2 Weeks Until Rendered Environment...

And I'm pretty confident for The LT Team.

The Last Trophy on Friday came into their last day of Character Modelling and thus starts the Texturing and Modelling of Environments yet again. Also tweaking of the Block through to continue and to hopefully be some what 'Finalized' by the 10th. (As we know tweaking will go on throughout, BUT we hope to get this out of the way by the 10th) Also Rigging is to start and to at least have a Basic Rig for our Human Characters and of course Bap.

The one thing I am concerned about is the Dissertation and the Rigging/Animating going through Christmas, I think this is somewhere I am going to end up losing time and end up using the Contingency time I set in place. I wish to a point that I had gotten the rigging and character modelling out of the way earlier, but these things couldn't have gone any quicker and I'm pleased with the results the team has achieved.

Here's a List Collated by Roy on what we all have to get done by the End of this University Term, we will of course continue to work into the Christmas break and New year, but this is our little deadline for ourselves.

CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY DEADLINE (December 10th)

Tom

Collate final work for design bible.

Talk to Rich about Music.

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Simon

Colour storyboard.

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Roy, Emma & Oddne

Finish refined block through.

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Matt L & Simon

Final render of blimp interior.

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Matt B

Skeleton, Orient joints and IK Spline (including tail) for Bap.

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Each person has decided for themselves what they believe is achievable in that time, thus we all agree to get these things done. I am going to start doing Dailies again by request from a few members of the team. Which I'm really happy about to be honest, before I just felt I was wasting my time at points with attitudes from different ends of the spectrum.

In Other News....

Sarah's Team are now underway with testing the Eye movement, after a long chat with Sarah (and the refusal of a fiver on the 41 from town) we have both managed to come to terms with the fact that 1. She's going to have to make compromise on certain things, and trust her team members with her baby. and 2. I'm going to have to learn new ways to approach members of teams differently. Should be good fun none the less.

The Musician

Yesterday, I had a somewhat 'eventful' Day, and as a result, I've began producing Sarah Crombie's Stop Motion group.

Consisting of:

Sarah Crombie

Orla McElroy

Jessica Bane

I'm glad I'm getting the chance to work with Sarah again, as she's a member of the Animation group I really admire, Her art and Dedication to the Idea. She's got a brilliant eye, and I love the darker side to her story. Orla & Jess are both people I haven't had the chance to work with but really look forward to it as they are both talented in their own respective fields. I hope that by setting small deadlines and getting things on the production line that Sarah can finally reap the rewards she deserves seeing all the hard work that herself and her group have put in come to fruition. Currently the group are working on getting test animation and shots done, getting the script and thumbnails finished this week and then next week Sarah and Orla are going to start on their Character Designs and Environments, focussing mainly on Environments to help Kat to finish of their storyboard.

Producing - The Ins and out of a Social art

So as I plan to jump into my Dissertation books once again, I just wanted to post up a few bits and pieces about what I've been doing, the things I've learnt so far through my development in the third year, and what I believe it takes to be a professional in my chosen area with the experience I have had with being 3 weeks away from the end of our first term.

Producing is not something to be over looked, not at all. I know that the organisation the Bap group has had and the reason we're so far ahead is due to not only a great and hard working team, but due to the leadership and organisation behind it. My team haven't had to go anything alone, I've handled all the social situations, getting Foley Artists & Musicians on board, Scripting, Making sure the factory line works and approaching people when it isn't. Working GANTT charts, ensuring lists and things are done, making sure communication is had between the director and everyone involved, inclusive of people he is less familliar with outside of the course. Also helping my team to network and meet the people I've had the chance to get in contact with. I've put time and my own money into this, be it a little of my own money. I took an objective view on the whole project, taking myself out of the arts side of it (apart from writing, but that was scrutinized by the team that had come up with the idea, and I play a minor part in the ideas process only throwing my ideas in when completely necessary Ok,.... whenever Simon goes flying overboard!) We're currently looking into trying to get some rigging software to speed up that process. I have a meeting with Sophie (Our Foley Artist) tomorrow, and obviously my Dissertation meeting with Ann, in a few weeks time I intend to start communication with the Eden project in an attempt to get a bit of endorsement and help with work on our sound.

As a Producer I believe it is good practice also to know your Team, know the process and know what you are capable of in the time you have. I'm still backing my teams progress and believe we will have a fantastic piece by the end of it. Be it with Generic storyline or not. I think even if you're not a producer and you are leading your team, and again, trying to get something done to a good degree of detail. Know your process. Or atleast ask someone who knows more than you, That's what I did when sorting out our year plan, I asked my Modellers how long they believed it would take, then I gave extra time for things that I myself may have forgotten, IE. UV Unwapping within the modelling, giving time for rigging, lighting, there are a lot of things to consider. Being less Familiar with the 2D process, I also paid a lot of attention to the timings that Alex Joliffe believed he would need on his, then also knowing Alex himself, I could work his timetable and give contingency where I thought it would be needed.

