Study Task 4 - Networking

Identify at LEAST 10 Networking opportunities. These could be conferences, festivals, volunteering opportunities, openings, premieres, virtual networks etc. You should list dates and what you would hope to get out of attending.

MAF
www.manchesteranimationfestival.co.uk

What do I hope to gain from going to this?
I hope to gain a better insight into the world of animation, as I want to push myself out of my comfort zone.  Attending this festival will give me some idea of the standards of both professional and non-professional animations. The event will also help me to keep up to date and I will be able to compare my work to the work of others in the same field.

Thought bubble
 https://www.thoughtbubblefestival.com/

What do I hope to gain from going to this?
Thought Bubble will show comics which will inspire me to create different characters. I can also use this as an opportunity to network and collaborate with other animators.


Animex 
http://animex.tees.ac.uk/holding.cfm

What do I hope to gain from going to this?
Seeing 3D animation at this festival will help develop my understanding of 3D technologies in the context of animation.

Comic-Con World - Blackpool 2019 
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/comic-con-world-blackpool-2019-tickets-52947603708

What do I hope to gain from going to this?
The Comic-Con event provides a variety of media and this will be of interest to me, as comics, animations and Manga will be included, together with industry professionals.


Canterbury Anifest 
https://www.canterburyanifest.com/

What do I hope to gain from going to this?
This should provide me with networking opportunities which are very useful when looking to enter the animation industry.

Chester Animation Festival
http://www.festival.chesterfilmfans.co.uk/?page_id=227

What do I hope to gain from going to this?
This festival shows a range of films, which will display different techniques and this will inform my process and professional practice. This is also a festival that I want to submit my short films to as I love Chester and I've been to the film festival twice now.  I went with friends from the Pokemon Go community who understand what it's like to have anxiety. It was a really positive experience for all of us. 

Flatpack Film Festival
https://flatpackfestival.org.uk/

What do I hope to gain from going to this?
This multi-media film festival will serve to develop me culturally. I can also check out what other filmmakers are putting out there. 

Leeds International Film Festival
https://www.leedsfilmcity.com/

What do I hope to gain from going to this?
This is a local event, so I would not need to travel very much, it would be really good for establishing myself as a Leeds based filmmaker.  It would also be really good to gain contacts within the industry and network with those people and build up a network of people who I can ask to collaborate with me.  It would be really good to volunteer there, I think it's a good festival - it's international as well, so I'll be able to see the cultural differences between animation and the wider film industry as well.

Threshold festival  
https://thresholdfestival.co.uk/

What do I hope to gain from going to this?
From attending this festival, industry experience and networking with other artists can be gained. I have already been involved in this music and art based festival twice, as one of the official photographers. I was asked back again this year, but am unable to attend, due to university work. This festival is of particular interest to me, as being behind a camera gives me confidence. I've also been talking with the event organisers about expanding the event to accommodate animation and digital media based art as well.  So watch this space. 

Cartoon Forum 2019 

http://www.cartoon-media.eu/cartoon-forum/cartoon-forum-2018-1

What do I hope to gain from going to this?
As this event is in France, I may consider going once I graduate.  It seems as though this event is more aimed at professionals, however, it would still be good to go to see what a professional pitch looks like to gain funding

Other Film festivals

I may consider going to although as they are both very far away the will require a lot of planning. I feel as though I would benefit through, both mentally and for my animation awareness to.

Edinburgh Short Film Festival 

https://www.edinburghshortfilmfestival.com/

aNEmates presents – Show and Tell 

https://www.facebook.com/events/1948188995487217/

My LinkedIn 
https://uk.linkedin.com/in/jenny-leece-2a9650174

Study Task 3 - Who Do I Want To Be?

SWOT Analysis

Personal strengths.

I am am diligent in my approach to work, and endeavour to work well as part of a team. When I apply myself I can work excessively, and be a workaholic, to meet a deadline. When working in groups, I tend to be a good contributor, but do have high expectations of others, to adopt a similar ethos. I am good at water colour backgrounds, and character development. I can maintain by straights by continuously striving to be a productive member of the team in collaborations.

