May 22, 2022 Image She/Her Senior, Animation Virginia M. Binger Senior Animation Merit Scholarship $4,000Online Portfolio St. Michael, Minnesota Describe the work you submitted for merits. My animation work is generally character-based, focusing on the struggles and small moments of each character. I enjoy implementing personal flaws and struggles that I have and exploring them in the medium of animation. What implements this the most is my Character Animation Final which I was able to best explore my character's inner conflict come out in a burst of frustration. I feel like my storytelling is at its best with my storyboards, specifically with my final storyboard. It's unlike any of my other work in its subject matter, but it's a good stretch to my storytelling skills. A larger form of my storytelling would be with my rigged animation with Orion, a character which is also shown in a lot of other work like my character design lineup and my logo animation. He has been a big point of inspiration ever since I designed him and even if logo animation is not something I typically do, it's quickly become one of my favorite pieces. Why did you decide to come to MCAD? I decided to come to MCAD because of the closeness to me, the range of work being produced that made me feel welcomed, and the fact that one of my favorite artists, Owen Dennis, was a previous graduate. Favorite thing about college life (so far)? My favorite thing about college life is the ability to constantly get critique and feedback in a safe environment that allows me to learn and improve my work. What are your plans for your senior year? And beyond? I plan to further push my work further with my senior project next semester and learn as much as I can here. After my time here at MCAD, my dream is to become a show-runner What's the best thing you've got from MCAD's free shelf? I found this cute leather keychain of a giraffe drinking a tropical drink; it is now on my keychain at all times. What inspires you? A lot of things inspire me. I can't really point down anything in particular, but I guess one big point of inspiration is consuming media made by other creatives. Things like movies, shows, songs, just stories in general. Do you have a favorite piece you've made? Describe it! My favorite piece would be my Character Animation Final. It was my first time implementing reference video for a big project and it turned out really well and made me value reference video a lot more. Along with that, the motion and character acting feels genuine and fits with the characters used. My few gripes with it however, are the wiggly lines that could've been fixed with some clean-up and some rushed areas, but it was monumental for being an animation that even years later feels great to me. Anything you're obsessed with at the moment? I just watched Jujutsu Kaisen 0 with my roommate the other day and it was amazing! The funny and badass characters, the continuing intrigue into this world, and the animation were all fantastic. The fight scenes alone were enough to blow me away and I would love to study them once it comes to home media. I can't wait for season 2 of the show later this year.