On Saturday, September 13, I attended a talk session led by Paul Harrod, director of Bent Image Lab, titled "Braving the Waters of Independence While Staying Small, Adaptable & Creative." I was initially interested in the session because of my goals to keep a maximum flow of creativity within my role in a large or small company. Independent studios have caught my eye because of their ability to push the stylistic boundaries that larger studios will not examine. Much of what Paul said was helpful in this regard, as he was clear that his studio's model was to keep afloat while having small groups on strict project status. He iterated that different sources of mediums shouldn't be discounted if they would help a project; an initiative that has carried his studio to not being tied to a particular look. This is also achieved through the studio's constant examination of its pool of designers and animators. Paul gave me a good sense of what areas an animation studio like his could flourish in today apart from commercials, including music videos and, because of traditional television advertising's popularity decline in recent years, internet advertising. For both music video and internet advertising, dedicated teams of people are needed as well as inexpensive and good ways to achieve the desired look of the product. However, internet advertising, Paul noted, is now an efficient method of placing far-reaching advertising without paying the distribution costs. As our projects have already demonstrated, we will be working to finalize a product viewable on the internet, which could give us ample experience to transfer our skills towards traditional animation studios switching to the medium, such as Bent Image Lab.