Thursday 29 March 2012

Visit to Silver Ant—the maker of See Food

Along with students and colleagues of Creative Multimedia Department, I visited Silver Ant Studio in Petaling Jaya (PJ). When I was told last week by my boss Dr Zam about this visit officially, I began to feel happy as I have quite a number of ex-course mates and ex-colleagues working there: Keen Hong, Sing Yee, QChee, Yee Hau, etc. Being a former 3D animator, I always feel good to visit animation studio—it reminds me the good old day before I became an academic in 2004.

The person who guided the tour was really friendly and professional, in which he explained the history of the company, mainly through the nature of production it involved since its formation a decade ago. The highlight was on its first featured film—See Food. Prior the visit, I squeezed time to watch the film in KLCC last week. As usual, I became the last person who left the cinema, mainly to read the names appeared in the credit. I felt so proud when I saw familiar names, as if I involved in the production myself.

After studying and working in oversea countries, I began to see the whole Malaysia as one, rather than seeing each studio individually. So, when I saw Malaysian animation shines in global arena, I can feel to joy with them. I hope very soon, my students in UPSI can join the creative and production force, wherever they are going to work, and continue to make me feel proud.

I asked several questions during the ending Q&A session. One of them was 'what advice would professionals in Silver Ant give to the lecturers in UPSI who are out of touch with the development in animation industry'. With hesitation, Keen Hong, the Assistant Animation Director (my Uni buddy!) pointed out that lecturers should keep abreast with the changes and development of 3D software. The tour guide added that university should offer degree programme with specialization, i.e. modeling, texturing, rigging, character animation, lighting and visual effects (VFX). In practice, spending one semester of time to complete a short animation Individually might not be practical for showing off the best skills of a particular student. Each student should specialize in their final year project, e.g. if he or she is talented in creating models, he or she should focus doing modeling and make the best of it. However, in the context of Malaysia, VFX specialists are highly sought after. Universities are advised to nurture students that could produce industry quality works, this would really support the studios who are recruiting talents, in which they need not spend much time and effort to retraining upon their completion of study.

As for students who are applying for a job, the capability to complete their degree or diploma on time is essential because it would make no sense to hire someone who can do wonderful jobs but always misses deadline. Proof of capability to work in team is also important when applying for a job.

 

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