Presentation Boards

Portfolio of stills

Final Presentation

Position Statement

I am an animator, illustrator, and general creative person based in Leeds. I am a generalist animator with experience with all forms of animation while predominantly focusing on digital 2D and live action filming. I am also experience with video and audio editing. Through my craft i strive to immerse the audience into my world by telling captivating stories. For me shot framing and non verbal communication are as important to a story as the dialogue itself, I champion this approach in my own work. I also pride myself in my versatility, while i work predominantly in 2D i have skills in 3D and stop motion as well. My creative philosophy for animation is that everything goes towards producing an effective story, if the story works better with a digital 3D aesthetic then that will be the type of animation i strive to make. My passion lies in animation catered to adults and i hope to eventually work internationally, particularly in America and Japan in order to understand the cultural elements and methods of producing animation for adults. I aim to channel the successful elements of international animation in my own practice in the UK animation industry. My previous experience includes producing animation for Light Night, and working with independent musicians to create music videos. I have also collaberated with professional illustrators and graphic designers in the past to create an ad campaign for The Marine Stewardship Council.

Collaberating

This year i didn't get to collaborate as much as i'd like, but i did get to "help out" with a few projects, and live organisation is something i feel im good at.

I worked with Hattie and Oscar from the responsive module last year, along with Katie from illustrated and Joe to form ideas for the lifting tower project, once ideas were generated however we worked on each animation individually, which gave us creative control. If it were a longer animation i would be more upset about the lack of collaberation.

I got a chance to do a fair bit of voice acting this year. Firstly i narrated Callum and Hayley's animation The Eldritch Egg, which was quite rewarding and they were happy with it. I wasn't hugely happy with it, but they were and thats what matters. Voice acting is something that is quite interesting and would like to try more of a hand at. I might look at voice acting lessons in the future. I also had a line in Gentleman of the Road which while short i thought was good. I would like to voice act more.

I also acted a little in Oscars animation Thirsty which was interesting. It didn't require a huge amount of acting, however i did help set up the set and have tips on audio recording. I enjoyed getting involved in other peoples projects.

Creative strategy for the Future

With regards to applying to studios i'm going to first spend a month or two making some nice animation for my showreel, focussing mostly on what i want to enjoy moreso than what will look best as that will dictate what creative role i want to apply for most. I will also make sure i create a nice CV and start an open dialogue with some studios early. Initially i will be friendly and ask for advice, i will not be persistant in asking for a job, rather just make sure that the key studios i like know my name, so that when it does get around to application time they will already have a name and a face to go with the work.

With regards to working in Japan i am looking at applying for the Daiwa Scholarship. This will give me the chance to learn japanese and work in japan before i am 25. This gives me ample oppertunity to try get some experience under my belt, and further gain more confidence about the idea of working abroad.

Using Animate CC

For the majority of Extended practice i've been using Animate CC. I like it, it seems to be much faster to work with to animate than photoshop and the timeline is much clearer. I also really like how much easier it is to get smooth lines and fill areas of colour, and it goes right up to the lines whereas photoshop needs a layer behind and to play with expanding select borders. I still havent gotten around to looking at using it to rig and im not sure i understand the difference between object and symbols, but its definitly a program i am going to get into the habit of using.

Daily Doodles

In order to keep myself active on social media and also creatively active i followed alongside my peers and tried to keep up with DailyDoodles. These were useful to keep my creative muscles active and also keep up to date on social media. I also utilised IFTTT to keep both twitter and my facebook page regularly updated whenever i update instagram. It has fallen into disrepair recently as i have been updating it less and less during deadlines, but it is definitly something i will get back into the habit of using.

Updated CV

After sending off my CV to Ollie from Matter&Co he gave me a lot of really good advice. One thing i didn't expect was to go through and change areas for me as well as making notes. He reworded a lot of areas (Which i then went back in to to make sure it sounded like me) and gave me a lot of advice. Two problems on my last CV was the formatting and amount of pages. Ollie suggested i attempt to format it to all fit on one page, and the formatting needed work anyway because the last CV was uuuugly. This one looks much better on the surface level, however key information isn't quite as clear as i want it to be. It looks much better but i don't know it gets the information across in a better way. Oh i also forgot to put in my amazing logo so i made sure to do that. I think the contents need some work but i am mostly happy with this CV.

CV

Here is my CV after getting some advice some Mike. I will send this to Ollie from Matter&Co to get some further feedback.

