Identifying my Professional Practice
I am at my happiest when I am making things with my hands and using analogue techniques. The Stop Motion world is a place where so many different skills come together, such as; puppet making, set design, furniture maker, costume designer as well as animation. This appeals to me because I have been trying to find the one thing I love, but actually I am discovering that everything I enjoy and have done in the past can play a roll in my Stop Motion journey. In this unit I have enjoyed learning new skills such as making foam latex hands and finding out what sticks to a potato (not much)!
I really enjoy working as part of a team and being able to bounce ideas off others. A slower and smaller workplace environment might benefit me more as I start out, and help me to gain confidence and self belief. I need to work on my nerves and stress levels; I tend to shy away from doing individual work, overthink everything and often have imposter syndrome. I hope I can take the lessons I have learnt from this project into my graduation film and learn to trust my gut more.
Companies I am interested in:
- Second Home Studios in Birmingham
- Aardman in Bristol
- BlinkInk in London
- Scale Model Studio in London
- Arch Model Studio in London
- Loose Moose in London
- A+C in Margate
- MockDuck in Folkestone
- Beast Animation in Belgium
- Dwarf Studio in Japan
- House Special in Portland
My next steps are to research these companies further and try to reach out to them via email and social media. I would be very open to working abroad, it would be a fantastic opportunity to learn new skills.
I came across a small independent magazine called the Stop Motion magazine’ and whilst they don’t publish much anymore, they have a great backlist of resources and advice.
I would like to work on all sorts of different projects including, commercial briefs, feature films, short films, TV series and music videos. I have experience with advertising so I think I could bring useful knowledge and insight working alongside advertising and creative agencies. I have a lot of stories and characters that I would love to bring to life and being an independent film maker and artist does appeal to me. However, it can be quite an unstable job. I hope that this next unit will help me discover what I am most passionate about. I want to bring a bit of joy into people’s lives and show that even if you have massive self doubt and worries you can still do it.