As I have stated in my previous blog post filmmaking has long since been a passion of mine, with my dream of becoming a successful filmmaker being the career path I am pursuing. In my effort to find useful information on filmmaking I have recently discovered a fantastic blog containing tutorials of immeasurable importance.

As the upper image suggests, this blog contains many useful tutorials on horror filmmaking (another interest of mine). As far as the blog’s design and format, it is pretty straightforward. The blog is split in to sections that detail specific categories, from the above shown Blood, Bullets, and Stunts to Stage Effects and Green Screen etc.  Each section lists links to tutorials based on these categories, which is very useful for any filmmaker and not just horror filmmakers. One such link for example, takes you to an in depth video on how to create  realistic fog for scenes in your video giving your film great atmosphere. This is just one example of all the helpful tutorials featured in the blog which seems to me to be well produced and finely detailed. It’s well worth checking out: 666 DIY Horror Filmmaking Tutorials

By Hayden Larsen

In 1998, Frederator Studios was founded by Fred Seibert. His studio makes cartoons for television, movies, and the Internet. The company has produced 16 series and over 200 short films including The Fairly OddParents, Fanboy & Chum Chum, and Adventure Time. You can find their cartoons on Nickelodeon, Nick Jr, Cartoon Network, and Channel Frederator. His blog was created and published using Tumblr, a popular website made specifically for visual blogging. You can find the Frederator blog right here.

The blog focuses on all things cartoon, and provides information about the Frederator company, the cartoons it has created, books Fred Seibert has written, and even a way to pitch your own ideas to be made into a cartoon. The blog links to many other blogs made by cartoonists that provide plenty of good resources for getting into the industry. The website is very laid back and posts something at least once a day, but often there are interviews and information about various cartoons within the posts. There is even a proper explanation on how they operate their channel on Youtube. The blog even provides cool images showing color keys from the animation and simple recipes inspired by their cartoons.

Overall, the blog is very entertaining and informational. Its a website for a company that focuses primarily on animation and cartoons, and openly allows anyone to apply and incorporate ideas into reality. It is definitely a nice and friendly introduction to what making your own animation studio must take.

By: Megan Rockwell

TheFirearmBlog.com is a blog that I’ve been reading for a long time. They are constantly producing articles and reviews. Since they started in 2007, they’ve put out over 10,000 posts ranging from industry news to product reviews.

In the firearms industry they seem to be on the tip of the spear as far as information release. When news broke about a possible new generation of Glocks, People flooded their blog (myself included) because they were one of the few places with news about the topic.

In their post “Breaking: Photo of the New FBI Glock 17M Leaked” they used their resources inside law enforcement to get sent images of one of the first models released into service. Doing their best to extrapolate what they could just from the images, they were able to learn a lot about some of the design and component changes. They listed the changes in an easy to read manner and made sure to leave caveats making it clear that there may be more information than what they are privy to.

When the first of these new gen Glocks were recalled, The Firearm Blog stayed on top of the story posting updates to their page as they came. The most recent being, “Glock 17M Recall Update.”

This seems demonstrate the impact of having an industry respected blog where people want to share their new products and a large enough writing team to facilitate large amounts of information dispersion. According to their “About” section, they currently have four staff writers in addition to their Editor-In-Chief and weekly guest writers.

One of the reasons I chose The Firearms Blog for this project is they are what I’d like to model my blog after. They have well written posts and have also integrated a YouTube channel “TFB TV” into their content production. I’ve always viewed their content through the eyes of a consumer. This project made me dig a little deeper and look more into the “how” as opposed to just the “what” of their blog.

Hey, my name’s George and here’s a little about myself. I was born and raised in Eugene, but have traveled around a bit, going to places like Colorado, Wyoming and even as far away as Germany. I love to travel and explore the unknown, soaking up as much knowledge as I can about other cultures, especially languages.

