EVALUATION & REFLECTION
LO6 6.1 - 6.2
WEEKLY JOURNAL
06/02/23 - 10/02/23
Week one
This is the start of my final major project and I have decided to produce a 2D hand drawn animation. As I would like to study animation at University, I think that doing this project will be a stepping point into that. I have started to develop a number of ideas, as well as creating this website in order to present my Unit 13 evidence. I would like my website to have a sleek and minimalistic aesthetic to fit the style of my project.
I am labeling each section of my project accordingly to make it easier for my lecturers and examiners to find what they are looking for. By setting up the tabs on my website in advance I feel more organised.
website template
updated version
13/02/23 - 17/02/23
Week two
This week was during half term, which meant that I was trying to juggle having a break as well as progressing with my project. I have found that I work better in the college environment which is something that I have to be mindful of during this project because there are a few holidays in between.
My main three concepts are about a warrior, a cat and a circus. These are all very different ideas in which I aim to demonstrate lots of different skills.
During this stage of the project my favourite idea is the "cat concept." Due to my limited knowledge in animation, I decided to watch a video on how to create a cat run cycle. I then used the app Procreate on my iPad to create my own animal run cycle, which has gone well so far. (See screenshots below)
I have been reflecting on what world I would like my character to inhabit, and have come to the conclusion that I would like to use a city landscape for this concept.
I have also began creating a project action plan in order to write about the activities that I will be partaking in more detail. This will be expanded on throughout this project.
I decided that it would be a good idea to create a more detailed action plan, so that I could fit all of my notes on it, as well as the status of my progress.
20/02/23 - 24/02/23
Week three
This week started off with a meeting with my allocated mentor, which I think went well. He gave me some feedback on how to improve my initial ideas, which I am finishing off, as well as starting research. My mentor recommended putting the learning outcomes on the tabs such as "LO1 Context" which I have now completed.
I reflected on my project over the weekend and decided that even though I had already chosen my cat idea, I have decided to change my mind and would like to continue with my warrior concept instead. I believe that this will fit the criteria of this project better and give more research opportunities. This meant that I had to develop this concept's supporting ideas development evidence further, as I had focused on the cat concept initially. I am aware that this will impact on timescales but I think that it will be worth it.
In conclusion, this week has been beneficial in terms of gaining insight into how I can improve my work through the mentor feedback session, and I have managed to make lots of the suggested changes which I believe has improved the quality of my website and work.
27/02/23 - 03/03/23
Week four
This is a screenshot of a mind map that I made for my warrior concept.
Creating these have been beneficial in developing my ideas.
I decided to create colour pallets for each of my ideas, this helped me to visualise the overall aesthetic colour scheme of each concept.
I will put this on my mood boards alongside my annotations and images.
Upon entering the research stage, I have created a survey to collect feedback on how to improve my idea.
I polled a wide range of people of various genders and ages in order to gauge a broader audience reaction to my concept.
In conclusion, this week has been beneficial in terms of completing critical research that will allow me to move my project into pre-production. My audience survey was especially useful in opening my eyes to new possibilities for my concept.
06/03/23 - 10/03/23
Week five
I am using a website called "MyBib" for my bibliography to collect all of the websites that I take reference from during my research stage, it is easier to put them on here because the website converts the links into the harvard bibliography style. I have labelled the links in red that I initially put in for my proposed research ideas. I will transfer this to my website when I finish the research stage.
After the meeting with my allocated mentor, I have taken his advice and reorganised my website layout to include buttons for each section of my research stage, marking each page with many different icons to represent what I have researched. I would like my website to have a simplistic and clean aesthetic, and one that is easy to navigate.
Continuing on with my research, I have particularly enjoyed researching the Japanese history and I think this will contribute to my animation greatly.
13/03/23 - 17/03/23
Week six
As I enter the Pre-production stage, I have created a 'Technical elements' powerpoint in which I've listed the equipment and software I'll need during production.
Because I'm making an animation, this won't be a long list due to not needing cameras etc. This means I will only need an iPad and editing software to complete it. However, I have decided that I will use Adobe Audition to mix the foley sounds that I intend to create for my animation, as well as the background music; this means that I will be using more software, demonstrating my post-production skills further.
I am continuing to fill in my action plan as I go, highlighting anything that I didn't do, making sure I don't miss anything.
I have been thinking about using a narrator for my animation, which would help to tell the story and reduce the amount of animation that I will have to create considering the timescales.
One of the suggestions from my focus group was to have a Japanese narrator which is something that I have been considering for a while but wasn't sure how to achieve it.
Using AI to generate a voice recording of my script ended up sounding too artificial so I decided to ask family and friends if they knew anyone that could help.
I have a family friend who is learning Mandarin at University so I asked if they knew someone who spoke Japanese to do my narration and they said that they would check for me. (See text message on the left). I am excited about this because I believe that it will add authenticity to my animation.
This week has been beneficial in completing the research stage, thinking about including a narrator for my script and moving on to the pre-production stage.
