James C. Ditmer

The Old Story Axiom

James — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 15:41:00 +0000

I was reading through my Google Reader feeds this morning, as I usually do each day, and I came across an article that another friend of mine had shared. It was an article written by Kevin Koch and posted on his site SynchroLux. It is a great read about the old saying that Story is King in animation.

He makes some very valid points that story is important, but it is not everything when it comes to film, which I have to agree. A large part of film is visual, so it is hard to say that you could have some really bad visual elements, but a great story and still have a wonderful film. Kevin makes a great point when he mentions the number of remakes that have been done. He asks the question, how many times have you seen a movie redone (i.e. Planet of the Apes or Psycho), and do the remakes have the same success just because the story is the same? The short answer is no, because although the story is basically the same, the director and very importantly, the acting is different, along with many other parts of the film such as sound and cinematography.

This is very important to keep in mind especially as it pertains to animation. The story can be the same but the quality of the visuals can vary dramatically, which really changes a person’s opinon of a film. Story is not necessarilly king. Take the recent film Avatar for instance. It has proven to be a very successful film and a film that I myself love. Although, this is the case, I would argue that the reason for its success is not due to story. The story is pretty good, but it is the visuals which make this movie stand out and is what brought so many people to the theaters to watch it.

To conclude, I just liked that someone brought up this topic and supported the claim so well. I eagerly await what he will be writing for his continuation of this subject as it moves into how important quality animation is to the success of a film.

Late Night after a long time

James — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 03:36:47 +0000

Well it has been quite a while everyone. I wish this was not the case as my hope is always to keep this updated bit alas I have been slacking.
Well I have been very busy with multiple things. I thought I was going to teach at our local college here in Columbus but that did not work out so now it looks like I will once again be moving. I cannot yet say where but my hope is that it will dramatically help with getting employment in the VFX industry. And speaking of VFX I have been using and learning much more such as camera tracking and compositing and I have started modeling again which is really a lot of fun! Well that’s about it on the little update. I once again hope to keep these posts more updated. So, until next time.
- James

First IF (Illustration Friday) post

James — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 05:24:11 +0000

FLYing_illustration

So here is my first submission to Illustration Friday. I am so happy to have been able to post this week. I created this in Illustrator. Its the first Illustrator piece I have ever shown publicly and can’t wait to show more. I hope to have many other posts to IF as the weeks go by to help build my illustration skills. I hope you all enjoy.

Moved In

James — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 12:10:33 +0000

Finally, after four days of moving, my wife and I are completely moved out of the old apartment and into our new house! We went over and picked up the last item (a futon) last night and drove it over in my little Honda Civic. That was a lot of fun driving over brick roads with a trunk open and a futon matress and frame hanging out. It was actually pretty funny as we bounced over the bricks. It was also a little sad leaving what we had been calling home for over a year now, but I am so glad to be done with moving! Its great not to be moving heavy washers and dressers. I have to thank my friends Jon and Emily, who helped Allison and me so much with moving. We will have to return the favor when they move in a few weeks. Now I need to still get that hot tub cleaned up. Its starting to cool down here very quickly and I would love to use a nice warm hot tub at night after work. I was just thinking about my pal, Adam, who is out in L.A. now. I hope he is doing well and hopefully on the trail to finding a sweet 3D modeling position at a studio. There will be more on this later, I’m sure. For now I just wanted to wish him good luck.

A new house and new yard

James — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 17:50:11 +0000

Ah, my wife and I just closed on our house last Friday and we are so happy and love the backyard! Here is a picture taken from the backyard. http://twitpic.com/jdzjb. I have so enjoyed relaxing in the backyard the last couple of days. Its really a great house and my wife and I are so fortunate to own it now. The next project is getting that hot tub running:)

A little update

James — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 11:55:51 +0000

So, good news about the house. Everything that the inspector found that needed to be fixed is being fixed by the seller! So…. Allison and I should be able to move in next Friday! I can’t believe it. We’re homeowners. I can’t wait to sit back and relax in our new backyard and be able to park my car in a garage instead of on the street… a major plus. Now, its packing and heavy moving time this next week.

So one little other thing is that I just got my 1TB WD MyBook. It is awesome. There is so much disk space. Now to get all those Maya project files backed up.

Late August Homebuying and Everything Else Update

James — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 17:57:17 +0000

I’m back once again. I can’t believe it has taken me this long to update my blog but here it is anyway. Nothing has changed too much for me other than the following:

1. I will be wrapping up my time with Dream Machine Studios shortly. It has been a great experience which I have learned so much from. Scott was a great guy helping me get in some work on games and helping with some R&D and rigging for some of Dream Machine’s game endeavors. I thank you Scott so much for all you have done for me in my learning in the past eight months. Wow, I can’t believe it’s been eight months already!

