End of Module self evaluation

What skills have you developed throughout this module and how effectively have you applied them?

Software skills have improved considerably especially in After Effects, Illustrator and Photoshop. My project heavily relied on using Photoshop and to edit my images for my animation using this software more has also improved file management skills.

What approaches to/methods of design production have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?

I have improved my storyboarding skills especially when applying frames to a timeline to work out pace for a animation. I have learnt that storyboarding prior to going onto software is a necessity as it safes a lot of time and the software is only a tool to creating my project. 

What strengths can you identify in your work and how will you capitalize on these?

Main strengths for this project was having a very good understanding of what is capable within after effects and how to work the software. This will allow me to confidently do another animation project if i have the opportunity.

Understanding different software relationships and how to capitalize using photoshop/illustrator along side After effects to get the best out of my project.

What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you adress these in the future?

Being too eager too try something which would consume too much of my time and which is above my skill range at this point.

I'm not completely convinced that i could see my project on TV, by looking into more source material and relating it better to my subject would improve my project.

Identify 5 things you would do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from them?

1. Storyboard more, would allow an outside audience to understand my project a little bit better even though i might understand it perfectly through the few frames and drawings i made.
2. Storyboard on a A3 scale instead of sketchbook for a longer length animation, this will allow me to see the sequence better.
3. Blog small changes as i go along, this will help document all my work.
4. Better AE final file management and work on a external hardrive instead of being limited to the 4G space the college computers have given me which resulted in my files being between two computers to save space.
5. Leave more time for animation, takes far longer then you expect and this will give me more time to change unexpected problems.

Attendance: 5

Punctuality: 4

Motivation: 4

Commitment: 4

Quality of work produced: 4 

Quantity of work produced: 3

Contribution to group: N/A

Packaging

Packaging based on a BBC documentary DVD style case

Title Sequence

My final 60 second sequence I have produced shows different architectural achievements from ancient civilisations (Top 10 Ancient Structures). The video explores the use of 3D layering and Camera's, it is a very process driven video.

The positive points in this video is the backtrack which works well with the panning speed of the camera. The whole pace of the video also represents a documentary well where it focuses mainly on the imagery used something viewers will be most interested in seeing during the actual program. The type is bold and informative, it gives away just enough information to let the viewer know what they are watching. There is also a very good technical exploration of after effects.

Some of the points which stand out for improvement is the type, if i had more time i would of liked to use the alpha matt option on after effects, to produce textured type sampled from my imagery i had used already, this would help to make the type sit better within the animation and it would make the video feel more fluent. In a few cases the camera movements aren't very smooth and if i had more time i would of liked to push using the XYZ camera effect, something i didn't have enough time to study enough to get to work properly. One problem with this animation is I am not sure how well it fits in with a documentary if i had more time I would of liked to record a voice backtrack to talk over my animation to make it feel like something you would see on TV more. There are also a couple of minor errors still in the video, right at the end before it cuts to black you can see slight edges of the ending scene i have also not left the 'Ancient Structure' end scene on for long enough.

Title Sequence Idents (evaluation)

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2

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4

All my idents follow the same set of rules which make them very simple in nature which is what i was aiming for. I wanted to keep it very simple as it was only going to be on for 10 seconds and the main points I wanted to get across was the channel and time then some of the imagery i would be using in the main sequence. The main focal point is the structures and the image to start off with and then the BBC one logo which stays on screen for the majority of the video. One thing I could improve on would be using more backgrounds for the 3, i used the different variations of the same background which worked but they all look a little bit too simular. Ident 1 & 2 are very simular due to the fact that they are the same civilisation although they represent different structures to improve this i should of used some of my imagery for the Aztec civilisation in one of them. The different sections of the song I used for this works well with the drop, it enforces the BBC Logo to pop up and makes it the main focal point while it fades in. Ideally to improve these video's i would of liked to use moving image as it is for a documentary but animating the still images got me as close as possible to moving image.

Silent Movies (evaluation)

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2

3

4

5

By looking at all my silent movies i am rather happy with the result i set out to experiment with a different After Effects technique for each one:

1) Here i experimented with moving different anchor points and finding the advantages of them I also experimented with individual animation on each letter and to push the skills i had learnt at this point as far as possible while using X, Y and Z tools. I am very happy with the result i got from this animation but more with what i learnt during the process of making it. 

2)This explored camera's for the first time it is a very simple animation but it was more an experiment to test what after affects could do. To improve this video i could of imaged a floor for the letters to fall on and produce an end point for the video. 

3)This video mainly explored changes in pace, getting movements spot on for explosions and slowing back down while falling. To improve this animation i could of ignored the imaginary composition walls and made the word disperse in all direction in Z space. 

4)This video explored photoshop composition importing, depth and Z space. It helped me gain experience in producing an effect i desired instead of just using one of the standard pre set effects for after effects. To improve this video i could of used easy ease on some of the key frames.

5) This final video explored hold key frames, pace, Z space and blur effect. This was my favourite animation as its simple but yet really entertaining and it just helps to break up that idea that a composition is a flat screen. 

Overal i could of experimented with a little bit more colour within the type but personally for me it was more about getting processes and techniques down i wanted to use for my main sequence. 

Crit 3

I really liked the fact that we could ask specific questions in this crit as i could get answers to some of the problems i had. One of my qeustions was can you find any errors, i personally knew about a few but wasn't sure if it was just me or not but it got pointed out in several area's i didn't even notice, it helped fix specific points in my animation small errors which were easily fixed. Some other good comments helped me improve little things like a tiny bit of extra feathering in specific area's.

Crit 2

Feedback was helpful, but it was hard to clearly show everything i wanted to do as i got stuck figuring out a style of animation but i have managed to kind of crack it a bit. Helpful points which were brought up are putting facts and figures about each of the structures im going to look at into my video's which was one of my idea's just got stuck animating it, so my next step would be to look at how i can integrate my facts into my imagery and if i need to get a new typeface for it.

Sound - I have a track i really like, its subtle and need to select a specific section of it i want to use within my animation. I dont think im going to add any additional sound effects, i dont think its necessary.

To do.......

Story boards, now that i have got my style cracked i can get on with storyboarding my scenes as i have a far more clear visual idea of what i want it to be.

Crit 1

The main things i took away from this crit was to away and find a song which would fit my song and that my type was massively a wrong choice. I would need to do even more research into what kind of type is used in ancient civilisations other then glyfs. I also realised i had to specify my information down into some more specific ancient civilisations were big to say the least.

Crit Silent Movie

Criticism on my sequences were that the 3D elements weren't very clear with the shading, but this was just my badly executed hand drawn skills. All my Sequences were relatively clear and could be made out to be what it looked like it was going to be except the bottom sequence on the Top Sheet, I instantly knew this sequence would have some trouble being translated into only 10 frames so i even attempted to draw a diagram on the side of it to make it more clear. But after talking about it and how it would work on screen it was given the all clear. 

Advice from Lorraine:

With Regard to 3D, The 3D button will pretty much produce something as 3D as a board board cut out, which made a lot of sense, as i played around with this option and pivoting type it wasn't as 3D as it started out to be.

A quick way to model text in illustrator: Create outlines for type then copy and paste straight into after effects, then change the text in illustrator to what you want to be and then copy and paste into after effects you should then be able to animate the middle bit in AE easily.