Task 4: e-pub, commentary and poster self-reflection and evaluation:

1.    Are you satisfied with the final result?

Yes, I am very satisfied with the result, as my iBook has a lot of content in it. I like how I added in pages about the creation of the animation and props and my introduction video for the iBook. I think these added a unique touch to my iBook.  

2.    Did the e-pub require more/less time than you originally thought?

The e-pub took a lot more time than I originally thought. I spent weeks planning out templates of the iBook and writing and recording the director’s commentary took a very long time than I thought it would. I initially thought that the director’s commentary wouldn’t take very long, as in my mind it didn’t seem like it would take very long.

3.    Would like to change any aspects of your final project (layout, links, images, video and audio content, colour scheme etc)?

I would probably change my poster. I inserted my poster I made in the iBook with blue surrounding it, as I couldn’t really fit my desired image onto the front page by itself. If I had more time, I would photoshop another image and place that as the front image. I would keep the same design, but I would change the size of the image so it is able to fit on the front page.

4.    If you could start the project again what would you do differently?

I would probably start the project a bit earlier. I left the iBook about one week before it was due. I focused more on my Miwa Matreyek assignment, as I thought that required more work than the iBook. I should have alternated between the two, so I could finish them both at around the same time.

Part Two: Respond to each of the following dot points (using complete sentences or paragraphs). You should include as much detail as possible in your responses.

1.    Discuss whether your e-pub and poster have turned out the way you pictured them?

My e-pub turned out way better than how I pictured it. Honestly, I thought my iBook was going to turn out terrible as I didn't think I was able to make an iBook that matched the storyline of my animation, as I don’t think I’m very creative. I didn’t fully understand the task when I got given it, so it made me think my iBook was going to terrible. But after the first couple of lessons, the task became clearer to me and my iBook started to come together. My poster (the picture) turned out the way I thought it would. Taking the picture was very hard, as I had grab different LEGO buildings and all the minifigures I owned to create a busy city environment. I took many photos and I had to keep re-arranging the setting to make the picture look perfect. But after this work, I think both my poster and e-pub looked better than I how I pictured them.

2.    Explain whether your e-pub and poster clearly depicts the style of your animation and describe some specific design principles that you have used to achieve this;

My iBook clearly depicts the style of my animation. My animation begins in a black and white world to symbolise Annie’s emotions at that time. I decided that the backgrounds of each section and chapter would start off black and white and they would gradually turn to colour as the story progresses. I did this so it would suit my animation’s storyline and theme. My poster is a picture of a black and white Annie in a city of colour. I chose this design, as it shows the difference between Annie’s depressing, sad emotion being different to others around her in the big city. The bright colours in the city show that these people are kind, approachable and nice. Overall, I chose this design so it would have a meaning that is obvious to readers. Some design principles that helped me achieve this are: Emphasis

I used emphasis in my poster, as Annie is a different colour to the city and others around her. This emphasises Annie’s importance to the animation. It is also an eye-catching image in the poster.

3.    Describe any problems or technical difficulties you encountered while creating your director commentaries in GarageBand. These may include; sound or video issues, corrupt or missing files, difficulty using the iBooks Author or GarageBand software, problems importing/exporting files, etc;

Sometimes when I recorded my director’s commentary, iMovie would quit unexpectedly. This would happen whenever I was in the middle of recording my commentary. This was very annoying, as I had to restart the commentary constantly. Since I borrowed out a school laptop that same weekend, I decided to use the iMovie on that laptop. This fixed my problem, as this iMovie didn’t quit constantly.

I faced another technical difficulty when I needed to export my iBook to submit it. Whenever I selected ‘Export’ iBooks Author would quit unexpectedly. It took me the whole lesson to try and export it, but I had no luck. I tried on numerous computers, tried some of my classmates USB’s but it didn’t work. I then had to go see Mr Powell and he was able to fix my problem. I was very relieved when I found out he was able to fix it, as I spent a lot of time and effort on this iBook and I didn’t want it to be a waste.

4.    Did you have all of the necessary resources to complete your e-pub and poster or did you have to create new materials?

I needed to create lots of new media for my iBook. I made an introduction video, which informed the readers what this iBook contained. I made video messages that the characters left for the readers, I divided the movie into scenes and I also had to find previous attempts at animating scenes. Making the introduction and character videos required a lot of work. I used LEGO minifigures as the characters in the videos. I used iStopmotion and Photoshop to create these animations. I had to use the skills I learnt in the last two terms, as I had to photoshop the mouths again. This is very time consuming and can get very annoying after a while. Dividing my animation into scenes wasn’t very difficult, as I just had to import the film into iMovie and cut the animation into separate scenes. I didn’t come across any problems while doing this.

For my poster I did have to use Photoshop. I just desaturated an image of Annie and used the clone stamp tool to paste her in the background image. I also placed my title in this image, which wasn’t difficult at all. I didn’t come across any problems while creating my poster.

