Week 3 Progress Reflection

As a team member, my role was to concept sketches based on the fidget spinner designs done by another team member. We required to draw a distinct line of consistency between the designs. In order to work efficiently, we strategized our tasks by using the mood board designs to set as a benchmark. We also needed to complete the new pre-production work we left off at last week due to team issues by the end of this week. However, not everything went according to plan.

I was trying to achieve a design that would be detailed but simple. However, I wasn’t too sure on whether I should go with a humanoid concept or a toy-like concept. As discussed in the previous blog, we were still deciding on whether or not this should turn into a commercial. We even reconsidered the idea but went back to a film instead so that we could focus on the quality of our own work.

First iteration of robot Designs

This week, being a team of two, things worked much better than it did before. We were able to meet on campus without any issues (despite me handling council work, clubs & events and a major collaboration project). I managed to keep my production as priority number 1. I was assigned to concept the robots, which went through a round of feedback and wasn’t approved due to the scope of the designs. So, I went back to the drawing board and reworked based on our initial toy like concepts with added detail. To my astonishment, the designs were quickly approved and we are getting back on track.

New Robot Concept, ticked ones approved - variations to be finalised soon

Nonetheless, we were supposed to finish the 3d animatic AND the new mock shoot this week as well. That didn’t happen. I feel the reason why we were falling back was because of a slight friction between my teammate and myself. I strongly believed that having the new storyboards done, refined through a 3D animatic and then doing the mock shoot would’ve helped the flow better. But my teammate was against the idea and wanted to do the mock and reverse the flow. I didn’t think that would work because while we were filming, we were completely clueless on how to create dynamic shots and wasted a lot of time on this. From the previous shoot, this one was a bit more stressful as I couldn’t come up with ideas on the spot. Moreover, because she is the team leader this time, I didn’t want to interfere much in the decision making although I saw it slowing us down. When I did suggest that we need to step things up strategically and listed ways we could achieve this, things started pacing up. Over the weekend, I: -

· took over the task of redoing the storyboards

· initiated the research and planning of ideas

· brought in collaborators for our project: design, audio and film

· refined my concepts with variations

Being a team leader for a couple of major projects, I have it instilled in me that I need to always be in front of the game. I know what to expect and what measures need to be taken, which my team member might not have experienced as much. Hence, I gave in my input whenever I saw our production in jeopardy. I understand that our work ethics are professional but sometimes I need to say things even if the other won’t take it nicely. Now that this is established, we are hoping to start production in the following week while discussing due dates and task breakdowns. Hopefully we work better towards our time management this trimester.