RESEARCH

The main inspiration for the direction I want to go is heavily inspired by Moonshine Animations on YouTube, who animates through scale figures, toys and other small scale physical mediums either using the characters and pieces as they come or Kit-Bashing and outright creating new figures to use. This kind of work bares similarity to Plasticine Animation in combination with the roles of Animator, Set Designer, Rigging, Model Maker, and Character Designer along with small amounts of Special Effects work. Out of all of these roles I'm most interested in Model Maker and Animator, but I personally would love to do all of it in some capacity, even if that ends up being a personal hobby. If I can make a job out of either of the two I'm most interested I would jump on the chance.


Model Maker

Strengths:

• I have a small amount of personal experience in the sketching part of Model Making gained though the design sketching from my Resistant Materials GCSE along side my personal interest and hobby in sketching and drawing. This will help me when it comes to sketching out what I need to make or do to create the models though blueprints and diagrams along with making my ideas easy to follow and be picked up by other people working in the project.
• Through my personal interest in character sketching and general drawing I have a fairly good concept of Anatomy and a good eye for how something should look. I also have a personal interest in art similar to the rest of my family and so I look into how anatomy works and how things may look in my spare time. This will help me when it comes to creating props and models that look functionally accurate in the context of the project.
• I have a natural ability to explain my ideas to people and explain my meaning and reasoning easily, and generally find it easy to communicate with people. I also have small amounts of experience in public speaking which I have found easy. Through my Media course I have had extensive practice and experience in explaining and communicating my ideas and concepts in a written and diagrammatic form. This will help me when explaining any ideas to the rest of a team when making models and keeping coherency.
• I've worked with animators and done small amounts of animation myself, giving me an understanding of the animation pipeline and the different capabilities and limits of each step of animation. Also I'm heavily interested in animation myself and have researched and become invested in it in my own spare time, giving me a lot more general and specific knowledge of animation. This will help when I produce models as I would be thinking about the practicality of them and how they can easily be used.
• I, of course, have a passion for animation. It's my favourite form of medium for any media product and I love its flexibility and creativity along with all the different styles and forms it can take. Specifically I love model making and finding creative solutions to create a physical representation of something that has practicality and can be used. I have a hobby in cosplay that uses a lot of similar creative ideas and solutions to problems that a model maker might face. I also have interest in Warhammer figures and have made a handful of my own. I love the use of small scale to produce something that looks life-sized when recorded, and I like overcoming the challenges it can present. 

Weaknesses:

• Time management
• Motivation

Opportunities:

• 
  

Threats:

• 
  

Animator

Strengths:

• 
  

Weaknesses:

• 
  

Opportunities:

• 
  

Threats:

THE COMPETENCY INTERVIEW

S.T.A.R.

S: Situation

Where are you? Set the scene.

Context and background.

Details.

Scenario.

So, I'm in the Kings Lynn Campus of the College of West Anglia. It's around April-May time, and I'm on my first year of a Level 3 Extended Diploma for Media. 

T: Task

My role in the situation.

I was...

(Rather than the team)

Now, we're making our Final Major Projects, and mine was a music video. I had already recorded most of mine, which was entirely green screened since I wanted to use a lot of different effects and layers, and I was now trying to edit it together in Premier Pro. At this point I had spent a few sessions and multiple hours attempting to do this. 

A: Action

Highlight your response.

'I' did something...

Showing skills.

Avoid Acronyms.

How I assessed the task.

How I addressed the team.

Communication.

I ended up lagging the computer quite early on through the sheer amount of layers I was using. It was crashing ever so much, and I needed to get a solution. I didn't want to compromise the length of the production since it was a music video. So, instead of continuing while battling the crashing PC, I asked my a tutor, Tony, for help, showing him how I set it up and explaining the issue. He came and showed me exactly how to make a Nest, which is a grouped set of layers that the program sorts out separately.

