Week One: August 27th-September 2nd
Surprisingly, it was around this time in early Week One that I was assembling my PureRef file that I saw a post from Anthony Koithra on one of the other teams, which mentioned a Star Wars/Top Gun mashup project he did in Unreal, which was extremely similar to my primary idea. I couldn't believe it! It was so well-done though, that I had to take my hat off and reach out to compliment his great work. In our call, I told him about what I was working on, and got a good chuckle out of how ideas like this float around in the ether and are always shared by more than one person. He did a great job finishing it the year before, though, so I knew it was time to let this one go and see what else I could pitch to my group next week.
The PureRef pitch deck that I showed to my team. The timelapse stop-motion animation idea ended up being chosen.
Team Collaboration
Unlike the last fellowship, where each team member was doing a completely independent idea, this time around we needed to collaborate as a team and work on a cohesive shared vision. Since I am usually leading teams at work, my approach for this situation was to listen first and see what ideas others had, especially newcomers to this creative process. People had different strengths and different intentions for this experience, so ideas at first were general and murky, then as we teased them out, connections started appearing, and it became clearer on which shots should happen before or after each other's. Sir also seemed to intentionally take a back-seat to this process, which let newcomers come up with ideas. It was cool to see because it was so different and organic compared to the fast-pace and hierarchical environment of a typical production.
I don't believe anyone else on the team had done an Epic Fellowship before, so I was the only one who had a pitch deck prepared to share with the group. I loaded it up in PureRef and walked the team through my two ideas, since I was no longer pursuing the sci-fi one. I wanted to see what got people excited from these concepts, and there were several who really responded with the time lapse animation idea. With some ideas solidifying, Sir secured us a spot in the first Weeklies, and we prepared our presentation materials.
Now that I was set on the timelapse stop-motion idea, I knew I was going to do some kind of fun dance for my animation, but wasn't sure which to choose. At home, my wife suggested I go with a Michael Jackson dance. For some reason I resisted it at first, I think because it felt too popular, but the more I considered it, the more inevitable and great a fit it felt like. I decided to go with Billie Jean because I've always loved the beat and Smooth Criminal for that great lean, which would be fairly simple to animate.
In one of our Scrums, the Head Instructor Brian Pohl joined the call and heard our team ideas. He thought my concept was ambitious and interesting, and recommended that I don't dilute the animation performance with lighting or other extras, since high-quality animation was the main objective for this fellowship. I took these notes to heart and began planning, assembling assets, creating my Metahuman, and brainstorming with team members on how my shot could connect with others. Sir let us know that we would join Weeklies in week two, so on Friday of week one, we were able to keep preparing our materials and share our impressions on the week one teams in their Weeklies. One of the teams used a site called Miro to help map together their shots, so we adopted that for ours as well.
I don't believe anyone else on the team had done an Epic Fellowship before, so I was the only one who had a pitch deck prepared to share with the group. I loaded it up in PureRef and walked the team through my two ideas, since I was no longer pursuing the sci-fi one. I wanted to see what got people excited from these concepts, and there were several who really responded with the time lapse animation idea. With some ideas solidifying, Sir secured us a spot in the first Weeklies, and we prepared our presentation materials.
Now that I was set on the timelapse stop-motion idea, I knew I was going to do some kind of fun dance for my animation, but wasn't sure which to choose. At home, my wife suggested I go with a Michael Jackson dance. For some reason I resisted it at first, I think because it felt too popular, but the more I considered it, the more inevitable and great a fit it felt like. I decided to go with Billie Jean because I've always loved the beat and Smooth Criminal for that great lean, which would be fairly simple to animate.
In one of our Scrums, the Head Instructor Brian Pohl joined the call and heard our team ideas. He thought my concept was ambitious and interesting, and recommended that I don't dilute the animation performance with lighting or other extras, since high-quality animation was the main objective for this fellowship. I took these notes to heart and began planning, assembling assets, creating my Metahuman, and brainstorming with team members on how my shot could connect with others. Sir let us know that we would join Weeklies in week two, so on Friday of week one, we were able to keep preparing our materials and share our impressions on the week one teams in their Weeklies. One of the teams used a site called Miro to help map together their shots, so we adopted that for ours as well.
