At the beginning of the semester, we visited the animation studio NEXUS, a creative studio based in London, UK, focusing on the production of animation and visual effects. As an independent production and animation studio, their work is highly acclaimed and makes a positive contribution to cultural exchange. In addition to London, the studio has opened studios in Los Angeles and Sydney to achieve a global, international reach. The studios in each country are able to produce interesting content for an international audience, where different cultures and aesthetic elements are exchanged and blended to provide a wider range of choices for the audience.

They move seamlessly between entertainment, branded content and technology. The studio covers a wide range of areas, whether it’s 2D, 3D or stop-motion animation, and even experiments with AR\XR. Working with real-time technology is both technically and creatively groundbreaking. Nowadays, with the advancement and innovation of technology, computers and artificial intelligence have been widely accepted by the public, animation is not only limited to traditional animated film and TV programme production, it has penetrated into many fields such as advertising, game development, Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) applications, medical and scientific visualisation, education and so on. This diversification has made the animation industry very dynamic, so when I watch film animation projects from studios and some commercial collaborations, I find that the number of 3D animations is much higher. I think this is an inevitable choice of technological advancement in our society nowadays, as 2D animation has a longer and more costly production cycle, and 3D animation is able to produce more exciting, realistic and exaggerated effects in less time.

When I visited the staff production area, basically all the staff were working with 3D software. After I listened to the studio head’s introduction of the animation production process, I was deeply aware of the complexity of the running process of a truly mature animation company. From the initial concept to the production of the final product, many different aspects and expertise are required. 3D animation production usually requires large-scale teamwork, including animators, modellers, programmers, artists and sound designers. After the tour I gained a deeper understanding of how these professionals work together to create high quality animation. At the same time, there is another layer where the project matching staff work, they need to match the project with the A company, understand each other’s needs and convey the needs to the animation team; then screen the animation team’s proposal and communicate with the A party to finalise it, and control the overall progress of the project tempo and operation, which is a very important part of the project.

There is a delicate balance between creativity and technique in animation. Many of the animated films I watched were mv animated for music, which is imagined based on the music, not unfounded images, they need to echo the animated images based on the composer’s story, the mood and tone of the music rendering. The studio handled this aspect of the balance very well, not only echoing the music but also immersing people in the animated performance. It inspired me a lot on how to combine creativity and technology in animation.

At the same time, after visiting a real commercial studio, I also felt the challenges and competition in the industry. The competition in the 3D animation industry is fierce, and there are often many companies competing for a single project, which means that studios also need to keep improving and upgrading, to gain popularity and show strong strength, and studios also need to submit animations to animation festival competitions, and winning awards is a reflection of the entity of the animation studio. If you want to stand out in the industry, winning awards at festivals is a good way to do it. There are many collaborators and industry players at the festivals, which increases exposure and attracts collaborations, and NEXUS Studios have gone from winning BAFTAs and Cannes Grand Prix spots to Oscar-nominated shorts, thanks to their technical expertise. Oscar-nominated short films, to Grammy-winning music promos, animated series and groundbreaking title sequences. Their achievements have also inspired me to become more involved in animation research, as I have seen first-hand examples of success and learnt that hard work and continuous learning are the keys to realising your animation dreams.

I am very grateful to the school to provide us with such an opportunity to let us really contact, understand the real animation industry how they run, how to develop and progress. It gives me a better understanding of the future employment and development direction, and a clearer understanding of my future career development plan. At the same time, I still have a lot to learn and understand, and have a developmental and diversified attitude towards the learning of animation skills.