Evaluation:
Here is the evaluation of my animation, with audience feedback.
Research:
- For my research I looked at various different film based learning, by this I looked at: Heroes and Villains then chose there significant bands which were:
film genres, film sub genre, animation, director, cinematography in film, primary and secondary research.
For each heading above I have involved separate pages for each heading, I chose to do that because I liked that each page and their own, chosen page and it was easy to establish which piece of information went with.
- For the research on film genres, I simply looked up what each individual genre were for films, these are listed below as:
Action, Adventure, Comedies, Crime / Gangsters, Drama, Epics / Historical, Horror, Musicals / Dance, Science Fiction, War, and also Western.
- I really liked looking up these varied genres because I got a much better instinct of what films go into these very different classifications for films. I added some information about each genre, and developed further by giving examples of films to tie in with that specific genre, eg:
- Science Fiction:
Sci-Fi films are usually imaginative and have a lot of visionary uses, they are packed full of heroes, villains and even the odd alien. Most things that sci-Fi films have is that it all mostly futuristic based and can be made in any place. Science Fiction also often expresses the potential of technology to destroy humankind and overlaps with the genre of horror.
- Some Sci-Fi films are:
Prometheus, The Matrix, Avatar and Alien.
I then decided to add a YouTube clip, for one of the chosen films for this one I chose Prometheus which is located on my 'Film Genres' page.
film genres, film sub genre, animation, director, cinematography in film, primary and secondary research.
For each heading above I have involved separate pages for each heading, I chose to do that because I liked that each page and their own, chosen page and it was easy to establish which piece of information went with.
- For the research on film genres, I simply looked up what each individual genre were for films, these are listed below as:
Action, Adventure, Comedies, Crime / Gangsters, Drama, Epics / Historical, Horror, Musicals / Dance, Science Fiction, War, and also Western.
- I really liked looking up these varied genres because I got a much better instinct of what films go into these very different classifications for films. I added some information about each genre, and developed further by giving examples of films to tie in with that specific genre, eg:
- Science Fiction:
Sci-Fi films are usually imaginative and have a lot of visionary uses, they are packed full of heroes, villains and even the odd alien. Most things that sci-Fi films have is that it all mostly futuristic based and can be made in any place. Science Fiction also often expresses the potential of technology to destroy humankind and overlaps with the genre of horror.
- Some Sci-Fi films are:
Prometheus, The Matrix, Avatar and Alien.
I then decided to add a YouTube clip, for one of the chosen films for this one I chose Prometheus which is located on my 'Film Genres' page.
- For sub-genres I looked up the other major genres from most films, these are:
Romance, chick-flicks, Supernatural, Thriller and Suspense, Fantasy and Animation.
- I liked looking up these sub-genres again, because I knew what would fall under that category. I added some more information about each sub-genre, and then I developed it further by then giving examples of which films then tie into that sub-category eg:
- Supernatural:
Supernatural films, can combine with comedies, sci-fi, fantasy or horror. This genre can contain many themes such as: gods or goddesses, ghosts, apparitions and spirits or miracles. However, most supernatural films up until recently were usually presented in a comical, whimsical or romantic fashion.
Some Supernatural films are:
The Exorcist, The Rite, The Shining, and The Others.
I then added a YouTube clip for each of these chosen sub-genres. For this particular one on 'Supernatural' I chose The Others, this is located on my 'Film Sub-Genres' page.
- I then did the same things for the rest of my research pages. For the animation research I simply looked up the different references for each animation type which was:
Cel animation, rotoscoping, flip books, drawn-on-film, animation loops, xerography, live-action hybrids. These have been written in more detail on my 'Animation Research' on Animation Research page.
- For 2D Digital Techniques, I looked at:
Bitmap graphics, Vector graphics, Flash, After Effects, Toon Boon Studio, Anime Studio and PowerPoint These have also been written in more detail on my 'Animation Research' page. I really liked looking at both of these animation research tasks because it brought a new insight to the other world of animation and it was rather interesting to learn about other techniques.
Romance, chick-flicks, Supernatural, Thriller and Suspense, Fantasy and Animation.
- I liked looking up these sub-genres again, because I knew what would fall under that category. I added some more information about each sub-genre, and then I developed it further by then giving examples of which films then tie into that sub-category eg:
- Supernatural:
Supernatural films, can combine with comedies, sci-fi, fantasy or horror. This genre can contain many themes such as: gods or goddesses, ghosts, apparitions and spirits or miracles. However, most supernatural films up until recently were usually presented in a comical, whimsical or romantic fashion.
Some Supernatural films are:
The Exorcist, The Rite, The Shining, and The Others.
I then added a YouTube clip for each of these chosen sub-genres. For this particular one on 'Supernatural' I chose The Others, this is located on my 'Film Sub-Genres' page.
- I then did the same things for the rest of my research pages. For the animation research I simply looked up the different references for each animation type which was:
Cel animation, rotoscoping, flip books, drawn-on-film, animation loops, xerography, live-action hybrids. These have been written in more detail on my 'Animation Research' on Animation Research page.
- For 2D Digital Techniques, I looked at:
Bitmap graphics, Vector graphics, Flash, After Effects, Toon Boon Studio, Anime Studio and PowerPoint These have also been written in more detail on my 'Animation Research' page. I really liked looking at both of these animation research tasks because it brought a new insight to the other world of animation and it was rather interesting to learn about other techniques.
- On my director research page, I was asked to look up various different directors, and mention some of their work.
I really thought this was an interesting task as I really like the work of most directors as they have a different and unique skill and techniques. I also thought it was really fun to know about what different films each director did. These are then located on my 'Director Research' page.
- For Cinematography in Film, I looked up what these techniques were online as I wanted to find them out on my own. I really liked looking up what cinematography was, as I didn't really know what it was in the beginning, now I know what:
Cinematography is, understanding cinematography, and what the cinematographer does. It was a rather interesting task and I was really surprised with what I found.
I really thought this was an interesting task as I really like the work of most directors as they have a different and unique skill and techniques. I also thought it was really fun to know about what different films each director did. These are then located on my 'Director Research' page.
- For Cinematography in Film, I looked up what these techniques were online as I wanted to find them out on my own. I really liked looking up what cinematography was, as I didn't really know what it was in the beginning, now I know what:
Cinematography is, understanding cinematography, and what the cinematographer does. It was a rather interesting task and I was really surprised with what I found.
- However, for my primary research, I have looked up certain individual films which I like and that I found rather interesting, and that I could write a lot of information about each said film. I chose a variety of films which range from:
Animation, Horror, and Comedy.
- I liked looking at writing my own little bits for each film as it tested my knowledge about each film and it gave me a way to speak about which films I liked or which I didn't which was really good, and to also understand what the examiner is looking for. They want to know that we understand about each film and that is why we have to give the basic plot and than an overview of the whole film, which I really liked because I liked how free I was when it came down to it. I liked the way I was able to express myself in how I could choose which films / TV series' to write about, and that most people might find it interesting to know what other films people like and what they didn't. This is all in detail on my 'Primary Research' page under the heading of Research.
- I was influenced to look at these certain films because; it was what I wanted to look at. I liked the freedom of choosing my own films to research and then writing my own brief scenes of what I liked about the said film, it was really interesting and I've learnt that, I don't necessarily need to have watched these films loads of times and that their my favourite films. I simply choose the films which I personally liked, either by the themes in which they brought to the table, the actors / actresses, or the simply way the directed them wanted to be interpreted.
- The sources I used to extinguish these written accounts were mostly from me, watching the film directly and making notes in my head about what I particularly liked about that film ie:
The scene, the opening sequence or the end.
