YESTERDAYS SEMINAR //

In yesterdays seminar we were asked to come up with 5 questions we would ask anyone about their development in whatever their subject area. A few of our groups questions didn't make sense as we were aiming them at people in our subject. So we ended up with 4 decent ones, that we then had to ask other people to find out about their development, whilst also answering their questions. My 4 questions were:

1. Since starting (University), how do you think you have improved?

2. What is your most effective research method?

3. How have your thoughts changed about the course since starting (University)?

4. What background did you come from and how would you compare it to now?

I know they aren't the best questions in the world, but I was quite interested in what I found out from the people I had asked them to. Like what kind of creative backgrounds they had come from and what their inspirations were.

But I also realised something about my own inspirations from their questions. When I was growing up I was obsessed with Disney and Pixar films; Pinocchio, Lion King, Toy Story etc. I always thought it was the animation that inspired and amazed me most, and I've always had this urge and passion to become an animator. But what I realised, is that the story behind these animated films is what amazed me most. The animation is still amazing, but the ideas behind these films are absolutely brilliant, the effort put into the script is phenomenal, they put years of work into the story which is what makes these films so good, and they are appealing to a wide range of people across all ages.

This then made me think more about the pathway I wanted to go down, because I have been debating between 'Moving Image' and 'Virtual Environments' for a few months now, but was more in favour of Virtual Environments as this included animation. But now I'm completely stumped as I have realised I love film as much as I love animation, with such inspiring directors as: Guy Ritchie, Spike Jonez, Michel Gondry, Martin Scorsese, Tim Burton, John Lassater, James Cameron, and the list goes on. These are all storytellers as well as film makers, capturing their unique interpretations of stories, written by them or not.

When we were set the Moving Image brief of creating a film from a script that was wrote for us, I enjoyed visualing the scenes and sketching out how I saw them in my head. For that project I was the sound-man so I didn't really have any creative control over the shots, but if I would have, the film we made wouldn't look anything like what it does now. I'm not saying it isn't good the way it is, it's just that my interpretation was a lot different. This project had inspired me to want to create my own film, and had pushed me towards the Moving Image pathway, and from this have decided that I will chose Moving Image but also attend the Virtual Environments lectures and seminars as this is still a huge interest to me as I grew up aspiring to do this.

Also I have decided that my visual essay will be based on my journey so far, and will be about my decision between Moving Image and Virtual Environments.