Final Post This Year :) :(

Year 9 Creative Media Animation Project – Term 4

Animation Unit: Self-reflection and project evaluation:

Discuss your feelings about the production task:

·      Are you satisfied with the final result?

Yes, I think I am very satisfied with my final result.

·      Did the animation process require more or less time than you originally thought?

No, unlike previous assignments, this one was perfectly planned and I finished the iBook just on time.

·      Would like to change any aspects of your final project (style of animation, the concept etc.)?

I think I would maybe want to find a better title because I couldn’t think of any good ones whilst I was making it so I just used The Baby Panda.

·      If you could start the project again what would you do differently?

 If I were to start the project again, I would maybe change the background of the animation and give it a more parchment feel. I wanted to do that at the start but I had trouble finding good water colour pictures that worked together.

Respond to each of the following dot points (using complete sentences or paragraphs). You should include as much detail as possible in your responses.

·      Discuss whether your final animation has turned out the way you imagined?

Yes, my final iBook turned out the way I imagined because I wanted the design to be quite simple so it doesn’t interfere with the message.

·      Discuss whether you had to modify any elements of your original concept and planning to create your project;

I had to modify my the use of faint, water colour bamboo forest pictures but other than that, I didn’t really have to change anything.

·      Explain how your animation skills developed during the project (i.e. did you become more efficient?; did the quality of your animation improve?; did you have to use a variety of animation techniques? etc);

I think my skills in iBook Authors developed quite a bit because at the start of the term, I hadn’t even opened the application once before.

·      Describe any problems or difficulties you encountered during the animation process. (These may include; technical difficulties, corrupt or missing files, difficulty using the editing software, problems exporting etc.)

I didn’t really encounter any difficulties throughout the entire course of the iBook because it’s a much simpler unit than photoshop or animation so there were really any opportunities to make mistakes…

·      Explain if you made effective use of storyboards and scene planning/breakdown?

Yes, I think I made effective use of storyboards and scene planning because at the start, before I started making my iBook, I broke my animation up into 10 scenes and that is all the scenes in my iBook, with no alteration.

·      Describe whether your planning assisted or helped you to focus during the animation process;

My planning definitely helped me focus during the construction process of my iBook because for each chapter, I had to write a description to go along with the video. So, everytime I just rewatched the scene and retold the story.

·      Describe any time-management issues you or your group came across during the project and describe the steps you took to improve in this area;

I didn’t come across any time-management issues.

·      List any other software skills, animation techniques, tricks or shortcuts you have learned during the project.

In iBooks author, I learnt that changing the name of a section meant that it changed automatically in the contents. I learnt how to put media into each chapter and how to create the line that is in the middle of my pages. Overall, I learnt how to use iBook Author.

Starting My iBook

Today was the first lesson of the second week back. Last week, I started on chapter 1 of my book and by the end of the lesson today, I had the first page of my book finished. I'm not sure if I'll change it the next time I see it but for the time being, it's going to be like this.

I'm still not sure what to name my book but some of my ideas are 'One Month' - as in the things that happen in one month - and 'A Month in the Life of a Panda. But...I don't particularly like any of them so I'll probably just leave it until I think of a title.

Final Evaluation

Year 9 Creative Media Animation Project – Term 03: Mr Andrews

Animation Unit: Self-reflection and project evaluation:

Discuss your feelings about the production task:

Are you satisfied with the final result?

I think I’m kind of satisfied with my final result because I feel like if I was faster in drawing the background, I could’ve put more scenes into the animation. Furthermore, towards the end of my animation, I think the quality dropped slightly because I felt the time pressure and therefore didn’t put much detail into the hunter that shot the panda.

Did the animation process require more or less time than you originally thought?

Well, I think it actually required more time than I thought. Drawing the background in detail was especially time consuming and tracing the pandas also costed a lot of time. In the end, I ran out of time and had to alter the ending so I didn’t have to draw the baby panda surviving and running out of the cave.

Would like to change any aspects of your final project (style of animation, the concept etc.)?

Yes, I want to change many aspects of my animation. If I get the chance, I would probably prolong the part of the deforestation and somehow make it easier to understand. I would also rework the hunter scene and try to make it as detailed as my scenes before. Also, I would also want to add a couple scenes of my baby panda playing around so when the hunter takes the sack away, the audience will be shocked and when the baby panda is alive again, they will feel pity for the baby who lost her mother and so the whole film might have a greater impact.

If you could start the project again what would you do differently?

If I could start the project again, I would try to spend less time on the background and focus more on the scenes rather than the obsession of drawing every bamboo stick by hand. Also, I would probably link the deforestation better with the actual story and make the use of the butterfly more effective and have a bigger impact. Additionally, I would really love to rework the walking hunter scene and make it into something more detailed than just a stick figure.

Respond to each of the following dot points (using complete sentences or paragraphs). You should include as much detail as possible in your responses.

Discuss whether your final animation has turned out the way you imagined?

I think my final animation half matched the way I imagined it to be. This is because I was sort of rushing at the end and therefore had to alter and condense the ending of my project. Overall, I’m pretty happy with the end result and I think this ending can also fit into the message I’m trying to deliver.

Discuss whether you had to modify any elements of your original concept and planning to create your project;

I had to modify quite a lot of the elements in my original concept in order to finish the animation. For example, I shortened the part where the baby panda grew up, cut out the scene of the mother and baby playing and at the end where the baby panda crawls out and howls at the night. I had to alter these components because I was running out of time towards the end and if I were to spend time drawing those scenes, I wouldn’t have finished. Another reason was that when I was trying to add the scene of the baby panda rolling around, I retrieved a sequence of images from the internet and tried to trace it. But when I looped the drawing at the end, it didn’t really flow so to make it flow, I had to connect the different drawings. Being not a particularly talented drawer, I tried and failed to connect it so in the end I just decided to ditch it and move on.

