Successful Practise and Principles: What Am I Doing As A Multimedia Practitioner?

We were recently asked by Jools to blog about what we are doing as Multimedia Practitioners in our free time and how it contributes  to our course if it does. So yeah, here is a list of things I'm currently doing in my free time (or trying to get done) anyways:

My Phoenix Wrong work:

At the moment, I've been working on my Phoenix Wrong series, and I currently have uploaded the 12th video to Youtube recently and working on the 13th. Due to recent problems though, I had to take all my videos off Youtube bar my university ones (which I will explain in another blog), and now I'm going to upload them to Newgrounds which only uses Flash formats, which meant converting all my videos to .flv in order to upload them. I'm also currently trying to figure how to make a Phoenix Wrong video in Flash as I am not very well experienced with it, hence it's proving to be quite a taxing problem for me. 

The reason this contributes to my course is because it's all centered around using animation to produce these videos, and also audio/visual production as I was using the animated gifs from the games to produce spoof videos. I also based my Interactive Narratives project from Narratives around the original series that my videos parody, and thus used the same gif sprites to produce the Interactive Narrative project. This also can contribute to the Games Design area of Multimedia quite easily too.

Anime Studio:

Anime Studio is a 2D animation program, which is very similar to Macromedia Flash, albeit being much, much more cheaper but unfortunately more limited in some areas as a result. I've always been keen on learning how to use the program as I was attracted to the interface of it and also it's features, price and what it is capable of.  I will feature a blog on it soon all about Anime Studio and my experiences with it anyways. At the moment, I'm currently still learning how to use it, as I don't have a massive amount of free time due to studying Japanese as a supplementary course alongside Multimedia. Again, this contributes to Multimedia due to being centered around animation and such, and it also contributes to the games design area as well. 

Vue 6:

Vue 6 is a 3D modelling and animation program which is pretty similar to programs like 3DS Max, Maya and Blender. It is actually designed to work alongside them as when you first load it up, it will ask you on what 3D modelling program you have experience with or still currently use, and it will thus customise it's interface, shortcuts and so on to try and replicate the chosen program. I'm only using the evaluation version of the program at the moment, but I will be purchasing it in the future anyways. It was used in production of the Pirates of the Carribean films too actually, so it's got a pretty impressive background, and current reviews of it says, it works like a dream alongside Maya. Again this contributes to the Animation and Games Design sides of Multimedia, due to being centered around 3D modelling and animation.

Reading Manga, Drawing Manga Style and Watching Anime:

I've been reading manga, and watching anime for a good few years now, so I am very familiar with the artistic style used for them, as well as picking bits of Japanese from watching anime. These can help contribute to the games design area of Multimedia particularly character concept design as they can be used as inspiration and guidance for developing new characters. I also am trying to learn to draw in the manga style as much as possible, but I need to get back to doing it as I have't drawn anything for months. I don't believe my drawing skills are that great at it yet, I can replicate existing characters from various manga fairly well, but I struggle to come up with my own characters, as well draw on a smaller scale and draw more polished, and detailed characters. It's something I definitely need as much practise with as possible, but I'm currently finding it difficult to find time for it as I've got so much going on in life inside and outside of university. 

Studying Japanese:

I am currently studying Japanese as a supplementary couse alongside Multimedia, and it may not have any direct influence on my course, but I'm focusing on it's future prospects for me due to learning it. Once I am fluent in it, I am planning to move to Japan eventually (its a life long dream!), and work as a games designer for one of the bigger games companies such as Nintendo, Capcom or Sega one day, thus this course and learning Japanese will both be vital for this. The idea is to work for a games company here, and eventually work my way up to bigger companies hopefully via experience and skills gained, with me eventually upgrading to the gaming mecca that is Japan. 

Macromedia Flash and 3DS Max:

I don't think these programs needs introducing to be honest as they are pretty well known, but I'm currently trying to learn as much as  I can on how to use them at the moment. This course does require us to be familiar with them in order to build our projects and such, hence as well as wanting to learn how to use them, it's a necessary requirements too. Again, these contribute to the animation and games design areas of Multimedia, but can contribute to other areas too I imagine.

GameMaker:

Gamemaker is a program developed by YoyoGames to enable people of all ages to build 2D games, using a simple interface (there is an advanced one too available), but you can also build 3D games if you upgrade to the Professional version of it. I tried to learn it in the past, but had to leave it due to lack fo free time, and I also went to a workshop on it during Gamecity last year in order to refresh my memory on it. I do want to learn how to use it, but I need to find time for it like everything else. It contributes to the Games Design area of Multimedia anyways. 

Twinity, IMVU and World of Warcraft:

I am currently researching online games for my Identities module, and had to produce a 4 week diary (minimum) of my character's adventures in the game I chose. I decided to try Twinity due to a recommendation from a friend, and hence as you can see in my earlier blog posts, I've been recording a diary of my experiences on it. I'm also keen on using IMVU and playing through World of Warcraft too, both which I will eventually produce diaries for too. All these games contribute to the Identities module of the 1st year of this course, but they help to contribute to Games Design in general as well. 

Stop Motion/Pixilation:

I'm currently trying to develop ideas for a new Pixilation/Stop Motion video to contribute to my portfolio for Identities as well as for personal reasons, and hence this contributes to the Animation area of Multimedia as well as Audio/Visual Production I suppose.

I think this is the entire list of everything I'm currently doing in my free time as a Multimedia Practitioner anyway, I cannot think of anything else that I'm doing.