I then went on to talk about the beginning of the responsive module, as at the start of the year I was eager to get a big head start on the module and produced two animations straight away that were fully digital. I explained how I wasn't really proud of these animations and that I learnt from the mistake of choosing digital as it was something I was most comfortable with at the time. I wish, looking back now, that I had gone with my heart and experimented with stop-motion. However, this still gave me a good learning experience as I had never entered live briefs before.
Next, I talked about the other side of responsive, which was the group animation we created for the brief 'Thirsty Planet'. This was a papercut animation that I was really proud of in the end, and I feel this might have also been due to being part of a team, where I feel I work best.
My next slide explained how I have built my social media presence over the past year and how this has benefitted me as an animator. One of my main goals for this year was to develop my portfolio of work as I felt I didn't really like the animations I made from the first year and I was only just getting to grips with animation as a whole. This year I now have multiple stop-motion animations posted onto my Vimeo as well as behind the scenes pictures built up on my Instagram. Continuing this will be really good for me as having something easily accessible for others to see my work is always a good thing.
I also spoke about my interactions with professionals within the animation industry and the way that I have been using LinkedIn to talk to people casually. I have really enjoyed this part of PPP, as it has made me more comfortable approaching people as they actually aren't so scary and are actually really lovely! I also made a connection at Aardman, where he said I can talk to him anytime about tips or if I want any pointers of my work.
The other week, we visited Factory and Makinnon and Saunders. I talked about how this has inspired me as an animator and allowed me to be more confident in the fact that I know I want to be a stop-motion animator.
I also compared my work from this time last year to now to basically show the vast improvement in content and style I have achieved over this past year. This is something I am really proud of.
Puppets were another thing I compared as I have developed my puppet and model making skills over level 5. I feel these slides were important to show as it shows my practical development.
Into level 6, I wanted to just go over my future plans such as maybe trying replacement animation and lip sync as well as trying out some new puppet-making methods. I especially want to focus on lip sync as this will be something that I will need to have the ability to do in the industry and to show in my showreel.
My other plans for the next year are to practice my walk cycles and this is another thing I want to include in my end of uni showreel!
Finally, I went over the summary of the whole year and how I definitely feel that I have progressed and been able to establish myself a little more as an animator and find my 'niche'. I'm really happy with the way that level 5 has turned out and I'm excited for the next year to come!
