Future of Change Scholarship winner starts “tailor-made” degree

While growing up in Jaipur, India, Abhimanyu Gupta says his curiosity for visual storytelling evolved from writing his own comic books to experimenting with software to creating his first motion picture. 

“My inclination towards visual storytelling began when I realised reading novels and books was not my forte,” he says.

By high school, Mr Gupta was practising as a freelance graphic designer while learning the ropes of Adobe to create designs. 

“It was then, I made up my mind to study the discipline of animation and interactive storytelling, and to be a part of the future of change in media design.” 

During his school years, Abhimanyu started to experiment with virtual and augmented reality, which was a turning point for him. 

“I have always dreamt of unleashing the actual powers of virtual and augmented realities by using its full potential, not just as a form of entertainment, but by blending it into the education sector to enhance learning experiences and bring about a change in society.” 

Now Mr Gupta is one of five students to have won a UNSW Future of Change Scholarship, a grant established to attract high-achieving students from India to undertake studies at UNSW. 

He says having the opportunity to study at UNSW Art & Design and live in Australia is a dream come true. 

“Studying in such a renowned and highly ranked university is itself a matter of pride for me. The opportunity will provide me with all the advanced skills, knowledge and design capabilities to pursue a variety of professional pathways.

“I want to graduate with as many skill sets as possible during my studies, stay persistent, and be curious for these three years.” 

Mr Gupta says his degree is “tailor-made”, providing skill sets across a range of key areas within contemporary creative media and the core foundations of animation, sound, interactive and emerging media technologies.

“The Bachelor of Media Arts encompasses everything I ever wanted to learn and explore. I’m really excited to learn visual effects and interactive media, particularly augmented and virtual reality and motion capture.”

After UNSW, Mr Gupta is looking to gain a variety of work experience and aspires to a career in directing animation or visual effects for the likes of Pixar, DreamWorks and Sony Pictures. 

He envisions the future of virtual and augmented realities as transforming education across the globe. 

“I wish to bring in a revolution with my field of work, boost learning capacity and bring out the highest potential in every student in all fields of discipline throughout the world, and especially my country, India.”

Watch this space.