Evaluation Task

Year 9 Creative Media Animation Project – Term 03 2016

Animation Unit: Self-reflection and project evaluation:

Discuss your feelings about the production task:

• Are you satisfied with the final result?

I'm actually very unsatisfied with the final result of my stop animation. The editing is horrible, and the story plot cannot really be determined from my animation. I mean, one second they're making eye contact, the next they're running together while holding hands? I also had to take out a lot of the story plans that I had for this stop animation because of the lack of time. For example, I really wanted to include the part where Edward plays the piano for Jane, but I couldn't, because it took me too much time to build a piano, and I lost the one that I made before. I also hated the backgrounds used in this stop-motion, cause they were lifeless. A masquerade party is supposed to be filled with dancing people, but none of that is shown in this stop-motion. I couldn't find a decent one on the internet. The green screen was a nightmare as well. The obvious yellow fuzz is horrendous and distracts the viewers from the story itself. It's as if the background and the foreground are playing differently. I had to not green screen for one of the scenes because the green screen just didn't work. I really don't want to show this animation to anybody. 

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

It required a lot more than I thought it would take. I think it's part of me to blame for the lack of organization, but I really didn't think that the props would have taken me this much time. I also didn't have a partner for this, so I spent more time doing something I could have done in a day with a partner. The shooting itself was easy after getting a hang of it, but sometimes the camera would just not focus. 

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

Next time, I am 100% going to do human instead of making stuff. The making of the props took me too much time. I would also like to go for a happier vibe of animation next time, as I have only done depressing concepts for Media Arts this year. I WOULD LOVE TO CHANGE THE CLOTHES OF JANE NEXT TIME. I was stupid. Green dress for a green screen. I was very stupid. Because of that, now I have this fuzzy yellow thing in my Media Arts project that I absolutely loathe. 

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

The Green Screen. Getting a Partner this time. Doing it as a person. Better time management. 

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?

It didn't turn out the way I imagined at all. The quality of my work keeps on downgrading each term. It's really disappointing, cause I worked really hard on this animation. I had to take out a lot of scenes from my original story plot that I really wanted to include. I also didn't imagine having yellow fuzz on the screen. I'm just really disappointed in my overall animation. I imagined for my final animation to be well enough to be understandable, but mum told me that she didn't get what my animation was trying to tell. In my previous post, I wrote that I really didn't want for that to happen. 

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

I had to change my green screen into a yellow screen because of Jane's dress. I also had to scratch out the piano scene because I didn't have enough time. I originally wanted to do a MV for the whole song, but I couldn't cause I didn't have enough scenes. I also changed the burning scene of Jane to committing suicide, because it didn't really make sense on why Jane's ex-lover would just randomly burn her on fire. Edward was supposed to try and take off Jane's mask after they kiss, but I changed that to Jane declining the kiss because that would be more dramatic. 

• 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);

Nothing really improved. My sadness and disappointment in myself improved. In all seriousness, I now know how not to and how to properly use a green screen. 

• 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.)

A lot of files didn't open because of some error that happened during the saving of the scene. I didn't include them in my blogpost, because I forgot which one, but it was definitely annoying.  

The green screen still annoys me and will annoy me till I die. I can't believe I thought of using green fabric for a green screen. I also can't believe I chose yellow paper! This made the fuzzy yellowness to appear on my animation. I had to redo the green screening 3 times. 

I lost some of my props, so I had to do them all over again. 

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

I lost my storyboard, so I couldn't really use it during the course of my animation. It would have really helped, however, if I had one, cause it was really useful during the term 2 animation. I could have checked off the scenes that I did and which scenes I could possibly change. It would have also helped me in transferring the story better in my animation. 

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

Well, since I lost the plan, I can't really say whether or not the plan assisted or helped me to focus during the animation process. I can, however, say that the general idea I had in mind helped me to take the scenes that I desperately wanted in my animation. If this planning also includes my time management and organization skills, rather than helping, they really distracted me in doing the stuff that were actually important. 

• 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 came across time-management issues during the first 4 week of Term 3, as I hadn't started my animation yet. I was still making props and such. The steps that I took to improve in this area was making the props at home. This really helped me in getting the shooting of the animation going. I also borrowed a laptop during the holiday, and this really helped me to get back on track, as I finished all my shooting then. 

• 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 don't think that I gave enough details on what I did for each scene. I just explained what happened. I didn't really want to repeat saying I moved this and took a photo after every sentence, so I said it at the end of each paragraph. My thinking skills can be shown in this evaluation and before the starting of the scenes. I have some reflections during the scene posts that shows how I feel about this and why I did this. 

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

Don't wear green in front of a green screen. 

Don't use yellow green screen. 

Picture per something secs is your best friend. 

Photoshop can record actions. 

Medibang does photoshop files as well. 

The Green Screen app helps you when you have a different coloured screen. 

• What are your goals for your animation in term 3? Have you learnt anything from this experience that will help you?

? If this means for the next time I do an animation, it's definitely to get a partner. If I get a partner, that means double the brain power, which means less stupid mistakes. Also, time management is important, don't focus solely on an object, move on and come back to it. Do stuff on the weekends as well. Take good care of your stuff. Final cut pro has great effects and transactions. 

• Any other thoughts you wish to share?

Please don't show my animation to anyone.