Ollie Simons

Lincoln LN1 2PT

07500832365

Simons.Oliver@hotmail.co.uk

@Tale_Technician

Personal Statement

The medium of animation means that anything can become a setting or character in which an audience can become incredibly involved. As an animator I strive to create immersive stories, furthermore the method of telling stories such as shot framing and non verbal action. The future of British animation catered to adults is something I am passionate about. America and Japan both have incredibly successful animation industries, I aim to research and combine the successful elements of both nations industries in order to help fuel animation catered to adults locally.

Skills

Storyboarding

Cinematography

Animation

Illustration

Creative feedback

Software

I am experienced with Photoshop, After Effects (Including DUIK, Rubber hose and Mr Horse), Premiere, Animate CC, and I have a working knowledge of Maya, Blender.

Experience

Animator - Matter&Co April 2017

Working at Matter&Co was in incredible experience. My role was to completely edit a series of interviews, this included animating a sting, title, lower third and closing credits, and editing elements of the interview itself, such as audio and colour correction.

Freelance Animator 2015 – Present

While my passion for animation lies in storytelling, my experience lies mostly in smaller animations with a visual focus moreso than a story one.

Lifting Tower Project (MEPC) November 2016

Worked with Lumen for MEPC to produce multiple short Christmas themed animated visuals to project on The Lifting Tower in Leeds.

Leeds Light Night October 2015, October 2016

2015 – worked with Lumen to project live visuals onto the Leeds College of Art Vernon St building, working with TagTool to manipulate images live

                        2016 – Created Three 1 second animations to be shown alongside others around the theme                   of “We are the universe” to be played alongside music

Do It In 10 Winner February 2016

Based on the theme of Dark I created a 10 second animation depicting a guitar player at the bottom of the ocean, for which I won best of the month, and audience vote for the year.

Digital Volunteer - Manchester Animation Festival 2015

At MAF 2015 I was responsible for photographing events. This was alongside offering help and advice for those getting around the festival.

Education

Leeds College of Art – BA(Hons) Animation (Grade Pending) 2014 - 2017

Lincoln College – UAL Foundation Diploma in Art and Design (Merit) 2013 – 2014

Lincoln Christs Hospital School – A-levels (2Cs, Photography, Fine art) 2011 – 2013

Hobbies

Film – I keep up to date with latest releases whilst also taking keen interests in directors such as Wes Anderson

YouTube – I’ve produced videos for YouTube including film reviews and digital essays whilst also keeping up to date with independent content creators

Dungeons and Dragons – Recently began a Dungeons and Dragons campaign, great for team building skills and problem solving

Music Production – Teaching myself multiple instruments, created music for YouTube Reviews

References available upon request

Contracts and Invoices

Mike gave a talk on contracts and invoices. Here are my notes and important considerations.

CONTRACT
- an agreement between two or more parties
- starts with an offer
- Emails work so save them

NEED A PURCHASE ORDER
- Description of the job
- Purchase order number
- and a price
-Invoice for the comencement of work around 30% to 50% up front. Commencement payment holds up in court

- Articulate terms of the agreement
- How long will it take
- Where will milestones for feedback be

- Explain upfront costs or terms
- Identify what needs to be provided from both parties
- Articulate any additional fees/costs
- Expiry, how long does a quotation work last?
- Who is the main point of contact?
- Ask who is responsible for signing off and asking for change
- Who is in charge of budget
- Ensure each stage of a project is signed off
- Ask to use in showreel
- Ask if theres a "best to use from" date for online use
- Manage the clients expectations,
- What are turnaround times for feedback or changes

CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENTS
- keep it under wraps, make an agreement

GARUNTEES
- Client notices an error or problem after signing off.
- Where do i stand, am i willing to charge for fixes?

BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP
- Work location? Agree before starting

SOMETHING GONE WRONG
- What am i getting paid for?
- Who owns the rights?
- If in doubt, get legal advice.

Presenting yourself Professionally

Mike gave a talk on how to present yourself professionally to potential clients, here are my notes as bullet points.

FIRST CONTACT
-State what you want and what you can offer asap
-Explain clearly who you want to talk to, research this beforehand
-They are talking to a recent graduate
-Ask reception who is best to talk to
EMAIL
- Be Concise
- Flatter but don't brown nose
- Articulate the area you want to work in

-Subscribe to job boards
-Only show your best work (GET GOOD)

Tom and Henry (GoldenWolf)

Goldenwolf has been a studio i've had a keen interest in for a while, i love the stuff they produce so it was nice to get some insight into the workings of the company.

- Rules for the company - No Egos, No room for ok, have fun
- Start with the art, use colour
- get cool images and put them together, then figure out the logistics
- Make a mood reel
- if you're not having fun then you wont have fun
- but if you're struggling on a specific project, focus on the parts you like
- Do as much as you can but keep the storys simple and limit yourself
- Network even if you don't want to

David Bunting

I didn't get a huge amount from Davids talk, however he gave some useful advice for festivals, firstly hit the big ones then secondly hit the ones with an appropriate audience. I also doodles him. It was cool to see his work none the less.

