Jared Cardon and Professor Kelly Loosli, Theatre and Media Arts Department

Early in Fall of 2004 I purchased and completed a series of DVD tutorials on advanced CGI animation techniques with the hope that I would be able to reimburse myslef for the purchase with ORCA funds. These DVDs covered a variety of subjects, including modeling, animating, rigging, texturing, lighting and particle manipulation. These DVDs allowed me to rapidly move forward in a more comprehensive understanding of the skill-set necessary to work in a professional environment. My increased skill and knowledge of these subjects allowed me the advantage to begin work on the Animation Senior Film Project, Der Ostwind during my sophomore year in the program, an experience that is uncommon, as most crews on the Senior Films are comprised of Seniors and a few Juniors.

The opportunity to work on Der Ostwind benefited me academically, as I was given increased responsibility and the chance of learning from my elder peers in the Animation program, many of whom left to work at prominent effects houses and animation studios immediately following the completion of the project. I was able to work as a part of the creative/technical team working towards the goal of completing a successful animated short film. My specific responsibilites on the crew included researching reference footage for animation, modeling environments in 3D and even animating a few shots of my own.

I was also able to benefit the team by sharing my own knowledge and skills gained from the educational training DVDs purchased with the ORCA funds. This allowed me to more quickly integrate with students who had a few more years in the Animation program than I did. We quickly became a team of equals and felt comfortable sharing ideas with other, as we were able to trust each other as competent artists.

The film has gone to multiple film festivals where it has been accepted out of myriad entries and even won awards. Der Ostwind was accepted and screened at the Angelus Student Film Festival 2006 where it was a Finalist, the Comic-Con International’s Independent Film Festival where it was awarded Winner Best Action/Adventure, and was recently accepted into the 2006 Philadelphia Film Festival. These festivals have helped the crew as well as the University to gain greater positive publicity and much of the crew of the film has been hired professionally based on their work on the project.

The educational materials I was able to purchase with my ORCA funds continue to benefit the Animation program, as I have now donated them to the Animation program where they are available for check-out by the other student animators. Other students committed to advancing their skills in the field of CGI animation anow have additional resources to go to in solving the technical hurdles of the medium they work in.