Reflection
Overall, I really enjoyed this year and got to know a lot of new people. I did come from foundation year and felt a little more comfortable. although I was still anxious as I had a lot of personal issues going on. In semester one I did miss a lot of days due to an illness although I tried to improve on my attendance as the year went on and did well in semester 2. All my lecturers have been amazing at supporting me through the year along with student support. As I am dyslexic, I struggle with written work, so I was not looking forward to any kind of written/research-based work but thankfully the world of animation module was interesting, and I was able to have fun within my groupwork. Being dyslexic I also have trouble with time keeping and memory so keeping on top of my work was one of the crucial issues I had during this year, and I feel like that’s where I let myself down. I did try and improve on this during the year, and I got better in semester 2 with uploading all my work and meeting deadlines. Time management is on top of my list for year 2.
My least favourite modules this year were the world of animation and Animation Studio. The funny thing is, I came into my first year of animation enjoying 2D animation, but as soon as I began to work in 3D I really was not as interested in 2D a as much. The animation studio Module was not as fun as the other groupworks I was a part of, and I found animating a full 2D animation is a lot harder than 3D although during this module Sarah was helpful. The world of Animation studio module was interesting, and Yuan and Ryan were extremely helpful. Although I just thought it was the least exciting module within the entire year, due to the fact that written exercises and research aren’t one of my strong points.
During Semester one I did slightly struggle with 3D modelling but as the semester ended, I began to love it. Over the Christmas Holidays, I made a lot of 3D artworks in blender which I have attached a link to my blog for you to take a look – Personal Blog – Ellen’s Animation Blog (ulster.ac.uk) I really wanted to focus on perfecting my modelling skills for semester 2 as I knew we had Animated Narratives coming up. I think doing this kept me familiar with blender and I was more comfortable using it on my own. This also gave me time to research techniques to use in blender that I would not have time to do during the semester. Starting Semester 2, I was pretty fluent in using blender, so I felt one step ahead of myself. In animated Narrative I was in a group with Kaitlin, Nicolle, Andrea and Aaron and I could not have asked for a better group to work with. Everyone was so friendly, and we were always able to communicate about any issues we had. In Terms of the work, I thought it was a lot more manageable than semester 1.
My favourite part about the Animated narratives module was having fun with the environment and props. My team had created a lot of amazing props and we got to go a little over the top with this, but in the end it was worth it. I have never really animated anything in 3D before, especially at this length. I think for being a beginner, I did very well, and I should be proud of myself for what I have achieved. Alec and Mike were incredibly supportive and helpful during this module and were always there to help with any type of issue.
My least favourite part about this Module was probably presenting/pitching ideas. I am not a very good speaker and I am quite anxious in general, so I did struggle when it came to this. I did force myself to attend on these days to present as I wanted to be there to support my team and I know it would be valuable to hear feedback on my progress so that I can improve on any issues. public speaking is something I want to improve on next year because I know I ever want to present ideas I need to be able to find the confidence to do so. Being at University has boosted my confidence a lot, as I left secondary school in 2018 after A levels and I was just working part time in those years, and I feel like I lost track of my artistic skills. I was not really practicing my skills and had no one from which to receive feedback. Also working in retail, I was not ever close to anyone that shared the same interests as me, now that I am studying animation, I feel like I can connect with more people.
After finishing the Animated Narrative’s Module, it has motivated to keep creating over the summer holidays. I plan to experiment with various kinds of models and environments that I can rig and animate. I want to keep my skills up to date so I am fully prepared for next semester, and I hope it will be as enjoyable as this year. There are also a few things that I am unsure about that I would like to look into further, especially using after effects to edit my animations as I didn’t get a chance to edit much during this module as I did most of the environment and lighting while Andrea and Aaron focused on editing and sound. I also want to look more into rigging as I didn’t get a chance to rig more complex models. After all the mistakes and things I could’ve probably improved on, I am still incredibly pleased with what me and my group was able to achieve and animate by the end of the year. If I were to go back and imagine what the outcome would be, I do not think it would be as good as what we produced in a short amount of time.