Initially when the group formed I had worked with 2 of the members before on different projects in the previous year and had no particular issues so I was looking forward to starting the project. I knew from the start that I wanted to be a cog in a machine rather then be in charge of a group or have to organise other people, I wanted to take the chance to gain an insight of what it would be like in the industry as I would be happy to be told what to do. Initially when we started to work on the film we were told to try having multiple projects rather then just the one but the group very quickly decided to work on just Dave's film. When we first started working on Dave's film it was more of a concept then a solid film all we had was the basic story and character designs which to be honest was the same as most films.
A lot of the first term the team took a lot of blows in confidence as the film was not praised, we had no positive feedback and everyone's passion for the film was beginning to waver. Although this was effecting Dave more then the rest as every iteration of the story he had was knocked and the rest of us were focusing on Dan's unit we never really got to think about it other then think this may not turn out as planned.
It wasn't until after Christmas and what was now the 4 or 5 iteration of the animatic that I went to Dave's house for a weekend and we spent the whole time solid working together on the animatic this is when the groups confidence started to pick up. I really felt that Dave and I were on the same level with how we wanted the film to look and it really ignited my passion for the film and so I think the positivity rubbed off on the group. Everyone was happy with what we had and the group really pulled together. Character designs started getting finalised and the models started getting built, within a few weeks we had a character model for the marmot and a model of the man made by Clym. A few weeks into the second term we also had a pitch to do where we were required to have a final test render for our films to show our style. I spent the weekend before the the pitch creating a making of movie purely for the pitch and I personally felt our pitch was the most well prepared out of all the films, we even got an applause from the rest of the class but again we received negative feedback and the team was disheartened again.
It wasn't until the next day that we were sitting in the common area on level 4 after talking to one of our tutors gave us positive feedback, from that day the groups dynamic changed and we really pulled together. Everything in the film was going well except unfortunately one of the group members quite often wasn't coming in as they were working from home when the rest of us were in everyday, this was worrying as they were our lead animator and it began to feel like they were trying to distance them self from us. This became awkward at times as we would be making changes to scene that would all happen during a day at uni.
This distancing continued through the third term which was a shame as the group dynamic had become so enjoyable, we would be going for lunch on the rare occasion they were in uni and they wouldn't join us. It got to the stage we had to get a 2nd year animator on board who in truth saved our film. Other then these issues the biggest show of how this team worked together as a group was the fact we finished the film and even though there are still tweaks to be made for the degree show I am happy with the end result and feel I have learnt valuable lessons
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