Reg Isaac

AGAIN WITH THE BULLET POINTS

I made sure i spoke to Reg after because he's Lincoln based and i was unsure what kind of work was available however he mostly moves around and does work online so this will most likely be what i have to do. Anyway, on with the bullet points.

- Draw
- Have a life drawing holiday
- Using a pen will give your lines more confidence
- work hard in third year to get a top showreel (WISH I HAD PAID ATTENTION TO THIS ONE EARLIER)
- LEARN TV PAINT
- Practice drawing on model
- Make friends at festivals
- Start with a reference video
- Three key things you need for an effective character design Anatomy/rough sketches, Basic turnaround, Model Sheet
- Learn what standards you meet

Fraser Maclean

Once again i will bullet point the key information i got from Fraser because there was a lot of useful points.

- Draw lots
- Be proud of the small part you worked on
- Be organised and Disciplined if getting into feature film animation
- Technology will develop. Develop with it.
- Treat layout with cinematography with mind
- Start with the Script first
- Be nice

Bianca Ansems

I think of all of the talks we've been to Bianca's was the one that spoke to me the most. I made so many notes its easiest for me to put down my thoughts in bullet point format so here goes.

WHAT I GOT FROM THE TALK
- Its okay to be a jack of all trades, it just means you can be versatile once settled into a more specific roles and you can feed off of one skill into another.
- When struggling to find the drive because everything is going wrong, try tap into the good moments you remember.
- do PAID internships
- do what you enjoy
- DONT WORK FOR FREE (unless its for festivals)
- Be good to work with, be nice, and make friends, dont network
- Do a bit extra for clients
- Shit jobs take time away from good jobs
- Register as Self Employed
- Be a company, be your boss and yourself
- Be Consistent
- Get everything in writing
- Email after a meeting going over agreed upon terms
- Request 50% up front from big or difficult clients
- Dont burn bridges
- Send a reminder for pay after 30days (can even state in contract that price will increase if payment is late)
- Gumball is a cool show and is also hiring.

Tokyo in Retrospect

So. What did i get out of Tokyo in the end? Well initially i thought it was just a holiday, but if i were to really stretch to pick out important learning points from this holiday, like if i were perhaps being assessed on it or something, i would say i've learnt a surprising amount.

Key things such as;
Leader Skills - Through organising and leading a group of us through Tokyo
Planning Skills - Made sure i knew where i was going and what i was saying beforehand made a lot of difficult moments easier
Overall Confidence - I flew to the other side of the planet pretty much on my lonesome (Tutors don't exactly "look after" you, we're adults after all, though they did organise its mostly the homesickness i was happy to battle)
 More of a cultural understanding of what its like in Japan as opposed to getting all cultural information through anime.

Its also been really useful in helping decide about the potential plan of working in Tokyo, and while i would have to learn more of the language it actually seems much more achievable.

Tokyo Day 3

LAST DAY BEST DAY. I was super excited for the Ghibli museum, the walk there was nice too, first we got the tube and then walked through a more rural area of Tokyo, still dense but more parks and smaller houses. very cool to see areas we take for granted in the UK but with a slight difference due to culture.

Ghibli museum was super cool. Compare the films of Disney to the films of Ghibli, the over the top of Disney films are represented by the intensity and size of Disney theme parks. Ghibli is much more modest, we were in the Ghibli museum half a day and it was far more than enough to really see everything there for me. Seeing the short was interesting and cute, but the subject matter were clearly for younger kids as the audience was the animation lot and bunch of families. Regardless it was cool to see some animation from Ghibli that will never be released. It was also amazing to see the mock up of Miyazaki's office and sketches and painting all over the walls. effectively it showed the process of hand drawn animation but with specific ghibli films. A process i am familiar with but amazing to see for such great films that i enjoy so much. It was surprising to see that a large majority of the patrons were families with little kids and tourists from abroad. Its quite clear that it isnt quite the case that everyone over there watches Ghibli like i thought they did. Though i still feel that some reactions from my coursemates where quite strange, crying in the cat bus model and wanting to stay there all day were some of the things i heard people do that i just found a little strange. Regardless i wouldn't have to worry about being around the whole course again before leaving.

For the evening we first went to Meji Temple, it was cool to see some more traditional japanese architecture and cool to see more spiritual elements to japanese culture. I made sure to sketch a lot in the temple and took plenty of reference images of the wedding that passed through.

