Computer Animation Arts

We're getting you all together on Wednesday 27th March @ 10.30am in DM5 for a Major Project Submission briefing.  We're going to be clarifying requirements for the big hand-in on May 10th and we're asking that everyone attends accordingly.  Looking forward to see you all there!

Yes, you know what these black and yellow numbers mean... You have just 74 days remaining until final submission or 2 months and 12 days . If you're not animating already, you should move heaven and earth to ensure you're animating your first shot by Monday. Animation will eat time - and very good animation will eat lots of it. Your priority now is to give your animation duties as much time as humanly possible. Do whatever it takes to get there and get started, for this is where the magic happens!  

All 3rd Year Students: Timetable Update. Please be aware that an updated timetable has been uploaded to MyUCA. The updates include, dates for Nuke classes with Simon, adjustments to the Maya class dates, and additional sessions to get 'project help' with myself in the last month of the Major Project. Please download the new timetable. You can find it under MyUCA/Major Project/Teaching Materials .  - Please pass this information onto anyone you feel may not see this post.

This is the first PWTM post-GDPR... and in order to comply with the new regulations I sent out an 'opt-in' email for those subscribers wishing to remain on our mailing list - and I deleted everyone else! We've probably lost a few loyal readers in our great data cull, for who amongst us hasn't felt snowed under by all the recent emails asking us to 'opt-in' (and who amongst us hasn't secretly enjoyed the idea of all those endless 'sell-you-stuff' emails just going poof into thin air!). If you didn't find the PWTM in your inbox this time - and you were expecting it, and you want to continue to receive it, please do drop me a line at pgomm@uca.ac.uk and I'll sort it.  Similarly, if you're new to the PWTM and you'd like to join our new GDPR-compliant mailing list, then get in touch! Incredibly, the next edition of the Post With The Most will be our New Designers Special Edition showcasing the final iterations of our final year ...

I've uploaded UCA's official suite of logo assets for the credits of your films - some of you have been asking for these elements as a means of finishing of your opening/closing credits.  You'll find a zipped folder of assets on myUCA/Major.  Let your classmates know - thanks!

Many of you have expressed an interest in participating in a 'Final Film' screening - not a crit or feedback session, but an opportunity to see your work and the work of your peers on the 'big screen' of lecture theatre 1.  To this end, I've booked Lecture Theatre 1 for 2pm on Tuesday May 22nd for a celebratory screening of your third year films. You don't have to attend and participation isn't mandatory, so let me know via an email or a comment here if you're interested in taking part. A note to our Year 1s and 2s - you're welcome to attend the screening too. 

Year 2: Just letting you know the Premise tutorials ( Thursday/Friday)  and Toolkit 2 Maya class (Thursday) will go ahead as detailed on your timetable. For the Maya class we will be going over your title credits submission, where you are with the Maya tutorials, and discussing the magazine article you're going to write for Premise. Therefore please bring work with you to do during the class whilst I'm going around the room talking with you one to one. You may wish to bring your Premise work with you too. Next week we will begin a new task as part of the Maya class. Year 3: Friday's 'drop-in' tutorials will be available again from 10am - 1pm.

Alan and I have now completed our assessments of your minor projects and I will be emailing out your proformas on Friday afternoon.   Your assessments are double-marked, meaning Alan and I assess your submissions separately without discussion, before coming together to moderate our marks and determine an overall grade.  As you know, Alan and I often look at projects in different ways - I hope you agree that's a strength - and you may be reassured to learn our respective grades varied by only 1 or 2 percent.  It's not always like that (as Alan and Phil reach for their duelling pistols!) but this year we were in near total agreement. We know that, really, you are all waiting for proformas before your thoughts can turn to the terrain of your major projects.  Alan and I have written loads of feedback on your forms - some of which relates to your submission, and some of which relates to the goals, emphases and challenges of your major project. My suggestion i...

This is a message for those Year 3 students who might be expecting to pop in with me tomorrow morning (Monday 29th January). There's a change of plan in so much as I'm not going to be there, so I'm going to suggest we shift your slots to Friday morning.  I'll probably be based up on the reception floor somewhere and I'll confirm nearer the time.  Watch this space!

Attention Year 3 The briefing for the Major project has been brought forward from 2pm on Friday 12th to 1pm. This is to help with room usage. The briefing will take place in the Base Room. Please share this information with anyone who you think may not see this post. Good luck with your Minor project submissions everyone.

As anyone who teaches will tell you, the process of equipping young people with the skills and attitude by which to accomplish great things and realise their potential is no Hollywood-style montage of quick-cut, quick-fix gratification.  It's an uglier business than that, involving pushing, prodding, coaxing and no small amount of arse-kicking!  It is a battle of wills between past behaviours and future potential, between demons and destinies (which is already sounding a bit too Hollywood for a process that is often indescribably prolonged and frustrating). The rewards, however, can be huge - and this edition of the PWTM, which showcases the end results at the close of the academic year, is always a favourite of mine - not least because it reminds me of why we bother and why we need to go on bothering. First up, a small sample of completed films devised by first year students in response to their Fantastic Voyage brief, challenging them to pre-produce, produce and post...