Tuesday 3 September 2013

Volunteering at Bucks


What is volunteering? Why should students at Bucks volunteer? And what exactly should an animation student volunteer for, anyway?

For students, volunteering can mean lots of things. It could mean helping out at the local hospital, or doing environmental work such as helping to clean up local parks. But it can also be about developing your profesional skills. Animators can help out with live briefs – that is to say, getting involved with professional projects in the wider world.

But what kind of professional work can animator students realistically volunteer for? Well, it might be a charity who might want a promotional video. Or maybe they need a website designed. Or an animated logo. It could be pretty much anything. For most students, your first reaction is likely to be “well, I don’t know how to do that yet, so what use can I be?” Fear not, much of what we do here at Bucks is to encourage students to develop and hone their skills – and we would never push any student to do a project they don’t feel yet comfortable they can tackle.

Right now, the demand for animated films for company promotion is large and growing.  We think that in a few years time almost every company will want its own animated video. In the same way that, ten years ago, no-one could foresee that every plumber would need their own website, in the decades to come we predict that animation will become commercially ubiquitous - everyone is going to want their own personal animated logo, promotion film or ident.

Recently, we’ve been working on a short animated film project for a big global development organization – the folks who dig wells in developing countries. The film is all about how the organisation works - or, sometimes, how it doesn't. You can see more about the project, crafted by some of our recent graduates, here.

We recommend volunteering, both as a way of giving something to the local community and as a way of developing your own skills.

For more information on volunteering at Bucks, contact Jane Bower at jane.bower@bucks.ac.uk
 
---Alex


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