As the temple closed we moved on to Harajuku, which while still tokyo is so much more dfferent to Shinjuku. On the way out we met a man and me and Katy had a nice friendly conversation while he practiced his English and i practiced my Japanese (He was much better than i was but he also had 50 years more experience than me so i didnt feel too bad). Everyone was so god damn tired, Wing knew the area so suggest we check out a small street known as Takeshita but didn't remember how to get there, so i was quite proud of myself when i organised us all to get there (including two first years we just met) and then also organised us to meet up again at a certain time so we had the freedom to go off and do our own thing without getting lost. I'm not a bad team leader really when i want to be, although sometimes i can be a bit anal with details.

Finally Dan, Sylvia and Max took me, Hayley, Ciara and Wing to a restaurant they found on the first day and my goodness, it was the best meal ever. Not relevant, just very much liked the restaurant. So much so that we attempted to find it once we got home on google maps by digitally walking the way we did. (We managed to find it)

Tokyo Day 2

Day 2 was quite testing. It started very well. We went to the top of the Tokyo Met Government Building and my goodness the scale of the city was clear to me here. The city stretched on for miles and met MT. Fuji (which i was hoping to see so heck yeah). And was amazing to see something so huge, with so many interesting building shapes. I wish i had taken more sketches here but i took plenty of photos.

Then we went to a park. I don't remember the name but i still have the map. Did you know the grass in Japan is seasonal? I'd never consider seeing anywhere in the world with white grass, but it lead to some amazing sights, there was also a greenhouse full of exotic plants that was very cool to see. Mostly touristy stuff but i made sure to get photos of stuff i found inspiring or relevant or just all around cool.

 Next up was the Imperial Gardens. It was clear that i was not the only who had trouble with the scale of maps compared to the scale of Tokyo. Mike suggested we walk to the imperial gardens. I was all for this Idea. We learned it was a 5 mile walk. I was still all for this idea. We stopped multiple times on the way there because the group was so big and some of them wanted to go into a pet shop. I was less up for this idea. The trouble only really started happening however when it got to lunchtime. We saw a little of the imperial gardens before we all rushed off to try and find some food, and i found myself leading a group of animators. I WILL NEVER EVER ATTEMPT TO ORGANISE A GROUP OF ANIMATORS FOR FOOD IN A NON ENGLISH SPEAKING COUNTRY AGAIN. My respect/concern for Mike grew after realising how damn hard it is to organise a group of... non people persons. We found a place to eat but was only one waiter who could speak a little bit of english, and with around 18 of us i had to try and get peoples orders ready, and as the waiter slowly came out telling us more and more dishes were unavailable, and as more and more people stopped listening to important info, and as more and more people (Guy) tried to micromanage while being unwilling to attempt to talk to the waiter directly i ended up bailing with Lauren and Emma to get food from a local convenience store. This left poor old Max to organise everyone. I don't know how he managed it without shouting at people but from the sounds of it i managed to get myself out of there in the nick of time. Apologies Max... Next meals we had were with at least 8 people or under. Mostly under. 

it was long but we eventually got fed, and because we were all shattered from the walk we got the tube back, which was the original idea ironically. Me, max, sylv and dan stayed in the area for a little while but found not much so we went back to Shinjuku to explore for the evening. Tube was easy enough, remember the name and find some english signs. Its clear if i want to spend more time in japan i should attempt to learn to read japanese as well as speak it so i have already got Hiragana and Katakana alphabets stuck up in my room to learn. We got Yakiniku (Japanese grilled meat) and had a bit of a shop, got some useful pens, japanese pens are so much better than half the shit in the UK.

Tokyo Day 1

TOKYO WAS AMAZING!! Okay so clearly this will be written in past tense because i had no time to blog while i was there and i am unsure how much i will actually write because while it was actually probably one of the best things and one of the things that has really pushed me to grow more as a person than all three years of modules, however its personal moreso than professional so i'm not sure how relevant it will be to get marks but FUCK IT HERE GOES.

preparing for Tokyo was a big thing for me. I was incredibly anxious so in order to make this better for myself i decided to prepare. I made sure i looked up where we were staying, areas to go to if i needed a quiet spot or somewhere to go myself (this was thrown out of the window as soon as i witnessed the sheer scale of everything). I also made sure i wrote some japanese to prepare. I've picked up the basics from anime, while i wont be screaming names of overpowered attacks i can at least say the basics. I also made sure to learn food words and phrases that would be essential Such as "Peenatsu ni arer(u)gi des(u)" which is how i kept myself from eating peanuts (y). I also made sure i wrote down the Kanji for food, as food signs would be more common than spoken. I printed off a map with sights i wanted to see, i think i might have accidentally stumbled across some of them but was so busy from the already planned stuff and just exploring im not sure how much of it got seen.

