Reflection

Top 5 places to work:

Double Negative - This is going to be my number one place to work due to many factors. I had a chance to talk to a few of the visual effects artists at Double Negative and they seemed to be much more enthusiastic of a company to work for. I also had a look at the show reel for the company and was amazed by the work done as well as how it was created. This is the main company I will be aiming to get a job at, but before then I want to produce a worthy show reel.

Framestore - This would be my next choice due to it being the leading VFX company in London as well as the work that has been produced for many movies, but I would prefer a job at Double Negative over Framestore due to the factor that I preferred what I saw from Double Negative.

Nintendo - I have always wanted to work for Nintendo and this would most likely be my top choice, but the problem with this is that Nintendo being a Japanese company tend to hire Japanese people rather than westerners. I still think there would be a way in but it's just finding my chance and taking it by the neck.

Capcom - Being a Japanese company once again rarely hire westerners into the company but recently I have seen some work done on a game previously owned by Capcom. This would be a great place to work for but I would Idealistically want to work for any game company that mimics the gaming styles that Capcom produce in their games, Such as Ninja Theory (The company that took over DevilMayCry).

Moving Picture Company - The Moving Picture Company would be my final choice not because I would like to work for them the least but because they are a huge mix of advertisement and film, in which I would rather do one of the other. If I was to pick, I would just like to do film for this company as the films they have worked on look to be really well done but I think I would like to look into it a bit deeper before I took a huge step towards them, but saying that a foot in the door of any of these companies would be a good step forward.

                                   

Top 5 skills:

3D modelling in Maya - I find that modelling is my forte in the animation industry so far, as it interests me the most as well as being my strongest area. I want to learn more towards Visual effects but for the moment I will look to further my skills in modelling.

Creating inspirational idea's to start the group off in thought - I tend to enjoy being the ideas guy for the group as I have found that even if my ideas aren't used, they are developed into the overall idea to give a better narrative and feel to the movie.

Animating characters and objects in Maya - I enjoy animating, just not as much as modelling. I tend to have quite good timing for things but I tend to find it less tedious when it's something I don't find too hard to concentrate on. With modelling I can always go back on any mistakes or changes that need to be made while animation needs to be correct as your going along otherwise problems are a lot harder to solve.

Texturing in Maya - I find texturing to be very easy to do when it is a object but when it's a character I am not as confident so I would say there is more work to be put into learning this fully.

Compositing - I enjoy compositing. This is when you put all the work together into a final piece. I enjoy this because I really like seeing the whole thing come together when you have put so much work towards producing it. I wouldn't mind being a compositor for a company but I think out of the jobs given this would be a much tougher job then what it is now, once I enter a company.

                       

Top 5 things learnt this year:

How to texture a model in Maya

Group Organizational skills

Pipeline of animation

Properly developing my CV for my career

That my preferred area of animation is character and environment modelling

Summery

I need to look a lot more towards my career and see if I can get some experience working with at least one of these companies before I finish my degree would be a huge success in my eyes, but that will be completely down to my own hard work. I need to get my head down and produce a show reel worth giving to these companies.

Double Negative needs for Modeller

MODELLER

• Job Title: Modeller
• Department: 3D
• Location: London
• Closing Date:
• Reports To: Head of 3D
• Direct Reports:

Key Purpose of the Job

To create highly detailed models suitable for use in visual effects work for film, that cover a wide range of organic and non-organic objects.

Needs To Do

• The modeller will need to work very closely with the texture painters, shader writers, look development artists and the riggers to generate models that are suitable for feature film work. The models may be organic in nature, such as various creatures or characters, or they may be models of rigid objects such as cars, buildings, props or sets. They will need to make use of a wide range of reference materials. Models may need to be created from scratch or from scans, reference photography, maquettes, miniatures or other set models. They will also have to work closely with their leads to determine an appropriate level of detail for any given model. It will also be important to work closely with the riggers to produce models that meet their work flow requirements, and with texture painters to determine the optimal UV layout for a model.

