https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2xUD_yXG2k


This was done before I created my animation. It is a stop motion animation vlog.

Evaluation of final animation.

EVALUATION.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL9zxZDYats

When I first tried to create an animation and did a small test I struggled with a few things. Such as; Having enough patience to wait for the photo to finish taking before reaching back in to adjust the piece and move on to the next frame, because of this many times I found that my hand was in the frame. However this was an easily adjustable and fixable mistake as I knew for my main piece that I would need to ensure that I wasn't too overeager and that appropriate time would be given for the camera to take the shot. I also struggled with the lighting, as it was difficult to keep the lighting constant as we were given limited time in a day to record the video and because of this the light was prone to change, even though we aimed to keep it the same. This wasn't a large issue with my test animation because it was so short, however because my main piece took place over the course of a few weeks there are obvious lighting differences even though I tried to keep it the same.

 

Here you can clearly see the obvious lighting change.

I looked into some professional animations to compare the quality of work to mine and be able to understand what standard of work they are held to. To do this I originally looked into Wallace and Gromit, this was because they use plasticine to create the characters and their surroundings. As my piece was not done in a professional studio or setting it became very clear that we had different materials and locations to work with. However even so, what my piece lacked that was very clear in Wallace and Gromit was well rounded characters. In my piece I struggled to create the characters and then keep those characters shapes, whereas in Wallace and Gromit and those that create it they will have had multiple models of the same character just in case anything were to happen. My lion especially, being the largest character, was difficult to keep up. I think this is because the shape was not smoothed to a finish, I originally did this so that I would have some give in the plasticine when moving the character although it just seemed to make it look unfinished. I found that my set was very basic in comparison too, originally I wanted it to be a very basic set so that the focus was on the characters and the storyline. However after looking at Wallace and Gromit I think that a more complex set would have given my animation another layer that would have worked with the already existing piece to create a higher standard of work.

A limitation that I encountered whilst creating my animation was trying to keep a consistent pace, this was difficult as it was hard to judge how quickly or slowly the characters were moving and how much you had moved the piece from its last position, it only really became clear once you watched it back. It was also quite difficult to ensure there was a consistent image quality so it actually looked like a continuous video instead of a series of images. I struggled with this at times as the lighting would be slightly different and the character may not have had moved as fluidly as hoped. However I think I managed to overcome this issue, the finished piece looks quite fluid and aside from lighting changes I think that it looks like a continuous video. Some advantages of using stop motion animation I found was the fact that I was so largely in control of what was going on, the shots were because of me and how I, myself influenced them rather than relying on someone else to do what I needed. The pace of the piece also proved to be an advantage as I was able to work through the animation each shot at a time, which allowed me to retake any shots as I felt it needed.

I created a questionnaire and made it available, alongside my animation for people to watch and answer. This was to garner some responses that I could use to evaluate my animation and know what I did well in and what could do with improvements. Overall most people enjoyed my animation; they enjoyed the creative aspects and found that there was a well-developed storyline which helped to create a well-rounded piece. The average ‘overall edit’ score was a 7, I think that this is good as 10 was very good within the scale. I think that this is a good score because it leaves room for improvement yet implies that my animation techniques were good. As this was my first attempt at a lengthy animation I am very happy with this score.

My ‘overall success’ score was also a 7, I think that the reason it wasn’t anything higher was because it could have been better, this could have been done by making sure the lighting was consistent and that there was enough time for the voice over to speak. At times the video may have been jerky and not as fluid as it possibly could have been. However I think it got an overall score of 7 also because of how well I managed to portray the storyline, I struggled with ensuring that the story and plot was clear with the limited about of time I had to work with.

 

Personally I am happy with my animation. It took me a while to get started and keep a consistent pace but I feel that I was able to do this by the main piece. One of the aspects I am most happy with is the movement of the animals/characters, this is because it was difficult to work with such small pieces and know just how to move them, I think that I was able to create movement well. However something that I would change if I were to create another stop motion animation or if I were to go back over the animation and re-do it, I would definitely change the lighting. I didn’t realize what a large impact the lighting had on the loom of the final piece and now that I have had the chance to look over it I think that it really affects the quality of the animation.