This week I finished my final edits to my website. I started by adding all the picture I had chosen to my portfolio page to show more of a range of my work, however I found this to be to cluttered and I wanted to make it more organised so people looking at my sign will know what the work relates to so I made sections the first is life drawings and sketches, the second is all of my character design and modelling sheets and finally my stop motion and armature picture. I feel much better about this page know as it is easier to find the information they are looking for and it is organised and looks like all of the sections fit together more. I also made sure to upload my new showreel to the home page and I also removed any extra space that is between the title and the showreel along with the contact information at the bottom and the showreel so know there is not unnecessary space. I also did my CV this week, I struggled thinking about different things I want to add to my cv and what is required to have in the cv. I made sure to look back at the research I did into some cv so I could get some more inspiration. I didn’t really have much in the end but I have to make sure that the layout and the font and size was right so it was appealing to look at instead of the font being to big and hard to read and putting someone off. I am really happy with what I was able to accomplish this week and I am really happy with how I finished off my website.
This week I was able to completely finished my proposal. At the start of the week I had to do a bit more research as I had added a few more sections into my proposal for things I want to talk about, before starting my edits that I needed to make to my proposal form the last meeting. I was able to do these pretty quickly as I already know what information I needed to change and add. I had another meeting with my lecture to go over my second draft and I got a last few points I needed to edit or change slightly to make it better and sound more coherent. When it came to writing the last draft, I only had one more fact to look up before going though and fixing my grammatical errors and spelling mistakes. I am really happy with this version of my proposal I feel like it has finally come together as a whole and I have some really good starting points for my research report. If I could do this week again I would get more research on OCD, ADHD and Anxiety to really show the effects on children and that it is something that needs to be talked about. Also I would get more facts on teenagers and children and their use of social media and youtube.
This week I was able to finished the listening project. I started by making one or two tiny edits to my animation so the transition between mine and the part before is seamless and looks good I also fixed the fading for the main characters yellow as it looks like it just vanishes and I wanted more of a smooth fade out. I am really happy with how the animation looks and I was glad I was able to get the last few issues sorted. I then moved on to making my personal experimentation reel where I needed so show the process I went though with my work. I found I had to much content to involve and my reel was going to be to long but after remove any none necessary content I was able to cut it down and get it to the right length. I wanted to make sure I showed everything that was important to my process of making the animation and I feel like I was able to accomplish this. I also added some text to each of the pictures and animations to show what stage of part of the animation it related to. Finally this week we where able to meet as a group and put our whole animation together. We exported two versions one in 1920x1080 and the other is for social media and it 1080x1080 and has subtitle. It is really cool to see the finished animation that we have been working on for so long and to see it all finally come together is great. I have also been sure to finishes off all of the other documents we have been required to do so I feel like i have rounded off this project well their are a few parts I wish I could go back and change but I am still happy with mine and my groups work.
Rose and Joe – Here For The Long Haul
Animators: Elizabeth Fijalkowski, Kerrie McIntyre, Séana Anderson, Sophie Gladdish, Harriette Daniels, Jay Ainsley
Course: BA Animation at Norwich University of the Arts
The animators say: We chose the audio clip from the listening project called ‘Here for the long haul’ because it expressed love and loyalty between two people. We represented the conversation through indirect and non-literal imagery of the audio, using abstract and simplified representation through fluid hand drawn and digital 2D animation. Our aim is to convey the love that is present between the two narrators, and we have shown this through the colour palette we have chosen.
The team connected each scene through morphing shapes, objects, or characters and smoothly transitioning from one scene to another through our use of the same colour palette. We incorporated our own styles into the animation, so that each scene was unique, and features a mixture between hand drawn 2D animation and motion graphics.
For the listening Project we had to write a group blurb about our animation what we had done and why. What our main focuses where on, just to get an understanding of out animation and the creative decisions we have collectively decided to make.