- Sometimes this was quite a challenge because I remembered some really good, yet interestingly, quirky films halfway through this research, so I made a mental note of each film by either writing it down on a piece of paper, mentally or on my phone which I looked at for reference. It did become quite a tedious affair because of all the going backwards and forwards from time to time, however I really did enjoy writing out the specific films which I wanted people to notice and that I did think about more than one type of view. Like rather sticking to horror films which I do have a tendency to veer towards, I took another approach and thought I know a lot of comedy films and Sci-Fi which is great because it did in the end vary my knowledge barrier and it made me think about new possibilities.
Animation, Horror, and Comedy.
- I liked looking at writing my own little bits for each film as it tested my knowledge about each film and it gave me a way to speak about which films I liked or which I didn't which was really good, and to also understand what the examiner is looking for. They want to know that we understand about each film and that is why we have to give the basic plot and than an overview of the whole film, which I really liked because I liked how free I was when it came down to it. I liked the way I was able to express myself in how I could choose which films / TV series' to write about, and that most people might find it interesting to know what other films people like and what they didn't. This is all in detail on my 'Primary Research' page under the heading of Research.
- I was influenced to look at these certain films because; it was what I wanted to look at. I liked the freedom of choosing my own films to research and then writing my own brief scenes of what I liked about the said film, it was really interesting and I've learnt that, I don't necessarily need to have watched these films loads of times and that their my favourite films. I simply choose the films which I personally liked, either by the themes in which they brought to the table, the actors / actresses, or the simply way the directed them wanted to be interpreted.
- The sources I used to extinguish these written accounts were mostly from me, watching the film directly and making notes in my head about what I particularly liked about that film ie:
The scene, the opening sequence or the end.
- Sometimes this was quite a challenge because I remembered some really good, yet interestingly, quirky films halfway through this research, so I made a mental note of each film by either writing it down on a piece of paper, mentally or on my phone which I looked at for reference. It did become quite a tedious affair because of all the going backwards and forwards from time to time, however I really did enjoy writing out the specific films which I wanted people to notice and that I did think about more than one type of view. Like rather sticking to horror films which I do have a tendency to veer towards, I took another approach and thought I know a lot of comedy films and Sci-Fi which is great because it did in the end vary my knowledge barrier and it made me think about new possibilities.
Initial Ideas:
- My first initial ideas varied quite a lot, I first did a mind map of a few films in which had a series of 'Heroes and Villains' within the film. I then looked further into some of these films. I really took an eye to The Little Mermaid, The Matrix, and Harry Potter,
- I particularly chose these because I thought these would have quite a lot of detail in for me to quickly chose a scene and research more about the scene and then have to think of how I would conduct the scene I wanted and be able for it to live up the original at least in some way. I also looked at some of the other films that were located on my mind map, however, I didn't think they'd have enough information for me to be able to pick out interesting scenes for these films and for me to recreate a scene then for it to be spectacular in the amount of time we were given. Then on my 'Idea Generation' page I decided to do the first three which I listed above, because I knew these films rather well and know a bit about each film and the scenes in which I could pick out quite easily.
The Little Mermaid:
- The reason I chose this particular film as an idea was really down to the original version by Hans Christian Anderson.
I thought that the original story had such a graphic story telling notion and that you could easily picture what was going on in your mind because of how the story was told. I would have originally done this, however there's no animated scenes for it and I would want to do the animation justice it's just that I didn't want to disappoint fans and for it to be a shambles, so I decided to stay the recreated version.
I then thought the recreated Disney version, in which has the typical 'Love Conquers All' theme, and I know that that was the idea of the recreated version, so that children could watch it however I loved how dark and sinister the original was. For my idea though, I decided to go with the recreated version because the part I did want was rather interesting and pleased me in a way.
This has been written down on my 'Little Mermaid' page coming off from the Idea Generation.
- Within this page I simply wrote down which scenes I would want to recreate myself, why and how would I do it. My last idea (3) is the one I would have gone through with because it was really scary for a young child, and I really liked that effect it has. I loved that it had both the hero and the villain in that one scene, it was truly remarkable. I think that that scene would have been really nice to have done, just to be able to see how it would have been created. I would much rather though, if someone did come up with the original story as I would really like to see that.
The Matrix:
- I really did want to recreate a scene from this amazing, Sci-Fi based film. I really love The Matrix and it is one of my favourite films. I really thought if it could be pulled off correctly it could be something quite extraordinary and really interesting.
- Then for my first idea I had, had lots of in dialogue in and I didn't really want a lot of speech within my chosen recreated scene. It would have probably been quite good, except I didn't really want much to do with different people speaking in with it.
- My second idea was a little less dialogue based and was solely on the animation, this was the 'Helicopter' scene where Trinity asks Tank for a training program that will help her fly the helicopter. This animation was played by the computer in which Tank was operating. This was quite a short animation which wasn't really ideal but it did have a true edge towards it. I think that this also would have been a really good animation to do. This has been written down on my 'The Matrix' page coming off from the Idea Generation.
- I particularly chose these because I thought these would have quite a lot of detail in for me to quickly chose a scene and research more about the scene and then have to think of how I would conduct the scene I wanted and be able for it to live up the original at least in some way. I also looked at some of the other films that were located on my mind map, however, I didn't think they'd have enough information for me to be able to pick out interesting scenes for these films and for me to recreate a scene then for it to be spectacular in the amount of time we were given. Then on my 'Idea Generation' page I decided to do the first three which I listed above, because I knew these films rather well and know a bit about each film and the scenes in which I could pick out quite easily.
The Little Mermaid:
- The reason I chose this particular film as an idea was really down to the original version by Hans Christian Anderson.
I thought that the original story had such a graphic story telling notion and that you could easily picture what was going on in your mind because of how the story was told. I would have originally done this, however there's no animated scenes for it and I would want to do the animation justice it's just that I didn't want to disappoint fans and for it to be a shambles, so I decided to stay the recreated version.
I then thought the recreated Disney version, in which has the typical 'Love Conquers All' theme, and I know that that was the idea of the recreated version, so that children could watch it however I loved how dark and sinister the original was. For my idea though, I decided to go with the recreated version because the part I did want was rather interesting and pleased me in a way.
This has been written down on my 'Little Mermaid' page coming off from the Idea Generation.
- Within this page I simply wrote down which scenes I would want to recreate myself, why and how would I do it. My last idea (3) is the one I would have gone through with because it was really scary for a young child, and I really liked that effect it has. I loved that it had both the hero and the villain in that one scene, it was truly remarkable. I think that that scene would have been really nice to have done, just to be able to see how it would have been created. I would much rather though, if someone did come up with the original story as I would really like to see that.
The Matrix:
- I really did want to recreate a scene from this amazing, Sci-Fi based film. I really love The Matrix and it is one of my favourite films. I really thought if it could be pulled off correctly it could be something quite extraordinary and really interesting.
- Then for my first idea I had, had lots of in dialogue in and I didn't really want a lot of speech within my chosen recreated scene. It would have probably been quite good, except I didn't really want much to do with different people speaking in with it.
- My second idea was a little less dialogue based and was solely on the animation, this was the 'Helicopter' scene where Trinity asks Tank for a training program that will help her fly the helicopter. This animation was played by the computer in which Tank was operating. This was quite a short animation which wasn't really ideal but it did have a true edge towards it. I think that this also would have been a really good animation to do. This has been written down on my 'The Matrix' page coming off from the Idea Generation.
Harry Potter:
- I chose Harry Potter solely because there's a lot of quirky little things that I could have animated, and developed further if need be. I think that this category was rather spectacular, and as I know the films very well and I then thought about which scenes could have the most impact and make the audience want to stay with it. Even if the audience didn't originally like the Harry Potter franchise, I still hoped that they would find it rather interesting and a good animation, just down to what they have witnessed. I would prefer it if the audience did watch the films and it be the favourite but that's not always going to happen so I had to think of a scene in which would get *Muggles* normal people to engage with the animation itself, not just because it was from Harry Potter. I think that the three ideas in which I had from Harry Potter were indeed my strongest, there's a lot you can do from them and that's my imagination went. I really did want to create something which people would understand / like and actually know about it.
