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