Norwich University of The Arts (NUA), Second Year Animation Student. 2016- 2018
Extra Curriculum:
I was a second Year PAL to the Year One. This position was to help the year ones settle in during their first week and help answer any questions they had. 2017
Skills:
Communication
Empathy
Team Work
Good At Problem Solving
Self Reliant
Fast Learner
Software:
After Effects
Dragon Frame
Photoshop
Tv Paint
Competitions:
BBC Listening Project, Group Project. 2018
This is my finished cv I found that I didn’t have much left to add to the cv I found that I could mention the listening project as it was client basic and is competition. After adding that I found I didnt have anything else so this is all I am going to put. I made sure to have a suitable layout on my CV so it look appealing to the eye and is pleasant to read so I made sure yo use the right font and size.
This is our 1080x1080 report with subtitle for the social media section. This went really well as the main focuses of all of our animations are still on screen and you can still understand the narrative of the whole animation. The subtitle for well and change when needed and aren’t to distracting from what is happening in the whole animation
This is our final group animation, we all meet up to put all of our parts together and check it all works well. I am really happy with what we have accomplished, I think the film words well together and shows that we have been able to come to an agreement on a lot of the creative decisions such as the colours and the style of the characters. This has been an interesting topic to do and I have gained some strengths from it and I have discovered some weaknesses that I now know I need to work on in preparation for my third year.
This is my personal experimentation reel, I made sure to show most of my work that has the most relevance to the creative process I when though. I made sure to show my storyboards and animatics. Also I wanted to show some of my photoshop documents I used to make the colour transitions. I am really hoary with how my experimentation reel has turned out and I feel like it really shows my work process to get my finished animation.
I decided to go back and more one final edit to my website which is my portfolio. I mentioned how I found the whole lay out to messy, so i when back and made three different gallery collections. One is for life drawings to show what I can do in life drawing. The second is for all of my character design and meddling sheets to show how I create these sheets for a range of characters and finally my stop motion and armature section and I mentions on the home page that I am an armature maker so I had to show my making skills and the armatures I have made.
Stop Motion, After Effects Animator and Armature Maker
Email: seana***********.com
Website: seanadtk.wixsite.com/seanaanderson
Education:
Norwich University of The Arts (NUA), Second Year Animation Student. 2016- 2018
Extra Curriculum:
I was a second Year PAL to the Year One. This position was to help the year ones settle in during their first week and help answer any questions they had. 2017
Skills:
Communication
Empathy
Team Work
Good At Problem Solving
Self Reliant
Fast Learner
Software:
After Effects
Dragon Frame
Photoshop
Tv Paint
This is my CV that I have written for this project, I made sure to take all of the information I had found though my research but I did struggle on how to lay this out. I found after I had sorted my layout issue that my CV still look very empty but this is all of the information I could use except experience but I do have any at the moment to use. I will think about other pieces of information I could include but I feel happy with this even if the information is quite basic.
Could Presenting Mental Health Issues to Children, Through Animation Help Reduce The Negativity Around Mental Health Issues?
The main focus of my research report is on Mental Health issues,“Mental Health problems effects about 1 in 10 children and young people.” (Mental Health Foundation, 2018). The question I am considering for the report is “Could Presenting Mental Health Issues To Children, Through Animation Help Reduce The Negativity Around Mental Health Issues?”. For my research report I intend to write a 10,000 word extended essay as it will be the best option for me to present my findings and there my argument. I feel that I will be able to collect a lot of information on this topic as it is are people should start to talk about more and have a clear general awareness of all of effects it has as opposed to the stereotypes they know. I have chosen this topic as I feel it is an area that people are uneducated about, as there is so much information to learn about different issues. Symptoms can also present differently depending on the person as well as their age, their background and gender. I feel that it is important to educate children and have complex issues such as mental health, shown more in day to day setting. This could be demonstrated in movies and TV shows with a positive outlook ensuring that these issue are not something negative they will learn from societies pre decided views, especially as it could become something that effects them or a family member.
Mental Health is a serious issue that can often be overshadowed or given negative connotations in society due to stereotyping and the way it can be presented, “violent representations are becoming more common in films and television—one in four mentally-ill characters kill someone” (Beachum, 2010). It is reasonable to suggest that people are not as enlighten on the subject as they are with other issues such as physical health. Large amounts of people are unaware of the effects different mental health issues can have on a person and even less so with the effects it can have in children. “depressed children will often show more irritability than depressed adults, who more typically show sadness.” (Mayo Clinic, 2018).
