The One Academy’s School of Digital Media Design held an engaging event that brought students from different batches together to participate in fun activities outside the four walls of their classrooms. A week-long event, Monocon 2022 also played host to many renowned experts who shared their journey working in the digital media industry, broadening the students’ knowledge on the vast careers opportunities and exciting experiences that await them.
The One Academy’s alumnus, Jim Chuah, better known as the founder and director of FNL PRJCT, a multidisciplinary independent studio responsible for creating ads, motion graphics and animations, shared his experience in running an advertising agency. In his session titled ‘Trust the Process’, he talked about managing clients, handling a team and scheduling project timelines. All of which were important tips not just for the working world, but also when dealing with assignments.
He started off his talk by sharing the importance of knowing how to challenge the client. Most advertising agencies face problems when it comes to handling clients, mainly because they expect the outcome to be exactly the way they envisioned it. However, as designers, animators or artists, they have a better idea on what works best. He mentioned that it is vital to let the client know if something cannot be done or if it is not going to work. Upon advising the client on this, he told them to further explain the reasoning behind it. The knowledge designers have is far more in depth, thus, it is crucial to let clients know when something is just not fitting.
After letting students in on how to deal with clients, the exciting part of the talk began. He shared the behind-the-scenes of his agency’s biggest and toughest projects. In conjunction with the Hari Raya celebration in 2020, a client requested for an animated short story. The challenging part was that they insisted on Pixar quality animation within two months. Chuah and his team of illustrators, animators and motion graphic artists came up with a storyboard together with the character design. Unfortunately, the character development part gained a lot of criticism from the clients, causing the project to take longer than expected as the team had to redo some of the characters. Throughout the project they had to find ways to adapt accordingly to every situation. Each team member played his/her role to bring the project to life, ensuring its quality while meeting the deadline.
“Always remember that failure is a process, not a result. Trust the process and give your best every day,” he encouraged the students to take it one step at a time.
In the next segment, he went on to share with the audience the team’s project on creating a motion graphic promotional video titled ‘ThisNorThat’ for a virtual fashion brand. It was a fun project where the team got to work on six different outfits, highlighting the uniqueness of each in separate video clips. Though it took several different versions to gain approval, the final product however was so captivating and aesthetically pleasing that the clients were very satisfied with its outcome.
During the Q&A session, Chuah was asked by one of the students how he manages delegating tasks as well as checking on everyone’s progress. He simply replied by saying communication is key. He constantly checks with the team if they can achieve their parts according to the timeline. By the end of the session, the students left with a clearer picture of what the industry is like and how to deal with teammates. They were also reminded to always play by each other’s strengths.
Jim Chuah, founder and director of FNL PRJCT during his sharing at Monocon 2022.
The One Academy is committed to providing the best art education programmes and continues to nurture its students passionately through its “Masters Train Masters” coaching philosophy, which has been practised for over 30 years, by providing diploma and degree courses in Advertising & Graphic Design, Digital Animation, Digital Media Design, Film Visual Effects, Interior Architecture & Design, Illustration, Fine Arts, Paris Fashion Design & Pattern Making, Computer Science and Game Design. For more information on The One Academy, visit www.toa.edu.my or call +603-7875 5510 or e-mail your enquiries to [email protected].
Online Education Fair 线上教育展
The One Academy of Communication Design
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