Today marks the official date of the end of my first year at CalArts. Why? Because I moved out of the dorm room that I've been living in for the past 9 months and I bid my goodbyes and gave hugs to my classmates and friends who are leaving school for the summer.
It's sad to end my first year knowing that no other year will be like my freshman year, but I'm also excited for what's to come next. Over the past 9 months, I've been constantly challenged to push my boundaries and expand my creative horizon in many different ways. I've met so many people here who became the driving force and inspiration behind my works and I've learned how to develop a more professional working habit. The picture of my goal seemed more vivid now than before and the required positive energy that resonated through the character animation department, cubes and students helped add up to the momentum that drives me energetically to work!
Attending the seniors graduation ceremony last Friday (May 18th, 2012) reminded me again of how CalArts is both aesthetically and socially different from any other schools! Again, this comes from a perspective from somebody who hasn't attended a graduation in America, so the whole graduation ceremony in addition to the extreme casualness, to me it was a complete blow away!! Graduates from their line of majors each had theme musics of their own when they graced the stage to collect their diploma. A female voice major acted like a total diva and threw kisses to the crowd like she had just won an Emmy award or something and another theater major walked up the stage swinging around a light saber (yeah, a LIGHT SABER) It felt like all different award shows interwoven into one (think Tony, Emmy, Oscar and Annie), that's what it's like! Those that I felt mostly connected to was of course the graduating Character Animators! There were two graduating character kids who had "My Neighbor Totoro" as their graduation theme music and it was SUPER COOL! Watching them walk up the stage receiving their diplomas for some reason bitterly touched my heart. Thinking of how in 3 years time I'll be up there receiving a piece of paper that'll draw the end of my student life and bidding goodbye to teachers and friends I've made here made me feel sad for a moment, but then thinking again, the animation industry is so small it's actually not hard to run into one another!!
My experience as a character animation BFA-1 was incredibly good and I've never felt like I've grown and received so much in barely a year! I'm missing a lot of my friends who left for the summer but 3 months will go by in a blink and I'll be back at school as a second year even before I know it!
So, have an awesome break everybody and see y'all next year !!!
Yon.
It's sad to end my first year knowing that no other year will be like my freshman year, but I'm also excited for what's to come next. Over the past 9 months, I've been constantly challenged to push my boundaries and expand my creative horizon in many different ways. I've met so many people here who became the driving force and inspiration behind my works and I've learned how to develop a more professional working habit. The picture of my goal seemed more vivid now than before and the required positive energy that resonated through the character animation department, cubes and students helped add up to the momentum that drives me energetically to work!
Attending the seniors graduation ceremony last Friday (May 18th, 2012) reminded me again of how CalArts is both aesthetically and socially different from any other schools! Again, this comes from a perspective from somebody who hasn't attended a graduation in America, so the whole graduation ceremony in addition to the extreme casualness, to me it was a complete blow away!! Graduates from their line of majors each had theme musics of their own when they graced the stage to collect their diploma. A female voice major acted like a total diva and threw kisses to the crowd like she had just won an Emmy award or something and another theater major walked up the stage swinging around a light saber (yeah, a LIGHT SABER) It felt like all different award shows interwoven into one (think Tony, Emmy, Oscar and Annie), that's what it's like! Those that I felt mostly connected to was of course the graduating Character Animators! There were two graduating character kids who had "My Neighbor Totoro" as their graduation theme music and it was SUPER COOL! Watching them walk up the stage receiving their diplomas for some reason bitterly touched my heart. Thinking of how in 3 years time I'll be up there receiving a piece of paper that'll draw the end of my student life and bidding goodbye to teachers and friends I've made here made me feel sad for a moment, but then thinking again, the animation industry is so small it's actually not hard to run into one another!!
My experience as a character animation BFA-1 was incredibly good and I've never felt like I've grown and received so much in barely a year! I'm missing a lot of my friends who left for the summer but 3 months will go by in a blink and I'll be back at school as a second year even before I know it!
So, have an awesome break everybody and see y'all next year !!!
Yon.