Research Question:
In this research report I intend to look at how mental health can affect children, as well as how it may “help reduce the negativity”, presenting the topic in an everyday life manor may remove the stereotypical views already in built by society. I would like to see if this is something that could help or whether it would be too much to present to a child and would it more appropriate to show to different age groups. To “present Mental Health Issues to Children” I am going to look at whether it would be an appropriate tactic to use animated shows and if it could be the best way to present this topic.
Aims:
To answer my research report question there are a few aims I will need to achieve.
To Show that there is existing negativity around Mental Health.
To examine whether it is appropriate to present mental health issues though animation media.
To explore alternative ways to present mental health issues.
To explore the positive effects presenting mental health issues to children may have.
Research methods:
I will need to do extensive research to be able to achieve these aims. I have chosen these aims as they link to my question and they are necessary elements. I need to look into to being able to develop my argument and investigate both sides to make an appropriate conclusion. Whist thinking about my aims I wanted them to cover every aspect of my question and the different areas I want to focus on when writing my essay even the parts that have not been stipulated within my question.
The research I intend to carry out mainly revolves around secondary research methods and will look at professional reports or medical sites, utilising prior research in order to identify the effects mental health issues have on children and how they may be identified. “70% of children and adolescents who experience mental health problems have not had appropriate interventions at a sufficiently early age.” (Mental Health Foundation, 2018). Another area I would like to do secondary research on is the already existing representation on mental health issues in the media and the affect they can have especially with stereotyping. I will need this research as it will assist me with my aims I have set for this project. I will hopefully be able to seek professionals advice on mental health issues and their effects on people and they best ways to cope with them. For the secondary research I intend to look into a range of different sources such as websites, books, leaflets and podcasts to insure I am getting a range of views and that wouldn't be as biased should I just stuck with one type. Some examples of books I want to look in to are, “How Mental Illness is portrayed in children Television” (Wilson, Nairn, Coverdale and Panapa, 2000) and “Psychiatry and The Media” (Byrne, 2003). One area I want to look at is if there are mental health issues that children could be presented with that aren’t as sensitive topics for example, suicide, eating disorders and self harm. These areas are very emotionally distressing and would not be suitable. However Issues like OCD, ADHD and Anxiety could be slightly easier to present and could be less emotion damaging to children, “Symptoms of ADHD typically first appear between the ages of 3 and 6.” (Healthline, 2018), Also “Many anxiety disorders begin in childhood and adolescence, and the average time a person waits to seek help for their condition (particularly for OCD and chronic worrying or GAD as it is known) is over 10 years” (AnxietyUK, 2015). An additional area of secondary research I would like to cover is the charities that raise money for mental health awareness. I think it would be interesting to look into what the charities do to help raise awareness and the different ways they do this. I would like to be able to think about how these could be pushed further and targeted more at the younger generation.
I intend to carry out some primary research, as my focus for the essay is on children I would like to get parents opinions as well as teenagers. I intend to send a letter out with a link to my surveys to my local primary and secondary schools and ask if they could hand them out to their students and parents. The letters will explain what the survey is about so participance can make an informed decision on whether they are willing to answer questions on this topic. Hopefully this will prevent anyone being offended by the questions or feel uncomfortable. I believe it would be interesting to have parents opinions on the matter and to see if it is a topic they also feel should be present in their lives or if it is something they would prefer to have addressed later in life. It would be interesting to have these opinions which I will collect through a survey. With this information I will be able to see their opinions on the matter as well as why they have come to this conclusion. Being able to have parental opinions would be really beneficial as they will be deciding if shows are appropriate for their children to watch and to know where they stand on this kind of issue being presented though animated media or shows in general.