Needs To Know

• Strong spatial awareness and a good sense of form, scale and proportion
• A very keen eye for detail
• A full working knowledge of modelling in any one or more of these packages: Maya, XSI and Cyslice
• Ability to work with packages such as Mudbox or Z-brush are an advantage
• Polygon and sub-division surface modelling. Knowledge of NURBS modelling is not generally required, but a plus
• How to deliver a "clean" model with tidy polygon/sub-d placement and good basic UV layout for texturing
• A good knowledge of Linux would be an advantage. Familiarity with Windows useful but not essential
• When to model detail or have the the detail added through the shading, by liasing with the shader writers and look development artists
• At least 1 years experience in feature films would be beneficial. Experience in other areas of visual effects (TV, Games) will also be taken into account

Needs To Be

• Meticulous
• Team oriented
• Able to learn in house work flows and methodologies
• Able to adapt to changing requirements or briefs
• Resourceful

Measures of Performance

• On time delivery
• Show continuous improvement
• Ability to deliver any required model at an appropriate level of detail and realism, which fits smoothly into the pipeline of a show

Double Negative needs for Runner

RUNNER

• Job Title: Runner
• Department: Front of House
• Location: London
• Closing Date: N/A
• Reports To: Facilities Manager
• Direct Reports: N/A

Key Purpose of the Job

Running is a foot in the door at Double Negative and a chance to carry on training and progressing into other areas of the business. To replace those that have moved up, we are always looking for bright, motivated, enthusiastic Runners who have a passion to work within VFX.

Needs To Do

• Dispatching and collecting items on request both in house and out of house; delivering post, faxes and other items to staff
• Taking initiative to manage stocks and supplies, arranging orders where necessary; ensuring refreshments, stationary, general office equipment and loos are well stocked
• Keeping reception, rest areas and offices clean tidy and well presented
• Reception duties - including dealing with switch board calls, welcoming clients, providing refreshments for meetings and clients, booking meeting rooms, cars and couriers
• Providing support to producers and managers, assisting producers with document presentation where necessary, including adding images to layout, laminating, binding, scanning, photocopying
• Dealing with banking and dispatching of post

Needs To Know

• Must have a knowledge and passion for Visual Effects
• Excellent customer service skills
• Knowledge of Microsoft Word, Excel, Internet and Email
• A professional and friendly phone manner

Needs To Be

• Friendly
• Enthusiastic
• Pro-active
• Confident in using initiative
• Helpful
• Hard working

Measures of Performance

• Fast delivery
• Continuous improvement
• Ability to arrange and organise pro-actively

Brief

Unit Introduction

This unit builds directly on the Industry Exercises 1 unit, allowing students to broaden their range of professional animation skills or to develop existing areas to an advanced level. Students also develop more advanced planning and organisational skills essential in the delivery of a completed project within a fixed schedule.

Students will complete two projects in this unit, one can be self‑initiated (negotiated with tutor) or students may choose to revisit an exercise which was not developed fully in the Industry Exercises 1 unit. The second project is an explicit production schedule for the term that demonstrates competent use of scheduling software to model potential outcomes. Student projects must have a clear focus on the development of industry relevant skills, their overall artistic or creative style, and contribute significantly to the demonstration of their employability in their final show reel.

These practical exercises are supplemented by a reflective commentary.

This unit’s aims are:

• To enable students to supplement possible career specialisms within the animation industry through the development of ancillary skills.
• To enable students to further develop portfolios of work demonstrating advanced proficiency in the specialism of their choice.
• To provide experience of establishing and developing personal project schedules and tracking progress towards project completion.
• To further develop critical awareness within the students of their personal skills, and the ability to generate research strategies for continuing enhancement.

