Evaluation | AF201 Climate Change Animation

Over the last month I've been working on the project for the last 4 weeks. At first I was very concerned by the time constrains of only having a month to work on the project. To have completed all my research, come up with a concept and have a finessed animation at the end of the project seemed like it would be a steeper challenge than I was up to. I have prove myself wrong though and completed all the work to what I think is a high standard, not that I want to seem arrogant but I feel I've worked very hard on this project and I've for once, completed it to what I planned out in the first instance.

I'm most happy with my illustrations for this project. I personally really like them, and everyone in the class seems to be equally impressed by the unique yet very simple style I've finessed. I'm also really happy with the easing in and out that I used on my animation. Its simple yet very effective and adds an element of realism that I really like, very similar to the ideas behind my artwork.

I feel like I've excelled under the time constrain given and the limitations I gave myself with the art style. It was almost hard to keep everything so simple and not go overboard with it but I'm really glad I kept to my guns on that. This project has been the most enjoyable for me recently, its been an awesome experience; surprising when I said to myself "i hate animation" at the start of the project...!

I hope I can improve the link in my mind between the two designing tools I use; my Macbook and my sketchbook. I seem to have issues keeping the two in time with each other! Although I'm happy with the standard of work that's come from using both of the tools in this project.

Completed | Animation

I've uploaded my completed animation to my YouTube channel. I'm really happy with how its come out, as i posted before its now got changes to the voiceover and the "services" scene. 

I've managed to incorporate some of the animation principles, below are the included principles and where they can be found!

Anticipation 

- In the service station before the car launches off into the happy scene

Secondary movement 

- Clouds found throughout, jerrycan in the services, sun, tractor in the background of "happy"

Ease in/out

- The vehicles speed eases in and out throughout the different scenes

Solid Drawings & Staging

- Found throughout

Development | Final Changes

I've centralised the final billboard so it sits in the middle of the frame. All my classmates mentioned having this as the centrepiece of the last frame as it would have a stronger effect instead of being something slung into the corner of the scene. I am very thankful for the constructive feedback that has strengthened my animation. 

Here's another change that was induced by my classmates. They didn't think that there should be repetition of the billboard so I've changed the text on the first one. Although I know the top text is going to be hard to read its not the main message of the animation. The biodiesel will be legible and that's what matters to me. 

Finally I've added effects to the voiceover i recorded. The levels of the voiceover and the music were fighting each other so I added a volume effect and treble effect to help the voiceover stand out. I think its been successful.  

Development | Jerrycan

I've added "Biodiesel" to the can to make it clear to the viewer what is happening. I don't think I could make it any more obvious that the vehicle is being filled up with biodiesel. I think even if you couldn't read the text that says "biodiesel" the voiceover will fill the viewer in and it will all become clear in the end. 

Illustration | Jerrycan

I've drawn up a jerry can in Illustrator. I thought a wraith of leafs would work pretty well to draw more attention to it and the fact it's environmentally friendly. Both of these elements still need more work. In the next post i'll have put both of these into my after effects composition and have text to support too. 

Feedback | Critique

Point made and changes to proceed with in mind:

• Audio needs re recording, or levels need sorting out. 
• Background gradient needs to be roughened in between the service scene
• Text is a massive issue as people can't read it. A jerry can would be a decent fixture for the services scene.
• Billboard at the start of "Happy" scene needs to have a different slogan on the end. 
• Billboard at the end needs to either be centered or have the car lead up to it. 

The art style was consistently approved once again and I'm really happy about that. I will consider the changes above but I doubt i'll be able to change them all with the time I have. 

Problems | Codec + Final Export

I had some issues this morning before crit. As you can see below there are some strange movements happening to the video after export. This was due to the codec I was using so after some experimentation I've used export setting that work for me. Thanks to Dan Mole for help as always! Exported vid below, audio in but need to rerecord the voiceover.