Enter the Mimpi dream world at EXPOTEES

An entirely new female animated character is set to make her debut at the University’s annual EXPOTEES event.

The character is part of a short animation entitled Mimpi, Malay for dream, and will be screened at EXPOTEES, which is now in its sixth year and showcases the final year projects of students from the School of Computing. Mimpi has been created by Anisa Sanusi, 20, a BA (Hons) Computer Animation student from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The 2D animation is a collaborative effort, combined with an original acoustic guitar piece produced by Edward A. Guy, a Digital Music Creation graduate.

Anisa said: ‘Mimpi is a visual expression of Edward’s music, which I think most people would love to listen to. The female character is influenced by eastern-style animation. She starts off in her room and from there she delves into a dream world and in this world she expresses her creative freedom.

‘I met Edward through a fellow Teesside student and he has kindly agreed to compose a musical number for Mimpi.

‘I’m hoping to get something out of EXPOTEES and the opportunities it offers. I’d like to start my animation career in the UK and my long-term ambition is to be a producer.’

A record number of exhibits A record 103 students will be displaying their work at an exhibition on Wednesday 6 April, from 1.00pm to 4.30pm, in the Athena Building.

A specific Schools and Colleges event follows on Thursday 7 April and the exhibition is open again on Friday 8 April from 9.00am until 4.30pm. It is free and open to the public, including employers, industry representatives and students.

The first day of EXPOTEES on 6 April will be followed by the EXPOTEES Awards from 4.45pm to 5.45pm, where 15 final year students will be awarded prizes in recognition of their projects.

The awards are open to all third year computing students and prizes will include a variety of internship opportunities with Visualsoft, SAGE, Framestore and CBeebies, the UK’s number one children’s preschool channel. There are also four six month internships with Ubisoft Reflections, one of the world’s leading computer games companies. To clinch the CBeebies placement, the students must enter the EXPOTEES pitch event, pitching their concepts for a final year project in no more than ten minutes to a panel of CBeebies professionals.

The judging panel this year will include Paul Shuttleworth, CBeebies’ Executive Producer, Nicole Seymour, Senior Content Producer and Sarah Parsons, a Researcher for CBeebies Interactive.

Being on the panel is a role reversal for Teesside Web Design graduate Sarah, as she achieved the CBeebies internship in May 2009 while a final year student. Her prize winning pitch was for a project entitled The Town, an interactive experience featuring a secret agent and two criminals.

The awards will be partnered by a networking event, Experts@tees, from 4.45pm to 6.15pm. The first day will be concluded by the TEDxTeessideUniversity event, from 6.00pm to 9.00pm, in the University’s Phoenix Building. At TEDxTeessideUniversity, there will be four speakers, along with the screening of TED talks that have taken place globally. The four speakers will include Peter Dodds, who worked on the Oscar nominated film The Illusionist. More about EXPOTEES

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