Five Golden Rules for the Animation Capstone

One

The need to reach out to your staff and Instructor while working remotely is critical: In industry it is quite common for animators and animation production teams to work remotely. Most recently, entire teams are working from home because of the continued pandemic. We are all working out the proper and most efficient protocol as working styles and accessibility to equipment evolve. This is the time to be particularly mindful to make every effort to communicate any concerns and be compassionate and respectful of your team members. If there are any suggestions for improvement or there's a level of discomfort that impedes your progress, share this with your Instructor via email and/or request a zoom meeting. You may share a concern with any of the staff members. The staff will bring the concern to the Instructor for discussion. Staff do not make policy but can bring a concern to the Instructor's attention.

Two

Stay Positive. Collaborative, interdisciplinary work is fraught with potential misunderstanding and confusion even under the best of circumstances. In industry it is critical to do your best to be a positive influence on the team and support the Director. It's important to communicate well, make constructive suggestions and to avoid dwelling on the negative. Turn it around and be respectful and helpful. Work well with your colleagues and Director so that the process moves as smoothly as possible.

Three

Do something. If you have work assigned to you and that work is due in for review, do something and submit it for review. You are much better off turning in work that is incomplete for the group/Director to review than nothing at all. If you turn in nothing the production group cannot progress. If you learn to present your work so that you get constructive feedback, we all can move forward.

Four

Follow the direction and accept feedback from the Director, even when it doesn't seem like good feedback to you. If you are asked to do something and you feel that you could do it in a different and better way, do the work that you were asked to do first, and do it the way you were asked to do it and then do the work the way you feel it should be done. When both are complete show the Director who will be able to see your work and decide which solution fits best. The Director will make the ultimate decision but showing your idea is much better than ignoring the Director's request and decision. If you can show a better solution and the Director agrees, then you will have helped the project move forward. Of you don't do what were asked to do by the Director, you will hold the whole team back.

Five

The Director alone approves elements of the pipeline before they move forward. This is called "green lighting" the production work and is done in industry before each element can move to the next stage of the pipeline. No one else can green light production work because the process then becomes chaotic and unstable. This is consistent with industry and a very important aspect of any complex production. So, be careful not to move forward without the green light of the Director.