Polski and a guy named Chopin

Possibly the greatest opportunity I will ever be handed on a plate! A few weeks back I flew over to Poland. I spent the Sunday afternoon lunching with a film producer, an assistant director and a lovely girl from the production office called Aga. My base for the week was at Aga's flat and my job for the week was uncertain. The next morning I climbed a flight of derelict graffitied stairs and I arrived at the Project Chopin studio, I was shown around and left to watch the art department at work whilst they found me a job...I sat in silence no one dared to speak to me and I didnt know a word of Polish. After what seemed like a lifetime a lovely girl called Ala popped her head round the corner and shyly asked me if I wanted to help her. I did. We were making props, we made newspapers, light switches and boxes. I was begining to learn about the world of stop frame animation. We watched some of the first 3D experiments being put together and everyone got excited at lunchtime as there was a new catering team serving us this week!

(Ala in the Art Dept.)

(the main studio space, lighting department and awesome fire warning on back wall!)

To be honest the first couple of days were hard: I was shy, nervous and embarassed about the language barriers but I got used to it. I began to enjoy reading body language and communicating through mime. Infact it was interesting to discuss with Aga (whos english is better than mine) at the end of the day whilst we were shopping, eating or laughing.

Towards the end of the week I started to help make a street out of black latex! This was most fun, latex is like sniffing a thousand marker pens and is incredibly satisfying to peel off your hands.

(me being good and wearing my gas mask)

(our street, drying)

By this point I had also learnt that the reason for the graffitti was there was a skatepark in the unit opposite the studio as well as a textiles mill! What a magic place to be!
thursday night wsas my last we went to see some crazy polish jazz called Shofar in an amazing surrealist bar called Kaliska basically the only way to describe this place is 'fucking sexy' the ladies toilets upstair have those walls like in a police station where they appear mirrored on the outside but when your sat on the loo you can watch the whole bar! It was a sweet night and a great send off.

(Martin, Aga and Antek in Kaliska, fun times!)

Friday at work was sad. I said my goodbyes, people were shocked. They had only just got used to me being around. Ala's English had improved incredibly my polish not so much but I could manage the bare essentials. My journey home was not good.
The greatest thing about my experience on Project Chopin was that I got to know the entire crew, from every department and how they worked and what made each of them tick and how they all slot together like one massive puzzle. Other students on placement dont get such a well rounded experience. On my last day I took Ala to Martin's (anamatic director) office and asked him to show us the full anamatic for the Paris scene (which had been approved that morning) she said that was the first and last time she would get to go in that office!
One thing I have learnt from my time in Poland is that you will always fight for happiness. Even when you are in a job you love, in an amazing country, where everyone is so lovely and Vodka is so cheap. I don't think as humans we will ever be satisfied with what we have, I don't think I met a single persion there that was. But I dont think thats a bad thing, fighting for something better is what keeps you alive. Right?

In The Studio

This is a very very late post but mainly because what I'm about to tell you about is still on going.
Back towards the end of July, I went to a work placement with Darren Leader who teaches on my course. He helped me fall head over heels in love with type (opposed to the small crush I had on it before we met) and therefore I grew a lot of respect for what he does the way he works and the way he thinks. Placement with Darren was great, he was really busy at the time which was tricky for me I had to be patient and shut up and wait. Not my greatest skill. Despite this Darren gave me jobs that he knew would help me learn. And I did. He gave me basically my own job to design the corporate ID for a music management company called Fast Tractor, cool name, cool company, cool client (who bought me doughnuts and flowers! before I pitched!) so were still in the process of finishing it off. I'm really excited to post the final product once its all printed and shiny!