Who I am, what I want in third year

I only have one ultimate goal, which is make what I want to make. Chris Shepherd, Barry Purves, Harry Partridge, Bill Plympton and Marcus Armitage have a voice and while some of them work for companies and some of them fund their own projects, they have all been able to direct their own films and do the festival circuits. My goal hasn't changed since 1st year.

My skills are in character animation, storytelling and cartooning. I use TV Paint but will familiarise myself also with ToonBoom this year. I don't want to be too broad and spread myself thin. I want to still be cartoony but not gimmicky because flashy visuals stay with you for a while and then leave your head. I want to say something with my animations that provokes thought, without having a message I beat people over the head with.

Working in a creative studio in the cultural North of England, at least initially, would be a brilliant step out of university. I'd be able to work on diverse projects and possibly have a shot at directing shorts or advertising. If I ever do an MA, it would be after a few years when I've had time to see how the world works.

I treat my instagram like a casual portfolio, where I demonstrate a breadth of work in progress, life drawings and doodles. I have business cards which are quite fun for now but which I will reprint and redesign slightly when I come to making a website. I want to keep my brand cartoon-ish and charming in every aspect of promoting myself.

Visiting Speakers

I really liked the visiting speakers this year, especially BARRY PURVES. I'm not especially interested in stop motion but I wrote down some of the advice he gave us about character and storytelling.

He talked a lot about a story told with a "character in a pool of light" where it's stripped down to the bare essentials to convey the message. I liked this a lot. I think I could produce a lot more good stuff if I stopped thinking about it all so literally and was more abstract in my message. 

He told us to find the object that defines the character, but we mustn't make it too literal. I always make everything too literal to the point where all my films look exactly the same. I would like to branch out into something a little more complex next time. Barry Purves uses every tool at his disposal to convey his characters in a more abstract way, with lighting and sound and staging, positioning his characters in relation to other characters etc. That was my most important takeaway from his talk.

Additional Work from this year

I undertook a couple of small tests to hone my skills.

A very simple test of a guy throwing a ball. I experimented with a moving camera to try and keep my proportions consistent, but I made this predominantly so I could animate at 24fps. I'm pleased with it, wish I'd had the time to finish it but I see no point in returning to it and would rather take the experience I acquired from this test and apply it to something more interesting.

Face test:

I practiced quite exaggerated facial animation with this simple character, along with timing. This was way back in September and I can see how far I've progressed since then. I feel I can now animate with more nuance and convey more, but this was quite fun to make.

LIFE'S a pitch (Study Task 9)

I could have prepared my collective pitch a little more rigourously, and presented it more nicely. I think our biggest problem, though, is that we never really found our USP. That Collective is all about making story driven films, be they adverts or music videos or anything really. It has to get a good emotional reaction.

I suppose it's nice to be flexible, but I don't think we specialised enough to make a collective that could properly stand out.

Also my web design is absolutely hideous.

What I enjoyed about the task was considering budgeting. I think we went a little overboard since it's hypothetical and all that. There's no way I can afford a single cintiq, let alone however many I said we'd have in the pitch.

I found some more really cool looking collectives after the fact:

Powerhouse animation makes bespoke music videos

As does KingBee animation.

Out of the two companies, I'd employ powerhouse animation studio at first glance because their website is nicer. It hammers home the importance of presentation, which is a skill I really need to work on to stand out.

Industry Professional (Study Task 3)

Here's my creative report on Peter Dodd:

https://issuu.com/christopherhoare/docs/creative_report.pptx

Commissions and Freelance (Study Task 8)

I was lucky enough to receive a single commission this year, for which I invoiced the client. It feels good to be doing something relatively professionally.

Currently my rates are:

£10 per hour for illustration work
£15 per hour for animation work

That works perfectly well enough while I'm still in university, but I will need to up that once I've entered into the world of work. I read the creativeboom article on how to decide your freelancing rates, and there's more to think about than I originally considered, such as calculating how many hours I'll be expecting to work and how I need to factor in time spent writing invoices and badgering people for the money I'm OWED.

