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102. Reality checks and new perspectives

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102. Reality checks and new perspectives

Insights from student capstone projects

Kevin Zhai
May 15, 2023
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I guess this past week was the last week of school at CalArts because YouTube’s been recommending a bunch of animation capstone projects. It’s so cool seeing the variety of styles and topics. What’s more, the students’ work also provides hard data on how long it really takes to produce an “amateur” project in this medium, even for shorts that are only a few minutes long.

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I’ve been making slower progress than I hoped for on my own 2-week sprint, but I haven’t been too hard on myself about it because I realized how unrealistic my estimates were after a few days of timed effort and from watching these videos.

I used to look at these student films as feats of magic. I had an inferiority complex that students who got into these schools were way better at art than I was. My “what’s the point” attitude was amplified by the sense that I shouldn’t work on something that wouldn’t guarantee me a high-paying job after graduation.

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As I was watching this week though, I thought something I’ve never thought before: I definitely could have accomplished something like this.

At this point, I’m confident I have the technical foundation and an understanding of the overall process. Now it’s just a matter of commitment and time.

Anyway, check out some of the student films from this year and let me know what your favorite was!

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061. Examining the purpose of knowledge

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I learned this fancy term recently: unreflective instrumentalism. It’s a belief that the pursuit of knowledge is worthless unless it leads to material gain (e.g. profit). There’s an entire content-creation industry around telling people what they need

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