- My first idea in which I had would be of the Marauder's Map. I really liked this as an animation because it would be really interesting to see, I also thought it would be really quirky. I would create the map myself by using folded paper and staining it with tea bags, and making burnt effects. I would then draw on the specific design of the map to make it look authentic and for it to resemble that of the true map. I would take a photo of my holding the map and also of me folding it out. Then I would zoom into one part of the map and create my own little animation of my name and with footsteps and creating the animation where you see the footsteps of me walking. I think this would be a good animation to recreate. I would later be able to maybe create it because I really think it could be a really interesting animation and I think people would find it really nice and wonder how I did that.
This has been written down on my 'Harry Potter' page coming off from the Idea Generation.
- My third animation choice though would be my great finale sort of animation. I simply chose from the last Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, Part One.
I really liked this movie as it has the definitive wand, invisibility cloak and the resurrection stone. I wanted something that would bring these three together and I then, I remembered of the 'The Tale of the Three Brothers'. Here this has been written in a lot more detail on: my 'Harry Potter' page coming off from the Idea Generation. I really think that this final animation, as it being the last one of the idea generation, had to be spectacular and I really liked the way it came across and that it was quite subtle yet it really had the edge and emotion of the themes of: death, loss and tragedies.
- I really that this one has done it for my ideas. I think that all of my choices for these recreated animations are really good and if I can even do one just for myself and get the practice needed I would because I think that I do have some really good ideas, and would like to see how they're then portrayed maybe even by other people.
- Also for this animation I decided to do Typography. I really liked how they typography would sell this particular animation. I thought it would give the mood to the animation which was sort out moody, melancholy and that it would bring out people's emotions more. To do this I simply made the colours of my animation rather dark, dingy and old, I wanted this effect because as the first film and second film starts it's happy colours, blues, greens and red. Once this third film it suddenly has a twist and amalgamates which is quite nice as it fits the mood really well of the third film. Then from there the from the third film right up until the last film, the opening credits keep getting darker by using more grey and black tones. This works really well and it plays with your emotions more.
- For my typography however, I didn't use dark greys, but I was able to use shadow text for my typography which looked more sinister and it was rather dark, I made that so it could fit in with that feel.
To do the typography I have briefly explained on the 'Kinetic Typography' page under my Animations --> After Effects Animations.
- What J.K Rowling has created is fantasy everything, has relationships to the Real World. The emotional world she created is very honest.
- Director Cuaron also wanted a very specific look for the third film (Prisoner of Azkaban). In response to the darker tone of Rowling's book, he sought to make a similar adjustment to the colour palette of the film. Gone were the bright hues of Colombus's first two movies (Director of Philosopher's Stone and The Chamber of Secrets), Cuaron, painted his film in terms of dark blues and greys, de-saturating the images to enhance this new darker approach.
- My first idea in which I had would be of the Marauder's Map. I really liked this as an animation because it would be really interesting to see, I also thought it would be really quirky. I would create the map myself by using folded paper and staining it with tea bags, and making burnt effects. I would then draw on the specific design of the map to make it look authentic and for it to resemble that of the true map. I would take a photo of my holding the map and also of me folding it out. Then I would zoom into one part of the map and create my own little animation of my name and with footsteps and creating the animation where you see the footsteps of me walking. I think this would be a good animation to recreate. I would later be able to maybe create it because I really think it could be a really interesting animation and I think people would find it really nice and wonder how I did that.
This has been written down on my 'Harry Potter' page coming off from the Idea Generation.
- My third animation choice though would be my great finale sort of animation. I simply chose from the last Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, Part One.
I really liked this movie as it has the definitive wand, invisibility cloak and the resurrection stone. I wanted something that would bring these three together and I then, I remembered of the 'The Tale of the Three Brothers'. Here this has been written in a lot more detail on: my 'Harry Potter' page coming off from the Idea Generation. I really think that this final animation, as it being the last one of the idea generation, had to be spectacular and I really liked the way it came across and that it was quite subtle yet it really had the edge and emotion of the themes of: death, loss and tragedies.
- I really that this one has done it for my ideas. I think that all of my choices for these recreated animations are really good and if I can even do one just for myself and get the practice needed I would because I think that I do have some really good ideas, and would like to see how they're then portrayed maybe even by other people.
- Also for this animation I decided to do Typography. I really liked how they typography would sell this particular animation. I thought it would give the mood to the animation which was sort out moody, melancholy and that it would bring out people's emotions more. To do this I simply made the colours of my animation rather dark, dingy and old, I wanted this effect because as the first film and second film starts it's happy colours, blues, greens and red. Once this third film it suddenly has a twist and amalgamates which is quite nice as it fits the mood really well of the third film. Then from there the from the third film right up until the last film, the opening credits keep getting darker by using more grey and black tones. This works really well and it plays with your emotions more.
- For my typography however, I didn't use dark greys, but I was able to use shadow text for my typography which looked more sinister and it was rather dark, I made that so it could fit in with that feel.
To do the typography I have briefly explained on the 'Kinetic Typography' page under my Animations --> After Effects Animations.
- What J.K Rowling has created is fantasy everything, has relationships to the Real World. The emotional world she created is very honest.
- Director Cuaron also wanted a very specific look for the third film (Prisoner of Azkaban). In response to the darker tone of Rowling's book, he sought to make a similar adjustment to the colour palette of the film. Gone were the bright hues of Colombus's first two movies (Director of Philosopher's Stone and The Chamber of Secrets), Cuaron, painted his film in terms of dark blues and greys, de-saturating the images to enhance this new darker approach.
Techniques / Workshops:
- Firstly, I had to create a moving stick man in Photoshop / After Effects. To do this I had to create my stick man in Photoshop first, to do this I opened up Photoshop used the basic shapes too, for the body, arms, legs and head. I then saved this as a separate file, opened it up into After Effects and imported this file in. I brought it in as a new composition. I then had to import a sound file into it so that once the stick man moves, it moves with the music. I now had to place puppet pins onto my stick man, I put some around the arms, legs and his middle. I next had to make the stick man move quite close in time with the music I imported in. I moved the stick man to move with the music, this was quite a fun task but also quite tedious.
- My next task was to create a body movement onto a Superhero character. I chose my superhero from Google images, here I chose Batman. I then took away the background in Photoshop, saved this version and then imported into After Effects. I used puppet overlap tool to create my movements, firstly I chose to do a simple arm movement. When distorting one part of an image, you then have to control which parts of the image appear in front and the others behind. For example, if you wanted to keep an arm in front of the face, you use the puppet overlap tool to overlap pins to parts of an object for which you want to control apparent depth. You only apply the puppet overlap pins to the original outline of the image, not to the deformed one.
- I final task was Typography. I did only one of these which can then be found on my 'Typography' page. I really was interested in this as I always found it fascinating to know how it was created, I thought it would be a laborious task, but indeed my opinion has changed. My general understanding of kinetic typography is that, the words should be used to convey moods or feelings, they don’t need to be the message, and they are just there to support it. My feeling is that the words should echo the spoken words rather than simply repeat what’s being said.
To do my first typography piece:
- First I had to find an audio file from a chosen film, here I found one from Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part One. My audio file was of Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) saying "How Dare You Stand Where He Stood" to Severus Snape. I chose this because I thought it would a be a good piece of text for this particular task. I then saved this audio file onto my desktop and kept listening too it, to get understand which word is said at which part in this 3 second clip.
Step One:
- I opened up Adobe Illustrator, Here I set up what size paper I needed which was 800 x 600, and also which document it should be saved onto, here I chose web. I then set out on creating my layout for this particular piece of text, on a piece of plain paper I wrote out how I would want it too look once it had been finished, this was to give me an idea of what these words would look like on screen. I then used the text tool, to then insert chosen piece of text from my sourced material. I had to make sure that there’s plenty of space between the lines. It’ll be easier to separate the text onto different layers.
