AVA (or cinematics for the initiated) is the bane and beauty of every
third year Visual Arts student, although all projects have a fluent
start-up. In the beginning the assignment actually sounds pretty easy:
“form teams and together pick a theme to create a short animation
about.” How hard can it be?
Excited as you are, you energetically start with the pre-production.
This is the planning phase of the project in which you seek for a story
that is so good and original that it will instantly blow people away by
just hearing it. Vibrating from enthusiasm, the idea is pitched to your
supervisors; of course they will see that this idea is the absolute pearl
of the seven seas.
‘’No, no, no. What’s the point, the clue of your story?’’ Your supervisor
practically screams, interrupting the wild gestures that emphasize
your pitch. Horrified, the teams look each other in the eyes: “Clue…
what clue?” Nobody told us about any clues! Where’s that assignment brief?! After all, aren’t we still talking about the story? Stories
are not supposed to be the hard part of this journey…
‘’No! No! These shots are too long!’’
‘’This one is too boring!’’
‘’It’s way too detailed!’’
Suddenly you understand that this is not going to be as easy as you
thought. This actually is going to be very hard: you will leave this
course crying, crawling back to your parents.
At revision number twenty-one, the integration of audio starts. “This
is the moment. You will now know if your story is going to work,” it’s
whispered ominously and the group shivers, as if one. This is serious
business.
At the time the sound is fully integrated, you don’t even bother to go
the supervisors. It is written across every members face, you will
need at least 10 more revisions for this to be even remotely presentable. And at revision -who is even counting anymore- you stand
before the supervisors shivering, holding each other. You look with
fear as the judgment falls.
‘’Alright, I give you the green light. You can start working now’’
Ten revisions later, you see a tiny nod of approval: the supervisors
aren’t that enthusiastic as you want them to be, but at this point every
nod is a relieve. Grim-faced but determined you start drawing the storyboard; the little bible that will help define the perfect shots, the
crème de la crème of camera angles. At the time you are sure Spielberg will bow down for what you are going to present, you are showing the result to the supervisors and…
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