Computer Animation Arts

January is a stoic month, none more so than for our third years, who have just spent the majority of it completing their 9,000 word dissertations. The Post With The Most is really not the most apposite platform for showcasing this particular milestone of studentship and vital rite of passage, but take it as read that we are very proud of our hard-working third years. It’s a very real achievement to first conceive of, and then complete, a major evidence-based investigation of this kind, and while the dissertation might very well lack the obvious allure of character designs and digital sets – make no mistake, we're just as impressed. What I can showcase here is a selection of work completed by our final year students as part of their minor project submissions – also completed in January. For some of our third years, this deadline marked the end of one discrete project and the beginning of another. For others, work continues on their year-long productions. For all of them, ...

This is a message for all CGAA students:  next week is 'Applicant Week'.  In short, Alan and I will be interviewing applicants for the course all week - mornings & afternoons.  It won't actually effect you in terms of classes, because your lives will go on pretty much as scheduled, but you need to be aware that the CGAA baseroom is where the applicants are going to wait prior to their interviews.  Now, this doesn't mean you can't work in there as usual - you can, and I want you to - but if you do work in the CGAA base room, you need to be prepared to discuss your work with the applicants and represent the course.  We've got CGAA students working as UCA ambassadors, and I'll be asking them to make our applicants feel at home while they wait.  We'll be showing animated films on the baseroom screen (Pixar stuff etc.), but applicants will be encouraged  to talk with you about your work and the course. I'm looking for volunteers therefore...

I've emailed your proformas to your UCA email accounts.  If nothing has come through * do please email me from another account, and I'll re-send your proforma there.  Please take time to reflect carefully on your feedback and consider the Minor Project assessment criteria in relation to your submission - and, most usefully, reflect too on how your experiences of your Minor might now benefit and enrich your 60 credit Major Project.  * Please note - if you had an extension, your proforma hasn't been completed yet.

'In 1977, a specific award category for visual effects was reintroduced with the current name, "Best Visual Effects"...'

High House Production Park, Purfleet Following CGAA's successful participation in last year's ACT project, in which our students, staff and alumni collaborated to create an animation inspired by composer Darius Milhaud's 1923 ballet, La création du monde , we've been challenged by ACT once again to visualise classical music in new and speculative ways.  The piece in question is Giuseppe Verdi's mighty Requiem (1874), a musical setting of the Roman Catholic funeral mass.  Verdi's ninety minute  Requiem is perhaps best known to most of us by the explosive Dies Irae or Day of Wrath: On the evening of July 3rd and 4th at the Royal Opera House's High House Production Park at Purfleet, Verdi's Requiem will be performed live by an ensemble of 300 musicians - and beamed live via a screen into the Production Park's orchard.  Our mission is to devise an innovative way of visualising the music of the  Requiem that will compliment and enr...

It's that time of the week again!  I'll have a couple of interviews to do in the Red Room tomorrow, starting at 2pm.  Shouldn't take longer than an hour or so.  If you could ensure you leave the room clean and tidy after the morning session, that would be helpful - and if you're going to eat a Chicken Tikka baguette - can you do so someplace else? ;)  Cheers!

CGAA Year 2 student Samantha Niemczyk needs your creative input as part of her current Adaptation unit.  Sam is seeking to derive a cast of original character designs from what individuals see in Rorschach-style inkblots and she is seeking your participation.   The inkblot images Sam is asking you to respond to are below and these are your instructions: ADAPTATION B – RORSCHACH INKBLOTS  Draw What You See!  The RULES   Open the Inkblots (below) in Photoshop. Outline   what you see! Please don’t use Ctrl+Z or Eraser tool - respond freely and instinctively.  Create as many layers per inkblot as you want - each layer being a new drawing.   Please don't merge or flatten your images: Sam wants to isolate and use the line art only. Feel free to rotate inkblots horizontally and vertically.  Images should be black line art - no fill colour.  Resolution not smaller than 1000 x 698 px and in .PSD format.  Don't chang...