With the pressure of starting a new semester and diving further into a software that was new to me, as well as having to manage several group projects and the new criteria they brought, I tried to keep in mind the previous modules’ feedback. By adapting to some time management resources for my study, I was able to separate a bigger portion of my time towards practicing and research, keeping space for any changes.
The same resources helped me tackle the number of presentations involved in both modules, as even though I struggled during, I still absorbed the topics and tried my best to eloquently explain each point.
In the practical side, However, after the refinement of our storyline, problems communicating and collaborating in the beginning of modelling and the production of a Previs, ended up delaying my group’s progress for weeks. As I faced my own obstacles with Uv mapping and completing my character rigging, the rest of my group ceased making any progress. I decided to share a n action plan to help us catch up with the pre-production steps before the final presentation, I still had to remind them to prioritise getting started with the animation.
Our lack of collaboration meant that, in many aspects, our final animation lacked effort to bring it to a more cohesive look. nevertheless, with the help of class tutorials I was able to fix many problems within my own animation, keeping in mind the tutor’s suggestions on timing and camera attributes.
The number of group projects in this semester was an eye-opening moment. I realise it is a wonderful opportunity to become familiar to the studio and team style of interactions quite common in the industry.
Another interesting aspect of the course in general that assured me is the overall communication and sharing of information from the faculty, as comparing to friends in another art course, we have more time to prepare and the knowledge of what will be asked of us. The existence of the student handbook and the lecture where we got an insight of areas we should practice for the next year makes me look forward to continuing learning even during the break as well as the feeling of being prepared to what is ahead.
In the words of Hellen McCarthy about Hayao Miyazaki’s Characters, ‘This heroic ideal draws from his own life and his observations on the society he lived in and the world that society functioned in,’ in my opinion as a student, this is concrete proof of the multilayered required to succeed in this industry. The foundations of contributing to and absorbing from both the tutors and other students will one day be an unconscious step to my creative process.