History
OK chums, gather round, for I am about to tell the second part of my amazing voyage to the New World.
My time at Bournemouth was pretty amazing really. I learnt lots about computer graphics and my year group became very close. I think that engendered a sense of openness and creativity that certainly benefitted us all; indeed 2001 provided arguably the best graduating results the course has ever had. That said, the course was very much geared towards producing great TD's and 3D artists, rather than great 3D animators, and those of us who wished to pursue this discipline had to feel our own way, for the most part.
With the emphasis on the more techy elements of the course, we could really only try out animation on the project wor, and so for my undergraduate film, I decided to try and make something with a traditional animation sensibility.
My aims for Joe's Playtime were to make a short film with a story that could stand up on it's own, and with high production values, particularly in the animation side of things. For me, these things remain the criteria I look for in student work. It doesn't need to be flashy as such, it just needs a bit of heart, and a sense of life.
To be honest, I possibly went a little overboard with my back story - practically everything in the set design had some reasoning behind it. For it's 50's setting I researched furniture, films, fashion, and all that stuff so it's all pretty accurate. I'll have to find a sketch of the set and add it later.
Anyhoo, I learnt lots of about moving stuff around, and it turned out OK in the end, getting me a pretty good grade.
At the end of the course, the NCCA holds a degree show in London, with lots of people from the industry coming to drink the free booze and maybe take a look at the student work. I would say that most of my year had received some interest during the day. It is here that I had my first contact with PDI/Dreamworks, for although I had already decided to stay on another year to take the Masters programme, Shelley Page the UK DW representative was there, liked my reel and subsequently sent it over to California.
Looking back, I think I was in a daze when talking to Shelley. I really wasn't expecting any interest at all, let alone people from famous American studios. Now that I'm here, I realise just how rare something like this is. For a student to land a job at one of the big companies straight out of college is one thing, but the fact that they were interesting in taking an overseas student is amazing, for it is so hard to justify to the US government that this one person is worthy of a work visa, particularly given the competition for jobs in feature animation.
Perhaps even more amazing is that PDI got back to me, and arranged an interview at Siggraph in LA. I was to be in CA anyway for a wedding, so making the extra trip down wasn't a biggie. It seemed to go well, and I went back to Bournemouth for my Masters thinking that I had a shot at making it over here afterwards....
My time at Bournemouth was pretty amazing really. I learnt lots about computer graphics and my year group became very close. I think that engendered a sense of openness and creativity that certainly benefitted us all; indeed 2001 provided arguably the best graduating results the course has ever had. That said, the course was very much geared towards producing great TD's and 3D artists, rather than great 3D animators, and those of us who wished to pursue this discipline had to feel our own way, for the most part.
With the emphasis on the more techy elements of the course, we could really only try out animation on the project wor, and so for my undergraduate film, I decided to try and make something with a traditional animation sensibility.
My aims for Joe's Playtime were to make a short film with a story that could stand up on it's own, and with high production values, particularly in the animation side of things. For me, these things remain the criteria I look for in student work. It doesn't need to be flashy as such, it just needs a bit of heart, and a sense of life.
To be honest, I possibly went a little overboard with my back story - practically everything in the set design had some reasoning behind it. For it's 50's setting I researched furniture, films, fashion, and all that stuff so it's all pretty accurate. I'll have to find a sketch of the set and add it later.
Anyhoo, I learnt lots of about moving stuff around, and it turned out OK in the end, getting me a pretty good grade.
At the end of the course, the NCCA holds a degree show in London, with lots of people from the industry coming to drink the free booze and maybe take a look at the student work. I would say that most of my year had received some interest during the day. It is here that I had my first contact with PDI/Dreamworks, for although I had already decided to stay on another year to take the Masters programme, Shelley Page the UK DW representative was there, liked my reel and subsequently sent it over to California.
Looking back, I think I was in a daze when talking to Shelley. I really wasn't expecting any interest at all, let alone people from famous American studios. Now that I'm here, I realise just how rare something like this is. For a student to land a job at one of the big companies straight out of college is one thing, but the fact that they were interesting in taking an overseas student is amazing, for it is so hard to justify to the US government that this one person is worthy of a work visa, particularly given the competition for jobs in feature animation.
Perhaps even more amazing is that PDI got back to me, and arranged an interview at Siggraph in LA. I was to be in CA anyway for a wedding, so making the extra trip down wasn't a biggie. It seemed to go well, and I went back to Bournemouth for my Masters thinking that I had a shot at making it over here afterwards....
posted by Kevan at
6/28/2005 10:27:00 AM
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