My other favorite things are games, art and my cat. My favorite games are RPG and RTS style games though my table top game skills are something to be feared. I love a good battle of the minds and am always ready for a good challenge. I’m not so good at drawing, painting, sculpting, what-have-you, but I enjoy spending my time learning about the different artistic areas and learning more about them. I’ve definitely improved my artistic ability but I still have a long way to go. My true love is my cat and as odd as that is I don’t know what I’d do without her. I took in Maggie from a friend with two dogs and 4 other cats that would always pick on her as she was the smallest of the litter. I was hesitant at first but I quickly fell in love and have never regreted the decision to take her in.

I enjoy other things such as snowboarding, creating games, going on walks and other activities. While I can tell you what I enjoy, I’m not sure I can tell you who I am. I say that because I’m still not sure and honestly hope to never find out. It’s an amazing experience when you can discover something about yourself every day. It makes me look forward to tomorrow and the surprises it will bring.

By George Bleekman

I was born in Pullman, Washington on March 10, 1994 the eldest of two other siblings. After staying there for a year we moved to Oregon which I lived for most of my life. My dad, a veterinarian, and my mother, who was studying to become a teacher ,were both christians and raised me as such. I was considered different as a child, something that would later be discovered as low spectrum autism and aspergers.

Life as a kid was interesting and one of my favorite past times was looking around the neighborhood for “critters” such as bugs, snakes, and lizards with my  little brother. As my family continued to grow we moved several times over the years, until we made it to our permanent residence in the country. Ever since I was a kid I have always been fascinated with monsters and film, something I still am interested in today. I was highly creative as a child, constantly creating senarios and “movies” in my head.  When I grew older this passion never wavered, nor did my fascination with animals. At first I wanted to be a wildlife biologist when I grew up, however, I later changed my career path to something that would satisfy myself creatively. Since I always had a passion for film and writing,  I decided that I would pursue a career as a filmmaker. As I grew older life never once got easier, but in spite of its dull moments, sorrows, and triumphs I have learned the only was to move forward is to press on as the rewards are all worth it in the end.

By: Hayden Larsen

Hey,

My name is Dana and when people ask me where are you from and where is your weird accent from I stay silent for a second and then start to explain…

During my lifetime, I lived in three completely different countries, learnt three completely different languages, visited endless amount of places and probably never stopped searching for exciting places to go.

So, everything started when my parents grabbed me from the scary Soviet Union and brought me to the Holy Land.

Time flew, I grew, finished school, army, graduate school, got married to my high school sweetheart and went to explore science horizons in a far away Virginia.

Since then I worked in a few pharmaceutical, research and academic institutions in Israel and United States.

Who am I?

As a Russian, I have endless passion for classical literature and opera. As an Israeli, I love sea, good food and have Mediterranean temperament. As a Virginian, I have a lot of respect for organization and self motivation. And as an Oregonian, I’m in love with yoga clothes, natural cosmetics and rain.
By Dana

Hello! Call me Meg.

I’m an art student, caffeine enthusiast, cat mom, forest witch, and amateur ukulele-player.

I’ve lived in the rainy Pacific Northwest all of my life, and I never plan to live anywhere else unless invited to the Shire. I have a fluffy and fat black cat named Coconut, and a small cactus named George that sits in my apartment window. I work at the library at Lane, and can make a pretty mean cup of joe. I know how to knit hats and scarves, and can tell you the name of any Pokemon.

I have been an artist since kindergarten, and have always found love and inspiration in 2d animation such as various Disney and Ghibli movies. I enjoy cold, rainy evenings where I may read books about wizards and hobbits while drinking piping hot coffee. Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter are two of my favorite things ever, and someday I wish to help create amazing adventures like such with my own hands.

When I’m finished with my art degree/media arts program at Lane, I want to be able to wear as many hats as I can for animation projects. I want to be able to work as a storyboard artist/concept artist/project manager/… etc. etc.

By: Megan Rockwell