SCAM blog
Since I haven’t blogged in awhile I will give a quick sum-up of the weeks we had so far:
Week 3
So the last day of Carol’s Teaching was great we started off with the assignment we were told to prepare the day before. We were given each, in three separate groups, a people group and told to present ways we could reach them through appropriate medias. The teams played roles of Missionaries and Locals acting out situations that may occur when visiting that people group.
It was fun to see all the different groups act out their situations.
We separated from the SFM to be taught on Figure Drawing and Anime by Karen S. She taught for 2 weeks first starting with drawing realistic figures by sketching a model in different poses. It was great to see the students work on paper and seeing the different types of styles we all had.
Week 4
On the second week we were taught on drawing anime and the differences between them and other cartoons. One noticeably different thing is the many types of eyes in Anime being one of the most unrealistic element in Anime drawing.
On the same week we also went to the zoo for a day and sketched some animals to get a little used to none human figures.
Week 5
This week was a combined week with the SFM which Steve B. taught on Story & Script Writing but, unfortunately, I had to miss out on it because we, the staff, had to go to the staff conference down in Cha-am.
For more on this week see Angela’s SFM blog entry.
Week 6
For this week we joined with some new people for, what we like to call, a seminar week. Our SoCAM class of 3 students became 8 students as we had some people sign up for the seminar. Dave H. taught on Comic Development and the students all worked very hard to develop a minimum of 4 page comic intended to reach someone they already know or at least a rendition of a character they know.
It seemed like a pretty good week with the extra seminar students giving some very positive feed-back.
Week 7
This week we are learning Photoshop with Dave H. joining once again with our SFM buddies. This is a week I really enjoy as I get to help out the students on their queries on how to develop great images of photo collages, digital paintings and surreal special effects. Every once in awhile someone in the classroom would say, “I love photoshop” and after a couple days it was more than just me.
This week has had a good start! Carol C. fired away with some inspiring video shorts and some overwhelming statistics about the unreached to kick off Media & Mission Strategy. We then began some prayer and then focused on our dreams for the future and our calling into missions. Students and staff took turns to tell their story about their calling and why they ended up where they are now. The next day, we watched some more videos that Carol had prepared. She had also brought along some examples. One particular device was simply a piece of folded cardboard and a needle, which enables to play records similar to a gramophone!
We also had a few more people from Create staff come in and talk about their experiences with different media forms. Penny A., along with intern Jay A. came in and talked about the difficulties they had came across while trying to paint culturally -appropriate art pieces for the upcoming animation series God’s Way for Muslim peoples.
Rachel W. also showed us a little of her involvement in learning ethnomusicology & ethnodramatology, highlighting dances from a Tibetan tribe. The dance was very spiritual in nature, but we were challenged to begin thinking for a way to redeem our common Westernized dramas and begin making them culturally relevant. This addressed the importance of research needed for a culture before you set off on outreach!
But the week is not done -- there is still one more day of Carol’s teaching to go. We have been given a special group assignment – a simulation of reaching an unreached people group using at least 2 media forms! It will be interesting to see these skits acted out tomorrow!
The lecture phase for the School of Cartooning and Animation for Missions is now officially over, and the students are hard at work on their animation projects for the Northern Thai. By the end of December we will have three short animated films that communicate some aspect of the gospel in a culturally relevant way to the people of Northern Thailand.
The twelve-week lecture phase went by so fast, we barely had time to blog about it! Here are a few highlights from the lecture phase:
Comics and Comic Strip Development
We were treated to one week of instruction by the founder of Comix35, Nate Butler. Nate is a professional comic artist who brought years of experience to the SoCAM. Students learned to design characters, layout comic strips, and interpret the Bible visually. They each created their own rough draft of an evangelistic comic strip.
Software Training
Five weeks of the school were spent in intense software training using Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and Flash, along with AutoDesk Maya for 3D. We had professional instructors like Alwyn Ng from Singapore, and Poul Riishede from Bangkok pouring their knowledge into the students through demonstrations and individual instruction. Although the three students were challenged by the time and effort it takes to animate even short scenes, there was an excitement about the possibilities of creative projects!
