Downs and Ups, Ups and Downs...

I think there comes a point in a participatory project like this when things start to become clearer, but  before that there are definitely downs and ups and ups and downs.

Yesterday I felt I was moving forward because there was some nice press coverage in the online Spanish / English arts magazine, 'yareah'.

http://yareah.com/2013/10/2342-flamenco-fever-carmen-amaya-clare-brumby-halewood-uk/ 

I also felt as though I was making progress in the editing of the raw routine footage.   

Today, on the other hand, has been a mixture of both ups and downs. I realised how much I miss Barcelona and the daily flamenco training. I haven't worn my shoes once since getting back and I wish that I could make the time to keep up practising the routine.

On the plus side, I finally got sorted on what I'll be doing with my group in the workshops. Because of the short time frame, its something very basic, but really nice and effective, based upon rotoscope animation.

It means the participants will become 'inkers' for the next few sessions, drawing my outline from each frame, I'm hoping for at least 30 seconds worth of footage.

Now, if anyone knows about animation, it works on the basis of 25 frames per second. Thats 750 frames that would be needed to be 'inked' for 30 seconds worth of footage. This will be a lot of work for the young artists, which is why its got to be this simple given the time frame of 5 more sessions.

Maybe following the techniques in this beautifully done animation?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63o3ENsF2kE

Also, I'm trying to think of a way around reducing the number of frames without the routine looking completely weird when rotoscoped.

And, here's the interesting thing about talking through this process with my friend S
am, who is a great animator here in Merseyside. I had realisations that maybe I would not have had if I wasn't undertaking this project.

Essentially, I realised by processing this that I am someone who learns by doing. If I think back to an earlier post on this blog, I remember saying that I wasn't listening sometimes to Toni when he was teaching.  I was kind of 'zoning out' and today was the same when my friend tried to explain something to me. I had to do the action as opposed to listen and take it in that way.

Also, as I think I previously mentioned in an earlier post too, I have very little patience.

I think these are all good things to re-realise as I have to start from this point now and understand how I can encourage someone with similar learning traits to develop or learn certain skills.

That in itself is a plus point because its about how from my own challenges I can enable someone to overcome theirs in a way. I'm sure this will reveal itself when we're trying to ink the frames in the forthcoming sessions, so its about what techniques I can use to motivate the participants to keep them interested.

I look forward to the outcome!