Step 2 - Step 5 is the same as the design development part below.
- My next task was to create a body movement onto a Superhero character. I chose my superhero from Google images, here I chose Batman. I then took away the background in Photoshop, saved this version and then imported into After Effects. I used puppet overlap tool to create my movements, firstly I chose to do a simple arm movement. When distorting one part of an image, you then have to control which parts of the image appear in front and the others behind. For example, if you wanted to keep an arm in front of the face, you use the puppet overlap tool to overlap pins to parts of an object for which you want to control apparent depth. You only apply the puppet overlap pins to the original outline of the image, not to the deformed one.
- I final task was Typography. I did only one of these which can then be found on my 'Typography' page. I really was interested in this as I always found it fascinating to know how it was created, I thought it would be a laborious task, but indeed my opinion has changed. My general understanding of kinetic typography is that, the words should be used to convey moods or feelings, they don’t need to be the message, and they are just there to support it. My feeling is that the words should echo the spoken words rather than simply repeat what’s being said.
To do my first typography piece:
- First I had to find an audio file from a chosen film, here I found one from Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part One. My audio file was of Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) saying "How Dare You Stand Where He Stood" to Severus Snape. I chose this because I thought it would a be a good piece of text for this particular task. I then saved this audio file onto my desktop and kept listening too it, to get understand which word is said at which part in this 3 second clip.
Step One:
- I opened up Adobe Illustrator, Here I set up what size paper I needed which was 800 x 600, and also which document it should be saved onto, here I chose web. I then set out on creating my layout for this particular piece of text, on a piece of plain paper I wrote out how I would want it too look once it had been finished, this was to give me an idea of what these words would look like on screen. I then used the text tool, to then insert chosen piece of text from my sourced material. I had to make sure that there’s plenty of space between the lines. It’ll be easier to separate the text onto different layers.
Step 2 - Step 5 is the same as the design development part below.
Idea Development:
- For my idea development I simply made mind maps then decided which film I wanted to recreate, I landed at three different films. I then brain stormed which scenes from each film would be the best to recreate. I settled on Harry Potter for my final outcome. I then came to this decision because I thought that Harry Potter has so much versatility and I can create the scene I chose to be my own, and come together in way that I would be proud of doing. I developed my ideas even further by researching the scene I wanted for each three films and then writing down what I could recreate, how and what techniques I could use.
- For The Little Mermaid, I researched a two scenes initially however, they weren't bringing across the theme of heroes and villains it was as if I wasn't thinking straight about what the task asked of me. For my last idea I thought for a while, then came up with the idea where Ariel is with Ursula then it came to me that that was bringing forth the theme. I then wrote up more definition about this scene, and I would create it.
This is also located on my 'Little Mermaid' idea generation page.
- For The Matrix idea development, I simply watched the film over and over, wrote down notes and scenes in which could be incorporated to theme, this was quite easy because there's lots of villains throughout this series. On my initial ideas for this particular film, I thought that each scene that I picked was giving off something for the theme of either a hero or a villain. I did however, think that my second idea wasn't as strong as the first and third.
The second was the 'Helicopter' scene. I didn't think that this would've brought out the cause of heroes and villains, but it was a really good scene, so I still thought about recreating it into, an animation. The first and third idea, was more successful of the three, pure and simple because they brought the idea of the theme chosen so I was more happy with them two.
This is also located on my 'The Matrix' idea generation page.
- For Harry Potter, I didn't really need to research as much as I did for the other two films because I know the film well enough. I thought about the first film right up until the last and thought of what scene I could recreate. I mentally wrote down a scene from near enough each film, I couldn't really think of anything for the first two films, then it came down to the third. I thought about when we first see the Marauder's map and that really came to me, that they could be a really good animation, even though it doesn't really show about the theme it really would make for a really interesting and quirky animation.
This is also located on my 'Harry Potter' idea generation page.
- My second idea was on the last Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One. I chose where we first see about the Deathly Hallows, in puppet form, I really liked this animation solely because it was really enticing and that it did show the themes and was created so beautifully it really was being in awe of an animation. I thought about recreating this because of the theme being shown across. However, I wasn't quite as impressed with having to do the drawing as much so I did decide against that.
This is also located on my 'Harry Potter' idea generation page.
- My third and final idea was of the puppet animation, but I thought about doing it in typography. I rather liked this to be my final animation because when I first did a trial for typography animations I really took to it and was really impressed with how it was created and I thought about doing my animation purely on the art of typography. I kept the main elements of the Deathly Hallows within my typography animation, I also made the relevant themes known as it was rather impressive to most and was really significant about what the animation was about.
This is also located on my 'Harry Potter' idea generation page.
- For The Little Mermaid, I researched a two scenes initially however, they weren't bringing across the theme of heroes and villains it was as if I wasn't thinking straight about what the task asked of me. For my last idea I thought for a while, then came up with the idea where Ariel is with Ursula then it came to me that that was bringing forth the theme. I then wrote up more definition about this scene, and I would create it.
This is also located on my 'Little Mermaid' idea generation page.
- For The Matrix idea development, I simply watched the film over and over, wrote down notes and scenes in which could be incorporated to theme, this was quite easy because there's lots of villains throughout this series. On my initial ideas for this particular film, I thought that each scene that I picked was giving off something for the theme of either a hero or a villain. I did however, think that my second idea wasn't as strong as the first and third.
The second was the 'Helicopter' scene. I didn't think that this would've brought out the cause of heroes and villains, but it was a really good scene, so I still thought about recreating it into, an animation. The first and third idea, was more successful of the three, pure and simple because they brought the idea of the theme chosen so I was more happy with them two.
This is also located on my 'The Matrix' idea generation page.
- For Harry Potter, I didn't really need to research as much as I did for the other two films because I know the film well enough. I thought about the first film right up until the last and thought of what scene I could recreate. I mentally wrote down a scene from near enough each film, I couldn't really think of anything for the first two films, then it came down to the third. I thought about when we first see the Marauder's map and that really came to me, that they could be a really good animation, even though it doesn't really show about the theme it really would make for a really interesting and quirky animation.
This is also located on my 'Harry Potter' idea generation page.
- My second idea was on the last Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One. I chose where we first see about the Deathly Hallows, in puppet form, I really liked this animation solely because it was really enticing and that it did show the themes and was created so beautifully it really was being in awe of an animation. I thought about recreating this because of the theme being shown across. However, I wasn't quite as impressed with having to do the drawing as much so I did decide against that.
This is also located on my 'Harry Potter' idea generation page.
- My third and final idea was of the puppet animation, but I thought about doing it in typography. I rather liked this to be my final animation because when I first did a trial for typography animations I really took to it and was really impressed with how it was created and I thought about doing my animation purely on the art of typography. I kept the main elements of the Deathly Hallows within my typography animation, I also made the relevant themes known as it was rather impressive to most and was really significant about what the animation was about.
This is also located on my 'Harry Potter' idea generation page.
Design Development:
- I arrived at my final design by thinking of what would / could work well with the chosen scene I wanted to recreate. I had already decided that I was going to do a kinetic typography animation, as this would hold more power and make the audience want to continue watching it. To get the stage of having my animation fully finished, I went through a vigorous task of how I would create this typography.
- To create the typography, I had to open up Adobe Illustrator create new web design for an 800 x 600 layout, I looked at my script whilst I was on Illustrator to see how I could make my words come to life and look at their most appealing. I wrote out each sentence at a time on Illustrator, to do that I:
Step One:
I opened up Adobe Illustrator, Here I set up what size paper I needed which was 800 x 600, and also which document it should be saved onto, here I chose web. I then set out on creating my layout for this particular piece of text, I then used the text tool, to then insert the chosen piece of text from my sourced material. I had to make sure that there’s plenty of space between the lines. It’ll then be easier to separate the text onto different layers.
