After being given the brief for our Professional Practise unit, I went away and thought about it for a short time before going back to analyse the brief. I think it's a great unit, as it'll give me the opportunity to try out new things (like 3D modelling a revolver) and also allow me to use some of my old skills in a different way (creating a poster in Photoshop).
This unit is titled: "The Tower that Never Was..." as is based around Stephen King's 'Dark Tower Series,' which has had numerous film adaptions, and a large fanbase. In the unit, it is my job to find and research who I would employ to create a movie based on the Dark Tower, as well as discuss my options within the Creative Industry. Many other project over this year will be following along with this idea as well, so that we can get a feel for what having a continuous project in a team would feel like.
This unit is made up of four tasks, which we will be marked on when the unit ends. These units are all closely linked, so they should be easy to complete one after the other.
Task 1 - Written Task
This task is in the form of an essay, which I'll have no problem writing. I don't yet have the mark scheme for this, but the instructions are very clear. I need to write about vintage ways of animating, and compare and discuss how they've evolved into modern forms of animation/VFX (and how the understanding for VFX and technology has grown). From this, I can link to the people I would put of the billing block for the movie, and why. I should also discuss the type of career I would go into in this field, which means my choices for the billing block should relate to what I want to do.
Although this unit is mainly VFX based, there's a lot of overlap in the industry. Since I'm interested in concept and game art, this can be translated over as a concept artist for VFX. Overall, I'm not too worried about this task, as I've written essays before, and I know how to use Harvard referencing.
Task 2 - Movie Poster
This task heavily links into the first, as I need to have a billing block for the movie on there. This means I can start thinking about this while also writing an essay. Creating a movie poster isn't the main part of this unit, however, and I won't be assessed heavily on it, so I don't need to spend too much time on it. However, there are certain things that need to be on the poster as requirements. There needs to be a protagonist based on me, an ally of some sort, an antagonist of any form, and a tower.
So long as I follow this, have the poster the right size, and have an interesting billing block, this task shall be easy to get right.
Task 3 - The Process and Progress
This task isn't one that can be completed, it's an ongoing log of my progress in the form of this blog. To do well on this task, I must keep up to date on my blog, and update with everything new that I do in regards to this project. So long as I regularly keep up to date here, I should have no problems with this. I plan to blog at least once a week for this unit, where it be actual progress with the poster, or just research into various different VFX artists.
Whatever progress is made, it will be posted up here in the Professional Practise section so that they can all be viewed easily.
Task 4 - Presentation
This is essentially a review of the project, where I will put all my findings into some sort of slideshow and present to either the rest of the class, or a few tutors. This task has to be done last, as the essay and poster need to be complete, as well as having research on the blog.
Since this is just a presentation of everything on my blog, it isn't hard to prepare of if I have a regular flow of blogs on there to present.
Overall, I'm happy with this unit. It holds just enough challenge to be interesting, while also having enough freedom to allow me to explore the VFX Industry. Although I'm more focused on the Games Industry, it would be wrong of me to ignore another growing industry that I could hone my skills towards.
The poster part of the brief also gives me a chance to use Photoshop in a way I haven't before, as whenever I use Photoshop normally, I use brushes and draw. However, this time I'll be using it to photo-bash, adjust contrasts of different images, and even match images together to make them fit.
All in all, I'm very excited to have a unit like this as not only the first unit, but also as a reoccurring idea throughout the rest of the year.
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