Shortly before the start of the new academic year, 21 students from seven different universities had a chance to learn how to present their ideas with the power of animation. A five-day Animation Online Course by EKA Summer Academy was the first project presented by the Transform4Europe alliance.
During the course, organized by the Estonian Academy of Arts (EKA), participants from different backgrounds gained a basic understanding of how 3D animation works. With a focus on typography, the students learned the essential tools that make 3D objects move. In addition, participants learned how to use keyframes and ease and how rigid body physics works.
Through gained skills and knowledge, students worked in groups and created short animated video projects introducing their ideas of the future of universities. In their projects, students pointed out that in a constantly evolving world, digitalization is inevitable, and this means the universities must invest more into collaboration and upgrade their teaching methods. More individual approaches, online courses and teaching practical skills were also suggested. Moreover, students emphasized the importance of inviting campuses and support units.
In their feedback, course participators mentioned that they learned new skills that will be useful in their further studies and careers. “The course was very insightful, and teachers were very patient, knowledgeable and supportive,” said Inês, an exchange student from EKA. Tsvetelina from Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski agreed, and added: “It was a wonderful course, and I learnt a lot about animation!”.
According to Animation Online Course instructor Hleb Kuftseryn, the biggest challenge was to deliver practical technical knowledge to students, to show them what buttons to press and, most importantly, to be able to understand what technical problems students encountered. He was pleased that students managed both, to create their short but sufficient films and to have fun in the process. “I think that having fun is quite important because we wanted to inspire students and show them a world of animation from a good angle. And according to the student’s feedback, we accomplished this task.”
Elise Eimre, one of the course creators, said that Animation Online Course showed that students are looking for practical experiences and they are eager to learn, even in the summer. “They were so enthusiastic and positive,” she described the work environment. “Everybody helped everybody. This course was the beginning of something wonderful.”
More about Animation Online Course
The course was created by the Estonian Academy of Arts (EKA). The objective of this course was to introduce Transform4Europe’s mission and provide new knowledge and skills for students from all seven alliance universities. The course creators were Hleb Kuftseryn, Elise Eimre and Mari Kivi.
Hleb Kuftseryn is an animator and motion designer who works in the sphere of commercial and non-commercial animation. His work experience consists of projects for Belarusian, Lithuanian and Russian animation studios on festival and children’s cartoons along with freelance and studio work on commercial applied animation. Hleb practices both 2D and 3D animation and combine it with different experimental approaches.
Elise Eimre is a doctoral student at the Estonian Academy of Arts. Her research interests focus on the visual studies of film art. She has worked as a production designer and director on numerous video projects including stage designs for concert arenas. Elise is one of the programmers for the Black Nights Film festival and a project manager for Black Room.
Mari Kivi is a project manager at the Department of Animation at the Estonian Academy of Arts. She looks after student film distribution, projects for animation education and organising public screenings. She has been a board member at the Estonian Animation Association since 2019 and leads projects in animation heritage. She is one of the founders of the International Animation Festival Animist Tallinn, which will take place in August in Estonia.
More about Transform4Europe
The Transform4Europe alliance brings together seven European universities: Saarland University (Germany), the University of Alicante (Spain), the Estonian Academy of Arts (Estonia), the University of Silesia in Katowice (Poland), Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski (Bulgaria), the University of Trieste (Italy), and Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas (Lithuania).
Find out more at Transform4Europe web page: transform4europe.eu
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