Out of all the components of Unit 1, this was the project I was most nervous about doing. Having to assist somebody I didn’t know and understand their vision for their project is a daunting task. I’m a visual person and struggle sometimes when things are being explained, so I often take my time digesting the information before producing, but for this project, I was aware that time was of the essence and I was making myself available to help, not hinder their project.
We were allocated a year 2 student to assist, so I reached out to them via email. Unfortunately, after some back and forth we were not able to arrange the work experience, so I contacted my tutor and they were able to put me in contact with another student to assist.
In my meeting with the year 2 student, they asked me to do the keyframing for three scenes. I was given the live-action videos to view, so I knew what movement was required for the character in that scene. Then using TV paint, I drew the characters making the movements.
I completed the first scene and asked them if they were happy with the outcome. They confirmed I had done what they wanted and that they liked how I had translated the ‘walking style’. I offered to complete the two further scenes after my own submission deadline for unit one which was due the following day.
I really enjoyed this experience because I got to see somebody else’s project and their vision. My main challenge was the tight timeline because I would have liked to spend more time supporting this project. I feel that I should have been more proactive in informing the tutor when my initial pairing fell through because that took up a lot of the time we were allocated for this project. So, this is a lesson I have learned from this project. However, I’m aware that challenging timelines will be a part of animation jobs, so this was a good takeaway from this experience.