Blog 2 – Collaborating with Fans

This week we shattered my understanding of collaboration and ways you can involve fans. What I would have defined collaboration as is: two or more people/parties working together to create content. However that all changed after this class, now I would define it as content that has been influenced or altered by a third party in someway, this could be as small as someone leaving a comment on a post that you’ve made.

This change in my understanding of what collaborating consists of, means that i can view almost everything as collaboration, formerly I believed that it would be years until I collaborated to the same degree as ANI111, but now I can see how I’ve been collaborating for quite some time.

A great example of collaboration and a unique way of going about it come from a famous Youtuber, Draw with Jazza. Jazza livestreams regularly on twitch where his live audience voted on different characters for him to mashup.

Innovative ways to collaborate (Draw with Jazza, 2017)

In the future I’ll begin to seize opportunities for collaboration that I never thought possible before now. Much like Jazza, a simple question over social media and feedback from friend are just the start! Collaboration is a two way street, I cannot forget it’s not just others impacting my work but also vise versa.

 

References:

Draw with Jazza. (2017). SHREK + RYUK – Character MASHUP ART CHALLENGE!. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpcIcaZ1bxg

Blog 3 – Networking

Networking is the key to success, and this week we discussed some secret interview techniques to use while doing so. This subject ties in very well to our portfolio assignment, where we were intentionally going out of our way to try to network.

As a creative practitioner every interaction, online or not is essential and somewhere down the line could land you a career. Even when you aren’t going out of your way to, you are still networking and sometimes when you least expect it someone will reach out to you with an offer or a job. This happened to me during a dentist appointment, while the dentist had his fingers and tools in my mouth doing his thing he began to chat about his son and how he was into computers and games. Eventually he took them out and he offered to pay me to teach his son the basics of animating and creating characters.

Creative Networking (TheOdd1sOut, 2016)

YouTuber TheOdd1sOut animated his experiences with a challenge that he accepted; soon after many similar YouTubers such as Jaiden Animations and itsAlexClark also decided to accept the challenge and animate their experiences. In TheOdd1sOut’s case of networking, people reached out to him after he had done something, which reminded me after watching and listening to Laim Esler, that networking isn’t a chore, it can be fun too, and in fact that it should be an enjoyable experience.

Networking is essential for success, I will have to search for people to network with but people will also be searching for me. TheOdd1sOut did it in a fun and exciting way and it was much more effective and enjoyable than going searching over social media or at functions. In the future I’ll remember to simply try to get to know others in the industry and enjoy making new friends instead of making it another chore for myself.

 

References:

TheOdd1sOut. (2016). 7 Day Vegan Challenge Baby (solves all your problems). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGZQopQTkfA

Game Developers of Wellington. (2016). GDOW – Liam Esler on Getting a Job in Games “A Degree is not Enough”. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=33&v=j4Wa4lCVRGw

Blog 1 – Being a Professional

This week we discussed Phil Fish, how and why he became famous and whether or not he is an asshole. We discussed a video which elaborated on Phil’s situation and explained why he’s in it. we then proceeded to answer questions based on our understanding and opinions based around whether or not he was an asshole. after reading the classes responses it’s clear that generally even after people have watched that video people think that Phil Fish is an asshole or they simply do not know as they don’t know him personally. what I found interesting with the 14 responses, is that I was the only person to answer No. While I agree that I don’t know him personally,  I do know part of his professional narrative. However being blunt and opinionated does not inherently make you an asshole.

This is Phil Fish (Innuendo Studios, 2014)

I believe it’s important to uphold a level of professionalism, however I don’t believe that being a professional means suppressing your opinions to achieve that professionalism. Personally I find the opposite true; that in expressing your opinion you are actually being much more professional, however I believe that you must allow others to express theirs and that the manner in which you do so are both very important. Your attitude and the way in which you present it is contagious; that’s why some people can light up the room with a smile. this carries over to social media, and by extension your audience.

We can all learn from Phil Fish and how he handled himself on social media, and use his mistakes as a model of what not to do as a creative practitioner. It’s simple, it boils down to treating others how you would like to be treated, or rather treat your audience how you want them to treat you.

 

 

References:

Innuendo Studios. (2014). This Is Phil Fish. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmTUW-owa2w