Task 1: Traditional Animation (Emma)

Claymation with the title 'The Box':

To make this claymation a lot of techniques had to be used. In order to make sure that the video was long enough we had to work out the frame rates which told us around about how many pictures we would need to take to create the animation (In the case of our animation - we decided to have our box be drowned at sea). In my animation we used 136 shots which worked out at 5 frames per second. My stop-motion is very slow and has a really low frame rate so it's easy to see to separate shots, I wanted to increase the frame rate so as to make it look a lot smoother but due to a glitch on the computer my shots were lost. To create the animation we had to change the scene after every picture that we took so that when we put the clips together it looks like a fluid video that makes sense. Since I edited the video on Final Cut it was exported as a .MOV file so that it could be put onto YouTube.

Short animation using Flash with the 'onion skin' technique and tweening:

To make this animation on Flash CC we had to use a technique called 'onion skin' which means that you can change the original shape you made but you can still see the layers underneath when you make alterations. To make the animation a gif I saved it under the file format of .gif so that the animation works as an image but you can still see the movement.

The 'Persistence of Vision' theory:

Persistence of vision is the theory that an image is thought to remain for a fraction of a second on the retina. This theory explains why nobody sees the black spaces that are between each frame of a movie. A form of memory known as 'iconic memory' is thought to be the explanation of the persistence of vision theory even though the theory as a whole was disproved in 1912 by Wertheimer. In animation, was is perceived as a moving image is what most people refer to as an 'illusion'. What we are seeing is, in rapid succession, a series of images. These images are separated by a small period of darkness however due to the series of images our brain processes this as one smoothly moving image. If images are flashed at a rate of at least 10 frames per second then the brain sees this as one moving image instead of a load of still images. This is because of the illusion of movement that happens when a sequence of images is shown in quick succession, our eyes trick us and we fail to notice the separate frames.

Final Video and Evaluation

Evaluation:

• The original intentions for the video

My original intentions when I set out to do the video were a lot different than the finished product. I was hoping to make the video feel more 'dream like' in a way and have calm music with the students saying what the wanted to end up doing later on in life but I think that the video I ended up making was a lot more informative and will reach the broader target audience.

• Was it fit for purpose

The video was fit for purpose because the premise is still there although it didn't turn out exactly like I had pictured it. The video still promotes the college and shows a lot of the courses that the college has to offer while still showing aspects that the target audience would want to see i.e. the entrance, the cafeteria, the gym etc.

• Ideas

The group had a lot of ideas when it came to filming however some of them turned out to be too difficult or time consuming to actually carry out so we had to make adjustments and go with the simpler shots instead of trying to be too fancy and complicated.

• Time Management

In the beginning our group was doing well for time. We had a lot of shots already and some interviews with still three days left of filming however when we uploaded the shots and looked back through some of them we realised that they weren't as good as we had hoped so we had to go back and film some clips again which took up more time and left us worried that we wouldn't get the filming done in time. When we were worried we made a list of the shots that were essential to the video and filmed those instead of walking around the college and filming whatever we could find which definitely saved a lot of time in the last few days of filming.

• Teamwork

Our group definitely worked well as a team. We filmed shots twice or even three times to make sure that we were all happy with how it looked and took turns carrying our equipment so that it wasn't unfair and we all had our own jobs during filming days to make sure that we were efficient and there was no animosity or arguing when someone didn't want to do something because we weren't sure what our roles in the group were. Because of this we found it a lot easier to get the shots we wanted and needed without wasting time arguing or sorting our group out.

• Overall outcome

The video came out quite well I think. Some of the audio on the interviews was quieter than others so I had to adjust the levels to make it louder but one of the interviews definitely has a lower sound quality however I think the video gets the point across well and there is a good mixture of students and teachers to appeal to the target audience and get a wide range of information.

Individual Evaluation

Individual Evaluation:

·         Technical aspects of the promo video

Some of the technical aspects of the promo video was the music that I had to make on garage band which was quite hard to do especially when it had to match the pacing of the video itself. We changed the camera after a day of filming from a Nikon to a Canon because we felt that the latter had the best quality for what we wanted our video to look like so some of the shots are different in quality.

·         Framing/shots/quality of images

I think that some of the shots weren’t as appealing as we’d hoped they be when we came back to edit so we went back to refilm some of them or had to use colour corrector in final cut pro to lighten the clips.

Example: before.

after.

During one of the interviews the interviewee went out of frame so instead of not being able to use the interview I decided to just put the audio of the interview over some extra clips that my group filmed around the college.

As a group we tried our best to make sure that we filmed interesting spots and that the framing was right so that when it came to editing we had a lot to work with.

·         Was it what you proposed to do?

The video that I ended up with wasn’t exactly what I had hoped for and had shown in my pitch. Instead of having the students say what they wanted to do in the future we instead asked them what they thought of the college and what they were studying. We did film some voxpops and we got some interviews as well so the main premise of the video is what our group pitched and had aimed to achieve.

·         Were your findings accurate?

The findings were as accurate as we could get. Our group tried to get the best shots of the college to shine the best possible light on it and I tried to avoid people in hoodies or hats etc in my final cut so that the college looked as professional as possible.

·         Was it fit for purpose?

I think that the video was fit for purpose because it showed the college as being a good place to study, which is what the project was about. In our shots we tried to make sure that the college was only seen positively and that everyone looked happy to be here. In the final edit I used people who were energetic and from a range of subjects including some of the different members of staff from around South Thames College.

·         What did your target audience think?

The target audience understood the video and what was trying to be portrayed and they felt that it did a good job in showcasing the different subjects and the different people who come to the college.

·         How does it appeal to your target audience?

The video appeals to my target audience of people who are looking to go to college and their parents or family by showing a mixture of teachers and students so that they both get what they are looking for out of the video. The music was upbeat to engage the audience but not overpowering so that they were distracted by it. I think overall the video is appealing to the target audience because it is both factual yet simple.