Post-Production: Evaluation

Evaluation

Test vs The Final Animation

My finished ident uses the same techniques of drawn animation as my original dummy run, using a drawn static background with certain elements (e.g. the log flume, birds etc.) moving in the foreground. In my finished animation I added a background behind the log flume itself to create an element of depth and add more to the picture so it didn’t look bare. Although I added to my original test run by adding in other elements, I still kept to the original technique of drawing each individual frame and placing each piece of paper on top of each other to create an effective channel ident and I was happy with the results of my test run.

The main piece of feedback that I got for my test animation was that I needed to include more in the background of my piece in order for it not to look unfinished and bare. This however was not a problem in my final animation as I had originally planned to draw a background for my piece but due to time constraints I was unable to do so. As I had more time to create my frames for the final animation I was able to really concentrate on designing my background as effectively as possible. Furthermore, as I was creating my own set I had a lot of leeway in what I wanted to draw and how I wanted to draw it so it was really easy for me to come up with a backdrop for the log flume that I was very happy with.

Although the style of animation is the same I noticed in my test run that due to there being a very minimal amount of frames and the main object moving in the picture being spaced quite far apart between frames, this lead to the animation being very short and also the movement became quite jerky. To combat this in my final animation I photographed the same frame more two times, in order to make sure that the animation would be the suggested length. To combat the jerky movement problem, in the production stage I made sure that when I was drawing the log carriage it was closer together each time it moved, rather than spacing it too far away, this made the persistence of vision theory more effective in my animation whilst still keeping the handmade aspect of stop motion animation.

Comparison with Existing Products

The main influence for my style of animated drawn frames was taken from the Volvic Touch of Fruit ‘Clearly More to It’ TV advert. The filmmakers used paintings of cartoon style fruit and water etc. floating around against very large walls to convey the appeal of the drink itself and convince the viewers to purchase it. They also used real life footage of a man painting on the walls in order to make a connection between the real world and the virtual world through the use of stop motion animation.

This was my first time ever creating a stop motion animation so this meant that I was not able to reach the professional standards seen in the above example. Similarly, due to the equipment that was available to me and the time constrains that I was placed under also meant that I was not able to create an animation as effective as I would have liked. Furthermore, the way that the makers of the Volvic advert use such a large expansive wall which acts like a canvas for their animation is something that I would like to have used more closely in my own animation, but as I was constrained to only using the college premises there was no way for me to create something on such a large scale. Something else I would have liked to experiment with in a similar way to the advert would have been to pay closer attention to colour and how it effects the viewer, but the for mentioned time constraints meant that I had to focus on just using colour for the water, and making up on this potentially lack of detail in the editing stage of the animation. Although, I do feel like I carried out my animation to a high standard given the constraints that I was under and also used a form of the technique that I was inspired by from the Volvic 'Clearly More To It' advert.

Strengths & Limitations


After I completed the production of my animation I created an online survey (which you can find here https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/FPWDYZS) on the website SurveyMonkey. On the survey I asked the viewers; how effective they thought the animation was as an ident, from 1-10 how well it suited the given demographic, how creative they thought the animation was, what would they rate the editing of the animation, what would they rate the sound included in the animation, and finally what was their favourite part of the whole piece. I received entirely positive feedback from the survey which I was extremely happy with. The responses from the survey showed that the editing, sound, and camera techniques scored highest as the viewers favourite elements of the animation. I also posted my animation on Facebook and I was given some constructive criticism on there, some of which said "you should animate the e4 logo for a little longer, similar to some of the other e stings but I'm really impressed well done" and "you should add a little more colour to the piece to really bring it all together, but really good job!". Overall I received a lot of very positive feedback from my animation and I am very pleased. 

The use of sound included in my animation came out as one of the most favourite elements from the survey and I am extremely pleased about this as the sound was something that I aimed to focus in on and used to tie the whole piece together. I am really happy that the audience appreciated this use of sound and that my work on utilising it and making it such a huge part paid off. I received some constructive criticism stating that I should have paid a little more attention on colour, using it throughout the piece not just on the water. This is a valid point and I think if I had a lot more time than I did in the production of this animation then that would have been something that I would have liked to pay more attention to, but I feel that given the time I did have and using colour purely for the water it does indeed draw the viewers attention directly to the water and I think that this technique was very effective.

Overall, I am extremely happy with the animation that I created. I fitted the brief by completing an animated ident for a TV channel and I completed my own personal goal by making it visually appealing to my specific audience. There were a few elements that I would have liked to have included that I mentioned previously such as using a large wall and paints rather than paper and pencils but due to time constraints I am extremely happy with how my animation turned out. I feel very happy at the effectiveness of my animation and I think that I completed the brief to the best standard possible.