Animation Preparation & Production!

Hey there!

During this wet morning, our starter was firstly set by the "Amazing Adam" where he listed some questions for us to answer truthfully about an animation video, (flash trailer for a movie based off a book). Some questions were about its aesthetics, animation techniques and camera angles. It took a good deal of thought and therefore it was also an opportunity to inspire us, at least it sure did for me. Some of the camera angles and prepositioning made me admire it and could be used in some scenes of our animation; this led to the first part of the lesson. If you are interested in the animation, you can watch it here. (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang).

At the start of the first session, we performed a class task where everyone had to review each other's progress to give them a sense of what criteria they are currently achieving. My group reviewed Gabe H and Billy B's work, which was totally irrelevant to the current assignment as they showed us A2 rather than A3. This means we could not grade them and gave them a target to catch up a little quicker.

Next, I and the Matthew's looked at the time plan for today; we made some tweaks and cracked on. We split the workload equally, making sure it was fair. Matthew T seems to be cracking on fine alone, but he doesn't communicate with us much when he is concentrating, which makes it hard to understand his perspective. Nonetheless, Matthew T downloaded a .RAR file for what we refer to as the VCAM, it is a software that allows a camera to pan in and around at different angles - beneficial and relates to the brief for the criteria of using camera angles. With this, we all cracked on at producing different scenes and shots we assigned each other, and at the end we would combine the final production.



However, Matthew B had issues on the production and he doesn't seem to be too experienced at using Adobe Flash. That's not his fault as everyone differs, so I decided to help him a lot. I ended up helping him on almost everything to get him started off or otherwise he'd be stuck at the same spot. So it was great that I helped and I enjoyed it, but it slowed me down greatly for my work. As a result, I asked Matthew B to help me back on other days after he finishes his, which this trade should make it fair.

My day has consisted of helping and working on smaller pieces as I cannot get into the solo concentrating mode at the moment. This is group work after all so I respect that, and I don't think I'm so good at group work unless everyone's work ethic is good, giving me a better moral overall. Additionally, although I do like to use my leadership skills most of the time, I sometimes too also would like to be lead so it's a fair conversion, however this doesn't seem to be happening here.

At the end of the day, I worked non-stop to catch up on outstanding tasks, such as making the final assets used at the end of the animation and preparing the time plan. I am also going into college tomorrow to do further work. I am certain I can get everything done, the only drawback is my rest and energy will be diminished, causing a strain. However, I'm positive we can get this done as we look like we are on track! The only requirement for this completion is if I worked every day for the last few days, which I am determined to do so. The distinction criterion says 'technical quality' and 'near professional standards', however I have a feeling we're working at a merit level, which is 'technical standards’. This kinds of puts me off but it's the best we can do so I am still grateful, it doesn't feel like a fail.

P.S: My animation from Unit 39 will be in our college's promotional video! Woop!