Final esting and Evaluation

                                                         Evaluation

Within this project I had to gather feedback and gather information regarding the animation including the character design, the set design, the fluidity of the actual animation and whether the audience enjoyed it or not.

To show an audience my finished animation the video was put up on YouTube to allow public viewing I also showed people such as family and friends the video from YouTube on my mobile phone to gather more feedback and most of the comments from YouTube have been positive for example "great idea and the sound effects suited perfectly”. You could also use social networking sites such as Facebook, twitter, my space, tumbler and many more. Also, within class we all took part within a focus group where we all watched each other’s videos and gave our opinions, this was to ensure that everyone in the class received feedback from everybody else.

In the focus group we covered multiple aspects of the animations for example it was said that the aesthetic aspect of the animation were good as the set design “well made”    and the character was “very solid and also well made”. Also in the focus group we covered the technical elements of the animation, it was said that majority of the technical aspects where good but it did suffer from some “continuity errors with lighting in some shots”. As well as a focus group I also conducted a questionnaire to see if people outside the media group understood and enjoyed the animation I asked questions such as “what genre/style do you think the animation was?” most people I asked answered that they thought the animation was mainly “comedy” which is the genre I was aiming for. Another question asked was “did you understand what was happening in the narrative?” where the majority of people said yes a few people said no which shows a slight misunderstanding in the storyline. People who commented on my YouTube video and conducted my questionnaire also said that it was  “very creative and different” which shows they were happy with the creative quality although, some people said it would have been better if “he walked instead of standing in the same spot” but the majority where happy with the content.

I personally feel that to show my finding I should do so by doing a written report. This way I could use Microsoft excel to create tally charts, pie charts and bar graphs to show my feedback that I have received from my questionnaires. Another negative point was that some of the tape holding the set together was rather visible and this took away from the illusion of stop motion animation. I could also create a PowerPoint with screenshots from my animation with detailed captions explaining why a shot does/doesn’t work for example I would take a screenshot of the animation where the lighting changes and explain that for the clip to have kept with continuity the lighting within a few of the shots needs to be changed as it is a big distraction from the animation its self. I have also created an action plan within the focus group to see how I can improve my animation. Most of the negative feedback was mainly because of the lighting change where I have reshot the last couple of seconds and the camera angle doesn’t match up exactly.

In conclusion I personally feel that overall my animation went well. The animating its self I found to be quite difficult because the character I created seemed to have trouble standing on his own but other than that I feel that it went well. I think the animation is relatively smooth although at some points during the video the camera does jump and the lighting did change but apart from these small errors the video did turn out better than I thought it would in the beginning stages of my planning. I am pleased with the quality of animation I have produced and would love to do it again.


                    Evaluation part 2

For this unit of media we were asked to create an animation. Whilst making the animation we were asked to work to a brief and keep to all the deadlines. The animation was then shown through a stop motion animation video; I then reported my findings and feedback through a written report containing multiple people’s opinions.

While working on my animation there where some constraints for example financial constraints. Because the college isn’t a professional animation establishment we had to supply the clay that we used and therefore was a limited amount of each colour as the whole class needed to use it. Another financial constraint I faced was the size of the set that we used. For major animations such as Wallace and gromit they would have vast sets to allow easier animation but during the process of my animation I used an A3 cardboard box to make my set design which was very restricting. As well as financial issues I was also faced with the issue of copyright. Although I was creating an esting as specified in the brief I did question as to whether the E4 logo should be used as the E4 logo is still a trademark of E4 its self but, because images such as the E4 logo was on their website for download it was assumed that these pieces of media be allowed for use within my animation. I was also very careful when searching for sound as I made sure that all my sound effects are completely royalty and copyright free, this was to ensure that when my video was put up on YouTube it would not be infringement of any copyright laws.

 

Through the entirety of creating my animation I do feel that I have stuck to and met all of the deadlines given, I created my model in the specified time as well as creating the set. I even wrote up a plan of how many shots I needed in each section of the 10 second animation which can be seen here:

 Animation total 120 frames for 10 seconds

4 seconds- 48 shots :

2 seconds- 24 shots- one arm with skull being raised other arm being drawn into chest

2 seconds- 24 shots- arm with skull stays still arm which has been drawn into chest moves out to full extension

4 seconds- 48 shots

All shots consisting of E4 logo hitting clay figure from the front by rolling into him then move onto an Ariel shot of the logo

2 seconds- 24 shots

Slowly zooming in on E4 logo with skull rolling on top

 

Also when filming my animation I left time at the end to go back and make any changes that were needed. The reason I left time for myself to make changes is because through the whole project I would show my tutor my work at different intervals to see if there was anything I could improve upon allowing me to make changes before the editing stages. Leaving this time at the end to make changes was extremely critical for me because I had to re-shoot the ending as my tutor wasn’t happy with the original ending and without having left time at the end I wouldn’t have met the deadline for completion. I do feel that I have reached all the deadlines given within the brief and that throughout the whole process I stretched out my work load evenly to avoid rushing different parts.

 

Feedback was an important part of this unit of work as it allowed me to see what I did well in my animation and what I didn’t do so well. Most of the feedback that I received was positive although some people did say that there were some inconsistencies with the lighting in some of the shots. I received my feedback mainly through YouTube, word of mouth and questionnaires which allowed me to gather information regarding my animation through a variety of different ways.

 

This unit of media has allowed me to improve my time management skills and if I were to pursue a career in media this animation section would help me to manage and prioritise my work load accordingly.  I do feel that throughout this unit I have shown the necessary skills required to work within the media industry. I have worked well to a brief and met all of the deadlines, I have improved and changed my work according to feedback and opinions and I have managed my time to allow me to finish on time. Although I did enjoy designing and making the animation I don’t think I would consider taking a career within it. I did find it fun but I don’t feel like animation is the way to go for me as I don’t feel I have the patience to hold a career down in it.