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

DVD Cover

These are some moch ups of DVD covers i made. The idea i was going for was to produce a BBC type dvd cover the majority of their documentaries are on DVD.  

Silent Movie Post Production Boards

Open publication - Free publishing - More boards

Final Crit

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. 

Sketchbook 2

This sketchbook contains most of my storyboarding and scene drawings as well as idea's.

Sketchbook 1

Contains the majority of Idea's time planning, research and initial drawings

Final Sequence

Open publication - Free publishing - More main

Ident 4

Ident 1

Ident 2

Ident 3

Idents breakdown

DVD cover ideas

This is some BBC dvd Covers for frozen planet, instead of trying to figure out some form of packaging for ancient structures i decided to focus on selling project like a bbc documentary and focusing on the imagery i used. 

Ident idea

My first initial ident idea, but this was a bit too focused on egypt so i started designing a general ident template which i could apply to all 4. 

Maya

I ended up not liking this template design as it constricted my images too much so i changed it slightly to show more. 

This is my final ident idea. using a far more simple bit of text i can just fade into the animation wont take too much attention off the imagery and i can just fit it in around the main structure.  

Type Session 2

Mayan Type Change Scene

Before

Initially i was going to do the same with this scene by parenting the type with the camera and then move through the type but i then realised i could do something much more interesting and actually try and integrate the type into the animation slightly better.

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After

I parented each layer of type to a layer of trees, then just moved its anchor point down to the bottom of the type as the camera moved past to the beat of the music i 'flipped' the type up using the X, Y and Z tools.  

Arranging the type across Z space on the trees also gives it a much more 3D feeling, the only thing i would do differently is potentailly drop the opacity on the type so you can actually see some of the textures shine through but at this point going back and changing everything would be far too time consuming. 

Cut Scene...

Initially i paired the text to the camera then faded it in and out as the camera moves across the screen but this felt a bit boring to me and i had done it already within my animation so i decided to change it up a little bit.

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Here i paired the text to my camera then at the point i wanted it i split the perant and then moved through the 'O', this represented the 3D space much better and mixed up the scene a bit. 

Test Photoshop Scenes

This is the panoramic background for my Egypt scene, layered Sand against a layered background with a gradient. Made to size so i can just shove it into after effects.

Some experiments with textured text but i ended up not liking it and i would have to make it in photoshop aswell which looses me a lot of animation qaulity's. I asked mike if there was a way to do it in after effects and there is but due to the nature of my animation this would be far far too time consuming so i decided to cut this idea. 

More test scenes for Greece. 

These are some examples of the files i made in photoshop which i took some elements and just changed the colours and translated them to look slightly different. this allowed me to build up that 3D layer in After effects using a few different variations of the same cloud or tree. 

Test Photoshop Scenes

I couldnt decide which background to go for but i stuck with the greenish sky as it fit with the tree's and the colour scheme better although both background are relevant to the Maya civilisation. These quick photoshop test scenes save a lot of time before going into after effects so i know exactly that my content will work.

Final Sequence So Far

Scene Breakdown, the different sections so far.


It going pointed out that there are two errors in this 22s video, a tiny bit of black type showing through right at the beginning on the right and the word 'Ancient' moves across the pillar when it shouldn't but thats just after effects being After effects and doing things it shouldn't...


After Changing up the type to fit on the tree's this scene looks much better, just feels more fluent. I could probably get the type to sit a little bit tighter to the tree's


Feels like this scene is just one big fade in and fade out, need to change it so it fades in and out slightly quicker so the rest of the scene is in focus for longer. I can also probably put the type slightly tighter to the clouds.


I like this scene. The angle the camera comes in at changes it up and a bit and the lighting works well with the dark yellow sky and dark green forest and floor.