The simulated work experience did not go especially smoothly for me at first, but I did manage to produce some work for a second-year student in the end. The student I was paired with initially, Alex, did not really have anything for me to do since he was still in very early stages of production. I sent an email to another student, Isabella, who had not been paired with a first-year student, but I did not hear back from her. The third student I got in touch with, Sophya, was able to provide me with a task that would help her with an issue she had with her final film.
I was asked to reimagine the ending of her film and create a storyboard or animatic of what it might look like. She told me that, whilst there was certainly a strong response to the ending, it was not especially positive. She was happy with the framing of the ending and the initial setup, but her original version concluded with her main character being shot in the head. We agreed that a more positive outcome would be better received and discussed some options for what could happen instead. We decided it would be better to end on a more upbeat note, whilst still maintaining the dark comedy element. It is fortunate that we shared a similar sense of humour, and I was very comfortable suggesting how the ending could be altered.
I came up with two alternative endings and created 20 second animatics for each option and sent them to Sophya, with a third currently in progress. The first option was as close to what Sophya had suggested as possible, and the second ended on a slight twist that I thought might add some additional depth and texture to the film. I was expecting to be working on in-betweens, but this was a nice task to work on and was probably closer to a storyboard artist role. Working with Sophya on story elements felt a bit more involved than just being delegated between frames or clean-up work which I was grateful for, although I feel like I could have done more. Sophya was impressed by how quickly I did what was asked of me and said she liked what I had made. Sophya’s communication was very clear and direct, and she seemed genuinely pleased to work with me. Hopefully she offers me clean-up or in between work when she is further along in her production as I like her concept and would be glad to help it come to fruition.
I think the lesson to be learned from the simulated work experience is the importance of communication. I should have gotten the situation sorted sooner, but you can never tell how long it will take people to respond to emails, if at all. I found the session we had on framing useful during this project, and I enjoyed finding interesting angles and shapes to use to convey the feeling of each shot. Overall, I enjoyed this experience and liked working with Sophya. It is always interesting to collaborate with other students and see the stories they like to tell and how they like to depict those stories.