5.    List the steps you used to plan and develop your project;

Firstly, I decided on a template from the selection that iBooks Author had. I picked ‘Antique’ as I thought it would suit my animation and I thought it was the one that looked the best. I then planned the colour scheme of my iBook and found images that would be useful in my iBook. I decided on black and white and the images should gradually turn to colour, as I wanted my iBook to closely link to my animation. Also, it was the theme that I thought would fit the iBook. From that, I thought about what I would put into my iBook and how I could make it appeal to both younger and older audiences, as I don’t believe my animation is for a certain audience. I think it can appeal to audiences of all ages.

6.    Did you use content-lists, flowcharts or other documents during the planning process;

I did write down any ideas I had and other ideas they linked too. This is similar to a flow-chart. In this chart I thought of what the different colours and images I wanted to use would symbolise. I had to think about this, as I intended to have some meaning as to why I chose these elements for my iBook.

7.    Clarify any time-management issues you encountered during the creative process and describe the steps you took to improve in this area;

I think I planned my time well; I wasn’t under stress while making this iBook. I did leave it until a week before it was due, but that was enough time for me to make it. Sure it would have been lovely to have a couple more days so I could add in extra content, but two weeks was the perfect amount of time to get my iBook finished. I had a lot of fun making this iBook and I didn’t really think of it as an assignment, I made sure that I was making something that was different and interactive.

8.    Discuss whether you undertook adequate and detailed reflection throughout your project. i.e. Have you provided enough evidence to support your work? (Look back at your blogs and think about whether it looks like a whole terms worth of work);

We weren’t required to reflect during this project, as it wasn’t something to really reflect on. I can't say that I need to improve on my reflections, as it was not needed. But if I did need to reflect, then obviously I would need to improve as I only did one reflection this term.

But, I do think my iBook does look like a whole term worth of work, as I did put a lot of effort and time into this task. I had fun making this iBook and I tried to make it different to a serious director’s commentary. I didn’t want readers to feel bored while reading and listening to my iBook. I wanted them to connect to the characters and the storyline and I do think my iBook did do that. I tried to make it an interactive and a fun iBook and I do believe I achieved that in this task. 

Starting an iBook

Hello, this term we are making a Director's Commentary on our animations we created last term. I have started to make some templates of how I want my chapters and sections to look like.

Chapter:

Section:

Director's Commentary:

I need to start to make a book cover in photoshop. I made my background of my section in photoshop. Here's how I did it:

The original photo:

http://www.wallpapersak.com/new-york-city-street/

I desaturated the image in photoshop here's how it turned out:

I then placed it into my iBook, but I couldn't read the writing so I turned down the opacity to 37% here's how it looks now:

Actual Animation

I thought I would I upload my final just so you could see how it all looks.

Self-reflection and project evaluation

Year 9 Creative Media Animation Project – Term 03: Mr Andrews

Animation Unit: Self-reflection and project evaluation:

Discuss your feelings about the production task:

·      Are you satisfied with the final result?

Yes, I am satisfied with the final result. As my home had been broken and I was able to re-use that lost time and made my animation better. I also feel like my animation does look like 19 weeks worths of work.

·      Did the animation process require more or less time than you originally thought?

The animation took much shorter than I expected. I thought this animation would stress me out, and I wouldn’t have been able to study for other subjects. But by planning my time and utilizing the time during lessons, was enough to film my animation. The photo shopping did take a bit longer, as I did have to Photoshop most frames, to make my character’s mouths move, as there was a lot of dialogue throughout the animation.

·      Would like to change any aspects of your final project (style of animation, the concept etc.)?

I think if I had a bit more time I could expand further about Annie’s background stories and possibly make a sequel, about how Annie’s new friends feel once they come to school with Annie. I could also edit and make my story’s message and storyline a bit more obvious, as I think my storyline isn’t too obvious to the readers.

·      If you could start the project again what would you do differently?

I’m not 100% sure what I would change, because I do like my finished product. I think I could alter my storyline a bit, and maybe make it make more sense than what it is now.  

Respond to each of the following dot points (using complete sentences or paragraphs). You should include as much detail as possible in your responses.

·      Discuss whether your final animation has turned out the way you imagined?

My final animation did turn out the way I wanted to. However, I think my extreme zoom out could have been a bit better, as it isn’t too extreme. I think that my photo shopping of the crying and mouths were pretty good and looked quite realistic. Overall, I do think my animation project did turn out how I imagined it as it exceeded the potential I thought I had.

·      Discuss whether you had to modify any elements of your original concept and planning to create your project;

I had to modify some shots, as it didn’t look right or it was too difficult to film. For example, I had to limit the height of my extreme zoom out, as I didn’t want the environment around my set to be seen, as I wanted to keep the illusion that this city is real and are not random LEGO people walking around in a city set. I didn’t want to give the same affect as the ending of the LEGO movie did, where it ends with the father and son playing LEGO.