To help either support or counter act the arguments of the parents I will also run teenagers survey, which I hope will be completed by students, as mental health is a big factor in their lives. I would like to see if teenagers would have liked to have been presented with these issues when they where younger child. It is desirable to have these answers as I am intrigued to see their opinions on the matter. I have taken into consideration that teenagers may not have all the answers for the survey, so I am prepared to write the research report without their response. The results will be used to see where parents will fall in this argument as they will be the ones that make discussions for children and the results of that teenagers will give me an idea of how having or depriving child of this information at a younger age could be an advantage or disadvantage as they grow older. I am aware that this could be a sensitive issue to talk about so I will be sure to give enough notice to all participants of the survey about what they will be asked and I will be sure to ask for permission to quote and use the results. I do not wish to offend or cause any emotion distress to any participant if they do wish to take part. To reduce concern about identity, I will ensure the whole survey is anonymous. The questions I would like to ask do not require personal experience or to reveal private information. Having two sets of surveys will hopefully be able to help me avoid biased opinions as having a range of people complete the surveys will present a range of answers and opinions not just from the different age ranges but also different people and their backgrounds.
Table of Contents:
When dividing up my essay for chapters I am considering having five separate chapters,
What is the state of our mental health as a nation, it affects everyone.
How Mental Health is being negatively presented in the media.
The use of YouTube and social media when talking about mental health and the benefits it has for teenagers.
Are certain Mental Health Issues suitable to present to children such as OCD, ADHD and Anxiety.
Is animation an appropriate format to present these issues to children in a positive manner?
Potential Outcomes:
I found that mental health is a big topic to try and cover so I wanted to make sure that my chapters covered the areas I specifically wanted to focus on and can involve the kind of information I am going to be looking at. I have chosen to use separate chapters for how movies and TV shows present Mental health and the use of social media and YouTube for teenagers as media is a strong platform that is presenting to such a wide range of people. Depending on how the medium presents the issues this could cause an increase of stereotyping thoughts. Also YouTube and social media is a platform that is constantly growing and become a big part of children and teenagers lives. Being able to see how they are potentially benefited by this topic is important to look into, “eMarketer estimates that 17.5 million social network users between the ages of 12 and 17 will use a social network at least once per month in 2016, with that number growing to 18.2 million by 2020.” (Duran). These chapters are suitable topics for my research report and achieving my aims.
Overall, I am confident in my research plan, as well as my different topics and how I can use them all to answer my research report question. I feel that I will gain a better understanding of these issues and the effects they have on people individually as well as society’s view on mental health. I believe that if people agree mental health is an area that should be shown in a more positive light to children and teenagers not just in live action shows but also animation then it could be something to consider in the industry when creating representative characters to help show everyone and to help reduce marginalization of people.
This is my final draft of my proposal. I am really happy with how it has turned out and I was able to include all the information I wanted to talk about in my research report. I am also really happy with my chapters I feel like I will be able to talk about more of a range with in this subject but I wont get to lose and end up going off of my main topic.
“eMarketer estimates that 17.5 million social network users between the ages of 12 and 17 will use a social network at least once per month in 2016, with that number growing to 18.2 million by 2020.”- http://www.ion.co/teens-youtube , HB Duran, Unknown, Teens Use YouTube More Than Social Networks, 9th May 2018.
One of the new edits I need to do was add a little research to my social media and youtube section for my proposal to show there is evidence to help support or backup what I am saying. I found this quote every interesting as it shows how many teenagers use social media only once a month as apposed to everyday and the results are still extremely high so I wanted to use it and show that it is a growing part of society.
Today I also finished my animation for the listening project I only had two quick sections to fix. I had to make the mist rise up to complete the transition from the part before mine and I also made the fade on the yellow characters at the end last a little longer as it flashed away to fast when the animation was converted to 1080x 1080 so I wanted to make sure it had a slower fade and I am happier with it know. I am really happy with this final animation and we just have to put it all together two export our finally animation.
Theses are the new edits I need to make to my essay. I am really happy with how it has turned out and I only have a few changes to do to make sure that it is exactly what I need. I have to change one on my chapter titles as I could make it more relevant to children and adults. Also I need to re arrange my aims as they would be better in a more chronological order. The last real edits I need to made is spell checking and adding in a little extra information to make my intentions clearer.
