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FAO CAA Yr 3: Your Interim Crit - Some Guidance



Okay, so I've had a chat with a few third years now as to expectations in regard to your forthcoming minor project interim crits and I hope I've been helpful.  I haven't had the chance or opportunity to speak with everyone, so I thought I'd put some if it down here for your guidance before I disappear off to France for the YPGTTO premiere on Thursday.  

The truth is I want all of you to have a positive experience of your interim crits and the way to make that happen is to ensure you're suitably prepared.  I'm going to put together a suggested checklist of content for your interim presentations, and while not everything I write here may relate to your specific pipeline 100%, you should be able to shape your presentations accordingly.

At this stage in your relationship to the course we're not expecting any 'used car salesman' style presentations (we've all sat through those before and we know they annoy you as much as they annoy us) - you know,  the presentations when a student talks for too long about too little or fills their presentations with text, when our prime interest is in imagery and models and animatics etc. and the whole room is just waiting for the presenting student to 'cut to the chase'.   If we can all agree that your interim crit is a 'bullshit-free zone', then I think we can keep things nice and positive and truly constructive.

So - in terms of structuring your presentations my advice to those students I have seen for tutorials has been this:

1) State your project's type i.e. 'Animated Short' or 'Animated Documentary' or whatever.

2) Give a short synopsis of your project - logline-style - a short explanatory statement. 

3) If you have a script/text/transcript etc - include it here / we won't read it and you don't have to either, but ensure it's in evidence.

4) Present your influences/art-style/creative context (so not your work yet, but the work of others that might help us situate your production design/creative choices).

5) Your production design pipeline - the 'highlights' - we want to see what you've been doing in regards to developing your project, but we're most interested in the conclusions you've come to and what you've finalised.  This section should conclude with production art you consider 'finished' and ready-to-go.

6) An animatic-style output - something we can watch and experience together that is representative of your intentions in terms of 'what your project is' and how things are fitting together. Ideally, this should be 'self-explanatory' - we should be able to watch this and understand without further chat.

7) Technical Proof of Concept; this is where you show you're thinking about the ways in which your creative goals for the project and your technical knowledge will work together to deliver your project successfully.  For example, if your project rests on emulating a 2D drawing in a 3D world, then show us your research and development: models, texturing tests, lighting tests, compositing tests and so on.

8) Your Minor Project submission check-list: this is really important and you need to take it seriously.  This is where you tell us what you're actually submitting for your minor project in January.  This is where you commit to your goals.  This is important because we will ultimately assess you against your ability to realise these goals, so what you commit to here is key, as failing to submit what you say you'll submit may be an issue for you in terms of assessment.

9) Your Major Project submission check-list: this is where you commit to the complete range of work that associates with getting your third year project over the finish line.  What we're really asking for you to do is publish a schedule and demonstrate your knack for effective project management.

10) Your Technical Questions; this is where you demonstrate your knowledge of what you 'don't know' about your respective projects.  If there are particular things you want to achieve, but don't know how, this is where you flag up those knowledge-gaps.  If there are techniques that you think associate with your pipeline, let's hear about them.  We want to see you're considering the technical practicalities of your project, whether you know how to apply them or not at this stage.

11) And finally, your presentation for your Interim Crit should seek to demonstrate you're already thinking about your 'Art Of' documentation - i.e. your interim presentation should feel in terms of project branding as if we're looking at pages from your Art Of.  I'll want too see you're joining the dots between your project and everything else.  This likewise means your blogs should now be as sophisticated as you are...

The bottom line is your tutors are looking to be reassured you're the boss of your project and you're in control of it.  We're looking for reassurance you're using your time productively and your level of ambition for your projects is appropriately high. Many of you I suspect have a huge amount to achieve between now and the interim crit if you're going to be as reassuring as you could and should be, but I'm encouraging you to now do whatever it takes to ensure you can enjoy your interim crits and likewise feel some genuine excitement at the prospect of making the most ambitious work of your lives so far.

Best of luck, do the work, and go all out to impress!  I'm genuinely looking forward to it :)

This is you...


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