Semester 2 Week 5 - AKA The coffee has finally kicked in...... Buzzzzzzzzzz
Good afternoon true believers and welcome to the fifth instalment of life as a student or life without money or my own personal favourite, Living the dream on a healthy diet of prescribed anti depressants.
So if we pick up from last weeks story….. Burt Bacharach has now been replaced with Thomas Dolby, which is all well and good but I would feel much better (and tbh would offer much more authenticity) if I could find my old round rimmed glasses and my Prisoner (old TV series, not the criminal type) outfit to complete the ensemble whilst listening to times gone by…… bah, again, I am procrastinating and not getting on with the subject in hand.
This last week has been fraught with FYP work and the problems it brings while finding a subject which is not only enjoyable but fills the criteria from the powers that be (just think sith lords and you are on your way to visualising the scene). After a meeting with Nigel Linge (very cool science type guy btw) about how using him and his material as a kind of “customer” we thrash out an excellent plan which if all comes out right the finished “products” will be used as a full time “installation” at MOSI. At this point I must say this is such a “plus” in respect of not only working on something I feel I am going to enjoy but to have the possibility of thousands of people see it leaves me with a totally excellent buzz (hence the title of this blog…. brilliant link don’t you think !!).
This weeks lectures in some respect pale in comparison with the epic feeling of total wellbeing which reflects on the way I am starting to look at the module material from our two fine (outstanding) lecturers. Spatial audio (Dr Hirst) starts a little late due to the previous classes inability to leave on time so given we only have an hour this weeks tutorial material only gets the once over while we discuss a pending practical lesson and the even more ominous exam. Team “Get it done” has been brought out of retirement as well to deal with two issues, (a) revision (Spatial Audio) and (b) personal filming project (Ballroom Dancing, yes, you are reading this correctly) so all I can say is good times ahead in both camps.
Animation (Dawn Shaw) this week is all about “Puppet Pins / Spherical work” and the joy that this interesting feature of AE brings. Once again I have to say the noisy students have returned and tbh is really starting to annoy me, I understand that some people have slower learning curve than most but to (and I say this with gusto) “extract the urinal” from someone who has more intelligence on her little finger is becoming quite the insult. Ok, now I have that rant out of the way Dawns class as usual is full of possibilities and inspiration which clearly shows as I have now finished my first animation (30 second Ident) and the second (10-20 second Sting) is more than half way to being completed. I am hoping my side of the group work will be finished before my impending holidays (arranging to do a live #foodporn feed from my hotel to augment my thirst for transmedia connectivity) and thus allowing me to do what I enjoy whilst chilling in a foreign country, which will be a mix of brushing up on my Spatial Audio, having a cheeky smoke, driving around, taking pictures and watching people do their best to get skin cancer at the side of the pool.
As I close this blog for until next time, I feel I should note that this week has also been very productive on the collaborative front. The first goes to Helen Keegan, I have to say it is always a pleasure to bump into her as it really never feels like you are talking to a senior lecturer but more of a friend (this is not being creepy btw) the bus ride to MC is usually boring but as always HK brings the humour out and various topics are discussed ending up with us both enjoying the thoughts of our previous presentation collaboration, I am also informed that there may be the possibility of another chance to wax lyrical on more social media goodness considering that the previous audience were so blow away, so with that all I can say is watch this space !!
Finally I never saw this one coming tbh, Ben Shirley and his audio / social media related goodness has always interested me, may it be has own blog content or his random tweets about the various stuff going on in his world of Binaural, ambisonics etc etc. Over the previous week I had been watching a set of tweets unfold between himself and another student (Luke Harrison) about an up and coming recording session using various microphone techniques which has been piquing my interest and here is the strange bit, after chatting with Helen, I bump into Ben and a fellow lecturer the following day and start discussing various topics but (here comes the best bit) end up chatting about this very project (Result !!) which by the end of the conversation I have managed to get myself involved in said project and find out I will be working with both Ben and Luke (very good times), again, I will say watch this space for blogs, pictures and hopefully videos documenting the whole process.
So my final comment is quite simple, fate has a very good (and in some cases bad) way of offering excellent extra curricular opportunities to all who seek them out which in turn given an liberal dose of awesomeness aids your search for your dream career pathway.
Keep the faith true believers until next time, signing off……. Paul.
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