Evaluation

Extended has been a very contemplative module for me as I have had the opportunity to work in a variety of groups and have been able to take the time to reflect upon my collaborative efforts throughout the module.

Observing my own shortcomings has been a large part of this year as well as coming to terms with my own flaws and acknowledging that I need to improve on them and set aside my own ego for the group. Because of my own desires and aims, specifically working on areas that only interest me, (character design and character animation) I caused conflict and miscommunication within my groups. In a studio environment this would not fly. I have to start thinking of the collective and the final product rather than my own agenda.

Beside these issues in group work, I have enjoyed working with Luca Biasci and Yixing Qin, in part because they are two people I had not worked with before but also because they are 2D focused practitioners that I found myself being able to work well with once the communication issues were resolved. I was able to identify what areas I need to improve upon as I go into my gap year.

Our animation is currently incomplete; however, I am really pleased with what we were able to make especially in regards to what I was able to learn about with storytelling. I was able to notice and identify how our initial story and idea was lacking and took from my own life experiences to create a story that I feel, when fully completed, will be able to compete in festivals and cause the audience to respond and think about the animation afterwards.

When I worked with Eleanor Winch on the YCN Milk brief I took the character animation. It was 3D animation and I had not done 3D in a long time. Due to this, my 3D animation was lacklustre in comparison to past attempts at 3D. A lot of the work was taken on by Eleanor and I felt what I produced did not reflect the effort my team mate had put in, which I am sorry for, but from this I became certain of the fact I don’t want to work in 3D in the near future. This is because I still have a lot to learn in regards to how to manipulate the rigs and the graph editor to utilise what my team mate has produced.

Within my statement of intent, I wanted to work on multiple projects in order to get the most out of the year and focus on practicing and developing my skills in character design and animation. This was to be done through an independent animation, alongside my main group project and taking on the character design challenge each month. Unfortunately, due to a lack of organisation I found myself unable to meet these goals. I found it a struggle to balance multiple briefs without a fixed schedule. Although while working on the character design challenge that I did and the extensive detail that I put into it I was able to find immense enjoyment from it as such, solidifying my desire to continue developing and improving character design.

In regards to how I responded to the structure of the module I found myself struggling to balance the module alongside other modules, specifically context of practice because the two modules required so much attention. Once context of practice was finished however, I was able to balance three different briefs at one time. This was possibly because they each used a different form of animation and thus at the time kept my interest but I don’t think that was the case. Either way it is proof that I can balance projects to an extent and if I put effort into scheduling my time I will be able to work as a professional, whether that is in a studio or freelance.

Overall, throughout this year, I have found myself lacking in working with people, and I feel this is because I don’t fully comprehend the production pipeline. Learning from my mistakes and flaws I want to improve which leaves me feeling optimistic for my gap year to take the time to understand how I can fit into the industry as well as make it fit me.