This year I was fortunate enough to be accepted into the Unreal Animation Fellowship. This was my second fellowship with the Epic game company, after the Virtual Production Fellowship that I attended in 2021. When it came time to apply again, I was thankfully supported by my employer MPC, the premier visual effects company, and my experience with the "VP" Fellowship made an impression to be strongly considered again. I made an application video where I spoke about my plan for working in the fellowship, as well as what I took away from the previous one.
Once I received the news of being accepted, I began preparations to make it the most successful experience possible. Finishing a previous fellowship was a huge advantage because I mostly knew what to expect from the experience. I listed on a sheet of paper what I was glad I received from the last Fellowship, what I wanted to get out of this new one, and what traps or regrets I did not want to end up having once it was done:
Goals and Reminders:
With this list, I took a moment to visualize getting a strong, positive emotional reaction from the fellowship members to my finished piece (whatever it would look like) once things were done. Click the Week Zero link above to continue reading about the experience.
Once I received the news of being accepted, I began preparations to make it the most successful experience possible. Finishing a previous fellowship was a huge advantage because I mostly knew what to expect from the experience. I listed on a sheet of paper what I was glad I received from the last Fellowship, what I wanted to get out of this new one, and what traps or regrets I did not want to end up having once it was done:
Goals and Reminders:
- Learn and practice new aspects of working in the engine. My last fellowship short film heavily relied on motion capture and lip sync, so for this my aim was to keyframe some interesting cartoony body mechanics and avoid lip sync.
- Do not take every note. Be okay with some information passing you by. There will be another chance to absorb it later if it is truly relevant to my journey.
- Find the experts in Slack for each subject.
- Plan your schedule in advance. Avoid taking any all-nighters.
- Be a strong teammate through collaboration, pitching and brainstorming, getting to the "why" of pieces, and taking suggestions from others.
- Reserve the maximum amount of time for the fellowship.
- Try to avoid having any regrets, like not ending up with a strong piece that impresses.
- Above all, "Keep It Simple, Stupid!" (KISS)
With this list, I took a moment to visualize getting a strong, positive emotional reaction from the fellowship members to my finished piece (whatever it would look like) once things were done. Click the Week Zero link above to continue reading about the experience.