I was incredibly anxious about the 3AM start and Guy screaming at horror games downstairs meant that no sleep was had (actually screw guy he was so hard to be around the whole trip and I'm not even sorry this is a public blog). But as soon as we were on the road all anxious feelings were forgotten about, the techniques i've already practiced worked for me too here, and along the way i got a chance to do a little bit of sketching. The sleep depravation didn't particularly improve my skills but any drawing is good drawing.

Its hard to explain what its like landing in such a different country in such a dazed state, but it felt so familiar yet so different that it was incredibly uncanny, but in a good way, the unfamiliarity energised me to continue exploring throughout the day.

Tokyo is huge. We explored as a whole course which was a complete mess, and the fact that some first years took photos with the flash on during a spiritual event in a temple and then played the bells that are preyed to was incredibly disrespectful, and this dislike people's uncompromising ignorance to another culture continued through a meal, in which Wing was solely relied on to order food and organise everything. I felt so bad for here, and would later learn of the pain myself.

Had some personal trouble in the afternoon after a nap where a sudden rush of all the emotions i should have been feeling while traveling crept up on me, but the exploration of a foreign land was too important to let this get in the way and i forced myself out anyway. Tokyo explodes after 8pm. Everyone comes back from work and hits the restaurants, shops and arcades and my goodness was Tokyo lively. I made sure to take plenty of pictures. Food was sick, spoke to some locals, went back to the hotel and slept like a log.

P.S. Fuck swiss airlines. Flew in a plane that looked older than one i took 9 years ago. You cant expect passangers to watch VHS quality films that keep shutting down for 10 hours or however long the flights were.

-FACEBOOK ALBUM WILL BE UPLOADED TO FINAL TOKYO BLOG-

Seeing Fiona and Rosie again!

Today i got the opportunity to see Fiona and Rosy again as they stopped by college. From my original information i thought they were going to give a talk however only me and max turned up (and even he forgot she was coming) which was disappointing to see such a little turn out for someone who could offer genuine advice after being in our position. 

Trusty Fiona didn't let us down, in fact im pretty sure a lot of what she told me may have been confidential so some of the information might be a little vague or left out entirely but needless to say i got a lot of information from both Rosy and Fiona. 

She told us things like what rates people pay for freelancers, and how Matter&Co might pay slightly higher but would expect work to be done in a much shorter space of time.

They both gave us advice on contacting people, such as act over confident, dont ask tell. keep sentences no longer than 20 words, dont write essay emails.

She also gave us advice with software, such as get used to using rubberhose. Print off keyboard shortcut guides and use them. Use skype more often, keep it professional.

She has also offered us a chance to work at Matter&Co which is both very exciting and very daunting, the rest of the information she gave us was about M&C and a little of what to expect. More on this in the future!

I like how this video discusses vaporwave as a seriously about its growth of genre and its cultural discussion. I feel topics like this are overlooked and seen as trivial, similarly how some people believe "meme culture" isn't real. I believe that there is a huge amount of internet culture that often goes undiscovered, with real life and this second life online (eh?) being distinctly separate. However elements like this interest me, and their cultural reasons for work of this nature is something i like to explore.

Furthermore this sort of video essay format works really well, i feel like with some tweaking i would be able to turn my dissertation into an effective script.

Making a review

With the frustration of the academic writing of COP but still enjoying the fact i was creating work to educate but wanted to also entertain with youtube. Youtube has been a large part of my life for a long while, and while amateur vlogs were my original experience i wanted to try my hand at some more objective review writing. It took me a day to complete. I also produced the music track in the background. Overall not bad for a days work and i definitely want to do it again.

UPDATE: I'm unhappy with how much i insult UK animation, it was something i did a lot in second year before educating myself a little more, and despite thinking it would fit with the internet culture of getting angry about things i still would rather it not be associated with my business name.

MAF

Okay so fair warning this post is going to be quite long so please bear with me, i will be talking about each Masterclass or screening individually, starting with masterclasses and talks. I will then write about the screenings, listing my opinions and thoughts on each animation as a list. I want to practice my review writing skills hence the length.

The first Masterclass i went to was Phantom Boy. Loic Burkhardt took us through the sound design of Phantom boy. It was incredibly interesting to see how Foilimage produced work, and their design process. While everything is quite flat and simple its very expressive, definitely a style i feel i could work with quite well. The area that Loic really focused on, sound design, i found incredibly interesting, he gave examples of the way he changes sounds to resonate differently in different areas, such as rain when outside and rain when in a car, also considering sound from where the camera is placed compared to where the character is placed. This interested me a lot as sound design has often been the area that I feel i work well with, and is an important element to making an animation fleshed out.