R: Result
Positive.
What did I learn.
Next time therefore...
(Quantifying)

In premier pro this was amazing, as I was able to Nest it all in sections and work on it separately, avoiding all the crashing problems I had. Within minutes I had nests inside of nests with multiple different clips all edited together, All thanks to the help I went and got. I continued through the project asking for help when I hit a block, but otherwise I proceeded through that and all other larger projects since then to use Nests in the most effective ways I can manage.




Interview






S.T.A.R.


What are your strengths related to the job?

Situation:
So, I was in the College of West Anglia, Lynn campus, near the end of my first year of my level 3 Media diploma. We're making our FMP and I decided on making a music video.

Task:
Now, in this track I'm using there's a particular motif of a TV as a head, and images appearing on the screen. Now, I feel my main strengths are attention to detail and willingness to do a job well rather than taking the easier route. My goal was to make a usable TV helmet prop that I can edit the screen of. Now, since it's live action it needs to sit on someone's head and have them see out of it.

Action:
Me and my mother, one of my creative assistants in a lot of my projects, discussed how to do this. Since another motif of the track was a drawn style, we decided against attempting to get ahold of an actual old TV screen and gutting it. We also felt it would be difficult to edit the screen later in the edit. We ended up designing and constructing it out of cardboard with white paper glued to the outside. We then used black marker and drew all of the edges and the details of the TV onto it. The hole where the screen was was to have a translucent green lighting gel blue tacked to the inside, allowing it to be green screened wile the actor would still be able to see what they're doing. We then, with the actor to hand for the measurements, used layered cardboard, plastic hair bands, and tape to keep it in a good position on their head.

Result:
In the end we had a usable TV head prop that could easily put on and taken off, looked accurate to the style of the original lyric video, and I could easily edit the screen in post. It looked as close as I could physically make it to what I wanted and functioned well on a practical level. I went out of my way to do make it this accurate and put the effort into the prop.


How did you handle a difficult situation?

Situation:
So, back in CWA, but a little earlier this time. Same corse. This time we're making a Radio Drama, a purely audio project.

Task:
So, I was in the middle of getting the script recorded, but then one of the voice actors left the corse, making a large chunk of lines unusable. I needed to get a replacement quickly.

Action:
I thought fast and asked a friend whether they where willing to help. After a few tests and checks to see whether she was suitable I quickly set about getting all of their lines recorded.

Result:
We quickly caught up and finished getting everything done. In the end the whole thing was better as a result, as their voice was far more suited to the role.


Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Situation:
So, I imagine I'd be working here firstly, doing modelling and working with the creative team to bring the best out of the characters and props I help to make real. At the same time I hope to have gotten into model animation as a hobby on the side, creating my own things to keep my skill up and learn a respect and understanding for all levels of production, all while I keep my passion for this alive.

Task:
As for projects, I really have worked or be working on a large scale animation, possibly even with Disney, Dreamworks,  or another large animation company. I also want to be making a long term animated series of my own. Most of all I want to be able to have fun doing these projects, and enjoy learning and gaining experience.

Action:
To do this I'm going to need to make connections to people in the industry while leaning, growing, and gaining all the experience I can. I need to prove my ability though my own personal projects.

Result:



Interview


Feedback

Formal Letter

Can be used to suggest a role in the company

Ceremonious Language
Dignitaries, Authorities, Colleges,

Not for friends and family

Name

Sender Address

Date

Name

Receivers Address

Dear Sir/Madam, 

or

Mr... Ms... Ect (Not first name)

Subject paragraph: The purpose

Body Paragraph: Main content. What it is you want & about me.

Close Paragraph/Sentence: Yours Faithfully

SIGNITURE

Your Name

My Letter

If you use your phone at work:

Pros: Morale, Shows Trust, Boosts Mood, Employer Branding, Customer Service, Buzz-esk Social Media (Internal Coms), Personal Development, LinkedIn, Contract.

Cons: Misuse, Time Wasted, 70% of Businesses take Disciplinary Action Against time wasted on the phone, Viruses, Internal Coms can be hacked, Risk, Mistakes/Fails: The Internet never Forgets, No Context, Malicious Intent, Sexting, Illegal, Rants, Racist as a joke.