This week (early June) I arrived back from my trip to the UK where I presented at the APES animation Symposium in Loughbrough (pronounced
'luv-bra' and not 'lounge-bra'), England. It was a lovely event: everyone was very friendly, the venue was amazing (it was held at an old manor house) and the presentations were very interesting.
Some reoccurring themes brought up at the event included breaking the rigid presentation mold (common in academia) and exploring the integration of animation into the sciences.
I received some very helpful feedback which has made me consider how much location plays a part in the prevalence of animation. I have found that there is very little animation in Australia and New Zealand which uses animation and storytelling to communicate science, however, the same cannot be said for the UK which has far longer and richer history of animation. Overall a great trip, not bad for my first time presenting outside of university :-)
Earlier this month my friend Laura and I attended the Woodfordia Tree Planting Festival where I held my first animation workshop (another first!). The workshop went well, I definitely learnt a lot from the experience. Preparation wise, I produced far more animation then required for the number of participants and the size of the printed frames were a bit large for the purposes of the workshop. In terms of recording the images, scanning was a much better option as opposed to photography; the inconsistency of the lighting and the unevenness of the camera tripod compromising the quality of the images. All in all, the final animation is quite beautiful and the workshop served as a very helpful learning experience for future projects.
A good month of learning!!!!