Oh well.
Name: Mason Smith
Age: 23
Hometown: San Marcos, Texas
Occupation: Student
School: Brigham Young University
Major: Pre-Animation
Interests/Hobbies: Just read my blog. You'll figure it out.
What I'm up to These Days
I'm a podcast host. I'm a Rotoscoper.
Towards the end of last year my good friend Morgan started filling my head with dreams of being a co-host on an animation podcast. After weeks of brainstorming, researching, and trying to figure out a good show name, the first episode was scheduled for the first week of February. We came, we recorded, we conquered. Now, after 8 episodes, we've got a modest group of fans, and we've caught the attention of a few real-life animators. It's one of the funnest things I've ever done. We focus on one particular animated film for each episode, and we have nerdy discussions, quotes, and lots of random tangents. I love talking about film, especially animation, and Morgan, our other co-host Chelsea, and myself have a blast geeking out on the show.
Listen for free on therotoscopers.com. We're also available on iTunes. I'll try to blog about stuff we talk about on the show, and vice versa.
I Like Animation.
Drawing, cartooning, watching movies, using my imagination. I enjoy it.
Lately I've been watching the X-Men Animated Series on Netflix. What a show! I'm not a big fan of the Marvel super hero movies that have been coming out (notable exception: The Incredible Hulk) mostly because I believe they poorly represent the world of Marvel comics. Download the Rotoscopers Episode 7 to hear a more in-depth opinion on the Marvel flicks.
Also, I just watched this crazy animated movie called Fire and Ice (1983). It's your standard Conan/Krull barbarian-fantasy film, only animated. Review coming soon.
BYU Animation
I'm currently putting together my portfolio to apply to BYU's animation program. The deadline is June 8th. It'll be a lot of figure drawing, some 3D stills, a sketchbook, my final project from 2D Animation, etc. Just to give you an idea of what I'm submitting:
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| My final project for one of last year's classes. I used Maya and Photoshop. |
It's taking up a lot of my time and, usually, completely stressing me out. If you didn't already know, BYU Animation is a pretty tough program to get into. They only allow like 20 students into the program each year. To quote my INDES 150 professor Brent Adams, "There are, what, 15 people in this class? Yeah only two of you are going to make it into the program". Yeah. Failure isn't an option for me here; It's not just me being a perfectionist, I honestly don't want to do anything else with my life besides animation.
Lead singer for some kind of rock band would be nice too.
So I've got about a month here to put together an extremely important portfolio, and I should know if I made it into the program before mid-July. At that point my life will either be awesome or be officially over.
Stay tuned!
Stay tuned!
Ah, thanks for your Rotoscopers love. Sometimes I get nervous and think, "One day Mason's just going to say, 'Yeah, it's been fun, but not that fun.'" Glad you still like it because I still do too.
ReplyDeleteAnd I know how you feel about getting into the program (the "life or death" feeling). That's my feelings on getting onto Survivor. :)