Step Two:
Since I am going to be animating these words, individually, I then need to put all of these words onto separate layers so it's easier for me to create this animation. When all my text was selected I had to go to un-group these words to do this I went to object --> Un-group. I then clicked on anywhere that was near an empty space in the area around the text. Then had to click and drag to select the first word of my script. I then had to
group it together again by going to object –> Group. Select and group the next word, then I repeated this for the entire script. Once all my words had their own groups, I then had to select all of these words and then open up the layers palette. From the options menu I had to select "Release to Layers (Sequence)". Now I had to move my newly created layers, onto their new nesting layers. Now it’s time to start laying them out, according to my plan. Here I can re-size, rotate and colour my chosen words. This is when my document will start looking quite cluttered yet have an elegant feel about them. I followed my original plan and created a 2D layout of my text. I didn't try and add any effects into this yet, as that can be accessible in After Effects.
Step Three:
Here I now opened up After Effects; I had to create a new composition, which was 800 x 600. I then made sure that my animation is a little bit longer than my sourced material. This is important for me to set now, so that all of my compositions will be around the appropriate length. This will then make it easy for me to then sync my animation with the audio file. I then had to open up my Illustrator file, and set it right in the middle on the screen. Here I now had to double click the new composition in the projects palette, open it and make sure that I have properly split up my layers in Illustrator, and then all my elements of these words will be all is on separate layers. My text was black, so I had to change my background from white to my paged background, to do this I simply dragged on my background which was already a composition. I also had decided that I wanted a border around my text, I drew out a nice flourished, flowery border scanned it into the computer, adjusted that colour on Photoshop. I saved it as a composition on After Effects and simply dragged it on to 'final' animation. This looked really nice and again, gave a certain mood towards the typography.
- Now my animation will be split into easy accessible sections. Now I had to animate these sections individually and with precise care and attention to detail, before me then bringing them together in the animation as a whole. Now my animation looks quite close to the specific design in which I had planned out in the beginning of this task.
Step Four:
The most identifiable characteristic of any kinetic typography animation is that the type on the screen has to sync up with the audio file. This is where the word either pops up, becomes angular, centered, etc, with the specific timing in which the word is said. Now that my audio is synced well, once Emma has said “There” the word there, will then fly across the scene and will give it a more dramatic feel. This will then happen with the rest of the eleven words. The easiest thing to create is where the words fly across the scene, bounce in, and grow. The easiest thing for the moment is getting the word just to appear. To get my audio synced I had to first off import the two files; the audio and the Illustrator file into my new composition in After Effects. I then made my audio file the first thing in this animation. I then had to position my word script sliders until the audio was linked up with the layer that corresponded on screen at that particular moment of the animation. I then needed to select the RAM preview button which was on the right of the screen. I then saw that my animation and audio was working perfectly after a few tweaks and was pretty astounded with the results.
Step Five:
Then I had to assemble the other multiple sections of the animation with my final composition. I then decided to try and blur the writing with a few words of this animation, and I played it back and didn't see any difference, what so ever. I just saved this a screen shot which will be placed under this with the rest of my screen shots taken whilst creating this impressive animation.
- I thought this was a rather easy concept to get to grips with, even though I'd done a typography test piece before but that was on a small scale, to go up to something with so much writing wasn't really a challenge. I did exactly as I did before and it all worked out all right. I would like to do more typography based work as it was really fun and interesting to know how it was done, and knowing that it is quite easy I'd like to do more.
- Overall I am pretty pleased with how I got to my final design development and that it wasn't really hard. However, the process it rather tedious so it does require patience which I do lack, but it was for a worthy cause and I'm fully pleased with how it all came together.
- To create the typography, I had to open up Adobe Illustrator create new web design for an 800 x 600 layout, I looked at my script whilst I was on Illustrator to see how I could make my words come to life and look at their most appealing. I wrote out each sentence at a time on Illustrator, to do that I:
Step One:
I opened up Adobe Illustrator, Here I set up what size paper I needed which was 800 x 600, and also which document it should be saved onto, here I chose web. I then set out on creating my layout for this particular piece of text, I then used the text tool, to then insert the chosen piece of text from my sourced material. I had to make sure that there’s plenty of space between the lines. It’ll then be easier to separate the text onto different layers.
Step Two:
Since I am going to be animating these words, individually, I then need to put all of these words onto separate layers so it's easier for me to create this animation. When all my text was selected I had to go to un-group these words to do this I went to object --> Un-group. I then clicked on anywhere that was near an empty space in the area around the text. Then had to click and drag to select the first word of my script. I then had to
group it together again by going to object –> Group. Select and group the next word, then I repeated this for the entire script. Once all my words had their own groups, I then had to select all of these words and then open up the layers palette. From the options menu I had to select "Release to Layers (Sequence)". Now I had to move my newly created layers, onto their new nesting layers. Now it’s time to start laying them out, according to my plan. Here I can re-size, rotate and colour my chosen words. This is when my document will start looking quite cluttered yet have an elegant feel about them. I followed my original plan and created a 2D layout of my text. I didn't try and add any effects into this yet, as that can be accessible in After Effects.
Step Three:
Here I now opened up After Effects; I had to create a new composition, which was 800 x 600. I then made sure that my animation is a little bit longer than my sourced material. This is important for me to set now, so that all of my compositions will be around the appropriate length. This will then make it easy for me to then sync my animation with the audio file. I then had to open up my Illustrator file, and set it right in the middle on the screen. Here I now had to double click the new composition in the projects palette, open it and make sure that I have properly split up my layers in Illustrator, and then all my elements of these words will be all is on separate layers. My text was black, so I had to change my background from white to my paged background, to do this I simply dragged on my background which was already a composition. I also had decided that I wanted a border around my text, I drew out a nice flourished, flowery border scanned it into the computer, adjusted that colour on Photoshop. I saved it as a composition on After Effects and simply dragged it on to 'final' animation. This looked really nice and again, gave a certain mood towards the typography.
- Now my animation will be split into easy accessible sections. Now I had to animate these sections individually and with precise care and attention to detail, before me then bringing them together in the animation as a whole. Now my animation looks quite close to the specific design in which I had planned out in the beginning of this task.
Step Four:
The most identifiable characteristic of any kinetic typography animation is that the type on the screen has to sync up with the audio file. This is where the word either pops up, becomes angular, centered, etc, with the specific timing in which the word is said. Now that my audio is synced well, once Emma has said “There” the word there, will then fly across the scene and will give it a more dramatic feel. This will then happen with the rest of the eleven words. The easiest thing to create is where the words fly across the scene, bounce in, and grow. The easiest thing for the moment is getting the word just to appear. To get my audio synced I had to first off import the two files; the audio and the Illustrator file into my new composition in After Effects. I then made my audio file the first thing in this animation. I then had to position my word script sliders until the audio was linked up with the layer that corresponded on screen at that particular moment of the animation. I then needed to select the RAM preview button which was on the right of the screen. I then saw that my animation and audio was working perfectly after a few tweaks and was pretty astounded with the results.
Step Five:
Then I had to assemble the other multiple sections of the animation with my final composition. I then decided to try and blur the writing with a few words of this animation, and I played it back and didn't see any difference, what so ever. I just saved this a screen shot which will be placed under this with the rest of my screen shots taken whilst creating this impressive animation.
- I thought this was a rather easy concept to get to grips with, even though I'd done a typography test piece before but that was on a small scale, to go up to something with so much writing wasn't really a challenge. I did exactly as I did before and it all worked out all right. I would like to do more typography based work as it was really fun and interesting to know how it was done, and knowing that it is quite easy I'd like to do more.
- Overall I am pretty pleased with how I got to my final design development and that it wasn't really hard. However, the process it rather tedious so it does require patience which I do lack, but it was for a worthy cause and I'm fully pleased with how it all came together.
