Evaluation.

I was asked to produce a 30 – 60 second stop motion animation, channel ident for E4. Within in the allotted time, I was asked to produce pre production, production and postproduction materials.

I used drawn animation in my project, this required me to hand draw each frame, the fact I coloured it in makes it look more professional as if It was done on the computer, like most cartoons these days.

Before I could start my project I had to think about a few important factors that I most complete. Firstly I had to think about time, its always important to manage the time well in order to complete the production and postproduction to perfection. In order to do this, I set up a time schedule in which I had dates and completion dates by which I had to finish each task. By working to a time plan it helped me manage each task to perfection and to complete it on time.

I think I managed my time effectively when filming the project, I had 1 day to complete the filming and done it, while other people were still on the pre production I was already filming and therefore I managed to complete my whole project before everyone else. I did this by completing my production first and then doing all the pre production tasks after, I found this way easier and faster because I already had filmed my idea, on other projects I found that by doing the pre production first I change my mind to often and never settle on the original idea I had.

For my postproduction I used Final Cut Pro, it took me a little longer then I expected but I am very happy with the end result. I created my own music by using sound effects from imovie and a given track by E4 from the E4 stings competition. At first I thought I finished my project, but then I thought it didn’t have enough colour and was a bit plain looking. On final cut pro I used the three way colour corrector and managed to colour in my project, I decided to colour it in purple and white, which represents E4 as a brand.

In order to evaluate my work I had to get audience response. I did this by, showcasing my work to the class and had some pupils give me feedback on my blog. Points such as, the picture being unclear were made, which I agree on because the pixilation was stretched out; in order to get the image to fit the screen, which made the picture unclear. Also another thing I could improve on was, near to the end when the paper scrunches it’s a little unclear as to what is happening in the film because of the colour change. I agree with both points but unfortunately to have the E4 colours, some of the project had to be unclear and there is nothing I could do to improve it. I think the only way to improve the colours is to have coloured it in when I drew it, which would have been very time consuming and extremely hard to keep the consistency of the animation.

Overall I think I did really well with time keeping and succeeding in managing to keep to the given brief. I really enjoyed the project and I am defiantly thinking of using animation on my next given projects. Although its time consuming and extremely tiring the end result is very rewarding.

Channel Iden.

Storyboard.

Channel Ident and E4 Sting Proposal

Working title:

Channel identification for E4 broadcaster

By line

The style I have decided to do my animation in is, Hand Drawn

Animation also referred to Traditional animation. This is, the oldest and historically the most popular form of animation. The animation works by drawing each frame by hand and taking a snap shot each time, to form a moving image.

I will start my Ident with the number 4 being drawn onto a piece of paper followed by, loads of doodles and different pictures relating to the e4 audience. My Ident should ideally be 30 – 40 seconds long.

Synopsis

I will start by drawing the number four, which I took from the e4 logo, and continue by drawing a world underneath it, this symbolizes that e4’s broadcasted programs are watched all over the world and everyone tunes in to the channel e4.

The next drawing is of a sun flying over the number, I thought this could brighten up the drawing and hopefully give the audience a happy and cheerful mood. I also added a flower.

I then decided to draw the letter E in the number four as seen on the e4 logo.

If an audience is about to watch their favorite program, no doubt they would be in a good mood, and what better way to enhance that mood then by making the ident – which comes before the program- cheerful too. The unique selling point of my ident would be, the playful, cheerful doodles around the channels logo (E4)

The body releases a chemical called serotonin, it is a well-known contributor to feelings of well being; therefore it is also known as a "happiness hormone" despite not being a hormone. So when an audience is about to watch a preferred program, the chemical starts releasing the serotonin, and if we can get it to release right before the program, that when the program is watched the serotonin will be released at peak time, making the audience overly happy and content.

Personnel

In order to ensue I stay according to the schedule, I will create a time plan. I will set a target each week to what must be done by a certain deadline and follow that.

Here is a copy of my schedule

Pre Production – Resources	Start Date
Research
Plan Production
Production – Filming
Get Equipment
Starts Filming
Post Production – Editing
Upload footage onto final cut pro
Rough Cut
Fine Cut
FINISH

I’m a current graduate at City of Westminster College, and for the passed 6 months I have been learning all about animation techniques, including Hand Drawn animation. In order to make this Ident happen I think you will need special skills, which I have acquired over the passed year. Iam also good at drawing and very patient, which is exactly what you need in order to create a Hand Drawn animation.

Resources

For my production I will be using an apple Mac computer, which I can also edit on. I will need a camera, bits of paper and a pencil to draw with.

To edit my film I will use Final Cut Pro, which I have a quite good knowledge of.

Initial Ideas - Channel Ident.

Channel Idents.

Channel Idents.

Channel identification, is a well known technique used by television stations, radio and networks. They use this to identify themselves on air typically a call sign or a brand name is used, this is also known as a station ID. This may also be used to satisfy requirements of licensing authorities, a form of branding or both. This is because it is closely related to the production logo used in television, networks and radio.

Idents are normally used in between shows and considered as the most important portion of a networks presentation. Many networks have complete sets of idents based on a central theme or branding element, and most of the time these idents also build the basis for the rest of the appearance of the channel.

Clay animation.

Clay animation is one of many forms of stop motion animation. Each animated piece, either character or background, is "deformable" — made of a malleable substance, usually plasticine or clay. Each object is sculpted in clay or a similarly pliable material such as Plasticine. The object is arranged on the set, a frame is taken, and the object or character is then moved slightly by hand. Another frame is taken, and the object is moved slightly again. This cycle is repeated until the animation is achieved.

'Wallace and gromit', 'Robot chiken' and 'Celebrity death match' are three programms which appear to have nothing incommon, but their links come down to one main thing; they are all created in claymation. All three programms were made entirely out of clay, whilst the process is long and tiering it is very rewarding.

I liked this technique best because, i could ceate almost anything i wanted although it is a long process the good factors of clay animation are rewarding.

Pros: Expand and contract the material, morph characters together, a 3D effect and being able to create anything you can possibly imagine.

Cons: Its time consuming, Falls apart, difficualt to create fine detail and weak structure.