Animation Futures: Making Basic Goals.
The end of 2020 is soon arriving and with a new year comes time for contemplation.
Back in September, I started my third and final year at University - technically my fourth, but that's a long story.
I found I had quite a peculiar module called “Animation & Stop Motion Futures and Destinations.” It wasn't a practical production module, or a typical theory-based written one. It was a module about introspection and planning for my future career.
The main task of which... was a blog.
When I was told to start blogging for the module I thought to my work on todolaMEDIA. I've long held the desire to engage with my own blog and for that reason, an early task jumped out at me:
A blog post about our goals.
Having Goals
My goals here will be broken down into three main types (along with a fourth that I’ll discuss another time). I also like to start my mornings by setting out a fifth type of goal. These are my daily goals. They can be a little too personal though, so I’ll avoid telling you about how I still need to get the dishes done for now.
(Which is something that may or may not have actually be on my list this morning!)
These three categories of goals are:
Short-Term Goals, a goal that I can complete within the next month.
Mid-Term Goals, a goal that I can complete within the next six months.
Long-Term Goals, a goal that I can complete within the next two years.
Since this list was also written back in October, I’ll also discuss how I’ve gotten on with my short-term goals. Particularly the things that I’ve learnt from them.
Short-Term Goals
Complete the pre-production work on my next short film. (Guess this is a soft announcement.)
Catch back up with the graduates and my old friends and peers.
Start a regular blog on my website. (Oh hey you’re reading that!)
Hand in my work on time!
Mid-Term Goals
Complete my short film. (Damn this really is an announcement.)
Complete my first proper CelAction rig.
Discover my own personal brand.
Get into a film festival again.
Long-Term Goals
Be allowed to help with Christmas dinner.
Break-even on a film.
Receive a lovely email.
Get a job in animation.
Reviewing my Goals
So how exactly have I done on those short-term goals?
Completing the pre-production work on my next short film. Pre-production on my film is going well. Without divulging too much before it’s official announcement.
(*COUGH.*) Stay tuned for a blog post early next year! (*COUGH.*)
It may not be the most typical pre-production list, but I’m more than happy with what I’ve accomplished thus far. I hope that people will enjoy it when the time finally comes to unveil it before the world.
Catching back up with the graduates, old friends and old peers. For those unaware of my journey, I have attended two different universities. I transferred from the first to the second in 2019, and as such had to say "goodbye" to many close friends of mine. There’s great importance in maintaining healthy relationships, both personally and professionally; expect a blog post on that in the near future as well!
Start a regular blog on my website. As I announced yesterday, and as I’m starting today "cadaDOSsemanas", or my biweekly blog is now a thing. Every other Monday I’ll be posting a new blog update about whatever tickles my fancy. Be it introspective, analytical, or maybe a behind-the-scenes look at one of my projects.
Hand in my work on time. Well, if next fortnight’s blog is still about my sketchbook project then you’ll know all will have gone well! Speaking of which... my sketchbook project is getting a renaissance in my next blog, so more on that on the 28th!
(more sketchbook coming soon)
Overall with two out of the four currently completed, and with the other two on schedule, I’m feeling fairly confident.
These weren’t my only goals though. While much less work has been put into my mid and long-term goals as of this moment, there’s sure to be some updates on the progress made in blog posts. However that will be a story for another week.
Until then though I’d like to leave the professional tone and tightly proofread and revised script behind for a moment to touch on something of importance to me that writing about my goals and managing to work so hard towards accomplishing them has made me realise. I love animation, and I hope that anyone really this blog does too.
todolaMEDIA is about creating free, independent films so along with every ‘cadaDOSsemanas’ update I’d like to also spend some time sharing the things I love from a community that I cherish in the form of a short piece of media that you can watch online, for free.
And so…
THE BIWEEKLY RECOMMENDATION
This week I’d really like to recommend you all watch a short film directed by two of my former classmates and now alumni. I had the pleasure of watching this film at it’s world premiere in a small room, on a simple computer monitor and at a wonderful end-of-year event.
FLIGHT by Akash Jeyaantony and Warren Ashley Chare.
I remember first seeing Flight being worked on by Akash whilst I was busy working away on another computer in the same studio room. He was painting these gorgeous red backgrounds in Photoshop and I was so memorised by his skill that I took a short break from working just to watch. Both he and Warren managed to produce a fantastic piece of art that communicates such strong emotion and creates such a unique world without even a single spoken word.
I hope I’ll get to see more from them both some day.
Reece Morgado, todolaMEDIA