The opportunity to showcase your work to supportive peers is always a rewarding experience, and that's exactly what took place at the Animation Jam in our Animation-3D program.
"Animation jams involve teams of animators working to complete short films in a limited amount of time," Dalibor Dejanović, Program Coordinator in the program, shares. This year's theme was "this is us," and the goal was for students to explore what animation means to them from their perspective.
Students were divided into groups to work on their animations, and the outcome was nothing short of amazing. "Each team worked collaboratively to come up with an original idea for a story, which they then brought to life with animation. Besides being involved with group decisions, each student had their own production role that they contributed with. Each team was basically a mini animation studio," Dalibor explains.
He adds, “I was present each day to talk and help out the students. We would gather around 10 a.m. and stay late into the evenings working together. Everyone had a great time creating and hanging out together. We got to know each other a bit more and certainly made memories. Not to say that it was all just easy. There were a lot of moments that required solid teamwork and making important decisions fast. Bringing [together] a final film in such a short time always requires a lot of on-the-fly editing of ideas and constant scheduling of the tasks. Those experiences can teach students a lot about real-world productions where teamwork and managing time is essential.”
Hear From Some Animation Jam Attendees
Irina Shikhovtsova, a student who participated, shares, "I absolutely loved the Animation Jam experience and gained the key skills of effective teamwork and meeting tight deadlines. We were able to bring our idea to life thanks to the knowledge we acquired in our program."
She explains how the first day of the Animation Jam was filled with so much creativity and collaboration. She adds, "We had a detailed discussion of the idea, created storyboards, determined timing, colour key, and unified character visuals to ensure a cohesive animation." For day two, her team worked on developing 2D and 3D animations, and by day three, they completed all of the animations. "We also created a beautiful cover and credits, adjusted the camera for the 3D animation, and carefully selected the perfect musical accompaniment. Finally, we executed the video editing and compiled everything into one stunning animation," she explains.
Stavros Lykargyris, who also participated in the Animation Jam, expresses similar thoughts. “I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. It was really nice working on one project with such great people. I would say it was very helpful and it was really good practice for working in a team with one common goal. Undoubtedly, what I learned in the program so far helped me a lot in being able to do my part to execute my duties for the animation jam.”
Based on the theme, Stavros says his team wanted to tell a story of their journey throughout the program thus far and revisit characters and assets that they used for different assignments over the year. “We wanted it to be an homage as well as a walk down memory lane to remind everyone of how far we have come.” He adds, “It was really cool and fun to see everyone's hard work pay off. The thing is, good animation takes time to make, but we were very happy with what we were able to achieve with the short amount of time we had.”
Before entering the program, Stavros did not have experience in animation or working with 3D software. “My background mostly consisted of drawing and painting. With that said, I have picked up a lot in my short time here, and it has been really hard, but I do enjoy what I'm learning, and it has been very rewarding. The program has a lot of cool people, from teachers to students, and I would say it has been a really great experience.”
The Animation Jam showcased the incredible talent of students in this program, and we're excited to see what they create in the future!
Article by: Alexandra Few
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