When actually watching phantom boy i was quite impressed, i enjoyed the simplistic style, and will always be an advocate of 2D feature length animation. The story itself was pretty generic and full of obvious tropes but it's a film aimed at children so i am more forgiving of the obvious tropes because of this. Some other areas i had trouble with was some lines of dialogue felt quite uncanny, obviously because it will have been translated from french, but often the odd cheesy line that doesn't quite sound right really took me out of the film. Aesthetically i loved it.

The next Masterclass i went to was Blue Zoo HooDoo, in which Catherine Salkeld and Tom Box gave us a sneak peak of their VR animation HooDoo. It was interesting to see a fully 360 animation but i was more interested in Catherines character design and storyboarding and the way she developed her idea, furthermore the way that Blue Zoo works, with budget planned for a self directed project from the studio. It is clear to me that i care more about the pre production for this project moreso that the animation itself, the design for characters and backgrounds were bright, colourful and interesting.

Third up was The Making of Ethel and Earnest which i loved. For similar reasons as Phantom Boy, namely 2D feature length animation. It was interesting, but also quite intimidating to see the level of detail that went into it. It was also funny to see the interaction between the animation director and the producer, with the director being enthusiastic about the creative elements and the producer reeling him back in to be more professional. Regardless i was impressed with what i saw and will definitely check it out when its shown at christmas.

The last masterclass (Which i had to leave half way through for meet the experts) was with studio AKA. It mostly made me feel better about working on projects for "The Man" the amount of creativity you can get out of a project is the amount you put in, and just because you'd be working on an advert doesn't mean you can't have fun with it. I am still drawn to animation for entertainment but from what i got out of this talk i feel much more comfortable with working on smaller animations for ads, especially as this will likely be the first work i get.

For meeting industry professionals please see its own dedicated blog post.

Now for the animation list, This is not the order i saw them in, but the order they are printed in the guide.

JONAS AND THE SEA (ZEEZURCHT) - Saw at LIFF, love the animation and style
BIRDZ 
SPOON
OF SHADOWS AND WINGS... (D'OMBRES & D'AILES...) - loved the style, the message was cool, i was asleep for the first half
THE AERONAUTS (LOS AERONAUTAS) - find these types of models creepy but was still v cool
THE INVERTED PEAK - Love the brothers McLeod style, but i just didn't quite get this one
PARADE - animation was a little choppy but i thought the message and concept were cool.
COLD COFFEE (CAFÉ FRIOD) - wasn't a fan of the weird 2D/3D combo, but got sucked in quickly.

JOINT-TENANTS (COLOCATAIRES) - Story was very very unclear, unsure about what was going on, very difficult to get into
THE HEAD VANISHES (UNE TÊTE DISPARAÎT) - style reminds me of Lloyds ad. Creepy character design but good message. Didn't enjoy it but can't fault it.
FOX AND THE WHALE - BEAUTIFUL animation, but no idea whats really going on and it was very very long.
BROKEN: THE WOMEN'S PRISON AT HOHENECK (KAPUTT) - The rubbing out and working over the top of each frame has a good effect for this subject, with lines staying permanently in the frame even if made a little faint , works well with the subject matter of being trapped
MAMIE - Depressing animation about a depressing character. Didn't enjoy this one.
HOW LONG, NOT LONG - Frames printed out in black and white and coloured over. Felt a bit lazy. Didn't like it.
UNDER THE APPLE TREE - The rhyming worked quite well but sort of fell apart in the middle, timing of it was a bit weird too. Not a fan of puppet but the aesthetic went really well with the subject matter. Shouldn't have liked this one but i did.

THE WRONG END OF THE STICK - Hillarious, loved the gumball style of 2D over live action backgrounds.
IN OTHER WORDS (BEMILIM AHEROT) - Needed to be longer, felt like it was building up to something but it finished before it got there.
SLINKY - Style was dumb, message was even dumber. didn't like this one.
BIRDSANDBEES - so much happens in such a short space of time, it needed to be double the length. Loved the mixture of styles.
HUM - Wall-e with a different aesthetic. wasn't a huge fan.
WILDFIRE - Love the Gobelins style. Loved the set up, wanted way more though.
SCENT OF GERANIUM - I liked it. was cool.
I, THE ANIMAL (JA, ZWIERZ) - feels a little unrealistic, often documentary animation isn't exaggerated as this. Wasn't bad but just felt a little over the top.
TOUGH - Great animation, great subject, but the interviewer asked so many terrible questions
FISHWITCH - Can't fault, didn't enjoy though
ONCE UPON A TIME - Hillarious minimals style. Captures feelings well.

