2D animation Vine

This is my vine

2D Vine animation evaluation

On the whole I felt my 6 second animated vine went well, although my production didn’t quite go to plan due to the fact that I had to change the type of animation I used( Rotoscoping to Frame by Frame). As I was making my blog post of the production period I am very aware of what the main strengths and weaknesses of my animation are. The strengths of my animation include: the fluidity, during the production process I was ensuring that my animation flowed and the soundtrack was 100% in sync with the animation and the pace was not too slow or fast; I felt that the soundtrack was successful in representing the college atmosphere as I chose an upbeat, fun tune therefore making sure to attract my target audience to come to the college (the purpose of the animation).The weaknesses of my animation were: My time management skills could have been better. I spent a lot of time planning what I was going to produce so that when I came to doing it I didn't have enough time, as I had less time to produce the animation it meant that the characters were slightly less animated than originally thought. I didn’t animate the feet when the characters were moving however I felt that this actually added to the friendly tone of the animation as the characters pleasantly bounced onto the screen.

In terms of whether or not the finished product was what I set out to do I would say that it was. The themes in the animation are the same as presented in my pitch,For example: Diversity, friendship, freedom, fun and comedy are present and a simplistic tone, however I changed the type of animation half way through the design process so that could be counted as me not achieving what was originally planned for my animation.

If I completed this task again I would manage my time more efficiently and write down a written timetable of tasks that need to be done on certain days to ensure I have time to do everything I set out to do. I would also animate the characters more by moving their limbs when moving and change their facial expressions when they talk to give the animation a more professional feel. When doing the task again I would maybe create my own soundtrack (Record myself playing an instrument with a song I have made) to make the animation more original.

I feel that this animation marks progress with my animation abilities as I really got to grips with all the tools and techniques used to create my animation and it will really help me with my future tasks and projects. In the past when I have tried to portray comedy it hasn't gone well,but because the comedy element in this case was subtle I believe  it worked. 

I performed a focus group of people within my target audience (16-18) where they commented on my animation and the first question that was asked and all 3 candidates thought that my 2D Flowed well. The second question was about the motive (To advertise Esher College). Candidate one stated that ‘Yes it was to represent Esher’s social aspects to show people are friendly at Esher and willing to make friends’ this signifies that I did indeed achieve what I set out to accomplish when starting the task. Another open question I asked the candidates was about what I could improve? Candidate three said ‘More details to the character designs’. Candidate one shared that after seeing the animation ‘she would want to come to Esher as it portrays it as a friendly welcoming place’ From this feedback I can conclude that I did accomplish what I set out to do on my task although there were some bumps in the design process.

Production Diary

Production Diary

Firstly I planned what I was going to include in my vine, first I decided to use Rotoscoping but I felt like that would be far too time consuming and I would be able to make my vine a higher quality if I did Frame by Frame animation.

I then decided what the plot of my vine would be (A teenage boy worried about making friends and being reassured by another female student)

I made a mind map of what I wanted the aesthetics to look like.It included:

·        Bright Bold colours

·        Esher College Logo

·        Shows the diversity of the college (through music taste, ethnicity and gender within the character)

·        College mise en scene

·        Colourful bold attributes of the college flashing up on the screen using motion tweening

·        Esher College Logo popping up at the end so the audience are fully aware that the Vine is about Esher College

·        Comic like speech bubbles

·        Bold writing in the speech bubble

·        Used the college colours as the theme (Yellow,Grey,White and Black)

·        Simplistic character drawings

To create my animation I used to programme Flash.

I then drew my setting using the 2D shape tools to give it a simplistic feel and to save time for the character drawings and soundtrack as planning was more time consuming than expected. Whilst filling in the background I used the college logo colours so the target audience know which college the vine is talking about.

I later started drawing the main character in my vine:

To create the characters I used a variation of pre drawn shapes from the programme and the paint brush tool. I used the pre drawn shape for the boy’s head and hat and drew the body, legs and shoes with the paint brush tool to create a friendlier and more realistic body and the same for the females.

To make sure only the character moved when I pressed F6 to copy the frame I made sure all the characters were on different layers.

Sound Track

I then went on to create my soundtrack for my vine on Garage band. It was quite time consuming choosing what sounds to use. I wanted to have very upbeat music so the audience felt like Esher was a happy place to be.

Editing

I used the editing software Adobe premier pro as I have had experience using the programme with previous projects. I then imported the animation and made sure that the soundtrack and animation was in sync and the animation looked fluid. I then exported the animation and my task was complete.

Strength of my vine:

1.      It was well planned and thoroughly thought through.

2.      The soundtrack denoted the atmosphere of the college in a positive light as wanted

3.      It was fluid

        Weaknesses of my vine:

1.      As my planning took so long I didn’t have enough time to go forward with my original idea so my animation was slightly more simplistic then originally hoped