Weaknesses and how I intend to address these

I have dyslexia which restricts my ability to process information, read, and write. With dyslexia support I can overcome this. I am quite shy and quiet and can be too self critical. I'm also quite socially awkward in conversations. To overcome this, I have attended a number of auditions to be in various musical productions put on by Leeds University musical theatre.

Study Task 6

Study Task 8 - Working Freelance/Self Employment

Assuming i work 7.5 hours a day my day rate £150

• Develop an agreement to work contract (Word Doc)

• 
  

• Develop an invoice (Word Doc)

Study Task 10 - It's Showreel Time!

OddSocks A Creative Media Production Collective. Study Task 9, Studio Brief 3

Heres a quick overview of everything that we have so far.

PP Notes:

Name of collective: OddSocks Collective

Members: Devon Short, Jenny Leece, Petra Taylor and Katarina Sucikova

Roles:

Jenny Production Manager, Creative Director, Consultant Technical Director

Petra HR, Finance. Admin

Katarina Lead Visual Development, Lead stop motion Animator, Material resources, Market Researcher

Devon Background artist, key animator, social media marketing, 3D Modeler

Protentional Projects and Live Briefs

D&AD

YCN

Sustainability Brief

Studio requirements

Pet friendly

Communal space

Stop motion space

Softwares:
Dragon Frame
Adobe Suite
Toom Boom
Tv Paint
Google Sketchup for 3d references
Blender?

Hardware

Computers

Cameras

Backup system

Funding

Princess trust

Arts Council

BFI

Our skills:
P: Script & Storyboard, model making, puppets, visual development
J: Script & Storyboard, visual development, organisation
K: Script & Storyboard, Set, Background,

D: Key poses, backgrounds, 3D

My Role for Study Task 9, Studio Brief 3

My role within Studio Brief 3 was to gather information regarding computer specifications to plan a budget and create computers within said budget. Creating computers costs less than buying pre-made ones.

I looked at graphics tablets and which screen tablets would be best for us, given that we are a start-up company and that we would not necessarily have the backing that big studios have.  So I looked at Wacom alternatives and found that the XP Pen Artist 16 Pro was the best option, as it had better reviews and offered better specifications.  In addition to this, I also used my personal bias to fulfil this requirement as I have purchased one myself and found the quality of the screen to be on par with Wacom.

The studio will use these pen display tablets as the primary monitor for the computer set up. However, in addition, I have budgeted for 2 additional monitors to be used for 2 of the computer setups to give a dual screen experience.

I also budgeted for Cherry MX Keyboards and mice, as these are of a higher specification than regular keyboards. As we planned to have a stop-motion workspace, I also had to budget for this.  I budgeted for Dragon Frame Set up, which included the cost of an entry-level DSLR compatible with Dragon Frame software.

For the software, as I spent so much on the hardware, I decided to primarily look at cost-effective options.  I looked at OpenToonz and Blender   I looked at the Adobe Suite but I think we are going to need Photoshop, Aftereffects, and Premiere Pro and Dragonframe. From here I was able to produce a cost breakdown.

In addition to this, I also wanted to do something creative for the group, not just have a technical role, so I designed a website, based on Devon's logo and our aesthetic and business cards. I only did this in Photoshop, I didn't look at Web hosting websites because I thought it would be cheaper to code it myself in a programme such as Dreamweaver.

Studio Brief 2 - Going Live

   


















On the left is my submission for the CDC the theme was caveman. I came up for the idea of a caveboy that needed to kill a chicken in order to become a man.  On the right is my submission for the university t-shirt design competition.  It is a boat sailing on a thumbprint and was inspired by a drawing I did for InkTober.

What went well for the CDC? I really liked how the textured background came out. I think it shows a lot of depth. However, the character itself is too bright and could be desaturated a little. It was suggested to me that he should interact with the background in some way. But as I was running out of tiime I could add this. I also went back to my comfort zone of thick black outlines. I did try to it with a lineless look, however. This was taking too long so I decided just to line it instead.

What went well for the t-shirt design competition?
I thought the idea was quite unique. I remembered to change the settings to be CMYK. As this is the best representation of how it would look printed. Unfotrontaky, I didn't win. However, I did get some useful feedback from Kat she said that u could possibly change the rotation on the boat a little and maybe put some sort of logo or symbol on the past. She also said I should consider how it would look printed black and white or with the blue background taken away.