The main focus of my research report is on Mental Health issues,“Mental health problems affect about 1 in 10 children and young people.” (Mental Health Foundation, 2018). the question I am considering using for the report is “Could Presenting Mental Health Issues to Children, Through Animation Help Reduce the Negativity around Mental Health Issues?”. For my Research report I intend to write a 10,000 word extended essay as it will be the best option for me to present my research and findings for my argument. Also I feel that I will be able to collect a lot of information on this topic as it is something people should start to talk about more and have a clear general awareness of all of effects it has as opposed to the stereotypes they know. I have chosen this topic as I feel it is an area that people are uneducated about, as there is so much information to learn about different issues. Symptoms can also present differently depending on the person as well as their age and their background. I feel that it is important to educate children and have it shown more in day to day life, like in movies and TV shows with a positive outlook so it will not be something negative they learn about as they get older especially if they find that it does affect their life as they grow up whether it is them who is affected directly or if its is a family member or friend.
Mental Health is a serious issue that can often be overshadowed or give negative connotations in society due to stereotyping and the way it can be presented, “violent representations are becoming more common in films and television—one in four mentally-ill characters kill someone” (Lauren Beachum, 2010). People are not as educated on the subject as they are with other issues such as physical health. Large amount of people as unaware of the effects different mental health issues can have on a person and even less so with the effects it can have on children, “depressed children will often show more irritability than depressed adults, who more typically show sadness.” (Mayo Clinic, 2018).
Research Question:
In my research report I intend to look at how mental health can affect children, as well as how it may “help with their understanding”, as presenting it in their everyday life may remove the negative views already put in place by society. I would like to see if this is something that could help or whether it would be too much to present to a child and would be more appropriate to show then they are older. To “present Mental Health Issues to Children” I was going to look at whether it would be an appropriate tactic to use animated shows and if it could be the best way to presenting this topic to children.
Outcomes:
To answer my research report question there are a few aims I will need to achieve.
To explore alternative ways to present mental health issues.
To examine whether it is appropriate to present mental health issues though animation media.
To explore the positive effects presenting mental health issues to children may have.
To Show that there is existing negativity around Mental Health
Research methods:
I will need to do extensive research to be able to achieve these aims. I choose these aims as they link to my question and they are necessary elements I need to look into to be able to develop my argument and investigate both sides to make an appropriate conclusion. Whist thinking about my aims I wanted them to cover every aspect of my question and the different areas I want to focus on when writing my essay even the parts that have not been stipulated within my question.
The research I intend to carry out mainly revolves around secondary research and looking at professional reports or medical sites, that have been done in order to identify the effects mental health issues have on children and how they maybe identified. “70% of children and adolescents who experience mental health problems have not had appropriate interventions at a sufficiently early age.” (Mental Health Foundation, 2018). Another area I would like to do secondary research on is the already existing representation on mental health issues in the media and the affect they can have especially with stereotyping. I will need this research as it will really help me with my aims that I have set for the essay as I will be able to see professionals advice on mental health and their effects on people and they best ways to cope with them. For the secondary research I intend to look into a range of different sources such as websites, book, leaflets and podcasts to insure I am getting a range of views and that wouldn't be as biased if I just stuck with one type. One Are I want to look at is if there are mental health issues that children could be presented with that aren't to sensitive of topics as suicide, eating disorders and self harm are very emotional distressing issues and would not be suitable. However Issues like OCD, ADHD and Anxiety could be slightly easier to present and could be less emotion damaging to children, “Symptoms of ADHD typically first appear between the ages of 3 and 6.” (Healthline, 2018), Also “Many anxiety disorders begin in childhood and adolescence, and the average time a person waits to seek help for their condition (particularly for OCD and chronic worrying or GAD as it is known) is over 10 years” (AnxietyUK, 2015)
I also intend to carry out some primary research as my focus for the essay is around children I would like to get parents opinions as well as teenagers, I intend to send surveys to my local primary and secondary school and ask if they could had them out to their student and parents. I felt it would be interesting to have parents opinions on the matter and see if it is a topic they also believe should be present in their lives or if it is something they would prefer to have shown later in life. It would be interesting to have these opinions which I will collect through a survey, so I will be able to see they opinions on the matter as well as why they have come to this answer. Being able to have parental opinions would be really beneficial as they will be deciding if shows are appropriate for their children to watch and to know where they stand on this kind of issue being presented though animated media or shows in general. To help either support or counter act the arguments of the parents I will do the teenagers survey, which I hope will be done by students, as mental health is a big factor in their lives especially as in is a more common point in a persons life that mental health issues begin to develop and I would like to see if they would have liked to of been presented these issues when they are a child. It is desirable to have these answers as I would be intriguing to see their opinions on the matter but I have taken into consideration that they may not have answers for the survey, so I am prepared to write the research report without their response. The results will be used to see where parents will fall into this argument as they will be the ones that make discussions for children and the results of that teenager will give me an idea of how having or depriving child of this information at a young could be an advantage or disadvantage as they grow older. I am aware that this could be a sensitive issues to talk about so I will be sure to give enough notice to all participance of the survey about what they will be asked about and I will be sure to ask for permission to quote and use the results I have found in their answers as I do not wish to offend or cause any emotion distress to any participant if they do wish to take part. To reduce concern about identity, I will be sure to have the whole survey anonymous. The questions I am thinking of asking do not require personal experience or to reveal private information. Having two sets of surveys will hopefully be able to help me avoid biased opinions as having a range of people fill out the surveys will have a range of answers and opinions not just from the different age ranges but also different people and their backgrounds.
