Our last semester is nearing. Shockingly. It's happened fast. The last semester brings many things,  aside from the pending job hunt and figuring out what happens next stuff, it offers us the opportunity to pitch our own projects.

Up until this point the staff of the MDM have arranged our industry projects and assigned us to teams. But for our final semester we are afforded the opportunity to create our own teams and pitch our own ideas.

The requirements for the student pitched projects are very specific, they must either be a viable business or a public service, must have a team of at least five students and must have an external, industry sponsor. A project just for the sake of it wont be approved. A project which isn't collaborative wont be approved. A project not anchored in industry wont be approved. These, in a way, are the pillars of the MDM - real world, industry driven, collaborative work.

To kick start the pitching and pre-production Mark Freeman took the initiative to organize an open kimono session. The practice of open kimono sessions has strong roots in the technology industry where such meetings were the time to freely share ideas and information without the fear of having your ideas stolen. A couple weeks ago our cohort gathered and nearly everyone presented an idea, some people even presented multiple ideas.

It was impressive and inspiring to see the range and depth of thought. From comic book inspired video games to reinventing flash cameras, the ideas covered the gamete of digital media. Even though most of the ideas presented wont come to fruition next semester for practical reasons - there are only so many projects that can be supported - our cohort is brimming with some impassioned entrepreneurship.

The open kimono served other purposes as well. It was both a filter and an incubator. Naturally, some of the ideas presented weren't as completely thought through as others. To the credit of those presenting, you could tell they knew their ideas weren't complete, but they persisted nonetheless; it seemed like they were using the session as a  catalyst for developing the idea further while others used the opportunity to test the waters and gauge interest in an idea.

It's interesting to watch as some of the ideas that were merely kernels a couple weeks ago are now developing in to full fledged projects, and some of the most complete ideas have fallen by the wayside. It's the natural process of group oriented creativity. We aren't a bunch of hermetic artists who suddenly reveal our creations; we are a group of yellers and shouters and sharers and debaters; this was the essence of the experience.

As things shake down and most of my cohort align themselves with different projects  or decide to continue with the school assigned industry projects, it's clear that the exercise was a great benefit as both a means of expression and a practical matter of getting the process started.

Like all creative endeavours, however, the next step is always the hardest - how do you make an idea real. And that's where we find ourselves now. Working to assemble business plans, line up external sponsors, complete teams, while keeping it all scoped appropriately for a three month enterprise. Oh yeah, and continue work on our industry projects and game design class.

Mark Freeman in his open kimono.