TEAcup Blog: Success story of Vasundhara Agrawal

This year Vasundhara Agrawal successfully cracked the seat for Animation at IDC-IITB. We are glad that she shared her success story with us.

CEED:

CEED Part A:

1. Most importantly keep reading newspaper.

2. Look out for logos and symbols in everyday life.( my head was always

popped out of the window while traveling to catch a glimpse of almost every

bill board or the road sign)

3. Find interesting ways to study like i used to play the logo quiz and

it really helped a lot. I also used to watch videos to some common topics

like color theory and basics of typography etc. I found this was less time

consuming than reading the actual theory and i also remembered more this

way. So improvise on your studying style because the ultimate aim is to

have fun.

CEED part B:

Keep sketching, for if you are not regularly into sketching it will take some time for you to catch up with the flow and speed. Nothing more that speed matters in the written exam, everyone has awesome ideas but you are judged on your ability to represent it. Also try and find some very good color pens and coloring medium that won't blot on the answer sheet but help you make the representation aesthetically appealing. I was short on time for my 50 marks question plus on top of it i just had color pencils to make the question which said design a website interface for a multiplex named "Navarang", this made it extremely difficult to make the text look neat and impactful. I wished for some good quality markers then.

Application:

I scored 34 in CEED part B. When IDC announced its cutoff it said 'people with score above 34 in part B can apply' that was a confusing statement. I called them up to clarify they said i could apply. That was all i needed. I knew coz my score was a borderline score my application had to do a more than decent job. I have always loved material exploration. I made a very interesting application. I was aiming for VC but just 4 days before dispatching my application i decided to apply for animation too. But i made sure both the applications were good. I got a call for both. Bottom line please take the application seriously i know people who had a very good scored but depended too much on just the score and didn't give the application a serious though, hence didn't get a call for the interview.

Written at IDC:

The idc calls the shortlisted candidates again for a written exam based on your CEED score and the application. I personally didn't do very well in either of the written exams for the fields that i had applied in. I was too nervous and overwhelmed with the talent pool that i saw.

Interview:

The Animation interview was just after my VC interview. The panel was very friendly but the first question they asked me was " Did you not understand the question for the written exam?" I was confused they said you answered it wrong. There were six characters given you had to chose any three and make a story board but you chose only one. I was dumfounded. Suddenly they said ok so tell us the story now. Sir repeated the characters and asked me to chose any three and tell a story. My mind was in a cooperative mood and helped me spin an interesting story with a twist in the end. They liked it.

I had a less than a minutes video to show, they liked that too. It was a paper cut video so i showed them the cut characters too. They asked me question on my application material. They also asked me if i got into VC and Animation which one i would chose. I tried to dodge the question but being unsuccessful i told them the truth that i'll chose VC. To justify my answer i started to show them my VC portfolio. They were very interested seeing my material exploration and some of the very traditional methods i had used in my work. They said all the best and nice meeting you. I thanked them being so sure i wouldn't get a call as i had clearly told them i want VC. But i guess they knew it better.

Some tips and tricks that worked for me:

1. Explore youtube, a video lingers longer in your mind.

2. Go through the site of IDC and see the specialization fields of the

faculty.This will help you decide on what lines the application should be

prepared, also if you are able to perceive the interest point of the panel

in the interview you can present better. Like later when i checked my

animation panel had specialization on story telling, that explained how i

made up for the mistake i made in the written exam.

3. Try out something different. There are no rules in this field so

enjoy the freedom.

4. India is a very culturally and traditionally rich country, try to

show that in your work.