Lots of shtuff!

Well here I am. The final week of the Worm project. I am animating and rendering all at the same time. My teachers have been pouring the homeowrk on me like sand from a giant hand above my head and I am actually still surviving. The whole team has been great especially my wife who pretty much knows everything there is to know about 3D even though she has never actually done any 3D in her life. I cant imagine that...carrying around a chair that you cant sit on. For me thats a big part of the fun...being able to actually do the stuff...she has to watch us monkeys jump around and bang our hands on the keyboards while she tries to make sense of it all. One thing is for certain...I have learned a great deal about story telling. It is simply incredible how much work goes into this stuff...a minute and a half and thats it...people will go "hmmm...that was cute"...and walk away. LOL! Too funny. I know it seems like a small project to some but for me this has been a very genuine moment in my life....after all of the agony of a first short film I can honestly say that this is what I am supposed to be doing in my life. All the late nights in front of the monitor yelling outloud at software, sloppy sketches of worms and apples scattered throughout the house, piles and piles of reference...all of that chaos but in the end I still smile. Its a pretty powerful feeling seeing your first film coming to life as each little frame of EVERY pass of EVERY shot shows up in the folder...but I will say this...all jokes aside, this truly is the moment of truth. I cant help but wonder if all of that research and meticulous planning of compositions/staging and other "invisible" elements has paid off or will I just look like some crazy bastard wasting alot of technology. LOL! Its a little frustrating/scary since I am still learning animation, storytelling, and...well...everything that was required to make this happen but hey...its fun to try and ride a bike before you can walk right?! LOL! I am sure I will look back and cringe but thats life...we all have to have some way of tracking our progress (or degradation...ouch). Anyways, the film is due for upload to the Siggraph servers on friday so you know what I will be doing this week...thats right...juggling cats and chainsaws.