Farewell Seniors!
A couple days ago, a sad event yet inevitable event happened at our school. It was graduation. We all had to say farewell to our beloved, respectable seniors who stood as the backbone of our great high school at KIS. The Class of 2011 was perhaps one of the best group of students KIS has ever had and will ever have. Their contribution, love, and dedication was no like any group of students. Although, we all said our heartbreaking goodbyes, we are still united through social medias. But more importantly, we are all united in our minds. Yes, we may live in separate places and not see each other often, but as long as we remember each other in our heart, that is the connection and friendship that will last forever. The high atmosphere in KIS is a present given by the seniors, I would say. Thank you seniors and you will be missed, greatly. Your sincerity, dedication, and contribution will all remain as memories in our heart forever. Again, with my honest heart, thank you. Good bye. Good luck.
Archive for June, 2011
For the first time in KIS history, KIS hosted the KORCOS conference. Teachers from many international schools visited KIS for the annual conference, KORCOS, no March 11. KORCOS is a conference in which teachers from different schools socialize and share ideas about the way they teach. Although KORCOS was held on a Friday, many teachers still came. KORCOS is an effective way for teachers to receive new ideas about projects and assignments. Through this, teachers can enhance the student’s learning materials. KORCOS, though, is not all about conferences. In between breaks, teachers were able to buy products from a wide variety, such as healthy drinks, hand-made quilts, plants, and bracelets. Also, there were many different types of food teachers were able to purchase. For example, On the Border, a Mexican restaurant renowned for their taste, came to KORCOS. The conference was a place teachers interacted with one another and learned different ways to teach their students to succeed, along with having a wonderful time discussing about their own teaching philosophy. Also in the conference, students from NHS and Tech-Guru were lucky to be part of KORCOS and help teachers out. The main purpose for Tech-Guru was to wait for calls due to technical difficulties. If there was a call from a classroom, the Tech Guru’s would dash to the place the teacher is and solve the problem. The Tech-Guru were there to help teachers who had difficulties using the Macbooks or teachers are not used to technology. The most reoccurring problem amongst the teachers were connecting to the server, operating the projector, and putting down the screen. If the role for Tech-Guru was to help teachers with technical issues, then what was the role of NHS? NHS was responsible for the raffle tickets, selling drinks, and most importantly acting as a guide — a guide who would take the teachers to the right place (since KIS is a gigantic school, it is inevitable for someone new to get lost). In order to prevent teachers from playing “hide-and-seek”, NHS students were in KORCOS to direct teachers to the right place or tell directions. Together, NHS and Tech-Guru, were two important student led body groups in KIS that made KORCOS a better conference than ever. Thank you to all NHS and Tech-Guru members for their help and above of all, KORCOS was a success.
THE PIXAR STORY
“Pixar’s objective is to combine proprietary technology and world-class creative talent to develop computer-animated feature films with memorable characters and heartwarming stories that appeal to audiences of all ages.”
Pixar was established in the year 1979 and struggled — struggled so hard the company was on the verge of being sold of. But what has made such a struggling company rise to the top by the twentieth-first century?
Pixar has the world’s finest talent in the CG area. Their technical and creative teams began working since 1986 in order to develop a wealth of production software to create their own unique movie and further develop the art in CG movie making. Pixar is known for their tradition of sharing the advances with the CG community through technology partnerships and papers. Entering the twenty-first century, Pixar’s unorthodox animation methods in terms of records and recognitions, quality of producing animations, and computer technology, has led them to become the world’s current strongest animation studio.
It wasn’t till “Toy Story”, when Pixar started to rise. Pixar’s first animated film, opened strong financially and critically on fall’95. Pixar became the first animation studio to produce a full length CGI animated feature. “Toy Story” was the first animation to be nominated for Best Original Screenplay. As the years went by, Pixar became stronger and stronger. Other notable records include “Up”, the second animation to be nominated for Best Picture and “Toy Story 3”, the first animation to make over one billion dollars in the worldwide box office. They earned a total of 24 Oscars, 35 Oscar Nominations, 3 Grammies, and a Guild’s Inaugural Vanguard Award that recognizes superior achievement in new media and technology so far along with may other accolades.
Making a Pixar animation is as complex as producing a live-action film and requires patience and technical skills.
Briefly, here are the steps of making a Pixar film:
1.story is pitched
2.text treatment is made
3.storyboard is made
4.voice recorded
5.editor make reels
6.art department creates the looks and mood
7.models are sculptured and articulated
8.sets dressed
9.shots are made
10.shots are animated
11.shots are shaded (set and character)
12.adjust the lightening
13.rendered (may take up to 90 hours)
14.final touches (sound effect and music)
They keep their story simple, yet exciting, and unexpected with twists and turns.
Pixar has made numerous significant software systems, which all contribute to Pixar’s avant-garde quality. Their programs used in just about every movie company. RenderMan, their finest innovation, was used over the past fifteen years and so far every Oscar winner for Visual Effects used it, including “Avatar”. RenderMan remains the standard in CG film visual effects and feature animation and honored with Oscar for significant advancements in the CG field. Marionette is used only at Pixar, and other programs include PhotoRealistic RenderMan (REYES) and RenderFarm, which allow motion blurs, advance ray tracing, and realistic 3D hair on characters, like Lotso and Dug. Pixar has the capability for rendering architecture, shadow casting, image composition, particle systems, and animations. Pixar is also ahead in ray tracing, motion blur, and rendering. Pixar invests huge amounts in software systems, as they believe further advancements will potentially improve quality and productivity. Such proprietary technology of Pixar’s produces quality rich and vibrancy, which are unique in the industry, and above all, allows directors to control final touches, precisely so that it is fits exactly with the story.
Starting as a small company, Pixar evolved into a phenomenal and has potential to revolutionize animation technology to another dimension. Pixar has changed the way we perceive animations.
They are responsible for the important breakthroughs of CG application for film making, and further innovations are expected in the future. From toys being alive to monsters to cars to fish to French rats to bugs to robots outer space and to the people up in the sky and even superheroes, Pixar continues to get better and better. Pixar’s success is to infinity and beyond.
Pixar Animation Studios is an Academy Award ®-winning computer animation studio with the technical, creative and production capabilities to create a new generation of animated feature films, merchandise and other related products.”
THE PIXAR STORY
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