·      Explain how your animation skills developed during the project (i.e. did you become more efficient? did the quality of your animation improve? did you have to use a variety of animation techniques? etc.);

I had only used iStopmotion once and I wasn’t very good at animation then, as most of the videos I made were very jerky and unclean. I think my skills have definitely improved. During the assignment, my quality of animation did improve as I found that, as the term progressed my animations looked a lot cleaner, smoother and a lot more professional. I also noticed that my knowledge of Photoshop has improved, as I know a few more tools, like ripple effect and how to use actions and how they are helpful.

·      Describe any problems or difficulties you encountered during the animation process. (These may include; technical difficulties, corrupt or missing files, difficulty using the editing software, problems exporting etc.)

Problems and difficulties I faced during this assignment included, props getting broken, images stretching and some little technical issues. One of my big problems was definitely when my images stretched, as I had filmed the scene on the DVC PAL setting instead of large that did make the images a bit stretched. However, I did not use these images in my final, as I thought it would ruin my whole animation. Another big problem I faced was when my LEGO house broke, when I had planned to finish my assignment in that lesson. The broken house didn’t affect my time management too much, as I had already reserved a computer for the weekend. It was still a bummer, as I did not have the same lightning equipment I used in previous scenes. I also faced some small problems like when my extreme zoom out looked terrible and I had to re-film. I re-filmed this scene twice and it was one of the hardest scenes to film, as it needed the most planning. I ended up with a pretty good zoom out scene, that I am very happy with.

·      Explain if you made effective use of storyboards and scene planning/breakdown?

I didn't use my storyboards as much as my shot list. I lived off my shot list during my animation, as it told be the angles and what would be happening in each scene. I found the storyboards not too much help, but it did assist me with visualizing what my animation would look like. I did do a lot of planning for my animation and it took me a while to make the story line and breakdown each scene and plan what would happen in each. I also planned a lot about what materials (Claymation, LEGO) I would use for my characters and set. 

·      Describe whether your planning assisted or helped you to focus during the animation process;

My planning did assist me during my animation process, as it did give me an idea where I would be up to in each week. As I said before, my shot list did help me a lot, as it outlined what I needed most. My planning also made me think of new ideas I could use for my animation and made my storyline a lot better.

·      Describe any time-management issues you or your group came across during the project and describe the steps you took to improve in this area;

I didn’t have a lot of time management issues, but one thing that did put me off track was my broken house. It did stunt my planning, as I did plan to finish the animation in that lesson and Photoshop and alter my animation on the weekend. I decided for the future I would not keep fragile items in the media room, as some younger girls could break my set.

·      Discuss whether you undertook adequate and detailed reflection throughout your project. Have you provided enough evidence to support your work? (Look back at your blogs/journals and think about whether it looks like a whole term worth of work);

All together I have done about 31 blog posts over these two terms. I think this is more than enough work, as we were only required around 19. My reflections do outline some problems I may of faced that lesson and some processes I have gone through while making my animation, like my mouth moving process. My assignment is around 2mins, which looks like a good length for 19 weeks of work.

·      List any other software skills, animation techniques, tricks or shortcuts you have learned during the project.

I enhanced my Photoshop skills and iStopmotion skills. I learnt that the desaturation slider is a handy tool to use in iStopmotion, instead of desaturating each image separately in Photoshop. In iStopmotion I learnt how to export and import images and I also learnt how to use the new version of iMovie! I learnt how to put special effects on voices, crop videos, sound and add titles into films. I never use iMovie and this animation project helped me enhance my iMove skills which WILL help me in the long run. I may want to make a film about a trip I take and thanks to this project I'll know how to! A short cut I learnt would have to be the actions in Photoshop, which may help me in the future if I need to desaturate a bunch of images or do something similar to them in the future. 

Bibliography

Body Falling Sound Effects [High Quality, Free Download], https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEOCQHkWn-4 (25/08/14)

Foot Steps on Concrete, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDshdaWDvRM (5/09/14)

Footsteps Run Hard Floor 02, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77VjbesFDCA

(5/09/14)

Free Ambience Sound Effects and City Sounds, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nH_PNiXf7HQ (5/09/14)

FREE SOUND FX Buses Bus Driving On Freeway Internal Recording 00, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qr0U7IgsENs (25/08/14)

Girl Crying, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aS6_Xy9fxgE (28/08/14)

High School Hallway Ambience, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-h0TQyuiG5Y

(3/09/14)

 

LEGO smiley – Scared, http://openclipart.lynms.edu.hk/index_346.html (23/08/14)

New York, New York, Frank Sinatra (1979)

People Talking The Background Ambience, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsiaBSHGenE (28/08/14)

Pig Sound Effect In High Quality, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSDfLI9AB6U (27/08/14)