MICHAEL BRANSON SMITH

Tag: animated GIF

  • Millions of Unusual Small Creatures Lurking Everywhere

    I remember having a little garbage can full of these M.U.S.C.L.E Men back in the 1980s. They were about an inch tall and there were dozens of different characters, each with a lot of detail. I was becoming a little too old to ‘play’ with them, but I was a bit of a dork and…

  • American Werewolf in London Animated Movie Poster

    Writer, director John Landis is best known for his comedy work in the 80s, particularly the Blues Brothers, Trading Places, and Three Amigos. But the cult classic, An American Werewolf in London was one of two forays he made into the horror genre (I never saw Innocent Blood, but reviews were pretty bad). Admittedly I’m not…

  • Hard Boiled #3 – Animated Comic Cover

    Ever since Jim Groom pointed to the amazing animated comic covers created by Kerry Callen, I’ve been jonsing to make one. I loved the simplicity of the animation in each of the four GIFs he created, particularly the Spiderman and Ironman GIFs which each clock in at only three frames each. There is so much time and…

  • Animated GIFs with MPEG Streamclip and GIMP

    [youtube width=”580″ height=”470″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dyEgQXLED0[/youtube] DS106 has a great screen-cap tutorial to teach you how to make animated GIFs with the free applcations MPEG Streamclip and GIMP, but I thought I’d do a quick video as well. I’ve done a number of GIFs using Quicktime, Photoshop, and Final Cut Pro but these tools are not free! I’m…

  • Finding Your Professor’s Weak Spot

    Training and preparing for ds106 is like no course you’ve ever taken. The regular regimen of reading books, taking tests, and “writing to your professor” will not be enough. Your well studied moves… …will fall short. Why? Because ds106 is ready for them… If you can’t break your usual course habits…and find the weak spot…

  • The Evil and the Weak Must Be Purged

    Leaving a window open on your computer playing old, bad television while going through email can lead to one of two things – inbox zero if you maintain your focus on the email, or more likely a couple of good animated GIF ideas for ds106. Above is the fabulous Jack Palance playing the false prophet Kaleel…

  • It Had To Be Murder

    I’ve been playing with animation timing in these two animated GIFs. I’m trying to find ways to use fewer frames and still tell the story I’m looking for. In this moment of Rear Window Raymond Burr finally realizes that he’s being watched by someone across the building court yard and James Stewart knows he’s found out.

  • The Robin Hood Bunch

    I was inspired this morning by Lou McGill’s post which included animated GIFs of three close-ups from the final shoot-out in The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. Seeing the animated faces of Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and Eli Wallach on a single webpage made my think of the Brady Bunch Opening with the nine…

  • Dissociative Dr. Oblivion

    Jim Groom was interviewed by Dr. Oblivion today and Jim plead that the ds106 community forgive him after banishing so many students during the Summer of Oblivion. It seemed to be a truly touching moment of closure for everyone that had fretted over the mental health of Jim Groom. Dr. Oblivion was retaking the helm…

  • Made It Ma, Top of the World

    James Cagney’s famous send off in the final seconds of the classic noir film, White Heat (1949).