REFLECTION
My first year at this animation course was spent in a very unexpected way, due to COVID19. I think, however, that in terms of what I learnt and what I think of what I learnt, it was very positive.
The Animated Narratives module was the biggest and most difficult project I felt I’d undertaken in the entire year. There was a huge learning curve at the very start for me, as I’d never really worked with any kind of 3D software, and was more comfortable and proficient in working in 2D. I had to learn programs such as Autodesk Maya, Blender and Substance Painter from scratch, and working in them in the beginning was very difficult and I struggled quite a bit — especially with the number of things I had to learn in such a short amount of time. The module, all the difficulties I faced aside, was very good for me to learn, and I had fun with a lot of aspects of it! Learning how to create a short animation from scratch was obviously a very good thing for me to learn and I’m very glad I got this project done with my group to what I think was a very good standard!
Me and my group, when it came to this module, were very organised, and communicated very effectively. We had organised our collective workloads into week-by-week goals which we all aimed to have completed or mostly completed by the next week – we would then move onto the next goal we set for each group member. This allowed us to stick to a good schedule when it came to the production of the animation and made it so that we never fell dangerously behind. We also group called on our discord server we made for the project pretty much weekly. Working in this group during this module helped me work better in groups and collaboratively, and I now feel way more comfortable creating work together with other people.
This module challenged me of course — immensely so, and we did have quite a few issues when it came to technical difficulties, file sharing and remote learning, but we did the best we could and I’m happy with what we all created together.
In terms of the whole first year in this animation course. I thought it was wonderful. It was obviously lacking in person classes which caused some issues but in terms of what I learnt – I am very happy to be learning so much in a subject that I am so passionate about! I feel like we learnt the same amount and to a very similar speed the exact subjects and info we would have learnt in in person classes. The tutors were fantastic trying their best to give us a good experience of the class even through remote learning, and did their very best to help us with any and all questions.
I think keeping the classes recorded and on-hand for us outside of class time was something very, very helpful and I think we should continue to do it even when classes are back to normal. Having them there allowed me to go back throughout the weeks and remind myself how to do something in my modules that I would have had trouble remembering and going to find answers to without.
I did feel that because of remote learning, I couldn’t figure out some problems I had in some projects – especially when it came to proficiency in Maya modelling, and they would’ve been answered much faster if we were in person and I didn’t have to just troubleshoot on google and forums until I got my answer. I had this one moment when I was modelling my staff project, where I’d spent ages modelling segments of this staff — and when I got my one-on-one Henry did the same thing I did that took me 2 hours in just 5 minutes. I wouldn’t have had to waste all this time if there were in person classes and we could efficiently answer questions. This wasn’t anyone’s fault though, it’s just one of the difficulties we had to navigate throughout this year.
I thought the projects we did were fun — my favourite was the 2D group animation one in the first semester. I was really in my element then. I also liked the animation exercises and the staff modelling project in the second semester.
If there was any critique I would give for the first year – it was that the second semester had a far more strenuous workload than the first semester – especially if you take into consideration the learning curve some people have to go through. I think it would’ve been easier to start to introduce some elements of learning 3D software before the first semester finishes — not necessarily setting people a project, but maybe introduce them to the basics of Maya and maybe Substance before the first semester ends, that way in the second semester, people are more familiar with the software and will find the transition from 2D to 3D less jarring.
The first year of the animation course was difficult, and made just a little more difficult with the current state of the world, but I found it incredibly fun and learnt so much more than I expected to, and the tutors did their very best to teach us all to the same standard they would be able to if we were right in front of them. I hope by around Halloween or Christmas next year to be able to enjoy my 2nd year in person, and I hope it was as good as this year.