Falcon Focus: Senior plans to continue animation through college

Going into her freshman year, senior Courtney Maa never expected that taking one little animation class could take her so far.

Under instruction of teacher Tony Palma, the class allowed Maa to develop Maa an immediate interest in the class and its subject. She has mastered Adobe Flash and has garnered skills such as better artistic ability and judgement on movement of characters.

“I’ve never had any experience with animation before so when I was choosing classes I saw the class and I thought, ‘Oh that seems pretty cool,'” Maa said. “My mom was like ‘I think you should take that class’ after I read about it.”

After the starter course, Maa enrolled into the MAP Program, where she expanded her interest.

“[When I first took the class] I never thought I would actually consider majoring in animation,” Maa said. “I’m glad I took the class it taught me a lot and I really learned to love animation.”

While most students are accustomed to watching animation come together on the screen, Maa works behind the scenes, creating her own animation projects and videos.

“I like the fact it’s creative and you can take still images and make them into moving scenes.” Maa said. “I like that you can make pictures come to life and become interactive.”

Maa has made a number of short animation films, ranging from a piece of toast being put into a toaster to a slide show on 2011 spring fashion trends.

“My ideas come from my interests and my environment,” Maa said. “I also pay attention to what’s going on.”

Maa also uses her animation skills for class projects.

“[The civil rights video] was for a MAP project and I did it with my friend Alex Chan,” said Maa.
According to Maa, animation is often tedious and time-consuming. A certain video could take up to a few days or a few weeks.

“It’s really stressful at times because it goes into my homework time,” Maa said. “But I enjoy animation a lot and I always have lots of fun with it.”

Even though she has been working on animation for four years, Maa does not want to focus entirely on animation in college.

“I want to continue with animation but I want to pursue some of my other interests too,” Maa said. “So I’ll probably double major.”

Maa is going to UC Berkeley, and she is planning to study nutritional science and toxicology in addition to animation. Maa recommends animation for anyone who wants to try something new.

“It’s a lot of fun,” Maa said. “You get to be creative and use your imagination, and apply an idea and watch it come to life on screen.”