There were so many stories and moments I've learnt and experienced through both my NE7 student teams in the 3 weeks of production they had.
Here are my top 10 memorable things i've learnt about my teams, Yarney Barney and ShiNyGirls.
1. On the first day the top 10 teams came to Nanyang Polytechnic, they were given and introduction to what they'll be doing and where their tents will be. ShiNyGirls first thoughts were how cold the place was but in no time their bond helped warmed up the place.
2. The girls of Yarney Barney came prepared with lots of food, goodies and Monopoly Deal. They were excited and preparing to camp in their tent for 3 weeks only to realize that they weren't allowed to stay overnight. It really shows the determination these girls had.
3. I found out that one of the girls in ShiNyGirls had a curfew and her parents expected her to leave NYP for home at 6pm each day. It dawned on me how young these girls really are. Sometimes just watching their talent unfold, you forget that they are only 13 year olds working on projects that most adults might not even know how to do.
4. By the first week, Yarney Barney started to claim their crib by placing drawings all over their tent. This includes an aquarium with a shark, pink fluffy unicorn and status/warning signs. I love how enthusiastic they were with more than just animation of their N.E.mation project. They had creativity spilling over everywhere.
5. ShiNyGirls experienced not once but three occasions where they lost their hard work! The first time was due to their instructor tripping on their power cable, the 2nd time due to a power outage and the 3rd time when one of the computers went wonky. Lesson learnt was to always save your work. After these occasions, one of the girls will shout out every few minutes to make sure everyone in their team saves their work!
6. Yarney Barney girls are not only talented with animation and drawing. They all play the piano and two of the girls can play the violin too! Three out of the four girls are athletics and would schedule time out for exercise daily. These are the sort of well rounded individuals that our schools have been trying to encourage.
7. Amberly and Wenqi of ShiNyGirls are on twitter and it has been interesting chatting with them and hearing their opinions on my blog posts even when I'm not at the production site all the time. Social media has played a big part and I hope it'll help bring more awareness to the wonderful work they have been doing too.
8. Yarney Barney shared with me their YB theme song, 'Pink Fluffy Unicorns Dancing on Rainbows' and other cute pointless YouTube videos they watch to distress. Now the songs have invaded my subconscious and I sing the songs whenever I think of them.
9. ShiNyGirls wrote their own poetry for their animation clip. It's awesome but I can't share it with you yet. Watch out for their final clip!
10. Yarney Barney did an original music composition for their animation clip. They will be playing and singing this in their animation!
Bonus – Yarney Barney has a pet dinosaur that couldn't grow up no matter how they tried to entice it to. Ask them about it!