Creating a contract was easy once I found a nice template online. I feel much more secure knowing how to properly write an invoice and a contract. Freelance work is appealing in the sense that I will get to embark on a broad range of projects and take time off WHENEVER I like providing I have a little green in the ol' bank account.

Cost of Living (Study Task 6)

I don't know if this is the most accurate representation of my annual expenditure, but as a rough estimate it seems about right.

I'm not shocked by the amount I got, although I like to think I live fairly frugally. My main vice is my enjoyment of meals out. The spreadsheet helped me realise the things I can stand to cut back on. I've started packing my lunches now because a diet of artisanal sandwiches is unsustainable. Also I can start cutting my own hair I GUESS.

When I graduate I need to also consider:

Website domain: £1 pm from Go Daddy.com
Business cards: £13 for 50 from Moo.com

My Social Media (Study Task 5)

I need to start treating my art instagram as less of a portfolio and more of a journal. Presently I'm incredibly picky about what I upload. It's almost always video work because it lasts longer and takes up less space. I want it to be concise and cut to the point. However, I hope to develop a website in my final year which will act more as a portfolio, so I can afford to post more on instagram to keep engagement with any viewers. It's important for me to put regular stuff up and make it more personal and CHILL.

I found a beautiful looking business card website recommended by my tutor, which I'll keep in mind for after I graduate. I am yet to build a logo or brand of any kind. My goal is to have one by the end of the summer

Returning to SWOT (Study Task 2)

At the end of the year, I have improved on certain things and neglected other things. Here's an updated list:

Strengths:

2D animation
Compositing
Opportunistic
Good time management
Available and talkative
Can admit when wrong

Weaknesses:

Difficulty articulating thoughts
Wild mood swings
Bad at saying "no"
My online presence
My branding
My illustration
My figure drawing

Opportunities:

Life drawing classes
Internship in New York
Future collaborative projects
Cognative behavioural therapy
The wonderful university software

Threats:

The first years (their animations are awesome)
Other 2D animators
Not stepping out of my comfort zone enough
Not adapting to the deadlines set
Not managing my expectations of a project.

This year new things have surfaced about me. Next year I primarily want to focus on bettering myself as a director and pulling together a team to work on an awesome final film.

My Showreel (Study Task 10)

I enjoyed developing my showreel and and proud of the work I've produced over the last couple of years, although I feel it looks a little generic. I like the music I was given courtesy of Liam Shevill, but I need to continue to refine and trim my showreel so it stands without music, as I learned that many potential employers will simply mute it as a means of avoiding being influenced.

I also could've read articles advising me on building the ideal showreel, but I did not do this.

https://youtu.be/9KbmTOYa9Sg

Goin to LILLE

I went to partake in the Video Mapping Festival in Lille and had a really cool time! It was good to see the kind of things that people made from outside just my university, and it was a crash course in how to respond to a very short deadline.

Technically, I feel I have broadened my knowledge of the applications of After Effects (I animated lots of FIRE), as well as compositing and rendering.

Personally, it felt good to partake in animation that was more independent of university and collaborate with international people I hadn't met before.

I'm fairly pleased with the film we made. It gets projected on the opera house tomorrow so I'll have to see for myself whether it looks terrible or not. I hope it doesn't.

I'm not sure if I'd be keen to pursue projection mapping further. I think with time I'd get the hang of it, but I found it difficult to get my head around telling a story with one camera angle, working out which areas of the building I could and couldn't project onto and using the geometry of the building to enhance the story. Glad I gave it a go!

Copyrighting my Work (Study Task 7)

I haven't taken any steps to protect my own work online, although I probably should. It's handy that UK copyright law automatically copyrights my things because it means I don't have to take steps to ensure that it's legally mine. My problem is that I have no current proof that the work is my own, like a watermark.

I've only just started developing an online presence with my art Instagram and I have a Vimeo page that nobody visits. 

I always credit anybody else who's work appears on my Instagram page, like if I'm uploading a screenshot of my animation with someone else's background. 

I will create a watermark to place over my work when presenting it on my website, which I'll develop in 3rd year.