Table of Contents:
When dividing up my essay for chapters I am considering having five separate chapters,
Mental health issues, the effects they have on children and the views of society on these issues.
How Mental Health is being negatively presented in the media.
The use of youtube and social media when talking about mental health and the benefits it has for teenagers.
Are certain Mental Health Issues suitable to present to children such as OCD, ADHD and Anxiety.
Is animation an appropriate formate to present these issues to children on in a positive manner.
Potential Outcomes:
I found that Mental health is a big topic to try and cover so I wanted to make sure that my chapters covered the areas I specifically wanted to focus on and can involve the kind of information I am going to be looking at. I chose to have separate chapters for how movies and TV shows present Mental health and the use of social media and youtube for teenagers as media is a strong platform that is presenting to such a wide range of people and depending on how they show the issue could cause an increase of stereotyping thoughts. Also youtube and social media is a platform that is constantly growing and become a bit part of children and teenagers lives so being able to see how they are potentially benefiting this topic is important to look into. These chapters are suitable topics for my research report and achieving my aims.
Overall, I am confident in my research plan, as well as my different topics and how I can use them all to answer my research report question. I feel like I will gain a better understanding of these issues and the effects they have on people individually as well as society’s view on Mental health. I feel that if people agree mental health is an area that should be shown in a more positive light to children and teenagers not just in live action shows but also animation then it could be something to consider in the industry when creating representative characters to help show everyone and to help reduce marginalising of people.
Word Count: 1,822
This is my second draft of my proposal I am much happier with it, I am sure their are still things that need to change of spelling and grammatical errors I need to fix but I am happy with the changes I have made and I am ready of the edits I am going to get tomorrow from my meeting with my lecturer.
“Symptoms of ADHD typically first appear between the ages of 3 and 6.”- https://www.healthline.com/health/adhd/facts-statistics-infographic , Healthline, 2018, ADHD by the Numbers: Facts, Statistics, and You, 6th May 2018.
“Many anxiety disorders begin in childhood and adolescence, and the average time a person waits to seek help for their condition (particularly for OCD and chronic worrying or GAD as it is known) is over 10 years”- https://www.anxietyuk.org.uk/get-help/anxiety-information/young-people-and-anxiety/ , AnxietyUK, 2015, Young People And Anxiety, 6th May 2018
I wanted to get some facts on some specific mental health issues that I could talk about during my research people I choose, OCD, ADHD and Anxiety as I wanted to see if it would be better to have smaller issues that are just as important to know about but aren’t as sensitive or emotionally damaging to children. I wanted to show there was research to back up what I wanted to say so i found theses to websites to quote and I will continue to look of further information when I come to researching for the actual report.
Today I when though my passed work as collected the one I felt where the best and added them to my portfolio page to show a range of my work so I have character model and design sheets, also with stop motion armature sheets to show the making stages and life drawing. I feel like I was really able to show a lot of what I can do. I like the look of it but I don't look a little messy so I might put them into folders and separate it more so people can chose which part they would like to look at instead of it all being clumps together. I was also able to upload my updated version of my showreel so that is all ready to be played and I made sure it all fits on the page so there art to many big spaces between the text and the video as well and the video and the contact section.