2. I was planning on moving out to L.A. in about a week with my friend Adam, but due to my current financial state, I will have to remain behind as I continue to better my animation skills. I wish all the best to Adam in his endeavor to find a job in modeling and I hope to be out there animating sometime in the future.

3. Since I am now having to stay in Ohio, I am looking all around for freelance work in animation and hoping to score some project in the near future (in fact there may be a good chance I’ll be working on an Imagitorium project once again).

4. Along with searching for animation positions, I am very happy to say I have been looking for opportunities to teach as well. I have done some teaching in the past and always enjoy it so much. It is truly amazing when you can help others learn something that you are so passionate about and I am currently applying for these positions that would allow me to teach 3D art and animation (which I obviously love so much)!

5. Last and probably the biggest news item from me is that Allison, my wife, and I just recently bought a new house, barring nothing major is found in the inspections. I am so excited and I know my wife is as well, to be home and property owners now. We absolutely love the house and the yard is perfect for us and our little Bella. Also, there will be garage parking for the two of us. Woohoo, no more street parking at our own place! I just can’t describe how elated we are about this new purchase. The house and yard are just beautiful! I will hopefully be able to update with pictures in the future.

Well, I think that’s it. I think that wraps up what’s been going on with me lately. Oh, one more thing. My parents and sister each got a Jack Russel terrier and they are apparently a ton of fun. I can’t wait to meet the little rascals.

Until the next update,
-James

An update with an updated reel-in-progress

James — Fri, 22 May 2009 13:10:30 +0000

I’m back and have some new work with me. As I have posted in previous posts, I am working on my short film at AM, which takes up a lot of my time, and I am also working for Scott Easley over at Dream Machine Studios. I am starting to put together a reel, which I will be continually adjusting for the next few months. I have placed the reel below. Right now the “Animation,” and “Blendshapes” labels are temporary until I can figure out a better way of displaying them. Also, all of the rigs are from Animation Mentor, Dream Machine Studios, and Sudeesh Chathanoor. When I finish this reel, I will have an official shot breakdown for it, which will show who provided the rigs. Well, here it is. I hope you guys enjoy it.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Past Projects on a New Day

James — Fri, 01 May 2009 20:26:53 +0000

Well, I am finally posting some older work that is not organic character animation. One is a logo animation for Imagitorium Studios and the other is a stapler animation I did for a freelance test. I had a lot of fun with these as I tried to finish them in short periods of time and give them as much entertainment value and as close to personality as I could. I hope you like them.

Our new family addition (Bella) and MvA

James — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 13:34:45 +0000

Hey, If anyone has not yet seen Dreamworks Monsters vs. Aliens, you really must go see it. I watched it at the Imax in s3D and it was terrific! The animation was solid, the characters were very entertaining, and the story was great. I was super excited to go see this because my friend Jacob Gardner worked on several shots. It is really cool to see a friend’s work on the big screen and then see his/her name in the credits at the end… Way to go Jacob!

Other news as of late is that my wife and I have just adopted a new puppy. She is really great and so cuddly, which both my wife and I love. We saw her last weekend at the Montgomery County Animal Resource Center when we were just walking around. She is supposedly a German Shepard/Chow mix, although we suspect something different since she is so small (only 4 lbs. now). We were not really expecting to get a puppy at all, but when I saw her, I fell in love with the little girl. After filling out some paperwork Monday, we finally were able to pick her up last night. She is so soft. I think she was a bit of a surprise for my wife and I though, as we were up much of the night, taking her outside to use the restroom. I’m so happy my wife was able to work from home today to take care of her on her first full day at home. It will be an experience to see how she does with children as we take her to see Jillian, our little niece, and the rest of the extended family on my wife’s side. I’m sure it will be so much fun. Those little girls are so adorable. Anyway, I have posted some images of Bella (our new dog) below. I am so happy that our little family is now growing!

Bella the first night in my mother's arms

Bella in my arms the first night

Bella with me at the ARC

Bella's first meal at her new home

Bella face first in her food bowl

Bella staring at Allison and I while sitting in front of the couch

Bella sleeping between my pillow and Allison

Bella asleep next to Allison

This is Bella playing with her bone the first night at our house (picture compliments of Jim Carroll)

Bella with her toys the first night (picture compliments of Jim Carroll)

Here is Bella looking at/playing with Mary Carroll (picture compliments of Jim Carroll)