Stop Frame

An artist (not that I consider myself to be an artist) has to have inspiration. When this project was first described, I knew I wanted it to have a Purdue connection. I wanted to do something for my brothers and sisters, since all five of them are Purdue grads. I thought about the new, bronze Boilermaker statue near the stadium. I wanted to animate the statue and do a King Kong parody of sorts. I had the concept in mind, initiating it was another story.
The idea was to show the score board for the outcome of the last game of this past season, when Purdue lost. This was going to trigger the Boilermaker to take action. First, he heads to the stadium, across the field, and then he takes off for campus. Since I work for the Purdue Libraries, I wanted to make sure the Libraries had a part in this too. So, the Boilermaker makes his way to campus, only to get to the library, to get a book on coaching, to help the Boilers. His way to Boiler Up! I was going to use the golden girl, as Ann Darrow, but I did not want to use any images I had not taken myself.

The entire process was very challenging to me, for some reason I just could not grasp some of the concepts. One Saturday I spent about four hours in the lab, without much to show for it. Out of desperation, I e-mailed my brother, stating that, I give up! He e-mailed back, and said, No you dont! Since this was the brother I had seen fight for his life in the hospital, I knew it was silly to get so upset with the project, so I continued on. After that Saturday in lab, the Photoshop part of the project started to make sense. I did purchase the book, Adobe Photoshop CS3 Top 100 Tips & Tricks, by Lynette Kent, which helped a little. I will give this book to the library, once I complete this class, so others can make use of it. As I altered more and more pictures in Photoshop, it became easier and easier. The next step, Final Cut Pro, again gave me problems. I tried to purchase the book, The Focal Easy Guide to Final Cut Pro 6 (Focal Easy Guide), but I was notified that it was sold out at the bookstore. I tried to read the online manual, to no avail. That is why I am very grateful for Professor WinklerÕs patience throughout this assignment! With a lot of guidance from him, I was able to finally complete the process. ItÕs nice to have a professor that is so helpful. I am also grateful to the students that sat by me in class, and answered my questions, when I asked!

This project was very challenging to me! One can only try to persevere and ask for help, and rely on those that can assist. In a way, I learned a lot more from this assignment, than how to use Photoshop and Final Cut Pro and everything else this project entailed. There was a greater lesson to be learned from all of this. So, I will Boiler Up! and share the final DVD with family, while sharing the story behind the production of The Day the Boilermaker Came to Life! Diane, Ed, Jim, John and Joan, this is for you. Mom, you too, for all you have done over the years! Thanks to my co-workers too for arranging things, so I could take a class again. Hail Purdue!


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