Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Graduation, Studies in Germany and some walking

Many things have happened in all the time that has passed...
First of all,

I GRADUATED!!!

After four years of intensive learning (yeah right) I got my Bachelor of Engineering in Audiovisual Media from the Stuttgart Media University! And yes… thank you mom for pretty much pushing me to get an engineering degree. I bet she is really proud of me now! But I am really thankful to her, since my technical background has come really in handy and has given me a huge advantage now that I specialize in Computer Animation. I still got to do what I love to do, but now I even know what is involved behind it…

It was an incredible time! I would always repeat everything what happened if I had to choose again! Studying in Germany and at the Stuttgart Media University is awesome for many reasons

People are incredibly friendly and dedicated!
The program is really broad (it involves all Media types) but gives you a solid base knowledge on them and a lot of free time which you can use to specialize in the Media you like.
While not all of them, faculty is really experienced and open to help you out. I was even fortunate enough to actually build friendships with a few.
It has great exchange opportunities to go abroad and specialize in deep in whatever you want. (Singapore FTW!)
University does not cost, so you can spend that money traveling, widening your horizons.
You can drink beer already with 16 so forget about no alcohol on college. (we could even buy beers at university)
Parties? Germans students do know how to have fun!!!
Stuttgart is a small city (500k+) but big enough to offer a wide variety of entertainment. Plus, the FMX is held in Stuttgart too! If you are doing something with CG, it is a great place to be around.

Those are really just a few of all the reasons why I loved studying there… thank you Germany, thanks for making it possible for everyone to study in your beautiful country. You will always have my gratitude and appreciation!





The last months of University were really cool! I had to only write my Thesis since all my credits from Singapore got transferred. It was therefore a rather chilled semester. It was the semester where I got to really delight myself in a peaceful student life enjoying all the benefits of great friendships at a great place. It was definitely the best ending for this chapter!


Now you might wonder what on earth I wrote my Thesis about… Well it wasn’t any animation or heavy duty techy stuff… It was probably the last time I could go crazy and try to go experimental pushing certain limits, so I spent three months putting in words a dream I have of the future of the Computer Graphics Industry.

My Thesis is called:

 “Concept of an Open Online Production Community-Studio”





Abstract
This Bachelor Thesis presents the concept of an Open Online Production Community-Studio. The Community-Studio, called Madding Crowd, is conceived as a non-profit organisation, dedicated to bring independent film projects to life through crowd collaboration in a virtual studio open to anyone interested.


For the creation of this virtual studio, the way existing normal production studios and online communities work is analysed and these features are then transferred and adapted to fit a state of the art open online facility which can be accessed by anyone, everywhere, anytime.
(click on the Madding Crowd logo if you want to read it!)

It was really fun coming out with all the ideas that form Madding Crowd and it felt really great to go crazy and do something outside of the box that could potentially benefit all artists in the industry. I look forward to hear from you if you get to read it! Don’t hesitate to contact me.


After sitting on a chair in front of my computer for the last 4 years I also decided to go out for a walk. So three days after I finished writing my Thesis I found myself at Irun in Spain on my own, walking the northern St. James Way (Camino de Santiago). With my small backpack I walked for about 1000km through the entire Spanish coast till the End of the World, Finisterre.



An incredible journey full of adventures, experiences, bonding with nature and wonderful people that took over a month under immense heat, rain, sweat, cold, mountains, tendinitis, pain, sun, beaches, sleeping bag, stars, birds, stories… I could go on and on about it, I really loved it! It was by far the biggest physical challenge I have had and a big pause in my life where I got to live a completely different one, the one of a pilgrim. It was amazing!

After the “short” walk I weighted 6kg less and had cleared my mind completely since I had a LOT of time to think about my life and what comes next. When I came back many things happened that changed the course of my life. But more on that at a later point… let’s just say,

things are getting a little bit mad…

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