WHITE SILENCE (HA YAN CHIM MUK) - Much darker than expected from the style but very good dark humour.
MR MADILA - Festival favorite, got a chance to watch a copy online, want to make something this funny
GAINING ALTITUDE - A good message but a strange message in my opinion
AMA - very cute story, needed more character development though, quite short for such a cool subject.
HOUND - DOGGOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (i liked it)
POST - Nice style, reminded me of borderlands, very much my kind of style, animation was a bit boring though.
UNTIL DAWN - didn't understand it at all. AT. ALL.
EYE FOR AN EYE - Dark. Rotoscoping worked well. Kept it real and serious but without being too graphic.
IKTSUARPOK - Very good, very cute, sad message though
COWBOYLAND (KOVBOJSKO) - very fun, but the ending was unsatisfying
PERCHED - cute

WITCH DOCTOR - models were quite obviously models in some areas, a bit of clipping and characters quite clearly more T posed. Liked it though.
HONG KONG SEVENS 2016 DESCENDS - this is the kind of animation i love, with effects added to make something mundane seem cooler. If only real sports were this badass.
ONE PERCENT - strangely Niche, but beads were cool
WEATHER THE STORM - a bit slow, a bit bland, but cute and nice animation
WAITING FOR YOU TO NOTICE - Pretty. Sad subject though.
LANDGRABBING - Strange focus on the negatives of Bio Fuels. Didn't like it because of this.
ANIMALS SLACK - Cool message, simple and ingenious way of saying each persons differences benefit a project as a whole.
TRUE FREE RANGE - More stop motion ads featuring their product. It was smart and cute.
MORNING RITUALS 
HAMMERSMITH - untidy animation. Wasn't clear.
WHITE HORSES - Amazing backgrounds, song was pants though
A SELF COMPASSION EXERCISE - EVERYONE SHOULD WATCH THIS SHORT IT IS AMAZING, style was cute and informative.
QUAND C'EST? - Cancer is always happy subject... Loved the performance/animation combo, animation over live action is also my jam.
MYTOPIA - Didn't find it that entertaining.
BE TOGETHER NOT THE SAME - seen this animation around already, not the biggest fan of style, but nice play on the rock paper scissors trope.
INVISIBLE BARRIERS - Love the visual style
SPACE ROCKS! - I LOVE SPACE I LOVE THIS TOPIC
THE LAST JOB ON EARTH - Love the style, sci fi elements are cool, especially how individual elements are animated
DOORS - wish it was a bit longer and elaborated on their stories a little more
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEAR - Cool but super childing. reminds me of fettle.
START WITH THE ART - the "success" of students was a bit all over the place, i wouldnt consider 4000 followers a success
SPROUT BOY - Fuck the BBC, it was an excuse to show famous people.
FOR THE REFUGEE - strange jewish focus.
FOREST 500 - cool style once again but the strange dots to simulate print was quite off putting
WHITE NIGHT - so pretty, but pretty surface level.
FLEISCHWELT - VERY CONFUSING BUT ALSO QUITE PRETTY
MODERN LOVE: A KISS, DEFERRED - Cute adaption of a real life story. I love stories based in real life its cool.
BELGIAN NATIONAL LOTERY - cute but not a big fan of the style
ABOUT TO CRACK - holy shit love the 90s skater punk style very cool. Short but effective.

MORE STUFF - Not the biggest fan of the style but ok.
FULL ANL - Same with this one, was kind of funny though
ONE MINUTE ART HISTORY - Experimental but very cool to see, spotting small art movements within the piece was cool.
ONCE UPON 3 TIMES - cute, like the style mix again.
DEAD AHEAD - love the isometric top down approach to storytelling, reminds me of sim city and stuff
RIGHT AHEAD 
TABOOK - liked this animation a lot, very cute.
REMOTE - Dumb slapstick, wasnt a huge fan
THE DANCING LINE - I like these sorts of animations with nice fluid movment with simple objects. I should do some of this.
BACK THEN - Good idea, Naff execution
STEMS - very cute, very interesting, love the idea of characters making themselves
THE BELIEF - Was ok, only so much emotion you can show with boots though
FOX TALE - gross.
BINGO - feisty old people and animation go together so well
THE MOMENT - poorly written, the punchline was obvious from the get go
APPLE
SOLE MUSIC - cute shoe animation. liked it a lot, was cool seeing characteristics portrayed through shoes.
JAZZ ORGIE - Pretty colours, love animation that tries to portray sound

