This blog is still very much alive. Just that there are a lot of things I wish I could pen them down but I am withholding some juicy news and information until the time is ripe.
At the moment, there are some “juice” I can leak out.
1. The game is about to launch.
2. Tokyo, Japan is a nice place.
3. I am back in Azeroth.
Keep guessing… keep reading :P
To work in the Computer Graphics industry, the basic requirements are not scrolls of certification but one demo reel. It is a compilation of work that you had done to show your prospective employer to see.
The artists would compile their professional works for their demo reel. Most fresh graduates would build theirs in school.
I just happened to see one from the internet
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It is so bad but so painfully hilarious; class act.
I spent 2 splendid years in Brisbane studying in QUT Creative Industries faculty. Not to mention, I met great people like Jamie, Carlos and a bunch of talented people. I seriously cherish those days back then. It was very much different from the “pressure cooker” education system Asian countries are accustomed to. There were much less rules and more freedom to express one’s thoughts. Being in a school of Creative Industries, freedom of expression and speech is one notion we “right-brained” students and graduates strongly advocates.
Freedom of speech is a big thing in Australia so is it in Europe and America. Coming out from a repressed freedom of speech country, I have mixed opinions about this notion. However, it disturbs me recently when I learned that my school was stricken by a controversial PhD candidate’s film project project - Laughing at The Disabled. The consequences of this project resulted in suspension of two lecturers and a string of protests in the university.
The people who are for the project
The people who cry foul
My personal take? I am for freedom of speech but obviously a lot of people forget freedom comes with responsibilities. Different people places their yardstick of “freedom of speech” differently. In Singapore, racial and religious opinions are taboos. Whereas in the States, racists opinions and occults thrive under the umbrella of freedom. Similarly, making fun of people for the sake of amusement is distasteful. To put it simply, I will only make my judgment only if I’ve seen the short film.
Further readings
Academics face Sack for Objecting to Laughing at the Disabled!
A couple weeks back, we were hosting 2 ladies colleagues from our Taiwan head office. There were in Singapore for a short training to work on the MMO game we were working on.
One of them introduced me to ウサビッチ or Usavich made by Kanaban for MTV Japan. I took a peep at it while taking a short coffee break and I got hooked instantly. It is a series of short stories about the lives of two prisoners in the communist Soviet gulag ; not to mentioned every episode is canned with bizarre but yet hilarious gags.
I personally felt the formula of success for creative animation comes from daring experiments with genre and theme. My observations on why Usavich won my heart over lies in a few main points
- Clever personification using bunnies
- Intriguing mime acting, thus breaking the language barrier
- Mischievous characterization of modern people. The red bunny is a retro sneakers freak (which doesn’t happen in 1961)
- Retro-communist era (I have a soft spot for retro themes)
and there are a LOT of reasons I believe mainstream (American) animation studios would HIGHLY UNLIKELY to be able to produce something as intriguing as this.
- Audience are idiots (Every action comes with a explanation and every explanation comes with a dialogue)
- No violence (If violence is permitted, do it with senseless violence with American pride and humour)
- Stereotypes (For every protagonist, there is always a noisy and useless sidekick and other characters [except the protagonist] talk in funny accent)
Oh well… enough mainstream animation bashing.. letz get back to watch the 20 episodes of Usavich.
This probably came about one week late.
Last week, I made a horrendously long journey to Changi Airport to send off a good friend/ex-colleague/supper buddy Patrick; who is ALSO the LAMEST PERSON I have met in my life so far.
Patrick happened to sit in the same cubicle cluster as I am when we were in Southern Star. Like a clock, he would periodically pop in some lame jokes and triggering off a chain reaction within the office like a nuclear bomb. Bryan who was sitting next to him, will follow up with his lame joke AND Jaden, who was sitting opposite Bryan, will also make silly attempts to keep the ball rolling. This “Ping Pong Game” can go ON and ON for hours!
It is a torture!
Nonetheless, I had one of the most smashing time working with them back in Southern Star.
As a matter of fact, Patrick isn’t inclined towards animation and we always fun about him only good with visual effects. Now, Patrick has the last laugh. He is one of the TEN people selected by EDB to go London to work in Double Negative Visual Effects House (also the last member to leave Singapore) . Not to mention, accommodation and stipend is fully paid from our grandfather’s billion dollar coffers.
See you next year!
His lameness has inflicted serious damage on my nerves system!
I was searching for motion videos of pantheras for my next assignment when I strangely stumbled upon music video of Vengaboys. Gooooooooooooooooooooooooosh it was such a wrong move! The tune is so catchy I just can’t stop watching them! Wahahaha!
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It brought back too many good memories - when I was young and foolish, we danced like crazy and rubbed our sweaty body against one another.
Darn… I guess I’ve completely lost the craze for clubbing and partying ever since I left military service.
Hmmmmm I seriously miss Temasek Polytechnic and my friends
I am not a closet ah beng! I just happened to like the rhythm =P
Since the hype of creative industry begins to roll in this city state, the stagnant environment is beginning to breathe again. We had the CG Overdrive in June, Games Convention Asia in Sept and now we are having Animation Nation 2007 in November.
