Latest updates

Hi folks,

It's been a while since I have posted here...This is mainly because I have ben busy with Uni coursework events etc. So heres my update of everything since September:

I have been working on my three modules: Digital Storytelling, Motion Graphics and 3D Character production. All three modules have been very interesting and have given me lots of work to do. Digital Storytelling has been broken up in to three courseworks:

• A proposal - an advertising document to provide an Above the Line advertising campaign strategy, using the story stucture of a recognised fairy tale. This was a challenge in itself, but in the end I settled on making my strategy for the made up company Alba Denim, using the story structure of Jack and the Beanstalk. In short, I changed the major plot points of the story to fit around promoting Alba Denim.
• Adding a new character: the next phase of the coursework was to create a new character to add to the existing story to help drive the campaign forward. It proved very difficult to create an interesting character with depth, however I settled on a villain, in particular, a rich and cunning villain.
• Phase three is yet to be introduced however it will involve transmedia. So more updates on this soon...

Aside from working towards my degree, I have also attended 2 major events which have helped me massively to choose the right career path:

• The Adobe UK Campus Tour: This event was great in short. The whole day was about the new products Adobe had to offer with the Creative Cloud and the industry standard workflows already being practiced now. I learned very interesting techniques used in VFX which can be carried across any software not restricted to Adobes tools. After attending this event, I wanted to find more...
• The VFX Festival: This is a 10 day festival in the heart of London, filled with London's industry professionals giving tutorials and holding screenings about the VFX industry and recent movies which have been released. So I booked my bus from Edinburgh and left on Tuesday 12th November at 5:45am to see one of their screenings, How to get into the VFX industry and a special talk about the Assasins Creed live action trailer. The event was an eye opener to say the least. My perspective on the VFX industry has changed. Here's what I have learned from this:
• The VFX industry is largely Freelance, meaning I would be essentially my own business. The downside of this is work can be sparse so I would have to be good at my own book keeping.
• The industry is very competitive. I was in a room full of students and industry professionals working in the industry and I saw some amazing showreels from students. So I need to make sure I have the right skillsets for the job.

Having said all that, I really enjoyed the screening and has lead me to look at the industry differently, aswell as pursue a few extra curricular courses to make myself stand out more from the crowd:

• Become a Generalist - I found from the screening that Generalists tend to have more work. So I intend on learning as much of the VFX pipeline as possible, which includes, Modelling, Rigging, Lighting, Compositing, Colour Grading and Animation. I will do this using industry standard software such as After Effects, Photoshop, Maya and Nuke X. I will focus most of my attention towards After Effects and Nuke.Although Nuke is the industry standard software for most films at the moment. I still feel After Effects will definitely be worthing knowing.
• Learn a second language - I feel that if I learn a second language, I will be more employable in the industry, in addition may open more doors to me in other countries. I intend on learning German. At the moment, I am looking into adding it as part of my degree, but if this is not possible, there is always night classes.
• Be more of an Artist - at the festival, all I kept hearing time and time again was the word 'artistic' and 'talent'  etc. I looked at many showreels and found that many of them had a grounding in art to help them express themselves creatively. So it is part of my plan to start an art class at night school. In order for me to become more of an artist, I need to do a little bit of art.

So that's the plan for the next two years until I graduate. Until then I intend on building up my showreel and work experience as much as possible. More updates soon...


Cheers

University

Hi folks. This is a quick post as I haven't posted in a while...

Today marks the day that I start my new course at Napier University. It's goin to be a fun 2 years. There will be more posts to follow starting now....

Cheers the now

Loch Ness Marathon

Hi folks,

Just a quick post about my latest project... A marathon.  Over the last few months, I have been working hard to get in shape and be able to run for a bus without running out of breath. So after completing the Insanity program (possibly the hardest workout I have ever tried) I heard that my brother was training for the Loch Ness Marathon on September 29th. So I joined him in the 12 week training program to work up to marathon pace.

So far, we have completed a half marathon in 1:40 (avg pace - 8 min/mile) which we were really happy with. During this time, we were researching into raising money for charity and found that out of a massive amount of fantastic charities, we chose to raise money for Diabetes UK. This is a great charity campaigning to raise awareness and provide support to over 3 million people suffering with Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes.

This charity is a great cause, and if anyone out there would like to find out more, please visit our JustGiving page here. Please donate as much or as little as you want. Any support will be hugely appreciated. Here is my fundraising poster, if you like, please share.

Thats all for now.
More info to follow in the coming weeks.

Creative Cloud Updates

Hi Folks,

Here is a quick update on the new software update I downloaded from Adobes Creative Cloud.

I downloaded After Effects Creative Cloud (which I am assuming is the new name for CS7). So after looking at the native Cinema 4D compatibility, I thought it was awesome that 3D can now be created and updated really quickly with Cinema 4D. So I have decided to continue learning more about C4D, as I find it much easier to use than Maya and works along with Illustrator and Photoshop. The rest of the summer will be spent working with 3D. Good fun.

My 3D renders will be uploaded very soon on mikestruthersmedia.com and my youtube page.

Cheers

HND completed- the next step

Hi folks.

Thursday the 14th of June is the final day of my college years and I am successfully leaving with an A in my graded unit. This year was really good for pushing me to think and research about what I really wanted to do in the creative industries. VFX is still the field I want to pursue. At the moment, I have been reading VES Handbook of Visual Effects. This is an education into the history and common practices in the visual effects industry. This will be a good grounding to give me a more clear idea of how to pursue my target.

Now. The next step after college is now getting an honours degree in Creative Computing. I plan on continuing working with my promotional material, making regular videos, and update my website with all my projects I am working on. My next major target is to get a summer internship with Framestore in London. I will work as hard as I can to get this job. It's going to be a tough couple of years. But I think I can do it.

Cheers

Work experience - A Runner Job

On top of the graded unit and all my other stuff for college, I put my name down for some work experience as a runner on a feature film set in Edinburghs city centre.

I then was contacted to start work at 6.30am at their unit base near the location.

I loved the experience, it was very hectic from the start of the day right through til 7pm.

During filming I was part of a team of runners helping lock off areas of the set during takes. This task proved more difficult than I had thought, some people walk very fast... however I managed to find my feet after a couple hours of doing it.

In the end, I was asked back for two more days, so I officially have 3 days experience on a film set... not that impressive but a start.

For more info about my work experiences and projects I have worked on my website

Cheers

Graded Unit Submission!

Today is the day I have finally submitted my graded unit (development stage) after months of graft.

My Graded Unit can be found on my website.

Creating a promotional material package for myself was a good experience, and I will continue to use the skills I have learned on this course to progress in the Creative Industries. Over the course of the Graded Unit, here is a track of changes which happened throughout the development stage:

• Vimeo Channel - Once I created an account, I found that there were upload restrictions such as file size caps of 2GB a week, unless you set up a PRO account... For just now, I will stick with Youtube's player although I intend on building an HTML5 video player to show my media.
• My showreel ended up at a duration of 1 minute when I had originally planned 2 minutes. But after a peer review, I found that my showreel was too short and needed more material in it.
• Overall, I followed my week by week schedule (which I was very surprised about!). 

Next step is to sum up my Graded Unit in my Evaluation, this is the last section of my course and I can get my grade from there...