FMP 1: Considerations for my practical work

Posted on 21st January 2022 by Marianna Caprio

Ever since I got acquainted with 3D Computer Animation I thought I could apply my interest for art in it and turn it into a career path. Other that animating, especially characters, I also enjoy the pre-production phase of an Animated movie concerning the concepts art regarding the development of a character and its design: I find so fascinating to stylise concepts and features of human being’s emotions and feelings into characters and give them a context into a narration. I do have some modeling, rigging and texturing background, however I think there is always new knowledge to apply to them which is why I want to work in a project that involves them so that I can improve my skills by employ them and put them in practice. I am planning to create an animation short film around a subject and develop a narrative starting from it, including some main character to showcase the idea behind it. My project will include a pre-production a production and post-production phase so to simulate a “professional” pipeline of work.

I suppose I can link my Final Major Project with my Thesis by researching into the topic I am going to explore in the project in order to have a foundation for my animation. Some area I find quite interesting and made me reflect are: Parasocial interactions between the audience and the characters in a movie or a tv series, exploring how the connections with them is created; facial expressions and how is imperative to get them right in an animation in order to convey certain emotions; and how to achieve believable and real behaviour performances in character animation. Another Idea I am planning on to work on for my Final Major Project is to create a short animation on Art and explaining its importance for people (especially for me) involving one specific artist and one of its artworks, where the main character may meet the artist and thank him or her for giving so much inspiration to the world.

I think that for my Final Major Project I will explore the screen and expanded cinema production, however during the duration of the course I might research into interactive installations and augmented reality which are some fields which I find very interesting and full of possibilities but that I know little about, so it could be a chance to experiment with them.

This is a project plan for games which can be adapted for my FMP proposal.

Week 1: Expectations of professionalism – What do you think this means? – (and Project thoughts)

Posted on 19th January 2022 by Marianna Caprio

“Professionalism is not the job you do, it’s how you do the job.“

Professionalism helps you to impress and inspire others, is a really important quality. When thinking of professionalism I firstly link it to workplaces and business environments, however professionalism has many facet and can be applied to smaller occasions especially those linked with group works both in a school environment or other events, not necessarily only work places. When being professional and working with professional people its always easier to develop a more creative environment to work in where the best results can be achieved easily.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines professionalism as “the conduct, aims, or qualities that characterise or mark a profession or a professional person”; and it defines a profession as “a calling requiring specialised knowledge and often long and intensive academic preparation.”

So, what I am aiming to get out of this collaborative unit project is to strengthen my skills as an animator and modeller and explore the discipline with whom I am going to collaborate with. Some keywords I associate with the term “professionalism” are: Competence, Knowledge, Conscientiousness, Integrity, Respect, Emotional Intelligence, Appropriateness, and Confidence. Within this group of words the one I find that is not always linked to professionalism is “emotional Intelligence” since managing your emotions, and having a clear awareness of other people’s feelings is very important especially if working in a group with other people.

With some of my peers in my course we had a meeting with people from other course and it was so great and interesting to talk to them about their course and their background. We found some people from The MA Virtual Reality course who we can collaborate with since they were given a brief concerning an Immersive Cartoon Adaptation where they have to create and deliver an immersive group media prototype based on an adaptation of a cartoon; they showed us the comic they were thinking to work on which is the False Knees series, where Joshua Barkman depicts birds and other fauna in casual conversation, philosophical quandaries and wonderfully relatable banter. It would be related to the comedic genre and a research on how this genre reflects in the adaptation through the characters, storytelling, content, design, technique and style. I have found it perfect for me, since I am very fond of visual arts (both 2D and 3D) and working with animated characters is my interest. What I can contribute in within this project is the development of the characters the modeling of the characters their rigging and texture and the animation to “incorporate” within the virtual reality environment. I look forward to collaborate for this project since I am sure I will work on something new and maybe this would help me to find new interests and possible fields I could work in the future.