Animation-week 2

The second week of animation consisted of finalising our ideas as a group in order to create the final outcome, after we had decided on the story we was going to use we then developed it further by each contributing ideas. After we had done this we began creating the characters and objects that we were going to use in the animation, we each had a role to play at this point as we worked together to make what we needed out of different coloured card and paper, as we used the idea of how the characters in 'South Park' were created as we liked the cartoon look of how it made our charaters look, it also helped to make them fit in with the scenes and setting that we were creating. After we had finished creating the characters, settings and other objects we were then able to start setting up our equipment to begin shooting each scene. We tookabout 10 frames per second so that we could then cut some out if we needed to, when we began shooting we each played a role as one person was in charge of taking the photos, everyone else (including myself) were in charge of an aspect in the frame, for example the people, the clouds, the road e.t.c. My personal role within this group was helping with the creative aspect at the beginning when we were planning and making our characters as well as taking part in the production side by helping to move the scenes along. After we had finished taking all our shots, we were then able to edit them by adding sounds, music and credits.
I think I got on well the given tasks as we worked really well as a group, I also found that I enjoyed the process and seeing it all come together as at first I didn't think I was going to like animation. I feel that what we achieved was successful as the transitions flowed well from one to another and we also receieved positive feedback from others. For example, others thought we had a good use of sound effects and editing, they also liked the bright colours which in some scenes evoked humour. However, the story could be improved by creating more of a courtship between the biker man and the woman at the end, which I also agree with and if I was to do this again, it would be somehting I would add in order to develop the story.
One of the aspects that I found most difficult was deciding on a story because our group had some really good ideas, I also found the production quite difficult because each object in the scene had to move but only slightly so getting the amount right was quite hard. The aspect of the animation that I am not happy with is towards the end as I feel it was a bit rushed and also the markings on the road have been knocked and therefore do not follow its usual pattern. The activities I found easy were creating the characters and the setting, I enjoyed doing this as well because I am quite a creative person. I think time management and planning could be improved by working quicker at the designing and creating of the characters/scenery e.t.c which would have allowed us to start filming earlier.