Final Reflection

Picture Story

My picture story, iFly, was the first project I worked on this semester. It was different than the type of animation I'm used to. Using only pictures added more difficulty than I initially thought; I had to come up with a story with only pictures, which means I needed an actor and props-things I would typically create in photoshop instead. Making a story without sound also turned out to be challenging. Audio plays a huge role in the overall project. Through this project I recognized the importance of having good audio along with a project because of the extra layer of depth it brings to the story

Evolution vs. Creation

My second project, Evolution vs. Creation took the longest and is the most complex project I have ever worked on throughout my career in Animation. I was set loose for two months to create whatever I wanted as long as I learned something. I decided to choose something that would include a voiceover, with animation and an oration playing at the same time. The oration would provide information and audio feedback, while the animation adds visual appeal for viewers. I broke up my project into two parts. First, I conducted research and wrote a script of what I was going to say. Then, I recorded the voiceover. Second, I stared animating separate compositions going along with my voiceover. I had to focus heavily on timing, making sure when I said a certain thing, the animation coinciding with it would play, adding coherence throughout. I learned how effective this combination of speech and animation is. It keeps the viewer intrigued, all the while reciting lots of information quickly and clearly.

RotoScope

My RotoScope project took approximately 2 weeks of constant tracing for about 2 seconds of content. This project, although tedious taught me the importance of having patience and when to be meticulous or not. Sometimes I needed to be exact to make a certain motion look good, but other times, like during the coloring portion, I opted to utilize the paint bucket rather than painting every part of every layer. This project encompasses an overarching idea found all throughout the animation industry: you put in a LOT of work for a little bit of product, and this project just illuminates this fact.