Week 12

Narrative and sequence

The narrative of our animation was kept consistent from the very first attempt we made. We have based it on the personal characteristics of each of the characters, for example, arrogance and attention seeking features of Adele were expressed by symbolism of pedestal. The same principle was applied to every character, we have though of the ways of expressing their characteristics in a very light and playful manner. The plot is based on the characters interaction in the museum settings with humorous chases.

Aesthetics

We have made a huge development in terms of our style choices. Our starting point consisted of cheap looking illustrator tracings, which limited our control over the composition. Also, tracing illustrator style was overwhelmed with unnecessary details and our characters became lost in them. In order to to make it work, we have decided to shift from technical to hand made look approach by experimenting with acrylics and watercolours. It was a successful decision, however we did not stopped there and decided to add the real life collage elements into our compositions. It is very find a balance between two very different approaches, but we did so by separating collage elements with white outline. It may sound insignificant, however occasionally very small details make a huge difference. We focused a lot on details, ensuring that animation looks finished and to a standard. We did use sound accurately to define and support movements of our characters, as well as typographic choice were carefully thought through. The hardest part of our process was to fit the content within the time restrictions, sometimes our scenes felt rushed and we were forced to slow them up or to cut them out completely. Also, it was important to consider our audience and the effectiveness of our visual language, for example one of our scene was based on the Pacman game which is not necessarily recognised by elderly people, or by people with deferent cultural backgrounds.

Inspiration

Looking back at week 6, and our final video at week 12, we can judge that we were greatly inspired by the animation called ''The Memory of Fountain'', mainly because of its amazing aesthetics and textures. Another example of our inspiration is ''Sasquatch!'' which illustrates the power of parallax effect, and how it can be used to create depth. At the end, we have combined those features in our own stylistic approach.

''The Memory of Fountain''

''Sasquatch''

Group Work and task allocation

To ensure smooth communication between all members of the group, we created a Facebook chat and shared hard drive, in this way, we allowed ourselves to make a collective decisions and share ideas very quickly. We have listened and respected each others opinions, and thereby avoided conflicts. Every member of our group did specific task, but it did not stopped us to help each other. My part of work was to prepare layers of materials for further animation, to create presentations, animation of Pacman scenes, sound and art direction of the animation process. I have found it challenging to use after effects, because I have not used it before, however, I received help from other members of group. Problem we faced as a group was time management, it was hard for us use our time efficiently and schedule our meetings. But it is important to notice, that when we were unable to meet, we used our drive and chat as a mean of communication.

Conclusion

Overall, I gained important experience and knowledge about principles of narrative structures. We have made lots of mistakes which allowed us to learn from them and progress. Tasks such as cut-out animation I found especially helpful because they prepared us for the final animation.