I'm also looking forward to having a bit of Friendly Competition now that Jessica Hudson and Orla McElroy are taking on Roles of Producers on certain projects. Also I would love to see Laurence Nairne get onto a project or two producing, as I believe he has an amazing amount of potential as a producer. I'm hoping with them taking up these roles it will make me see where I have missed out bits and pieces. And help me to further my development as a producer.

Professional Development.

I'm really Looking forward to this part of the course, as I have already started applying for Jobs and failing, (which sounds bad, but I'm happy cause I already have my Job seeking hat on, and I'm confident I can do the jobs that I set about to do) Especially after having spoken to Georg in depth about what I'd like to get out of it. I requested a Games Specific Producer, so hopefully there may be contacts to tap there to help me out into my future career, I've also started looking into getting my business cards produced. But first I need a working design.

Just to Add!

Been really Impressed with Roy Nottage recently, as he has been working on the Block through for our group, he's really taking hold of it, and I think he'd make an awesome Animation Director. I really like Roy's attitude and work Ethic. I think we're all seeing it, especially Matt Luxton who also commented on the same thing.

Week 7 of 31

Check Here for Blow by Blow of Studio Happenings

"The Last Trophy" Aka BAP! (to me at least) is well under way, Just had our tutorial with Andy & Georg, Georg has requested that we have finished shots before Christmas and with this challenge presented, I really want to have it done. Also to get our Aesthetic down. As a Producer for this group I think I'm doing really well, although after a conversation with Matt Luxton + Simon Acty last night, I'm going to have to switch off being a friend in the studio, I have to treat it completely professionally even if members of teams are not going to. I know I don't have the power to fire anyone, but I want to take this as far as I can, As I have already began sending my CV/Resume off for jobs. I feel it's worth treating my peers as professionals, and hopefully they will do the same in return. I'm really looking forward to putting the credits on this project and seeing what I've pulled together, even now I'm impressed with how much I've done, but I can't lose the fire now, Just got to keep pushing on. 2 more weeks of Character Modeling, May cut that down to make way for environment modeling, I believe Matt & Matt. B can get the work done in time.

Working on Alex Joliffe's project should start today, at 2.00pm I am to attend a production meeting with him, Andy and Georg, This unfortunately has felt like less of an importance to me as I have been trying to put together the large monstrous Bap group. But now with a Strong team working on that one, Alex needs to start playing his way. I know he likes to work from home, but as a producer, I'm can't sit in his room and tell him how to work. We did arrange to meet every two days to discuss what he had been doing, but that didn't go ahead, and in his defence I didn't really push too hard in those first 5 weeks. Last week he took time out after the pitch by his own means, which to me is fair enough, my time table for Alex is now out of the window and hasn't really worked out. If Bap is hard because it's such a big group, then Alex's is just the opposite, because he is alone in his work so far, it's hard to produce just one person. Especially someone who prefers to work from home, I think I need to find a mid ground with Alex on production meetings & allowing Alex to work at home, but when he has a team he needs to come in and give his team work as a Director. Hopefully today we will come to a good arrangement.

Professional Practice.

I have began looking into Business Cards & Bits and pieces like that as myself, Ollie Skillman-Wilson and Hughey Hubert are considering going to GDC in February out in San Francisco. GDC is the games developers conference and if we get the chance to work out there then we get free access to the whole event. We're looking into what funding might be available at the moment and seeing if we can get any help from the careers office to help us go and put our names out there.

It's pretty exciting and the idea of being in the industry in about 6 months makes my stomach turn, here's hoping at least!

Blizzard - Associate Producer Job

So yesterday I ran into Uni like a giddy school girl.... Ok I lie,... I kind of walked at the same pace as usual. Showed Georg a Job position on Blizzard's Career website. The perfect Job. Associate Producer, This is something I know I will work my life toward, well hopefully as a fully fledged Producer or Game Designer, I would love to work for Blizzard, it's like my Dream Job. So I applied. I just went for it. I'm confident in my ability, but my Age and experience doesn't bode well for me. But I know I could do this job just as well as anyone else. Sounds big headed, But I've worked so hard to get to where I am now. I've learnt so much, and owe a lot to Andy Wyatt, the Producer workshops with Helen, Georg for giving me the guts to go ahead and just try for it.

I'm really excited to see the results of it all, I may not ever get a reply. But hell. Even an interview would make me the happiest guy ever. I'm going to haunt the Careers website from now on in. I'm so stoked to be applying for Jobs already.

Wish me Luck.

First Steps

This morning I sent my letter to Peter Molyneux of Lionhead studios In a hope to set up my own shadowing of a producer in the games industry as this is where I would really like to end up. Lionhead played a massive part in why I wanted to get into the gaming industry when I chose to leave behind sound engineering 3 years ago. Now I feel I'm a lot more mature and a hell of a lot more prepared. I'm kind of confident. But at the same time, I still got nervous even sealing the letter. It felt like sealing my fate. I've also been looking into sending letters to bigger company's like Blizzard, EA Mythic / Bioware and other companies that influenced my choice. I also need a new subscription to EDGE magazine,.... please?