Good Morning 3rd Years, I thought I would put a post up regarding both my thoughts and experiences in relation to New Designers and the run up to the exhibition.
The most significant difference to when we attended ND and this years show is that we took the whole year group, was this the right decision? Hand on heart (and with the benefit of hindsight) I do not believe it was, the feedback that also came back from the organising team also appears to bear this out. Of course the fact that criteria for selection has had to be put into place by your tutors is going to result in disappointment for those not selected. However ND is NOT the culmination of your degree experience and therefore it should in no way be seen as a way to justify your participation for the past 3 years.
I can understand the guidelines for admission that Phil and Alan have put into place, and if you talk to students on courses like Applied Arts, Design, Branding and Marketing etc. in particular those that have been attending ND for a while, you will find that they also have selection criteria, in fact it is pretty much standard to only select the optimum work available. This is harsh and some may deem unfair, but hopefully when I describe my experiences later then that will explain why it needs to be this way.
Right that’s the elephant in the room brought into the open, now what can you expect from the run up and the show itself? Well I am not sure how much guidance you have had from Phil etc. However we had representatives from our group attend meetings at ND to be briefed on the procedures, protocols, health and safety etc. Use these opportunities to start your networking with people outside your chosen field, the experience of attending and putting on a show like this is not too far removed from working as part of, say, a large games company. Your contribution may seem small and it is easy to get daunted by the size of ND however what you provide contributes to the whole experience. Preparation is important to ensure you are showing your best work, I honestly felt that the run in to ND was more stressful than that of the final submission. Our group was fortunate enough to have been able to transfer a lot of the preparatory work from Framestore to ND, in regards to user interface, promotional bits and pieces etc.
What you should find, being a smaller group, is that you will mesh better as a creative team and should hopefully pull equal amounts of weight and balance the workload amongst yourselves.
What can you expect from the show itself? Well opening night is the best side of the event, this is where industry types will come out of the wood-work, expect to talk to lots of people not from the CG field and crossover applications. CG is under-represented at ND compared to illustration etc. be very surprised if you meet someone from one of the significant studios, if you do then rip their arms off, pin them down and force them into an opinion.
The rest of the show can be interesting as well, if you can, take the opportunity to meet and great with your peers in other disciplines, they may be needing a CG artist soon. However be prepared for lots of kids and prospective students, essentially you will a sales person for the course, use the opportunity to practise your social skills but don’t take too much from it personally. Hopefully being a smaller group should avoid some of the pitfalls that we suffered. Watching a group of teenagers sniggering over one of your colleagues work, trying to play games on the Macs, visiting for the free bubble gum, no-one clicking on your thumbnail for hours (then when your work starts showing click straight off)etc. can be a bit demoralising. When it gets like that then you wonder why you had bothered lol. There is no validation to be found at ND at all.
Would I have selected my own work for ND? Despite getting a 2:1 etc. No. I consider that my final was too specialised for a general audience, what I created was an attempt at the invisible world of CG, so it would never hold a general audiences attention like a character animation especially since it was lost in a sea of them.
Would I do it again? Yes, at the time I would have been hard pushed to explain why, maybe I’m just a masochist lol.
If you guys have any questions regarding ND then just yell, what I have written above is just a brief outline of what I saw.
Also the degree show is where you should be enjoying yourself in the community that you have just spent the last 3Years, bring the folks, friends, siblings and celebrate the fact that you made it, plenty of people don’t complete, many, many more do not even have the steel balls to attempt it.
The most significant difference to when we attended ND and this years show is that we took the whole year group, was this the right decision? Hand on heart (and with the benefit of hindsight) I do not believe it was, the feedback that also came back from the organising team also appears to bear this out. Of course the fact that criteria for selection has had to be put into place by your tutors is going to result in disappointment for those not selected. However ND is NOT the culmination of your degree experience and therefore it should in no way be seen as a way to justify your participation for the past 3 years.
I can understand the guidelines for admission that Phil and Alan have put into place, and if you talk to students on courses like Applied Arts, Design, Branding and Marketing etc. in particular those that have been attending ND for a while, you will find that they also have selection criteria, in fact it is pretty much standard to only select the optimum work available. This is harsh and some may deem unfair, but hopefully when I describe my experiences later then that will explain why it needs to be this way.
Right that’s the elephant in the room brought into the open, now what can you expect from the run up and the show itself? Well I am not sure how much guidance you have had from Phil etc. However we had representatives from our group attend meetings at ND to be briefed on the procedures, protocols, health and safety etc. Use these opportunities to start your networking with people outside your chosen field, the experience of attending and putting on a show like this is not too far removed from working as part of, say, a large games company. Your contribution may seem small and it is easy to get daunted by the size of ND however what you provide contributes to the whole experience. Preparation is important to ensure you are showing your best work, I honestly felt that the run in to ND was more stressful than that of the final submission. Our group was fortunate enough to have been able to transfer a lot of the preparatory work from Framestore to ND, in regards to user interface, promotional bits and pieces etc.
What you should find, being a smaller group, is that you will mesh better as a creative team and should hopefully pull equal amounts of weight and balance the workload amongst yourselves.
What can you expect from the show itself? Well opening night is the best side of the event, this is where industry types will come out of the wood-work, expect to talk to lots of people not from the CG field and crossover applications. CG is under-represented at ND compared to illustration etc. be very surprised if you meet someone from one of the significant studios, if you do then rip their arms off, pin them down and force them into an opinion.
The rest of the show can be interesting as well, if you can, take the opportunity to meet and great with your peers in other disciplines, they may be needing a CG artist soon. However be prepared for lots of kids and prospective students, essentially you will a sales person for the course, use the opportunity to practise your social skills but don’t take too much from it personally. Hopefully being a smaller group should avoid some of the pitfalls that we suffered. Watching a group of teenagers sniggering over one of your colleagues work, trying to play games on the Macs, visiting for the free bubble gum, no-one clicking on your thumbnail for hours (then when your work starts showing click straight off)etc. can be a bit demoralising. When it gets like that then you wonder why you had bothered lol. There is no validation to be found at ND at all.
Would I have selected my own work for ND? Despite getting a 2:1 etc. No. I consider that my final was too specialised for a general audience, what I created was an attempt at the invisible world of CG, so it would never hold a general audiences attention like a character animation especially since it was lost in a sea of them.
Would I do it again? Yes, at the time I would have been hard pushed to explain why, maybe I’m just a masochist lol.
If you guys have any questions regarding ND then just yell, what I have written above is just a brief outline of what I saw.
Also the degree show is where you should be enjoying yourself in the community that you have just spent the last 3Years, bring the folks, friends, siblings and celebrate the fact that you made it, plenty of people don’t complete, many, many more do not even have the steel balls to attempt it.
Hey Simon,
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting.