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While many students on campus are writing papers, making presentations or studying for exams week after week, the students in the animation classes are working on their animations for the entire semester.
“Last semester, I did a mixture between a 2-D and 3-D animation. So, it’s a video with a 2-D flat background,” said senior animation student Michelle Starke. “We all do different things.”
Each student is required to create two animations each year, but they’re allowed to do animations differently. They choose the processes that allow the animations to be made.
“This semester I did stop-motion animation and built a little set and tiny characters. This semester, Michelle did the same thing, only she was outside and stuff,” Mallory LeBlanc said.
Other animations were created using flash, paper animation techniques and 3-D animation programs.
The projects carry a considerable time investment.
“It took 40 hours to export. I was exporting the animation for two days. You cannot use the computer at all because it takes up all your RAM,” said LeBlanc.
These animations take extreme amounts of hard work, and later this week, these students are able to show off their finished products at the animation festival.
“It pretty much illustrates the whole animation and graphic arts department. On top of that, all the senior animations are showcased,” LeBlanc said. “We are giving away some raffle prizes, and the first 150 to show up get a door prize.”
For the seniors, it is their last hurrah before they graduate. It allows them to show all of the hard work they have done during the school year to learn the concepts of animation.
“We’ve actually been growing every year, more and more people coming. Last year, it was standing room only,” LeBlanc said.
The first 150 who attend the event get a goodie bag, and after the event, the group plans to raffle off some prizes.
“We are raffling off some t-shirts that say CMU Animation. We also have two books, which is a showcase of all the senior animations, so we put storyboards and screenshots. It’s kind of a senior book,” Starke said.
In the end, the projects and this presentation are helping to prepare these students for graduation.
“It opens up opportunities and knowledge,” animation student Jackie McMillen said.
It helps reinforce the students’ knowledge of the animation programs. These programs are useful for other tasks than just animation. Flash, for example, is also useful in building websites.
“The projects are representative of the students. They are studying current industry standards,” said animation professor Carolyn Quinn-Hensley.
The event will take place in the University Center ballroom from 3:30 p.m. until 5:30 p.m. Admission is free and open to the public. For more information, visit the Animation on the CMU Facebook page.
jkirk@mavs.coloradomesa.edu
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