Final Outcome:
- In my final animation, I used Adobe: After Effects and also Photoshop, however all my animation was done in After Effects. I used Photoshop to edit my components, to make my drawings darker and clearer. When I had finished editing my chosen components from Photoshop, I imported them into After Effects. However, first I had to create my typography in Adobe Illustrator, this was quite straight-forward as I knew how to create the ‘typography’. My only problem was how long I wanted the sentences to be, and if they should be in the middle. I did roughly; want my typography to be in the middle, or as close to the middle of the page as possible.
I have already stated how I did my typography including putting in the audio file above, so I shall know explain how I put all my components together:
- I imported all of my Illustrator documents into After Effects and I then chose my certain background, for this I chose a textured paper background because, I wanted it to feel like a book and that the writing was coming up off of the pages. I then imported in my border piece. This was first a tracing of ‘The Tales of Beedle the Bard’; front cover I then scanned it into the computer and edited it in Photoshop. I made the contrast up so it was a lot darker and then it was quite noticeable.
- Once I had all of my components the border, Illustrator documents and my chosen images (The three brothers,The Bridge,The hooded figure,The final piece at end, The Border. It was time to start moving things around and to start building up the final animation:
- Firstly, I started with the first piece of text and my audio file and moved the text to sync in with the audio file. Once that had been given the thumbs up I imported my border and background in, and the drawing of 'The Three Brothers'; I made them into a 3D layer and changed the blending mode to multiply and then you could see that it was a shadow, I think that the shadowed images looked far better than the originals because it gave it that certain edge for it to be a dark animation. I then carried on doing this for the next few images needed on my animation.
Then I had changed my border to fit the 800 x 600 square and everything was fine, I then decided to change the blending layer because it being in black didn't really stand out for me so, I changed it to make it have a nice blue tint towards it. I really liked the effect it gave because it stood out and it looked really well with the animation from everything quite dark, to this subtle blue tint which I thought looked very nice.
- I did this for all of my other: speech, writing, images and border. Once they had all been finished and allocated correctly, I then had to move them all into one composition, I thought that this would be rather difficult and would require a lot of skill. However, it was rather easy all you have to do is:
I started with my first piece of typography, I found the part that should go second, so I simply dragged the second piece of typography onto my first composition. I then had to drag along this piece to correspond with the first, I then had to make sure that there were no gaps within it so I made my time line longer by pressing the small triangular button by the time line and this made the time line longer. I double checked that there were no gaps and if they were I simply moved my composition along, so that once my first typography piece had finished the second would start a few seconds after wards.
I carried this on throughout the whole typography piece, it was quite tiring however I was really happy with my results in the long run.
- There's a part within my animation quite near the end at 1:59, an interesting image comes on the screen. It is a blood splatter. I was rather impressed with this result as it felt like it needed something drastic and interesting to hold with the viewer / audience. I wanted something that was really powerful and would get the emotion across of the animation. The piece of text / speech that goes with this part is: "But that night, another Wizard stole the Wand and slit the brother's throat for good measure. And so Death took the second brother."
I was looking at page backgrounds before, and one had a splattered effect. I really liked it and thought this could come in handy at some point. Once I got to the composition of that piece, I realized that it could work really nice and look exquisite. I opened up the background on Photoshop and drew around the splatters making sure there was no background within my choosing. Once that had been done I opened them up onto separate layers for when the images would come together in my animation. I made them come in one by one as if like blood. I was in awe and so happy when I tried it and it worked. I was beaming. I personally think that this was the best part of the animation by far.
- Once I had finished my animation, I thought it was missing something at the end. I then remembered at the end of the real clip it has the third brother giving the invisibility cloak to his son, whilst Death stands near the brother and then takes him away in cloud of birds. I really liked this animation and thought I should try that and see how it looks in my animation. I went onto a website and found a GIF of the animation I wanted, I saved it and printed it out. I decided to draw each frame out individually so that it did have a raw feel to them. I used a light-box for this because it was quite hard to see some of the lines within the original drawings. Once that was complete, I contemplated about colouring them in black, or just keeping them as a line drawing.
I wanted something different to the original so I thought of keeping them as the line drawing. I then scanned these images into the computer and opened them up into Photoshop, I made these images darker and then cut away the background so it was transparent and that there were no white parts showing, as you would be able to tell whilst on the page background. I then created this animation in Photoshop and imported it into After Effects. I then put this at the end of my animation plated it and it worked really well, I liked how the images you could tell had been re-drawn and looked quite raw.
- I have judged the success of my final animation due to the idea I had started off in my head, and it grew into this wonderful animation. I think for my first time in creating a long scale animation, it worked rather well I also judged it on the feedback that I received; this is located below. This then matched my final design down to a 'T' because this is what I had envisioned. If I had created something and I didn't like it, I would have just taken it out because it didn't match what I wanted the end outcome to look like. I wanted it to be spot on for what I had thought of before hand.
- The changes I made to this animation was to not have the book opening at the beginning of the animation for my title sequence. I chose not to have this as I thought it would be quite distracting and wouldn't necessarily fit the purpose of my animation. I also changed the ending of my animation., before it just finished with the tombstone, then I thought that at the end of the clip from the movie, Death takes the third brother away with birds flying around. I really liked this concept and thought of doing it myself, so I drew out all them components, scanned them in, changed the colour of them and created the animation in Photoshop, bring it into After Effects and I put it at the end of the animation, to make it more enticing and for it again to fit the purpose of the animation. I wanted to adapt quite a few things as I didn't think they came across correctly, however, I'm glad I didn't because this was rather time consuming and I'm glad I stuck to how it should have looked in the first place.
- I am aware that this animation need improving, If I had to do this animation again I would have made the font just a bit bigger so that was easy to see and then it isn't like a kindle / small screen animation. I would also make the transitions smoother between each scene, I got this in my feedback and I'm open for changes.
- However, I think that my animation might have been too long for most people. I did think about this before I chose it to be my final animation, but I thought that it brought across the real meaning of the theme of 'heroes and villains'. I did think of not having too many images in as well because I thought that it would be quite distracting from the words it self and the typography part.
I have already stated how I did my typography including putting in the audio file above, so I shall know explain how I put all my components together:
- I imported all of my Illustrator documents into After Effects and I then chose my certain background, for this I chose a textured paper background because, I wanted it to feel like a book and that the writing was coming up off of the pages. I then imported in my border piece. This was first a tracing of ‘The Tales of Beedle the Bard’; front cover I then scanned it into the computer and edited it in Photoshop. I made the contrast up so it was a lot darker and then it was quite noticeable.
- Once I had all of my components the border, Illustrator documents and my chosen images (The three brothers,The Bridge,The hooded figure,The final piece at end, The Border. It was time to start moving things around and to start building up the final animation:
- Firstly, I started with the first piece of text and my audio file and moved the text to sync in with the audio file. Once that had been given the thumbs up I imported my border and background in, and the drawing of 'The Three Brothers'; I made them into a 3D layer and changed the blending mode to multiply and then you could see that it was a shadow, I think that the shadowed images looked far better than the originals because it gave it that certain edge for it to be a dark animation. I then carried on doing this for the next few images needed on my animation.
Then I had changed my border to fit the 800 x 600 square and everything was fine, I then decided to change the blending layer because it being in black didn't really stand out for me so, I changed it to make it have a nice blue tint towards it. I really liked the effect it gave because it stood out and it looked really well with the animation from everything quite dark, to this subtle blue tint which I thought looked very nice.
- I did this for all of my other: speech, writing, images and border. Once they had all been finished and allocated correctly, I then had to move them all into one composition, I thought that this would be rather difficult and would require a lot of skill. However, it was rather easy all you have to do is:
I started with my first piece of typography, I found the part that should go second, so I simply dragged the second piece of typography onto my first composition. I then had to drag along this piece to correspond with the first, I then had to make sure that there were no gaps within it so I made my time line longer by pressing the small triangular button by the time line and this made the time line longer. I double checked that there were no gaps and if they were I simply moved my composition along, so that once my first typography piece had finished the second would start a few seconds after wards.
