Introduction (Week 0)

My module introduction was within the first week I had attended university and it was a time for us as new undergraduates of Ulster University to really get an idea of our class dynamics and what each year within our animation degree would include. We had partaken in a number of on campus activities such as tours of the main campus, the library and the surrounding area and locations that would be beneficial for us as new students. Within the university we also got a tour of all the shops and cafes available to us, such as the ‘UNIQUE’, store which is a on campus run art shop were we can sell our art as past and present students of Ulster University and make a name for our art and passion. I thought the store ‘UNIQUE’ was a really ingenious and helpful thing for the students of Ulster as it is a safe environment for our work to be presented and purchased and helps encourage us for the future with presenting our own work and possible business.

Within the university alongside the more academic side of university life, we had got a lecture introduction with a head teacher and with the onsite groups such as the students union, this introduction really helped us settle into the university and had provided us with information on where we can turn to for help and encouragement during our time at Ulster. Another lecture we got was a introduction into the liabry which was really insightful and helpful and will be beneficial for the amount of research we will need for our animation course, the amount of different forums such as books, videos and even online resources are more than enough choice and will be easy accessible as it is 24/7.

When it was time to be introduced within our class and begin our an animation course I was nervous, yet excited as a course focused on animation was what I had been looking forward to when applying for university. In order to help us get introduced to the types of tasks which we would doing, we were first split into groups made up of two first year students and two higher animation students. This was an exciting task as it introduced us to each other and also gave us the opportunity to ask any questions we may have had about the upcoming years. Everyone was really nice within the group and the task was to create a animated banner for the Ulster University facebook page. It was interesting to brainstorm and to see how just like in the antimation industry, we will be situated within groups and will have to discuss and learn from others, combining ideas and presenting our work confidently. The presentation went well and I believe me, Tony, Kerrie and Lauren worked well as a team.

Whenever we were first within our groups for designing a Ulster University banner, we had all agreed on parts of the banner which we would be more comfortable to create and although as it was my first task, I was ready to take on characters or even background design. I was best suited to the creative text part as I hadn’t many tools with me such as a high quality drawing tablet or colouring pencils as I had travelled up from Derry, however was still able to include some creative and varied designs. At first I created an idea of having the main ‘U’ in Ulster become a lecture character and have items such as a tie and hair to represent the twirl of the ‘U’. I had an idea of the character being the first thing to introduce you the website page and to have a quite cartoony and bright exterior. This idea however was more detailed than what we had originally discussed and I decided to change it to a more simplistic design in favour of the up in the sky theme we were presenting.

My second idea was to have some loose clouds in the background of the banner and then closer to the surface have some letters in the airy style of the clouds and for it to spell out ‘Ulster University’. I thought this idea was fitting the the angelic scenery of clouds up in the sky and was detailed, however simplistic enough not to the clutter the page. After fitting it with the banner and trying to view it as a collective piece, my final idea which I had chosen was favoured amongst the group and was fitting to the animated film ‘Up’ by Pete Doctor, a reference which inspired us.

My final idea was to have the letters of ‘Ulster University’ as flyaway party balloons that have escaped to the sky and which came together the spell out the websites name abbreviated as ‘UUA’ (Ulster University Animation). I designed the balloons medium in size with a shiny detail and primary colours, as colours such as pink, orange and yellow were bright and eye catching for the banner. The colours created a unity within the banner as the colour orange represented the soaring bird, the yellow represented the yellow balloon holding up the ‘U’ and the pink represented the characters hair and was overall a great colour coordination within the banner.

This was the final design of the ‘Ulster University’ facebook banner and was also a continuous animated ‘gif’, the animated part of this banner was that the balloons were grouped together off screen from the bottom right and as the time went on the balloons raised and bounced about, before floating up and disappearing. This project was really enjoyable and showed me just what can be created if you work well together and as a team.

I think as undergraduate students, doing a project and within a group for the first time. We had done a really a great job at representing what each of us excel at within our own art and how the different styles and creative processes can make for a interesting and fun design that works well for the task and shows a group who worked well together.

Once we were introduced into our own animation class and had met all of our lectures and accompanying staff. Alec had then situated us into another group of four, although this time it was all first years and was to create a world of our own. This would later create ‘Snail World’ and begin our first animation semester project.