20/03/23 - 24/03/23
Week seven
I have began pre-production by making a list of things that I need to do for this stage, such as storyboarding.
I have began creating character mockups, for my warrior and fox characters. I find this beneficial in order to bring the characters that I visualise to life, and allows me to narrow down exactly what I would like them to look like.
I have just found out that the person who might have been able to narrate my film is unavailable due to being on placement overseas at University which is disappointing but I will explore other options. My grandparents neighbour has a son who lives in Japan and I have asked if they might be able to help.
27/03/23 - 31/03/23
Week eight
I have continued to create my character mockups, moving on to set design mockups. I really enjoy this part of pre-production as it allows me to visualise my characters and worlds.
03/04/23 - 07/04/23
Week nine
This is the beginning of Easter break, keeping in mind juggling work and having a break.
Earlier this week, I heard an awful sound outside of my window which happened to be a bin lorry, and knew immediately that it would be an excellent sound for my demon character screeching, so I recorded it on my phone.
An added bonus is that the men working with the lorry screamed about the sound, which made my dog bark. This reminded me of the famous 'wilhelm scream.' I am looking forward to experimenting with this sound in post-production.
For each scene, I created a storyboard on paper as well as on the Procreate app. I wanted to see which method was the most effective. Drawing on paper eliminated a lot of unnecessary details that I would have spent time adding on Procreate, such as colour, which became too time consuming.
10/04/23 - 14/04/23
Week ten
Beginning the production stage of my project I have began by opening a project on Pro-create, making sure the project file size is 1920 x 1080 pixels.
My grandparents neighbour's son could not do the narration so I have had to reconsider my options.
I tried to record the birds in my back garden and the local park, but there were too much background noise like cars etc so I decided to record the sounds in a forest instead. I also recorded my dog panting to use for my fox character running.
17/04/23 - 21/04/23
Week eleven
This is my first week back after the Easter holidays.
This week I began creating the asset for my demon character.
Initially I wanted it to be more creature-like but eventually decided on making the body appear like smoke, with a set of horns inspired by Japanese folklore demon masks.
24/04/23 - 28/04/23
Week twelve
Today I began putting my demon character asset into my animation project, as well as completing the fox character run cycle. I have decided to use this asset twice in order to make the most use out of it as it has taken me quite a bit of time to perfect, and I would like to showcase it more often during my animation. I also think that using assets multiple times will allow me to use my time more wisely.
I had a brief meeting with my mentor, and we discussed how I could make the most of the time I have left working on this project. I decided to use the time I spend travelling to and from college to write up necessary notes for my weekly journal entries.
A group chat on teams for my class was created in order to start arranging the end of year show.
Final drawing
Initial sketches
01/05/23 - 05/05/23
Week thirteen
I had an idea for what I would like my warrior character to look like in the final animation, so I decided that I would like to draw one of the last scenes with her waiting for the demon to arrive instead.
I drew the outline of my character twice and moved the second outline up slightly and looped both frames so that she appears to be breathing. Creating the illusion of movement in my animation is important because it means I can minimise the amount drawings I have to create whilst making sure there is enough movement going on in the frame to keep the audience interested. I have used this technique for the scene where my fox character is sleeping.
My mum had a conversation in passing with her colleague about me trying to find someone who can speak Japanese to narrate my project and she said that she knew someone who might be able to help. She checked, and they agreed. I emailed them my script. (See below)
This is my script alongside the Japanese translation that my narrator has provided me with. I was very excited to receive this and I believe it will make a big difference to my animation.
08/05/23 - 12/05/23
Week fourteen
I have decided not to use Adobe Audition and Premiere pro during the editing stage as previously stated due to time restraints. So I have began editing on the app Capcut on my iPad. Editing on the same device that I am animating on works well because I am able to import my animation footage into the project easily instead of transferring each clip on Google Drive, which may also result in losing good quality.
I have submitted my film to my class's shared drive in order for it to be included in the show reel for the end of year show.
15/05/23 - 19/05/23
Week fifteen
Having completed my animation, I am now looking back on some of the past work that I have done to make sure that everything is as good as it can be. For example, I have fixed my risk assessment after finding out that I completed a column incorrectly.
I attended a tech rehearsal with my class for our end of year show. We set up the stage with all of the chairs and went through what we will say on Thursday. I wrote my speech on a piece of card which I will bring with me on the day.
I began my evaluation process which included sending out a survey to friends and family to gauge their thoughts about my animation.
On the evening of the 18th, our show took place in the Sundial Theatre in college. I was quite nervous because my animation was the third to last one to be shown, and I had to give a speech to the audience about my work. However, I managed to get on stage and present it clearly and it was very well received. Some members of the audience came up to me afterwards to praise my film which was a boost to my confidence.
22/05/23 - 26/05/23
Week sixteen
I have began creating a powerpoint slide for my final presentation to my lecturers on Thursday 25th.
I believe that the presentation went well, and I managed to answer the questions that my lecturers gave to me quite well.
This is the final week of my project which has been spent prepping for my presentation, as well as making sure everything is up to scratch for submission, and that my website works as it should.