our high school career.  Perhaps its a bit difficult to shove everything we learned into into one project, and for the most part people will narrow down their projects so that it plays to their strengths and interests as well as showing what they've learned.  But I don't think it means I'm playing it safe.  My project is a comic.  Wrote one once in middle school, totally ripped off the plot from "Sailor Moon." Don't judge me... LOL  In any case it wasn't that great of comic.  It was more or less something between friends.  My strength lies in my art and my love for story telling, but I gotta tell ya, from what I've learned from Powers about the art of comic book story telling, I find myself very intimidated by project.  Not mention that my animation skills are a little bellow average.  Telling a story via comics is a bit different from telling a story via animation, and I am doing both. Though they seem similar.  I think I've already dug myself into a hole well before I've started.