My Proposal and Evaluation for Simulated Client Project

Proposal
I have been set a brief to create a multimedia product for the alumni association. We have been given a few examples of what the Alumni are looking for and one of them is a promotional video to encourage people to donate. I want to carry out this brief as I can see a lot of potential and immediately ideas came flowing to my head when I saw this brief. I want to make a stop-motion video to promote the alumni and at the same times encourage people to donate. I intend to hand draw all my images rather than use photos as I prefer the effect hand drawn images have compared to photos; it gives that edgy effect that’s not so clean and crisp. My target audience is between the ages 20- 40 however I would want to advertise it to all ages and I want to make it suitable to any age.

Evaluation
My brief for this project was to create a multimedia product for the alumni association. I feel I completed this brief with through research and within the time given. I carried out my research by looking at ‘Susannah Shaws’ "Stop-Motion: Craft Skills for Model Animation" for ideas and techniques on stop-motion; I also experimented with different methods for my animation. I tried making models to animate with, I tried experimenting with photos, drawings and also dived into 3DS MAX. I found hand drawing and using Photoshop to aid my drawings was going to be the best way forward for my ideas and for the time frame I had been given. A friend of mine works for the alumni association, so he managed to get me some leaflets and information on the alumni association which helped develop and further my research.

I feel my time management was reasonably good, considering I usually have a severe lack of organisation when it comes to my time management. I made a great conscious effort to plan my time wisely for this project and it paid off. If anything I spent too much time researching which could have gone towards final touches on my final animation. The actual stop motion I feel started well however it goes extremely fast and it gets faster and faster as the video goes on. If I had the extra time I spent on researching, I could have gone back and tweaked my stop motion video but I was running out of time so had no other choice than to leave it, which was really disappointing however it is a lesson learnt, and a lesson I don’t want to learn again in my LIVE client project.

I originally had trouble with deciding on a final idea, I knew I wanted to create a promotional video to encourage people to donate but it was deciding what method to use to create the video. I chose the stop motion as I think they’re fun to watch and they normally get people interested straight away as their eye catching. I know that every time I see a stop motion I am immediately interested.

Overall I think I executed this project thoroughly and although my final product was not to my entire satisfaction, I was pleased with the outcome and I was very happy with how I progressed with my time management skills.

Animatic and Final Video for Alumni Stop Motion

FINAL VIDEO - ALUMNI STOP MOTION

ANIMATIC - ALUMNI STOP MOTION

My Storyboard for Simulated Client Project

Charity Pot Movement Test

I made this through my own drawings which I imported into Photoshop and edited. The Photoshoped images were then imported into Adobe Premier where I completed the movie. I done this to see if my anagles of the pot were right and to see if the movement was flowing properly or wether I need to go back and edit my drawings before I use them for my final project.

Sketches

Here are some sketch ideas for my stop motion. I was going to hand draw it all but after testing out ideas in photoshop with my drawn images i have decided to create my images in photoshop and then import those stills into premier pro and after effects to finsh my stop motion off. I think if i handraw all my images i will run out of time...


Below is a scene i created in 3DS MAX using the ink outline mapping...

Susannah Shaw: My Research into stop-motion

So i went to the libary and photocopied some infomation out of Susannah Shaws "Stop-Motion: Craft Skills for Model Animation". She writes and explores the mechanics of movement, filming, creating a scene, creating your models and much more. I have found her book very useful and has already helped me a great deal with my stop motion.

The illusion of speed is something i think is really hard to show in a stop motion. Here she explains ways of creating that illusion.


Movement is another tricky element to animation that takes alot of practice to perfect. Here Susannah talks about flexability, action and reaction and the best ways of creating these motions with models.



I tested out working with plasterscene to model characters for my stop motion, a large part of Shaw's book is about modelling your own characters, after reading this i started to make my own taking into consideration some of the elements she talks about.

Lip Syncing...

My Plasterscene Models for my Alumni Stop Motion...


I was also researching camera angles, perspectives when creating my scene and lighting. Although her book is very basic, it has helped me widen my attention to detail in my scenes.



I also looked up some information about cameras, how to use them for what i want to do etc, and briefly steped into green screen. It proposed a great idea for my stop motion however within the time frame i have for this project, i have chosen not to look into it any further but it is definatley something i am interested in doing further down the line.

Brainstorm for Alumni Project

I like the idea of doing a video to encourage people to give to the alumni. I have had a faor few ideas, but the one that has captured my mind is my money idea. I want to have coins and notes sneaking and jumping out of peoples purses, hands, pockets etc and the money will follow a charity pot (idea from the pied piper) to the university. The money will have to makes its way around obstacles such as cars, cross motorways, roll down stairs etc. then at then end i would have a slogan about giving to the alumni, something along the lines of 'your money works hard to help, please help your money get to the alumni'. That's just a rough idea of what I'm thinking, and maybe through-out the video i will have some sort of voice over about what the alumni does. I want to hand draw the images and maybe combine them with some 3d or edit them in Photoshop.

More video research...

Finally found something worthwhile...

I quite like the idea of doing a stop motion using hand drawn images a bit like a flip book



I really loved working with lego stop motion in first year and i really like this video... I am thinking of doing a lego stop motion about donating to the amumni.

You would think id be able to find a good video!

This video is AWFUL...


This one gets a little better...

You would think id be able to find a GOOD VIDEO

This is an AWFUL video!

what a video... :|

I saw this video whilst researching for the simulated project. I could'n help but laugh its really cringy!

Simulated Project: Brief

OK, so were half way through the first week back and already the pressure is on. The top of my list consists of the simulated client project. The brief asks us to make a multimedia product for the alumni association, I am really unsure of what i want to do for this project, which is really worrying me as i have less than 4 weeks to complete it.We have to put across what the alumni do for the university and it would be good to talk about the projects and charities that are ongoing within the alumni.

After the lecture yesterday my understanding is a bit clearer but i still have no idea what i actually want to do. i quite like the idea of the mascot but I'm not really a fan of character animation. i also like the idea of a video either to remind people to give a donation or a thank you video for donating. but as i am on the animation pathway i think making a video will be extremely time consuming. As i love graphic design creating a logo also appeals to me. Whatever project i decide to take on, i don't fancy working with characters but i cant think of another way of putting across my point without using character animation. I'm really interested in visualisation especially with architecture but i have a feeling i am going to have to step out my comfort zone completely with this brief.