I carried this on throughout the whole typography piece, it was quite tiring however I was really happy with my results in the long run.
- There's a part within my animation quite near the end at 1:59, an interesting image comes on the screen. It is a blood splatter. I was rather impressed with this result as it felt like it needed something drastic and interesting to hold with the viewer / audience. I wanted something that was really powerful and would get the emotion across of the animation. The piece of text / speech that goes with this part is: "But that night, another Wizard stole the Wand and slit the brother's throat for good measure. And so Death took the second brother."
I was looking at page backgrounds before, and one had a splattered effect. I really liked it and thought this could come in handy at some point. Once I got to the composition of that piece, I realized that it could work really nice and look exquisite. I opened up the background on Photoshop and drew around the splatters making sure there was no background within my choosing. Once that had been done I opened them up onto separate layers for when the images would come together in my animation. I made them come in one by one as if like blood. I was in awe and so happy when I tried it and it worked. I was beaming. I personally think that this was the best part of the animation by far.
- Once I had finished my animation, I thought it was missing something at the end. I then remembered at the end of the real clip it has the third brother giving the invisibility cloak to his son, whilst Death stands near the brother and then takes him away in cloud of birds. I really liked this animation and thought I should try that and see how it looks in my animation. I went onto a website and found a GIF of the animation I wanted, I saved it and printed it out. I decided to draw each frame out individually so that it did have a raw feel to them. I used a light-box for this because it was quite hard to see some of the lines within the original drawings. Once that was complete, I contemplated about colouring them in black, or just keeping them as a line drawing.
I wanted something different to the original so I thought of keeping them as the line drawing. I then scanned these images into the computer and opened them up into Photoshop, I made these images darker and then cut away the background so it was transparent and that there were no white parts showing, as you would be able to tell whilst on the page background. I then created this animation in Photoshop and imported it into After Effects. I then put this at the end of my animation plated it and it worked really well, I liked how the images you could tell had been re-drawn and looked quite raw.
- I have judged the success of my final animation due to the idea I had started off in my head, and it grew into this wonderful animation. I think for my first time in creating a long scale animation, it worked rather well I also judged it on the feedback that I received; this is located below. This then matched my final design down to a 'T' because this is what I had envisioned. If I had created something and I didn't like it, I would have just taken it out because it didn't match what I wanted the end outcome to look like. I wanted it to be spot on for what I had thought of before hand.
- The changes I made to this animation was to not have the book opening at the beginning of the animation for my title sequence. I chose not to have this as I thought it would be quite distracting and wouldn't necessarily fit the purpose of my animation. I also changed the ending of my animation., before it just finished with the tombstone, then I thought that at the end of the clip from the movie, Death takes the third brother away with birds flying around. I really liked this concept and thought of doing it myself, so I drew out all them components, scanned them in, changed the colour of them and created the animation in Photoshop, bring it into After Effects and I put it at the end of the animation, to make it more enticing and for it again to fit the purpose of the animation. I wanted to adapt quite a few things as I didn't think they came across correctly, however, I'm glad I didn't because this was rather time consuming and I'm glad I stuck to how it should have looked in the first place.
- I am aware that this animation need improving, If I had to do this animation again I would have made the font just a bit bigger so that was easy to see and then it isn't like a kindle / small screen animation. I would also make the transitions smoother between each scene, I got this in my feedback and I'm open for changes.
- However, I think that my animation might have been too long for most people. I did think about this before I chose it to be my final animation, but I thought that it brought across the real meaning of the theme of 'heroes and villains'. I did think of not having too many images in as well because I thought that it would be quite distracting from the words it self and the typography part.
Summary:
- Throughout this project I have learnt that once your mind is
set on something, it can easily be achieved, adapted and then it will be an enjoyable
process. I think that my strengths throughout this particular project, were that
even though I did quite a bit of multi-tasking, I still managed to get the
animation done. However, I think that how I did the animation was a strength
too, I decided to finish my animation first and then go back and take all my
screen shots, this was quite a tiresome task, but I got it done in the long
run.
- I also think that one of my strengths was picking up tasks quickly and efficiently, like the typography task. I think I picked this up rather quickly and that it worked for me, I was really impressed with how quickly I picked it up. I think that my weaknesses was maybe not fully concentrating more on certain tasks, even though I got them done I still needed to ask for either help / advice as I might have got a bit confused with little things. I would need to take more care in the next projects to do well.
- During the process of creating my animation, I did find that it was easy to follow my notes in creating the typography, and importing in my drawings and the audio file. Another thing I found quite easy to do was to note down everything I did, step by step even if it was mentally or physically, this helped me exceptionally as sometimes I would've forgotten a really significant piece of information if would have been noted down and I could look at it for reference. I didn't necessarily like creating the animations in Photoshop, nor did I dislike them. I found it rather interesting to use a different program; I know the software well and thought it was impressive that you could create animations in that specific software.
- My weaknesses would have been probably creating the small animations in Director, this was a hard to understand program as there was too many tabs open in the program which made it hard to locate what specific tab you should be on. It was quite a confusing program. My particular weakness for this project however, was not making the font bigger for the animation, I did think about this put thought that if was too big it wouldn't have fit within the border, and that it wouldn't have given it the certain edge and appeal which I wanted. I think that maybe not fully concentrating more on certain tasks, even though I got them done I still needed to ask for either help / advice as I might have got a bit confused with little things is a weakness also. I would need to take more care in the next projects to do well.
- To improve for the next projects I think I would need to improve on my knowledge of certain programs, get to know the software more and know what you can specifically do on that piece of software; also I would like to grasp a better terminology.
- I think what has pleased me most about my work was looking at other directors’ work and knowing how they came to their chosen careers. Knowing the timeline of animators and their inventions, and also that there’s a never ending genre to films.I think that from my animation, I am most pleased with the blood splatter. It was a rather interesting and quirky design which I am most happy about; I think it gives the animation the fire that it needed. From the beginning you don’t expect how gruesome and grotesque it could be, and then it changes your mind just from one small little animation on the screen. You don’t think something quite powerful is going to happen and when it does, you’re quite taken back and are surprised or maybe even in awe. I really thought this was interesting as you don’t think it’s going to happen, that’s the reason I love this part so much. It is truly remarkable.
- I for one think that I have grown and adapted from the previous project. I also think I have learnt a lot more and now know to write into more detail and that I should read / write between the lines a too.
- I also think that one of my strengths was picking up tasks quickly and efficiently, like the typography task. I think I picked this up rather quickly and that it worked for me, I was really impressed with how quickly I picked it up. I think that my weaknesses was maybe not fully concentrating more on certain tasks, even though I got them done I still needed to ask for either help / advice as I might have got a bit confused with little things. I would need to take more care in the next projects to do well.
- During the process of creating my animation, I did find that it was easy to follow my notes in creating the typography, and importing in my drawings and the audio file. Another thing I found quite easy to do was to note down everything I did, step by step even if it was mentally or physically, this helped me exceptionally as sometimes I would've forgotten a really significant piece of information if would have been noted down and I could look at it for reference. I didn't necessarily like creating the animations in Photoshop, nor did I dislike them. I found it rather interesting to use a different program; I know the software well and thought it was impressive that you could create animations in that specific software.
- My weaknesses would have been probably creating the small animations in Director, this was a hard to understand program as there was too many tabs open in the program which made it hard to locate what specific tab you should be on. It was quite a confusing program. My particular weakness for this project however, was not making the font bigger for the animation, I did think about this put thought that if was too big it wouldn't have fit within the border, and that it wouldn't have given it the certain edge and appeal which I wanted. I think that maybe not fully concentrating more on certain tasks, even though I got them done I still needed to ask for either help / advice as I might have got a bit confused with little things is a weakness also. I would need to take more care in the next projects to do well.
