Evaluation

I am fairly pleased with my completed work. I made many mistakes along the way, and there are loads of things I would change, but overall, I'm happy. My favourite section is the scene where the sun scrunches up to become a cloud, I thought that was quite effective. I would change the speed at which I actually started shooting, because by the time the deadline came around there were still a lot of sections I wanted to change or re-shoot. I don't have a clue how to decide if my final animation is successful, I think if I'm happy with it that's a big part.

Throughout the development process, I learnt to keep things simple, and not be such a perfectionist - I had too many ideas to fit in or create in the time, and I also overcomplicated everything. I had a very wide range of equipment available - industry standard software on the iMacs, and a large amount of art materials. We also had two experienced technicians available to help us, and an experienced teacher. It took a very long time for me to adapt to using the program After Effects, but I got the hang of Final Cut quite quickly. My ideas didn't necessarily develop, more completely change due to feedback. My original idea (in the 'Initial Ideas' post) was to have a walk in the park scenario to cheerful music, but I was told that the idea would be overly complex and time consuming, so I began to listen to songs I could use as a soundtrack to kick start the planning process. After listening to 'Wild Young Hearts' and reading the lyrics, I decided that I would illustrate them in some way. I then talked to my teacher, who suggected paper cut outs as a way of working that would suit me. I then began to research paper cut out animations, and decided that it would be right for me. I chose it because it's fairly simple and quick, and can be easily manipulated to create an animation sequence. There was also a huge supply available to me, in a variety of sizes and colours etc.

My final work doesn't portray original ideas and intentions at all - it's definitely not a walk in the park scene! It does portray my storyboard in some ways, although I had to do a lot of chopping and changing once I'd realised that I had tried to cram in way too many sections. The majority of the scenes were on the storyboard, although they tend to be longer and in slightly different colours or materials. I had to cut many of them out, so most of the time I elongated the other scenes to make up for this.

I got my ideas from the lyrics of the song mainly, along with some things that I'd seen in other animations and wanted to try or adapt, that still fitted in with the song and the rest of the animation (e.g. a beating heart like 'The Seed'). The easiest part of creating my animation sequence was any of the scenes that were simply paper cut outs of the lyrics, and the most difficult part was the flames scene - I really struggled to get to grips with the software (After Effects in this case).

The risks during the animation production time are varied - moderate risks are for example looking at a computer screen for over an hour can cause dizziness, tripping over bags on the floor, and paper cuts. High risks are; having liquids near electrical equipment, and electric shocks. All of them have been considered, and the staff and the students have taken steps to reduce the chance of them occurring. Professional working practices were also followed - we were given a deadline, and feedback, and then left to work at our own pace - it was our decision to do lunch times etc to ensure that we finished on time - it was not a school - like project. Above is a copy of my risk assessment form.

Overall, I am happy with my animation, and although things could be changed, the majority is what I wanted.