Employability Fortnight

Week 1

First session
Week one involved working on our presentation skills with the bulb people/company? I think the majority of our class went into the session with notepads with the expectation that we watch someone drone on about employerbility and how we could get a job. It turned out to be the complete oppersit of that. From the moment we sat down we where on our feet. the session was very interactive and it felt as though they had done there resherch on animation.

Social media
The soical media session was a bit of a miss. The guy kept going on abput linked in and only linked in. In addition to this is knowlage seemed very basic. It was basic information that we already knew or could easly find out ourselves. In addition this he clearly handt done his resherch on our animation degree because he asked us if we had exams.

Learning to network
this session was run by the bulb people. It felt very well put together. agin it was very interactive we learnt how to appropriately network and we leart waht to say through exerises and and tutorials. Very little time was spent sitting down, which was a nice change of pace .

Week 2

learning to present
This was a follow up session , putting what we learned in the week proper to practical use. By giving a mpressentation. Me and my team decided to do it on pancakes because it allowed us to do something different which was a nice change of pace from learning about animation all the time.

Self confidence/self motivation
The thids session was good because it helped us evaluate our own lives especially from a professional and personal standpoint. I realised that I really don't give enough time from interested outside of animation/art. Before coming to uni I liked dancing and trampolining,. At the start of the academic year, I went climbing with kat and really enoyed it. I even debated joining the Leeds Becket Climbing Society.. however, as the pace of work ramped up I found myself spending more and more time on animation/art. Because I was spending so much time doing the same thing, I found that I would feel really burnt out and so id just procrastinate and watch netflix for 6+ hours which then gave me anixety and then the anxiety led to depression and then i just wouldn't leave my flat for maybe 1 or 2 weeks.

life after uni
This session got me really thinking about my future and my outlook on life. During the session, we where asked to draw where we thought we'd be a year after graduation. I have a dark sense of humour, so I drew a grave stone. but on a serious note, it did make me think about my anxiety and how it effects my life. we also talked about what opportunity we would have after uni.

I would like a job that doesnt negatively effect my mental helth, which any creative job can do. It is because of this that I think I'd maybe like to go into teaching although i am not sure yet.

Follow up
As a follow up i decided ro book a session with the careers officer at the uni. I wanted to discus  with her the possibility of doing a masters after I graduate. I also want to go travelling and wanted to disscuss my options with regards to that.

I either want to fo a masters in Crative Media Production or PGCE in teaching. I either want to expand my creative skills or go down an avenue that has slightly more stable job prospects.

Study Task 7 - Social Media Pro

https://www.facebook.com/Jenny_Animates
https://twitter.com/Jenny_animates
https://uk.linkedin.com/in/jenny-leece-2a9650174
https://www.youtube.com/user/DragonRidingHood
https://www.instagram.com/jenny_animates/

How I use social media.
Although I primary use Instagram I do have a facebook page set up for me to post my art and animations. However, I don't use it as much as I should. Facebook is a blogging site; it is not possible to share other people's posts, as your own page.  In addition to this, it is also difficult to post on other people's pages as your own page. A separate app or website containing your page with features optimised for the business end of social media would be a more user-friendly alternative.

Instagram is a similar platform, primarily used for sharing ideas and images. One of my goals is to post my animation and my artwork more often - at least twice a month. As it has a wider demographic, I upload my animations onto YouTube, although my channel is not linked to my other accounts. YouTube has a wider global reach as you can share it to Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Overview
The platforms I use the most are LinkedIn and Instagram, as they enable me to post regularly, and they have a very user-friendly format. They also have a more targeted audience, as they are mainly aimed at professionals.

Consider expanding/contracting your focus

I am going to stay with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn. I may replace my YouTube with a Vimeo as this is considered to be a more professional platform. I could also post my small animations to my Vimeo/YouTube account.

In addition to this, I could also post my WIPS (work in progress) to my other social media accounts. I could also engage more with my audience by daily commenting and liking more of their posts.

Plan
I will aim to post on social media every two weeks, specifically on Instagram.  I will also aim to post WIPS once a week. I have also set up a professional Facebook account for my animations specifically and have decided to delete my Jennifer Catherine Art Page, as it was inactive and does not represent my current skills.