Our first ever School of Cartooning and Animation for Missions was a great success and we are looking forward to the next school in 2011.
So here we are finally at SoCAM 2011. The Students arrived on Friday and we had orientation with a girl named Gift. It was an amazing gift, pun intended, to have Gift with us. She talked about the world view of the Thai and how it relates to Hinduism, Chinese Animism and Buddhism. She explained that Buddhism is the main Thai religion which influences the Thai people’s world view but that a lot of Hinduism and Animism is mixed in as well. We learned a bunch of dos and don’ts of Thailand with one example being that the head is a sacred part of the body so it is extremely rude to touch the head of someone who is older than you.
On Saturday we got up fairly early to take the students to Wararot Market where we had a photo/video scavenger hunt. The students had to split up in small groups and find a bunch of things on a list related to Thai culture or simply land marks in the area.
Afterwards we all met at the Art Cafe where we hang out over lunch.
The rest of the weekend was time off for the students to rest, go shopping or get a head start on their journals.
Monday was the first day of class and Calvin Conkey, the International Director of Create, began his teaching on Cross Cultural Communications. He began with Biblical foundations and then, on Tuesday, told us how to deal with indifferences among another culture.
Calvin shared amusing stories of cultural differences. One particular story is: About a Suruwaha Tribal who was wearing nothing but a piece of fabric. When asked why the tribal man didn’t think it would be easier to just not wear the cloth at all, the man replied, “What do you want me to do? Go around naked?!”
Wednesday we played a fun and challenging game which we can’t really talk to much about because it might give it away for the people who haven’t played it yet. We can say, that it was a roleplaying-type game involving two make-believe cultures that kind of clashed together.
In the afternoon it was movie night. We watched a classic film called Who Framed Roger Rabbit? which the animations were created by Richard Williams, the creator of the book we are studying this year The Animator’s Survival Kit. Stephen Spielberg was also involved as the producer of the movie.
We will be looking forward to the rest of Calvin’s teaching as well as next week’s speaker Carol Conkey, Calvin’s wife and also International Director of Create, who will be teaching us on Developing Media Strategy.
July 21, 2010
This week we're drawing people. We started out with 30 second gesture drawings using photos and images from the web, and then moved on to some volunteer models who came in and posed for us. It's hard drawing people, and even harder when they're in dynamic/just plain weird positions. Harder still is doing all this with a time limit! Honestly, even though I'm teaching this week, I am painstakingly slow when it comes to drawing. It's been a good stretch for all of us, I think!
Life drawing is also called "Figure Drawing," but in this case it's aptly named because the purpose of our curriculum is to draw from the life that is found only in our risen Savior, and also to draw things that may serve to help bring people to life spiritually with this same vitality. Cheesy but true...
Peter Hong
School of Cartooning and Animation for Missions Staff
July 7, 2010
This week the students in the School of Cartooning and Animation for Missions are learning about culture and world view along with the SFM students from our International Director, Calvin Conkey. It's amazing how much we are influenced by our world view without being aware of it. We may not ask each other the question, "How's your world view today?" but our world view influences everything from the way we build our houses to how we greet each other. Culture stress is natural when we live and work in a culture with a world view different from our own.
This is the first week of our twelve week course, and our three students are visibly excited about learning more. Over the next three months we will be training them in drawing, cartooning, animation, and crossing cultures. Stay tooned for regular updates throughout the school!
Dave HudsonLeader, School of Cartooning and Animation for MissionsJuly 8, 2010
There's excitement in the air as we conclude our first week of the SoCAM! It's cool to see the diversity among the three students, and how they're getting along. Also notable was our first Art Devotional this week (given by Dave), which served to loosen up drawing movements in some hands that are severely out of practice (the staff, I mean). Bruce Geske also fired us up for the new ways and new means God is using to reach out to the lost here in Thailand. It's such a privilege to be a part of His amazing plans!
Peter Hong
School of Cartooning and Animation staff