Explain how your animation skills developed during the project (i.e. did you become more efficient?; did the quality of your animation improve?; did you have to use a variety of animation techniques? etc);

My animation skills developed quite a lot during the entire animation process. This was because I got used to the drawing pad and started to draw with a lot more efficiency. I also des covered shortcuts on the computer for Animation-ish such as to press the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 to switch to the tools on the side panel according to their order. This was very useful because I didn't have to go and click the actual tool whilst drawing; I developed a system where I had my drawing pad parallel to the computer and my left hand on the keyboard to press on the shortcuts.

Describe any problems or difficulties you encountered during the animation process. (These may include; technical difficulties, corrupt or missing files, difficulty using the editing software, problems exporting etc.)

I didn't have many difficulties - thank god - but I did have quite a few that had me panicking. For example, in the scene of the baby panda being born, after I finished the drawing, I tried to add a keyframe so that the animation zooms in on the baby. But, every time I clicked the keyframe button, the whole animation just crashed. The first time it happened it was very, very annoying because I had just finished tracing the entire thing so when it crashed, I lost my progress. I reopened the file and redid all the tracing, saved it before adding a keyframe and clicked on the key frame...and it crashed.... again. So, I decided to ask Mr Powell the next day but.... he was away. Luckily, instead of a substitute teacher, we had Mr Andrews so he solved my problem by coping my drawings in the crashing file into a new animation file. I didn't even think of that because I thought you couldn't copy drawings into different files but I learnt the trick and used it for the butterfly in numerous scenes.

Explain if you made effective use of storyboards and scene planning/breakdown?

I think I made effective use of my storyboard because I was able to know right away which scene I was doing after I finished one and could immediately start a new one without wasting time in thinking about it.

Describe whether your planning assisted or helped you to focus during the animation process;

My planning, I think, helped me a lot during the construction process of my animation. This is because in my animation, there are times where the same scene is repeated but with parts being different (deforestation). So, I made a 'base' file for the deforestation part, and every time the forest was cut down, I just opened the previous file, edited it and saved it as a new file. Furthermore, since I knew what I had to do, I was able to start a new scene in class when I forgot my USB because I didn't want to waste any time.

Describe any time-management issues you or your group came across during the project and describe the steps you took to improve in this area;

The time management in this assignment I think was a lot better than my Photoshop one, I constructed my storyboard carefully and therefore didn't have to abandon it and start anew. Because I had spent so much time on perfecting the background, I was rushing a bit towards the last few weeks but I managed to pull it together and submit my assignment one day before the due date :). To do this, I altered the last few scenes in my animation so that the baby seemed to die with the mother (If I have a chance I would show that the baby panda didn't die because I didn't actually show what was in the sack) and then had the storm and the message appearing during the rain.

Discuss whether you undertook adequate and detailed reflection throughout your project. Have you provided enough evidence to support your work? (Look back at your blogs/journals and think about whether it looks like a whole term worth of work);

I think my reflections are alright. There are some evidences of my work and overall I think the posting was better than my Photoshop assignment.

•       List any other software skills, animation techniques, tricks or shortcuts you have learned during the project.

•       1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 – switching between tools on the side

•       Z & X – zooming in and out

•       Command Z – undo

•       A & S – moving between frames

Watching everyone's animation

Today is the submission day of our media assignment and we are going to start watching everyone's finished animations and evaluate it.

Chelsea, Lily and Ruby's animation:

• Lyrics were timed really well to the music
• Use of colour, bigger writing, and moving words were really effective

Ella, Devin and Lily's animation:

• Sound effects - especially the rap at the start - was really good
• The missing page idea, I think, is interesting and I like how the characters came alive from the book

Ella's animation:

• It was beautifully drawn
• Casper's movement was fluid and didn't seem to lag and overall, the film flowed really well and was well thought out 

Abby and Joyce:

• Timing was really good
• Well use of all the different backgrounds 

My animation -

• I think the overall reaction from the audience was better than I imagined
• Some people understood the money part which I'm really relieved because after I put the animation together, I wasn't really sure if people would understand but some of them did

Katie and Maddie's animation:

• I think the part where they coloured the natural background was really eefective
• Maybe can be imrpoved by making the scenes not as shaky, but that's normally what happens with i-stopmotion 

 

My Finished Animation

IT'S OVER

OKKKK, so......at the beginning of this lesson I imported the sounds into iMovie (with the help of Mr Powell) and actually finished my animation!!!!!

Mr Powell said if anyone was ready, they could hand it in so I decided to hand it in a day early! (first time I've ever done for an assignment)

:D

I will be posting the video in a post solely dedicated to it :)

Sounds with Eliza

Rightio, I came into media today thinking that I would record my sound effects alone.....but when I asked for snoring noises on the computer from Mr Powell, I quickly realised I needed a buddy to record with me.

I asked Eliza to help and she kindly agreed :)

We first went into the OS rooms to record the snoring, then, for the panda footsteps, Eiza gathered some dead leaves and bought them onto a desk in the classroom so we could tap on it to create the sound of walking. But, the sound wasn't realistic enough so we decided to go outside and actually walk in the garden. This proved to be really good and we had the panda footsteps in no time.

Then, we had to do the hunter footsteps and because the hunter came from far away and then came near, Eliza started off away from me and when I started recording, she walked towards the computer to create the feeling of the footsteps coming nearer. We also did the same thing for when the hunter was walking away :)

For the deforestation part, I just chose a random stick and started rubbing on the dead branches on trees, creating the effect of saws cutting down trunks.

To be honest, I think the sound lesson was actually the most fun I've had during the construction of this assignment because it was really interesting what we could do to create different sounds and also, I was working with my friend :)