This project is designed to work in a supportive context with your Post Production & Visual Effects unit (ANI09204). There are three elements you are required to produce:

1. A technical tutorial, subject to be negotiated with your tutor.

2. An online production schedule, using Shotgun.

3. A blogged individual reflective journal.

1 Tutorial

The main body of your effort (60%) will be directed towards your tutorial. You will negotiate a subject with your tutor, with the clearly defined caveat that this tutorial must be technical in nature, and specific to an animation workflow.You will develop an illustrated step by step tutorial that will enable other animators coming behind you to follow your process and achieve similar results. Your illustrations may be drawn, screen grabs, or audio or video. They must be step by step, and capable of being followed by people less experienced or proficient than yourselves. These tutorials will be hosted in a blogged format and will be coordinated on a portal site to provide you with an archive of relevant technical tutorials to support you in your studies this year and next.

2 Project Schedule

You will be learning how to use project management software, Shotgun in this instance, to develop a production schedule that will be hosted on line and will cover ALL of your time commitments this term, whether it is this project, other units, or your part time jobs or babysitting responsibilities. This is to allow you to develop a sense of how to prioritize your time, manage contingencies when things go wrong, and to know how much your time should cost.

3 Individual Reflective Journal

Your reflective journal is a smaller component this time around, but it will follow previous submission requirements in terms of format, i.e. it is another online journal. This time around it is purely about your particular repertoire of skills, and the things that your self-analysis will reveal you need to be able to do better whether it’s time management, or character rigging. You will be required to find some vacant entry level or junior job positions within the animation industry and use the requirements for successful applicants to those positions as a source for comparison and contrast with your own skills.

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge and Understanding

A1: Have a critical understanding of the range of techniques and skills underpinning animation workflows.

Values and Attitudes

B1: The ability to initiate or extend creatively an animation project, and realise it independently, to a professional standard.

Skills (Cognitive and Intellectual)

C1: Critically locate their work in terms of its creative and artistic merits in relation to contemporary practice.

Skills (Subject Specific/Professional)

D1: Confidently apply animation skills and techniques appropriate to the standard expected for an entrant to professional animation or visualization

Skills (Transferable)

E1: Negotiate and conduct an independent study and manage their time and workflow

Students are assessed on:

Individual Reflective Journal

• Evidence of critical reflection on the creative and artistic merits of their work in relation to contemporary practice. (A1, C1)

Exercises 3 and 4

• Evidence of a critical understanding of the breadth and depth of techniques and skills underpinning the animation pipeline. (A1, D1, E1)
• Evidence in the realisation of the projects of systematic application of animation skills and practices to the standard expected for an entrant to professional animation or visualisation. (D1, E1)
• Negotiate and conduct an independent study and independently manage their time and workflow. (B1, E1)
• Initiate or extend creatively an independently realised animation project. (B1, D1, E1)

Assessable Elements	Percentage of Final Grade
Exercise 3 (Tutorial)	60%
Exercise 4 (Production Schedule)	20%
Individual Reflective Journal	20%

Submission Requirements

Exercise 3 (Tutorial)

Based upon your negotiated project to explore a specific animation technique or method, you will communicate the technical processes involved by means of an illustrated, step by step “How To…”tutorial in a blog format. All work that is not your own must be appropriately credited, and all tutorials will be routinely checked for plagiarism, so do not copy and paste from other online tutorials. Your blog should be hosted on Blogspot for sake of expedience and reliability, and will be submitted by URL emailed to jared.taylor@rave.ac.uk. Please do not forget that there is a second, smaller blog that you will submit for your reflective journal.

Exercise 4 (Production Schedule)

Your online production schedule (via Shotgun) should be submitted as a URL emailed to jared.taylor@rave.ac.uk. This schedule will be checked for continual development, as such, you should be saving previous versions of your schedule to prove its continual evolution. It is not enough to cobble one schedule together for the last week of term.

Individual Reflective Journal

This is a small journal, again maintained via a blog, but is distinct from, and smaller than, the tutorial that you will be writing. It focuses on your personal evaluation of your skills in developing the above mentioned tutorial and project schedule. Again, this journal should be hosted on blogspot and the URL sent to jared.taylor@rave.ac.uk

To sum up, you will be emailing the URLs of three distinct components:

1. Tutorial

2. Production Schedule

3. Individual Reflective Journal