I have also created a Gmail for my animations so that people will know how and where to contact me. I have decided to brand myself as Jenny Animates, as this is the most accurate description of what I do, whereas, 'Jennifer Catherine Art' was too general and did not specify the kind of art I made.

Study Task 5 - CopyShop

For this task I will undertake a review of my online presence and in a short blog post, articulate the steps I will or have already taken, to attempt to protect my copyright.

• I will unify my branding by changing all my accounts to have the same or a similar aesthetic.
• I will also sign all of my work that I post online, in such a way that it would be difficult for someone to remove it. 
• I will also include the creative commons ident in my bio. 
• I will add email to my bio so that people can contact me if they want to commission me or if they wish to use an image.
• I will have my username trademarked, to identify it as my brand. 
• I should also produce a Facebook banner that includes a recognizable avatar that I can use on other social media websites that do not yet have the option to include a banner. 
• As most of the social media sites I am on are hosted in America, I will have to adhere to their copyright laws. However, I will also need to ensure that my work is protected in the UK as well.  

examples of unified branding

facebook

Twitter

Instagram 

Study Task 2 - Feature length Films/Short films/TV Shows Watched this Year 2018/19

(When it comes to animated films, I am always overly critical. But I'm critical out of love and passion for the medium. I tried to choose films that I thought pushed the medium to its limits. However, that doesn't mean that they were all-round good films. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses)

Coco

Coco, like every other Pixar film, made me cry uncontrollably. Pixar films are, by design, made to make the viewer cry. The film uses music theory, with 4 generations living in one place, and is set around the Mexican Festival of the Dead. There are strong inter-relational links between the characters both alive and dead. 

At the beginning of the film the grandmother reflects upon her memories, but as she has Alzheimer's her memory is confused. When memories of her farther surface she tries to sing, this scene is out of context as the audience doesn't know why she is singing or what she is trying to remember exatly. At the end of the movie, this scene is repeated but with the character and narrative development that happened during the 2nd act. Now that the audience is given more context, we know what she is trying to remember and that is what makes it so sad. 

Luckily my tinted 3D glasses helped mask my sorrow and despair. Overall I loved the visuals. The colour in this film was amazing. I remember reading that you could actually play the notes Miguel played on his guitar. The animation was that accurate. The story its self felt rather generic  (copying of the Book of Life) and the characters seemed very one dimensional  


Mary and the Witch's Flower

I went into watching this movie with high expectations as the director is from Studio Ghibli.  It was

good animation wise, but the script lets it down, and some elements of the film did not flow or were not easily understood. The pacing seemed to be paced for a Western market, not the action - break - action - break sequence of a typical Japanese anime.

If the script was improved it would have been an incredible movie. Too many questions remained unanswered, especially in relation to the two main characters, and lack of character development. There may have been issues in translation as I did not see it in the original Japanese. Lip syncing issues were obvious, so the mouth and lips were moving, but the mouth shapes would not match. It nodded to previous Ghibli movies such as a fire demon character called Calsifer from Howl's Moving Castle, and the similarities of the cat character of Gi Gi from Kiki's Delivery Service.


The Maker 
I liked this film as it looped in an unexpected way. For the stop motion, it was incredibly smooth.


Which goes a long way to break the uncanny valley phenomenon. Sometimes when the animation is not 12 or 24ps which is the industry standard, the animation can look choppy and thus can fall into the uncanny valley.

It also says a lot about how far top motion animation has come since the Chicken Run days. I remember watching it as a kid and having nightmares that I was going to get turned into clay. The puppetry and set design are exquisite with everything being hand made from scratch with intricate detail in every nook and cranny nothing is left to the imagination. For example, there where 3 different faces made one for sad one for neutral and one for happy.

Due to the way the face is shaped it is a very subtle difference. This helps to make it feel very immersive almost as though you could imagine yourself in his shoes. The animation itself is fairly stylized. In particular, the scene when he is stuffing his friend needs to be stylized. If it was realistic than it would be too graphic for children. The style fits the stop motion because of how whimsical it is. 




