Animation Evaluation
During this assignment I was required to work to a brief and
produce a 15-30 second long stop motion animation. Throughout this assignment I
was aiming at developing some skills in the production of stop motion
animation, using traditional frame – by - frame methods to animate 3D materials
such as objects, puppets, clay figures and other models. To start off the
assignment each member of the group was asked to create a blog, this is so that
we are able to publish any of our work online for a wider audience to see. Once
everyone’s blog was set up, we then moved on an introduction task with our
teacher to help give us a better understanding of what stop-motion animation
was. This was one in the TV studio as there is enough space to animate our own
bodies.
One the introduction in top stop-motion animation had been
done we moved on to task 1. This task had been done individually which helped
everyone explore stop motion animation techniques including persistence of
vision, stop-frame, frame rates, and their development up to the present. I
also had the chance to explore the techniques and development of stop motion
animation investigating pioneers and contemporary animators, and the genres and
forms developed from the past to present day, in my case I had looked at Jan
Svankmajer who is a Czech filmmaker and artist whose work spans several media.
Dimensions of dialogue is one of Jan Svankmajers most
recognisable piece of work out there. The film is split into three sections,
‘Exhaustive Discussion’, where Arcimboldo-like heads reduce each other into
bland copies; ‘Passionate Discourse’ a clay couple merge and dissolve in
love-making, only to eventually disown and destroy each other; and ‘Factual
Conversation’ two heads fail to communicate with each, presenting various
objects with their tongues, none of which match. The animating of this was
quite basic. Jan animated this with a set that he created, perfect lighting and
good sound techniques.
As I had done my research on him, he had helped influence me
into creating a basic but efficient looking animation. The techniques that he
had used were all simple this may be because his animations were created in the
past and technology has now improved. So now that I had the some research into
stop-motion animation I then moved on to posting some useful and important
stills and clips from animations which have been significant in the history of
stop motion animation. Moving on to task 2 of this assignment I had planned and
one some research on ideas and techniques enabling me to produce a stop-motion
animation film of 15-20 seconds in for a TV advert, a website such as YouTube
and/or a festival for example the Leyton Sixth Form College Oscars.
So starting of task 2 I had written up a treatment
identifying the content, audience and screen contexts of my proposed animation.
I had defined my audience for my animation by age, gender, interests and
viewing context. Identifying the audience was the toughest part of this task as
I was not sure whether to target my animation at a younger audience or an elder
audience. My final decision was to aim my animation at a younger audience as
they would have a better interest into stop-motion animations. I had then
pitched my proposal to the class and my teacher as this would give me a wider
opinion of what they think I should have and not have as well as some sound
track choices and sounds. One my treatment and my pitch had been completed I
logged what I had received from them onto my blog.
Once all research, treatment and pitching had been done I
moved on to the pre-production of this assignment. I had compiled a portfolio
showing that I have considered the use of possible formats such as stop-frame
techniques, time lapse photography, Claymation, using found objects, modelling,
puppetry and combined formats. It had also included preliminary animation work,
ideas and pre-production documents. Documents such as concepts of my animation,
whether it would be a subject, characters or visualisations. Production ideas
and designs, this would be the set, background, audio and storyline. I had also
included some introduction to stop-motion animation work into the portfolio as
well as a mood board, storyboard, lighting and colour.
As extra help on of our teachers had helped us create an
armature puppet from scrap. Using the model that I had made I practised some
stop-motion animation to have more practice and a better understanding on how
to use the hardware and software. Once I had completed the pre-production I
moved on to the production of my animation. Production was simple as all I had
to do was get straight into building my set which was fairly easy. I then
started animating my object moving around my set. This was quite time consuming
but I would say it was worth it. Using hardware provided by the college this
had helped my job be a lot easier.
My animation was around 12-15 seconds long excluding an
intro and an outro. I had decided to add a calming but enjoyable soundtrack as
background music to give it that groovy feel to it. This had also helped gather
a wider younger audience. Production took me around 3 days. Once I had
completed the animation using IstopMotion I moved my final piece to final cut
to add some sound effects and the soundtrack. Sound effects I added were of a
flying plane and a bird squeaking.
Next up, once I had edited and finished my animation I had
collected and analysed audience feedback from my class as well as feedback from
people who have been on my blog. To help me gather all the information needed I
had tried by best to get as many answers relating genre, content, style,
narrative, character, techniques, aesthetic qualities, creative qualities and
technical qualities. I had also gathered responses from discussions, reviews
and feedback from online.
To gather the best audience feedback possible I had asked my
class and other audiences some questions. I had also gathered some feedback on
my blog as I had posted my final animation onto blogger to receive a wider
feedback whet it would be positive or negative. Question that I had asked my
class were the following: Who is the target audience? Where this would be
screened? Technical qualities? Strength and weaknesses? And areas to improve
in? Starting off with my feedback, I had decided that I should record
everyone’s feedback individually just so I could go back and listen to it when
I write up my feedback. I had received some positive and negative feedback
overall. Starting off with the audience I had been told that my animation would
suit best for a younger audience aged between 5-10, overall the responses I had
received from this question were expectable as that is the age range I was
aiming for when creating my animation.
Next up was where would this be screened? The feedback from
the audience for this question had been different, many said that my animation
should be screened on the web as it is a fast best and quick animation. Others
said that I should be on TV channels such as cbbc and Disney channel. As an
animator I was expecting these responses as I knew that my animating was
targeted at a younger audience which then has to be broadcasted on channels
that appeal to a younger audience.
I had also received feedback regarding the technical qualities.
The answers that I had received from this are about the camera, editing and the
animation overall. Concerning he camera the audience said that it was good and
that the high shot that I had was used well, some didn’t like it but overall I
believe I should have created a different set so that camera could be placed in
a better position. The editing on the other hand I had received was all
positive, the sound was good, the cuts were sharp alongside with the
transitions and the speed of the clips. As an animator who enjoys editing I
believe that I would have produced and edited a better version of this with
just a bit more time, but whatever has been done is done now. The strengths of
my animation had to be the editing as this is what the audience had enjoyed the
most but as of the animation overall I believe it was poor. If there were any
improvement opportunities I would have decided to start over again with a
different set and objects with the same storyline to the original.
Overall I believe that y animation had tuned out to be what
I was expecting of all of the planning I had done beforehand. This assignment
had helped me have a better understanding to animation with the research I had
done and the help from teachers on how to animate objects of characters whether
it would be models I created or toys that I had bought in from younger
siblings.
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