- To improve for the next projects I think I would need to improve on my knowledge of certain programs, get to know the software more and know what you can specifically do on that piece of software; also I would like to grasp a better terminology.
- I think what has pleased me most about my work was looking at other directors’ work and knowing how they came to their chosen careers. Knowing the timeline of animators and their inventions, and also that there’s a never ending genre to films.I think that from my animation, I am most pleased with the blood splatter. It was a rather interesting and quirky design which I am most happy about; I think it gives the animation the fire that it needed. From the beginning you don’t expect how gruesome and grotesque it could be, and then it changes your mind just from one small little animation on the screen. You don’t think something quite powerful is going to happen and when it does, you’re quite taken back and are surprised or maybe even in awe. I really thought this was interesting as you don’t think it’s going to happen, that’s the reason I love this part so much. It is truly remarkable.
- I for one think that I have grown and adapted from the previous project. I also think I have learnt a lot more and now know to write into more detail and that I should read / write between the lines a too.
Feedback from Questionnaire:
- For my feedback form, I created an online survey in which people could watch my animation, then they could fill out the questionnaire. Below are my results.
What is your age? Prefer not to say
Who do you think this animation is aimed at? Teenagers - If Other please specify: N/A
Did you enjoy the animation? Yes
If you payed for this animation what would your response be? Satisfied
How did this animation make you feel? Sad
If you were to review this animation, what would you give it out of 10? 8
What is your age? 15-18
Who do you think this animation is aimed at? Teenagers - If Other please specify: N/A
If you paid for this animation what would your response be? Satisfied
Did you enjoy the animation? Yes
If you paid for this animation what would your response be? N/A
How did this animation make you feel? Happy
If you were to review this animation, what would you give it out of 10? 10
What kept you engaged with the animation? the storyline, the accent of the woman really suited the animation
Was the animation too long? No
Do you feel that this animation accurately shows the theme of not cheating Death? Yes
What do you think of the style of this animation? different, but powerful
What do you think of the quality of this animation? very good
What is your opinion of the soundtrack? was incredibly suited to the animation
What improvements do you think need to be made? font could be larger?
What is your age? 15-18
Who do you think this animation is aimed at? Teenagers - If Other please specify: N/A
If you paid for this animation what would your response be? Satisfied
Did you enjoy the animation? Yes
If you paid for this animation what would your response be? N/A
How did this animation make you feel? Fascinated
If you were to review this animation, what would you give it out of 10? 8
What kept you engaged with the animation? the storyline
Was the animation too long? No
Do you feel that this animation accurately shows the theme of not cheating Death? Yes
What do you think of the style of this animation? The style fits the story line
What do you think of the quality of this animation? Good quality
What is your opinion of the soundtrack? Dark and mysterious
What improvements do you think need to be made? The transitions made smoother on the first few scenes.
What is your age? 19-25
Who do you think this animation is aimed at? Others If Other please specify: Teenagers + Adults
If you paid for this animation what would your response be? Satisfied
Did you enjoy the animation? Yes
If you payed for this animation what would your response be? N/A
How did this animation make you feel? Happy
If you were to review this animation, what would you give it out of 10? 8
What kept you engaged with the animation? The story line
Was the animation too long? No
What is your age? 15-18
Who do you think this animation is aimed at? Other - If Other please specify: Teenagers and Adults
If you paid for this animation what would your response be? Satisfied
Did you enjoy the animation? Yes
How did this animation make you feel? Melancholy
If you were to review this animation, what would you give it out of 10? 9
What kept you engaged with the animation? The story line, and the voice of the woman speaking
Was the animation too long? No
Do you feel that this animation accurately shows the theme of not cheating Death? Yes
What do you think of the style of this animation? very nice and very interesting
What do you think of the quality of this animation? very good
What is your opinion of the soundtrack? fits nicely to the animation
What improvements do you think need to be made? to make the font bigger and that it has a smoother transition.
- After looking at my feedback, I think I got some interesting responses I am rather pleased that most people enjoyed the animation and that they liked the story line and the voice of Emma is it is soothing. I also liked that most thought that the animation accurately shows the theme of not cheating Death and that some thought the soundtrack was 'dark and mysterious'.
- However, I am also rather pleased with the improvements question, this gave sensible and reachable targets. Some of these were to make the writing bigger and that there needs to be a smoother transition between some scenes. This would be really manageable to do and shouldn't' be a harder task to re-do and it will make the animation flow more and that it would be as impressive.
What is your age? Prefer not to say
Who do you think this animation is aimed at? Teenagers - If Other please specify: N/A
Did you enjoy the animation? Yes
If you payed for this animation what would your response be? Satisfied
How did this animation make you feel? Sad
If you were to review this animation, what would you give it out of 10? 8
What is your age? 15-18
Who do you think this animation is aimed at? Teenagers - If Other please specify: N/A
If you paid for this animation what would your response be? Satisfied
Did you enjoy the animation? Yes
If you paid for this animation what would your response be? N/A
How did this animation make you feel? Happy
If you were to review this animation, what would you give it out of 10? 10
What kept you engaged with the animation? the storyline, the accent of the woman really suited the animation
Was the animation too long? No
Do you feel that this animation accurately shows the theme of not cheating Death? Yes
What do you think of the style of this animation? different, but powerful
What do you think of the quality of this animation? very good
What is your opinion of the soundtrack? was incredibly suited to the animation
What improvements do you think need to be made? font could be larger?
What is your age? 15-18
Who do you think this animation is aimed at? Teenagers - If Other please specify: N/A
If you paid for this animation what would your response be? Satisfied
Did you enjoy the animation? Yes
If you paid for this animation what would your response be? N/A
How did this animation make you feel? Fascinated
If you were to review this animation, what would you give it out of 10? 8
What kept you engaged with the animation? the storyline
Was the animation too long? No
Do you feel that this animation accurately shows the theme of not cheating Death? Yes
What do you think of the style of this animation? The style fits the story line
What do you think of the quality of this animation? Good quality
What is your opinion of the soundtrack? Dark and mysterious
What improvements do you think need to be made? The transitions made smoother on the first few scenes.
What is your age? 19-25
Who do you think this animation is aimed at? Others If Other please specify: Teenagers + Adults
If you paid for this animation what would your response be? Satisfied
Did you enjoy the animation? Yes
If you payed for this animation what would your response be? N/A
How did this animation make you feel? Happy
If you were to review this animation, what would you give it out of 10? 8
What kept you engaged with the animation? The story line
Was the animation too long? No
What is your age? 15-18
Who do you think this animation is aimed at? Other - If Other please specify: Teenagers and Adults
If you paid for this animation what would your response be? Satisfied
Did you enjoy the animation? Yes
How did this animation make you feel? Melancholy
If you were to review this animation, what would you give it out of 10? 9
What kept you engaged with the animation? The story line, and the voice of the woman speaking
Was the animation too long? No
Do you feel that this animation accurately shows the theme of not cheating Death? Yes
What do you think of the style of this animation? very nice and very interesting
What do you think of the quality of this animation? very good
What is your opinion of the soundtrack? fits nicely to the animation
What improvements do you think need to be made? to make the font bigger and that it has a smoother transition.
- After looking at my feedback, I think I got some interesting responses I am rather pleased that most people enjoyed the animation and that they liked the story line and the voice of Emma is it is soothing. I also liked that most thought that the animation accurately shows the theme of not cheating Death and that some thought the soundtrack was 'dark and mysterious'.
- However, I am also rather pleased with the improvements question, this gave sensible and reachable targets. Some of these were to make the writing bigger and that there needs to be a smoother transition between some scenes. This would be really manageable to do and shouldn't' be a harder task to re-do and it will make the animation flow more and that it would be as impressive.