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The Post With The Most 06/02/11



That's it then. Semester 1/3/5 is done and dusted and week 2 of semester 2/4/6 is already upon us. Now that the 'assessment tsunami' has abated, there's just time for a look back at the CGAA community's most recent accomplishments - and a look forwards at what is to come; and this time, it's an illustrated 'Readers' Digest'!

After 5 weeks-plus of unheimlich houses, Lynchian dissonance and Polanski-inspired qualm, CGAA Year One completed Unit 3. For many, the success was hard-won - and all the sweeter for the necessary struggle. A selection of their final scenes follow (and there would have been a few more had everyone uploaded their finished work to their blogs as requested!).

Max Rogers

Kayleigh Dean

Sean Smith-Derizzio

Sasha Hart

Daniel Rolph

Jonathan Pearmain

Paul Lavey

Domantas Lukosius

Katy Negus

Dayle Sanders

Paul-Arthur Lemarquis

Andriana Laskaris

Justin Easton

Michael Holman


Elsewhere, another strange environment was brought to computer-generated life, as Tom Beg's loving, and lavish recreation of Bosch's famous painting made it over the minor project finish line. Click play and prepare to be transported into an extraordinary world of fantastical structures and prelapsarian delights...


The Garden of Earthly Delights from Thomas Beg on Vimeo.

What? No news on those 'Invisible Chainsaw-wielding Cheerleaders From The Black Lagoon'? Don't worry! I haven't forgotten about the fruition of the Retrofest challenge, which saw CGAA year 2 pre-produce, produce and post-produce their parodies of classic sci-fi b-movies. The Retrofest awards are soon to be announced in a special post here on the group blog - so watch this space for some 'gold envelope moments' - (keep your acceptance speeches short and your 'indifference-in-the-face-of-defeat' expressions well-oiled...).

Post-Retrofest and newly independent, the CGAA 2nd years are in the thick of preproduction for their Transcription project, with a number of students working very creatively to emancipate themselves from style-creep and art-direction cul-de-sacs. Ruben has embarked on a cg adaptation of the H.P. Lovecraft story, The Music of Eric Zahn, and has adopted an innovative approach to kick-starting his expressionism-inspired character-designs - using collage and silhouette to evolve an apposite style:


Elsewhere, Godwin uses silhouettes similarly - combining shapes from existing machinary to generate designs for his new-look Time Machine.

A professionally performed and recorded voice-track can lend an especial lustre to student animations. Ethan Clements, who is transcribing The City in the Sea by Edgar Allan Poe, knows this better than anyone; have a listen to the voice-track donated to him by a philanthropic voice-over artist - stirring stuff!

Meanwhile, Jolanta's transcription of an extract from Stanley Meyer's saxophone concerto into an original animated short is at the animatic stage. For an insight into the purpose and importance of feedback (and using your animatic and pre-vis material to more clearly identify the strengths and weaknesses of your story idea), be sure to check out the commments on JJ's blog.



Semester 2 promises to be a fascinating run of weeks, with the CGAA community getting to grips with ambitious story ideas and increasingly sophisticated projects. Keep an eye on what each other are doing - be generous and constructive in your feedback; be attentive. Be amazing.

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