The film list goes [ here ]. Notable features include TekkonKinreet (which is in my hitlist), Khan Kluy from our neighbour Thailand and of coz, the Freedom Project.
As a matter of fact, I almost missed this event until my polytechnic friend, Yong How MSNed me this afternoon. Oh yes, he will be coming down town to promote Freedom Project.
Yong How is coming to town!
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Work and attempts to lose the extra flab I gained from my stay in Australia has taken serious toll on me. I am struggling to keep this blog alive with interesting articles.
A couple of days back, a journalist from the Straits Times reported a rather controversial article on the technology papers; Digital Times.
Quo vadis - “Where are you going?”
This is the exact words I want to tell this journalist. Where is this article heading? Conclusions seemly are far-fetched and conjectures are reached upon by “selective journalism”.
(click on picture to read the article)
If you read between the lines, I felt that this is more like a propaganda structured like this
1. Lament about the small pool of talent in the market.
2. Trumpet about how much money the government is throwing into the industry
3. Explain that lack of talent is a global trend. (WOOOAH!? Are you a journalist or a prophet?)
4. Proclaim that the schools have TOP-NOTCH curriculum to produce WORLD CLASS CG artists (another baseless prophecy again)
Not like what this article is portraying, 9 out of 10 fresh graduates WILL NOT get a job. It takes a lot of hard work and perseverance to be a good CG artist. Churning out half-baked students won’t solve the problem. It will only add more problems.
What seriously irks me is that Miss LEUNG WAI-LENG, a professional journalist resorting to titling controversial headlines to lure readers. Other than the first paragraph, the rest of the article is completely out of point. Utterly unprofessional. My primary school English teacher will probably fail your composition for going out of point. Not surprisingly, this article sparked furious debate in the local CG forums.
Dominic Qwek gets his dream job from Blizzard.
Almost two years back, I met Dominic in a World of Warcraft guild gathering. I already knew who he was when we met. It is like a tale of two cities; he was already a celebrity in Singapore. I am still a fledgling waiting for my chance in CG industry. However, a lot of the guild members are clueless about the background of this undead mage (who happens to be unable to hit level 60 like almost forever)
He is a very humble person. (Most of the top-notch artist I met so far are humble and down to earth - shocking) Back then, Dominic was waiting a break into the international scene. According to his account, he always been wanting to work for either Blizzard Entertainment or Blur Studios.
He also told us he might be leaving Singapore for Netherlands but didn’t inform us on his destination. Lo and behold, he ended up in Guerrilla Games working on a breathtaking PS3 title - Killzone 3. From then onwards, his modelling skills improve by leaps and bounds.
Not until recently, I received rumours circulating within the industry that Dominic got a offer from Blizzard Entertainment. It supposed to be a hush hush affair but the leaked news spread like wildfire. When he announced his posting in Blizzard on his website, it was almost like anti-climax for us.
You are my role-model!
Further Readings
[ Dominic Qwek's Website ]
[ 3D Creatures ] (created by Dominic)
Some time not long ago, I expressed my interest to work in Japan. Although they have shortlisted me but till date they have not contacted me. Not until recently when I received an email from them, then I realised why.
Thank you for being in contact with Polygon Pictures at CG Overdrive. Since then, although it’s taken longer than we’d like, we have signed the contract for the second season of our major television series, and so we’re staffing up for the future.
In particular, for those of you who are Singaporean citizens or permanent residents, I wanted to let you know that Polygon has been selected to participate in the STRAT program with the Singaporean government. The official description of the program is available on our website at http://www.ppi.co.jp/Applicants/STRAT/, but here is a a summary of the essential points.
- Polygon is looking a group of 10-12 people who will come to Tokyo and work with us for a two-year period.
- This is a paid position, and additionally participants will receive a housing allowance. The total compensation package is very competitive with market rates here in Japan.
- To understand the full conditions of the STRAT program, please check the information available on the STRAT program website of the Singaporean EDB (there’s a link in the page on our website).
- We are specifically trying to get a group of participants spread across all aspect of a CG animation production: storyboarding/concept; modeling; rigging; layout; animation; effects; lighting & compositing; CG-related scripting and programming; and production management. We will assign people based on their talents and interests, but in general we are looking to place 1-2 people in each area.
If you or anyone you know would be appropriate for the program, please check the webpage above and contact us or apply as explained on the page. For any Singaporean citizen or permanent resident who has an interest in Japan, or simply in working at an animation-oriented production studio, this could be a great opportunity.
We hope everyone is doing well in Singapore. Thank you very much!
They have been negotiating with Economic Development Board to bring in 10-12 artists to work under PPI for 2 years! Housing paid for. Salary paid according to Japan market rates.
Goodness, just as I decided against going Japan for the time being, here comes another opportunity hard to miss. It would definitely be an enriching experience. But on the other hand, I’ve sort of committed quite a tidy sum to gym membership recently. It would be hard for me to say “yes”. =(
What am I thinking ?!? I have not even applied the program with EDB yet!
WoW! Not only God has been gracious to me, the government has been good to us! From now on, I will attend church regularly but I will still vote for the opposition party.