My Little Witch Academia
if Harry Potter was a Japanese Anime about a girl's boarding school, then this is what it would look

like. It gets super weird, even for an anime.  At one point, there's a fire breathing chicken.  The World Building is comparable to the Harry Potter universe too. It isn't really great - the continuity is messed up. For example, in Harry Potter, how are they supposed to get from Platform nine and three quarters to Hogwarts and back, if there's only one train that only goes one way.  Certain elements have only introduced halfway through the series.

A comparison to this would be in Little Witch Academia, where it is established that they need the philosopher's stone to allow their magic to work within their school. So, they can't fly outside of school, yet, you see them flying outside of the school all the time. 

Study Task 2 - Collect, Organise and Research

Animators or other specialists who work within the animation industry

Visual Development Artists 

• Vaughan Ling http://www.heavypoly.com/
• Yuhki Demers http://www.yuhkidemers.com/
• Chin Ko  https://www.shannonassociates.com/chinko

Character designers

• Bill Schwab  http://billschwabdesign.blogspot.com/
• Buck Lewis  https://www.bucklewisanimation.com/
• Peter DeSève  http://www.peterdeseve.com/anigallery.php

Animators

• Seth Hippen  http://flippinhippenstudios.blogspot.com/
• Jesse Erickson https://www.linkedin.com/in/popsopdop
• Nancy Kato  http://mfaca.tumblr.com/

storyboard artists

• Alessandra Sorrentino http://www.alessandrasorrentino.com/
• ALESSANDRA SORRENTINO  http://www.alessandrasorrentino.com
  
• Ronnie Del Carmen http://ronniedelcarmen.blogspot.com/

I personally stalk/follow these wonderful people who all work in the industry. as background artists, something that I want to go into

Chris worked on Tangled the series along with lulu Sketches (ill talk more about her in a minute) I started following him last year, I love how much detail he puts into every aspect of his animation.
https://christsirgiotis.tumblr.com/

Matt Williams, I love his aesthetic and how he composes his backgrounds. He also does character designs and illustrations.
https://www.etch-n-sketch.co.uk/animation

Lu Lu Sketches is a background artist on Tangled the tv series. She is a wonderful human. I watch all of her YouTube videos and I have actually spoken to her (online) She has given me some great advice about getting into the industry. (and her French Bulldog is adorable)
http://lulusketches.tumblr.com/

https://www.instagram.com/lulusketches/?hl=en
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS3ZMbzTOXdDuJlhAZuXgaw/videos

Paint With Nick, I've been following him for about 3 or 4 years now. He commented on of my Instagram posts saying "great work" at the time it was a big boost of confidence that some at Disney commented on my stuff. Since then I've been stalking him. He's super nice. He's a visual development artist at Disney but also does backgrounds.
https://www.instagram.com/paintwithnick/?hl=en

I would like to work at any of these studios. either as a visual development artist, background designer or general 2D animator

Cartoon Saloon http://www.cartoonsaloon.ie/
cartoon Saloon is the ultimate goal for me. It has produced some of my favourite animations ever. Everything that comes out of that studio is sooo goood. I think to join such an artistic and demanding creative team will really push me to my limits and help me to improve exponentially.

Kilogramme http://www.kilogramme.co.uk/
Kilogramme is a Manchester based studio which is good because I would be able to commute there from Liverpool if I were to move back home. They also seem to take on quite a few people from Leeds Arts.

Flipbook https://flipbookstudio.co.uk/
Another Manchester based collective. They don just do animation as there website states they are a "collective of directors, producers, designers, writers and artists who specialise in storytelling through the medium of animation and visual effects" If I was to apply here I could put my photography and camera skills to good use. I could blend animation and live action together and really have fun experimenting in different mediums. 

Fettle http://fettleanimation.com/
They produce really cute, almost cutout style animation that looks really cool. It would be a good foot in the door. It's not too far from Leeds it in Huddersfield.

Sun and Moon http://sunandmoonstudios.co.uk/
Sun and Moon work mostly on applied animation. They make adverts for big companies. They also specialise in tradigital character animation. On the map, there based in Bristol.  So I'd have to move closer to them if I wanted to apply to work there.

Other Studios I could possibly apply to 
Brown Bag https://www.brownbagfilms.com/
Arcus Animation Studioshttp://arcusstudios.co.uk/