OUAN503 - Responsive - Individual Practice: Reflecting on Chosen Briefs

OUAN503 - Reflecting on Chosen Briefs:

Regarding last week's Responsive session, I learned a fair amount about choosing briefs and whether on not they're fair and ethical for us as students. Despite thoroughly disliking the session, I got some good points out of it to take away and this allowed me to go back and take a harder look at the briefs I chose last beforehand.

I chose three briefs - two from YCN (BEAR and Cath Kidston), and the monthly brief from LoopDeLoop (of which apparently was not allowed, so therefore that one in particular would have to be changed regardless!) During the session, we talked about why certain companies aimed their briefs primarily at students and what the outcomes would be if one of us were to win. What exactly would be in it for us? A place at the company? Internships? Rise to fame? Sadly not. Most of them, after reading through the terms and conditions, offered a mere slap up meal and your name on the website for a while. Not much fame, no fortune...

Not all companies are out to get you though, you can't be too cynical otherwise you'll live your whole life avoiding possible chances at getting your work out there and then forever wondering "what if". Even the most reputable and through company could eventually screw you over in some shape or form, so in my opinion, you have to see if it's right for you. Don't sell yourself short, but don't expect too much. Nobody likes an arrogant artist!

As an animation student, I discovered that I could look at certain competition briefs and pick out which ones were most likely to get me noticed. A brief aimed at mainly graphic design students would be a good chance for me as you'd expect a good 90% of the entries will indeed be from those students/specialists in that field. Therefore if I took this from an animation angle and created say, a 30 second short or ident for example, that would more likely be seen as "thinking outside the box".

So, all in all, after thinking hard about all the potential briefs out there, I decided on Cath Kidston (still, because I'm not fond of it and don't want to be boring by sticking to what I know and love), and I've yet to decide on two more. However, I am currently entering two competitions outside of of the ones asked of us, so I'll focus on those for the next week to get a headstart!