Task 2-ii AlleyHART Project Documentation & Critical Reflection U6053449
Task 2-ii AlleyHART Project Documentation & Critical Reflection
U6053449- Ask for Angela Project
For my AlleyHART submission, I chose to create an animation of a girl fleeing through the streets of Canberra’s CBD pursued by a fearsome figure. I was intending to respond to the the “Ask for Angela” campaign which we discussed during tutorials earlier in the course.
I believe my work succeeded in meeting all of the intended conceptual aims and improved from their original drafts. I am pleased with how the final animation responds to the Angela campaign as initially, I’d had pitched it in a far more advertorial concept. Initially, my idea was for the main chapter to run into Mooseheads pursued by a man and seek help from the staff and for the #AskforAngela hashtag to appear with wings at the end. Instead, my work now uses the official hashtag to advertise the campaign, with the wings being an element of detail which precludes its appearance. I prefer this version as I feel I’m no longer directly advertising Mooseheads. I also like that my main villain ended by being ambiguous as it opens potential threats to the audience’s imagination. I believe my animation responds to the AlleyHART initiatives brief because it addresses one of the socio-political issues Fiona Hooton was hoping to include, women’s safety within our region.
I intended for this animation to be reminiscent of Lotte Reiniger work, with minimal colour and strong silhouettes. I believe my work succeeded in emulating this aesthetic. The animation reflects the aesthetics of shadow puppet theatre with its use of a side-scrolling camera. I was able to create versions of the chase animation in After Effects and Maya, however, in both I struggled to create a walk cycle that was not choppy. In After Effects, this was because I made the motion of the characters arms and legs too frantic for how fast the footage of the Maya background played. In Maya, I had difficulty combining the animated figure’s upward stride with the forward motion of the body. However, I do not feel these flaws ruin the intended effect of the animation, as puppetry has sharp motions. I am pleased with the outcome of the antagonist who I animated as a moving shadowy smoke cloud in After Effects. I enjoyed playing with different versions of how this character would move and interact with the protagonist.
If I were to recreate this work I would have the protagonist weave in and out between the pillars of the Maya background. I could have achieved this two ways, by animating the character doing this in Maya or later in Aftereffects by importing the rendered character and background in separate layers and by using masks to hide the character when she was behind columns.
Technically the work starts and ends strong but the middle is week. If I had kept the idea where a phantom shadowy hand reaches out and snatches at the protagonist as I had in my After Effects draft I think the final would be much stronger. Overall I am pleased with the outcome of the final project.