NOT MUCH (QUE DALLE) - noticing everything that comes out of gobelins has the same style
FOR THE BEST - i dont remember what i thought but i wrote "FUCK THIS" in big letters so i dont think i liked it.
ECLIPSE - Liked the animation but the story felt pretentious
SIXTEEN 
MIRRORS
IN ONE DRAG (EIN TIEFER ZUG)
BEAMS - This one confused me
THIS IS NOT AN ANIMATION (CECI N'EST PAS UNE ANIMATION) - Loved it, the perfect animation to follow up after a bunch of pretentious bullshit
AT THE CAFE CHICHI - Nice message, models looked a bit rough
THE RACE - Cool animation, like the colours of characters
BASED ON PHOTO - okay animation, but its about nothing
THE SCARECROW - very very dark, colour pallet was weird.
CHARLIE'S BUCK TEETH (CHARLIE ET SES GRANDES DENTS) - Cute, loved the bright colours
SHUMA (SUMA) - Confusing but cute and enjoyable.
ONE LAST DANCE - Cute and sad.
SWARM - Got bored quickly and didn't understand the story. animation was nice.

Final day at Matter&Co

We started our last day with a team meal and group crit, at this point i am very accustomed to group crits but with a team i'm only a week through meeting i was a little nervous, however the final result was very good, i made sure i had a mock up of one of the interviews with a title. Overall everyone seemed happy enough with it, although the title needed changing from The Future of Social Enterprise to The Future of Good Business as it wasn't the name of the article it was going alongside and also #FOSE exists as The Future of Sexual Education so we would use #FOGB instead. The titles also needed to be a little longer but all in all they were happy with the interview.

For the rest of the day i slowly worked through all the footage putting together the intro animation, titles, interview, and finally the outro, making them ready to render out and be uploaded. Here is one of the interviews i managed to finish.

Throughout the day i spoke to Ollie a lot and it was interesting to see his perspective as a creative working in this sort of industry. I spoke to him a lot throughout the week and he offered a lot of good advice about the way to approach work and it was very interesting. I feel it gives me more confidence in when i should say that i am no longer going to work, which sounds counter productive compared to my current work ethic, but i feel like my problem comes from not wanting to approach work at all because i felt guilty for not knowing when to stop, however if i am stricter with a schedule of not only work but also play, which is also what has been my role throughout the week and it's made me feel really good. Perhaps the reason for my poor performance in COP is the fact i am no longer happy working the method i have been for this course.

Day 4 at Matter&Co

On thursday i did a few things, firstly i had to go back to colour grading as i had been putting it off since tuesday however before i did this i made sure to get Fiona's feedback on the colour grading i had already done, it was clear when i was showing her the work i had already done that i was all over the place with my methods and this made it more difficult for Fiona when it came to driving and showing me areas i needed to work on. I feel like i know a little better now how to approach colour grading at least in a more organised manner in Premier CC, however it is a skill i am still quite unfamiliar with (though something i could manage) and quite frankly i hope i wont have to do colour grading like this again.

Next up was picking music. Fiona showed me AudioNetwork.com which was an extremely useful tool in picking out some high quality tracks quickly, the search engine made looking for music very good. I eventually compiled a small list of six possible tracks which i searched for themes such as "sunrise" and "Inspiring" but with enough variation between them to give fiona some variation. Fiona went through the songs i picked for her as she needed to download them as i don't have an account. She downloaded them along with some others she felt were more appropriate, and i went ahead and tried to edit it to fit with each interview, this was particularly difficult and fiona practically had to edit the audio for me in order for audio beats to match with visual cues, however seeing her work made me feel more at ease about fiddling with video clips as a lot of them were edited with not a huge amount of forward planning. It was quite disheartening how much i struggled with this, I am unsure if this was due to my inexperience or because ideas weren't communicated to me, but i often felt quite lost and frustrated, which honestly has been a similar theme throughout the week. However the routine of knowing when i can stop thinking about work and start enjoying myself in London after 6 is strangely satisfying.

Updating My Showreel

At the end of second year this was my final showreel. Not bad for a first showreel and i felt it showed off some of my best work, however some of the animation i felt was a bit janky, especially the intro animation so i decided to cut that out and just start with my logo, i also cut out almost all of my first year work (bar the maya city turn around because that shit is still sick) 

I needed to update the showreel as Fiona has asked to see it for our week at Matter&Co, and it needed to be updated anyway as Mike gave me some good feedback for the last showreel i made.

For the updated showreel i didn't really get a chance to use any third year work, mostly because nothing i have produced this year so far has been very good quality, however my summer project and the lifting tower project gave me some footage to add in place of my PPP1 animation and the Elements project, this was a little dodgy however as one of the scenes from the summer project has some quite obvious screen tears as it isn't an originally uncompressed file, while not obvious to some viewers i feel this will be something that potential employers will notice so i will look at either replacing or re rendering this footage.