#dotandshape

It’s been a very intense first term. We explored the possibilities of character design and animation, from very basic and simple shapes to proper developed characters.

I understood the importance of keeping things simple and  clear, to convey the emotion and feeling in a straightforward way. I was surprised in seeing the reactions of others to my Dot animation, and I appreciate now its simplicity. We must start with very clear ideas of what we want to say and then build around our animation, keeping the focus. I understand now that the limits of the brief are precious and force you to think within the limits, exploring them. Going beyond can make you lose your focus.

For example, during my shape project, I found myself giving more importance to the narrative than to the emotions conveyed through the shapes, which was the actual goal of the project. I edited it with more awareness and I’m happy with the result. I think that is easy to drive off and start overthinking, these projects helped me not to get lost.

The Elements project was a challenge too: I maybe gave too much importance to the handmade backgrounds, thinking that they could convey the idea of the emotion too. I’m not sure if it’s a good representation of water, but I tried to stylise it in a way that recalled water, and at the same time gave a certain feeling of calm and panic. The animation of Carlo was real fun, I recorded myself a lot during the process. I started feeling the same emotions I wanted him to feel.

I really enjoyed working in group for the Past Present and Future project. I like my team a lot, even if working together hasn’t been easy all the times. But facing difficult situations, misuderstanding, breakdowns, has helped a lot: we all developed our ideas of ourselves as animators and people. When the amount of work is divided among three people, we need to trust a lot each other, and everyone has to give the same importance to the project. I was lucky and had supportive and friendly people around me. We all cared a lot about our film.