Evaluation
When we were first given the brief for this project I did have a mild panic due to my lack of drawing ability and ideas however when Jason showed some video examples I could see that I could create the frames digitally instead and I did have ideas I just hadn’t thought them all through. This brought some relief to me at the time but as you can see I didn’t have time to do the frames how I wanted to and so the drawings have been used instead. I think they turned out a lot better when I added colour. Overall I’m happy with the final product. After stressing about how it would all look in the end, I think the use of colour and sound effects made the video a lot better than the original black and white frames would’ve looked.Â
I chose the story of the bird crapping on my head because I thought I could over exaggerate the tension between the seagulls and the main character. I think it turned out quite well in the end especially because some parts match with the music which creates drama. I also chose this idea because I thought the frames would be simple as it’s quite a basic storyline.
I think the whole style mainly the colour scheme has definitely taken inspiration from the shows I mentioned such as the big lez show and David Firth’s Cream video from youtube but also from the films like Napoleon Dynamite. I’ve used quite soft calming colours that still contrast with each other well and make the overall aesthetic better.
What I don’t like about the storyboard is how the edges of the images are still quite rough which I found difficult to edit out in Photoshop. Also I didn’t think the music transitions were very good because they camer out of nowhere and I couldn’t figure out how to ease in and out.Â
The main thing I struggled with in this project is the time management. I’ve realised I like taking the longest way around doing things. When I start doing something and realise I could’ve done it a lot quicker another way I just carry on doing the long way because I don’t want to give up on it. For example in this project I would start colouring in the background image using the brush tool but then I realised I could just use the pen tool and fill it in with colour but for some reason I just carried on using the brush tool. This is a habit I need to shake off. If I managed my time better I would have added more details to the images and make the animatic a bit more complex. I’d also want the music to flow a bit better. Although I think I set realistic expectations that would fit the deadline, I just couldn’t focus at times and didn’t commit to the work as much as I should have. This has definitely helped me completing this project because it’s made me realise I need to manage my time better. I’m really going to try and finish the projects maybe a few days before the deadline so I have time to receive feedback and improve. I’m also going to start making a timetable of when and what work I’ll be doing each day. I need this kind of organisation in order to make me more motivated because I think if it’s set out in front of me everything I need to do, it’ll be satisfying ticking things off the list.
Another problem I found is that I struggle with coming up with and deciding on an idea. So for future projects I definitely need to leave a few days free just for brainstorming ideas and testing them. The mind maps and quick storyboard sketches really helped to give me a quick idea of how I could do the storyboard ideas so I could decide which story would flow the best. I’m going to use this method for future projects.Â
Through doing this project I’ve learnt that even if you are a bad drawer you can still make adjustments to the image using editing software like Photoshop and I need to plan everything I need to do before I start anything. What I like about the final product is the colours added and I think I was quite good at cleaning up the images. I feel like it was a good thing to learn this earlier on in the year because it means I could start to be able to draw frames in more detail and then add colour afterwards. However, I still want to give my original idea a go - using Photoshop to trace over images I’ve taken. I enjoyed the editing of the frames in Photoshop and think finding the music and sound effects was actually one of the funnest things to do. I’ve learnt some new skills that I will hopefully be using in future projects like editing in Premiere Pro was very new to me so this has helped build my confidence in the different types of software. Overall, I’m happy with the experience this project has given me and all the skills I’ve picked up along the way. I’m also happy with how the final project turned out despite all the mishaps that occurred along the way.













