L3 Tv and Film Animation: 2017

Feedback Review and Report, Animation – Willy the Worm

For this project we had to create a 30 Second Animation, either working in pairs or by ourselves, we could use any of the animation techniques we had learnt, but have at least two techniques for a higher mark. I was very proud of how our animation worked out, even though it was not to the original story which we had intended and had changed from our original idea it still turned out really good in my opinion. When it came to pre-production and production itself I think we worked really well and separated each job out individually, managing to get each piece of paperwork done in time for the deadline.

When we decided to start making our set we had the idea that he lived in a recycling bin, or some sort of recycling container so we decided to use a cardboard box as this. I was really proud of how our set turned out and how much detail we managed to put into it, I think it really added to the feel of our animation and made it more so the audience could engage and believe more in the story. Even though I did think we got a bit carried away with the set design and probably didn’t need to spend as many weeks on it as we did, because we did have less time to focus on things such as the sound and the actual visuals, even we thought we did this I do believe it still turned out great and I am really proud of what we created.

The filming didn’t take as long as I thought it would have once we had our set idea as it was just moving our models around and making sure they looked alright on camera. When it came to editing it didn’t take as long as I thought it would as we had a solid idea about how we wanted it to look, the way we wanted to give it an old rustic and make it match the setting we had the cardboard look, I thought we timed some of our shots very well and added to some of the comedy value that it had.

When it came to feedback we got a majority the same things said about our animation, which were overall very good and I’m again very proud about how it turned out. We had to give out a feedback sheet to with questions on and we decided to put a comment box for any further comments, the questions were:

· Did you enjoy the animation?
· Did you understand the animation?
· Was the sound great on the animation?
· Was the animation to fast?

Also the further comment box. We gave them out to all 14 people which were watching, but because we did it in pairs we decided to split the feedback forms between so. Four of my forms responded yes to the first 3 questions and no to the last one, we were very happy with this feedback and glad they were able to understand what was happening and we thought it was going to go a too fast and they were not going to be able to understand, as because it was only 30 seconds we had to split it into two parts because we had a 1 minute long animation and the brief said 30 seconds. We did get some responses which responded to all of them as yes, and one comment said ‘great comedy timings’ which is great because that’s what we were aiming for. One comment we did get was for the, did you understand the animation? They ticked unsure as this is what we were worried about as we thought about it going too fast and people missing parts of the animation which were important.

When it came to just general comments, we got a very mixed batch of comments, some of the comments we got off the feedback sheet were generally all the same as they were all part of the same demographic, male and female, aged 17-21, most comments included comments about our set and it was well put together and the sound fit really well into what we were making, but it being a room mostly full of college students we were bound to have some joke like comments and some stupid comments which wouldn’t really help us at all. I also collected some survey monkey results which were very varied and when you can post it something on Facebook you can get very mixed answers, such as serious answers and stupid answers. You can see these results on my graph, along with other results.

When it came to any other comments, I got other people to view such as friends and family, and they generally said they enjoyed it and that you could tell we put lots of time and effort into the production, one main comment I kept getting was that the set was really well put together and really made the animation come alive. One big problem that they said especially among the older demographic was they said it was too fast and this is a problem which we have actually identified after making and we knew it might be problem. Some of the things they specifically identified was the text coming up on screen too fast and unable to read what was said. Which could be a problem and it was a crucial part of the story and what his motivation was to build the plane and fly away.

There were also comments about some of the shots going too fast and unable to really focus, but again this was said by an older audience.

In conclusion I am very proud of what we were able to create and I really enjoyed this animation project and wouldn’t deny doing it again, there were some problems when I think creating a story as I think we got a bit carried away but overall I think it turned out great. When dealing with the comments of it going too fast, was we had to fit everything in to 30 seconds, hence splitting it into two parts for both of us to say we did each one. We couldn’t do anything about the brief, we didn’t write it. Overall I wasn't too worried about the comments about it being too fast as it was aimed at a younger audience and they could understand it, which is what we were aiming for. If we ever did it again I would like to make the duration longer so we could develop the story more and experiment with different techniques and different types of animation. I would like to concentrate more on the story as a some of the feedback was for understanding the story was unsure and would spend more time fitting it together using text or voice over to make sure the point was being made.

Modelling Willy and Bruce

When it came to modelling we had the idea to use the same clay as the Animated character 'Morph' as I thought it would go with the aesthetic of the box and setting. When we decided to model 'Bruce' the the worm which needs to be rescued we decided to go with a lighter color but unfortunately I don't think it turned out the color we wanted.

Image of Finished Bruce

Image of Willy in Progress

Filming Willy

When it came to filming Willy we didn't have any issues, but when it came to the story we started to have second thoughts about our story and the we were going to struggle with the strict time limit and but we did the story with only a few minor changes to the original story line which now included a card board cut out of Brian Cox, but very few changes. The model started to look a bit worn after we had been using him and moving about a lot but and see the little cuts in him but if anything it adds a bit more character to the model. The camera angles were very basic but very effective and we had a few close up shots which worked very effectively.

In Progress of Filming

Close Up of Camera

Editing Willy

When it came to editing it was simple enough to put the images on to the timeline and in order, but we had to see if the green screen we had created out of green paper would work and it did, I didn't know much about after affects which is what we needed to use to get the green screen to work, he showed me how to do the things we needed and I learnt along the way. We also had fun putting on the various affects and seeing how they looked. Especially on Brian Cox.