PPP2: Interdisciplinary Simulation

One of the more visceral slides from the speech

Although yesterday's session seemed quite unnecessary and bothersome at first, it proved to be quite an experience that enveloped the manner in which interdisciplinary creative practitioners work together towards a synthesized goal. In other words, the session gave me a taste of how the industry functions as well as introducing the solidarity within the atmosphere of professional, interdisciplinary studios. Structured in a well progressing way, first we wrote down (in quite a self-evaluative manner, I might add) our creative skills and experiences, as well as our interests in hopes of encompassing and solidifying what we felt comfortable in knowing. Then, we paired up and brainstormed ideas with our assigned partner on a pitch for a product and then proceeded to compete with the rest on which product and pitch would be the most efficient one to candidate against 3 others (comprised of the best idea on the table and all the creative practitioners on it). By forming a presentation about our product, we competed for the best idea that was going to go against 2 other groups of illustrators, graphic designers, and fellow animators alike in a commercial pitch. This was where the simulation of the industry's busy working day within a studio began, where we pragmatically divided ourselves into sections of craft, me doing the After Effects layout and vignette, another group doing the voices of the commercial, yet another animating annotations, and yet another creating logos and images. However, it was all brought down by a leader from the group that won the main pitch, which was something I found extremely effective and NOT patronizing or demeaning in any way. Quite on the contrary, this gave me effective insight on the necessity of a leader (not a boss, mind you) within a project, one that pertains the idea and disseminates it to the rest of the creatives in a intertwining spectacle of mixing individual skills and strong points for one unanimous resolution. With the division of the huge group, we were able to coherently produce a 30 second commercial for Dog Latex (the outcome being hilarious and lampooning, but the practice effervescent and articulate), which won at the end of the day when all 3 groups presented their products through different manners of pitching. I was amazed to see a full studio with busy heads, all working on separate minor tasks that formed the main effigy of our practice - some getting footage of dogs, others animating dogs, where I composited it all together as the final piece. Just as one of the tutors pointed this out during the concluding talk, at time of rush "you find out skills you didn't know you had", as did I with After Effects through trial and error - I even started sweating. Just as this exercise finished, Simon Harrison addressed the issues surrounding the disparity between design education and the "real world" where he confronted issues DNAD have been facilitating. Furthermore, although the award briefs are predominantly vague to enforce creative liberalism where students can best apply their skills to the brief that best suits their style and technique, judges still look primarily for eye-catching solutions that are based on separate biases. Although Simon presented a controversial perspective on this, I took his word and I agree with what he had to say, thus, am going to utilize the maximum feedback I can get from such organizations like DNAD.