Create and justify a planned animation (P5, P6)

Creating the characters:

Using clay was the best option for my animation, as despite it being slightly more time consuming then CGI and other forms of animations, it gives me the most flexibility, due to the large number of each colour present, as well as being easier to use for the creation for each independent part of the film. As well as this, the clay characters stay quite manoeuvrable, from creation to it being dried up. This gave me a lengthy window to complete each scene how I wanted too, in addition to being able to pre-plan around this drying time. 

Setting up the Equipment:

The lights were an essential part of my production. This is because upon filming, I noticed the set I was working on was quite dark. The lights, on either side of the camera as well as an additional one connected to the camera, created balanced lighting, resulting in the cleanest possible set. The camera was positioned on a trip-pod to ensure it wouldn't be moved, as this would have changed the whole appearance of my animation, at a random point during the animation. 

Setting up the backplates:

The blue screen allowed me to add any backgrounds needed in post-production, giving me one less thing to worry about, during an already busy and time sensitive production stage. The addition of a piece of card under the blue-screen box allowed me to introduce characters into the shots in a more  

fluid way, resulting in a cleaner final product.

Log Sheet:

The log sheet was useful, as it allowed me to tick off each individual element of the animation, helping me to up-to-date with my progress. Not only this, but the log sheet means I can know the length of the animation, helping me to fit the animation to the brief appropriately.

I created a detailed production schedule to help during the different stages of creating my animation. I have split this production schedule up across the entire process, which I have included below:

Offline Draft:

I used these production schedules to keep on track with the different tasks. Before making the online edit, I was stuck on the sixth scene, but ensured that I met the milestone so that I could meet the overall deadline. The second production schedule shows that I was able to meet the tasks and work to deadlines.

First draft - offline edit with images
The animation stayed relatively in line with my original plan, with the scenes and events happing in the same order, as I had original planned. However I decided to make a few subtle changes, removing some scenes and adapting others too make for a better viewing, as well as due to time constraints.

The final scene had to be removed, as once I factored in the editing time, as well as external factors. it became apparent that completely this scene to a high standard would be near impossible. As well as this, I felt it was an unneeded scene, that served more as a filler than anything else.

The 8th scene had to be cut out, as I was not able to get the appropriate technology needed to complete it to a high standard. This scene removes some of the clarity between the film and the audience, but also keeps a level of tension and questioning through the film.

However, for the most part the final piece matches the original plan. This is because I still believed that is was very engaging and entertaining for the specific audience, with it also fitting into the brief's call for the animation to clearly advertise the march.

The final created material follows the storyboard predominately, however with a decent amount of changes too it. I drastically reduced the speed of the train scene, changing it from 3 seconds 1.08. This is because of the difficulty I experienced in filming this scene. This meant that I had to reduce the time, instead focusing on the overall quality of the scene.

As well as this, the characters and backplates fit into my original storyboard. I kept these the same as I believed that the original sketches best fit the story that I wanted to create. As I didn't initially include any backplates into my storyboard, it left me with room for freedom of choice, meaning that I could choose them all in prep, resulting in the best appearing animation.

During the improvement process, I chose to increase the size of the zombie. This was done because I believed it increased the zombies stature and intimidation, making it more realistic that the protagonist were fearful of the zombie. As well as this, it enabled my zombie to be seen more prominently on screen, meaning the audience had a clearer picture of the events that were unfolding on screen. 

Adding in audio, transitions and backplates via keying:

Once I had all my different shots in, I went about adding the required backgrounds and sounds where necessary. This enabled my animation to look the best it possibly can. The blue screen allowed me to put whatever background I wanted, onto their appropriate scenes. Linking the correct sound, to the correct images was critical during the editing process, as it made sure that each scene made sense and flowed appropriately.

As I didn't have any cast/team, all the audio used in the final animation was taken directly from YouTube.

This process was made substantially easier by the snapping tool, as it allowed me to place each image and audio clip into the correct place, automatically linking to the end of the clip, instead of me having to do that manually. 

The fade to black allows me to input a clear and smooth transition from footage to text. This results in a better standard of animation, and making the information that I am stating clearer.

To ensure that I met the key milestones, so my animation could be released in time for the strict deadline, I tracked all my progress throughout the creation process. This helped me to stay up-to-date with the deadline, as it kept me on track and on time for each individual element of the creation timeline.

Final Animation with discussion of changes:

In my final animation, I had to scrape the voice over, instead using an imported image with the necessary information on it, into the final animation. This was because I was short on time, and had to accumulate the addition time. This meant that the voice over was not viable and would not have helped me with meeting the brief. As well as this, adding the fade to black and jump scare at the end meant that my animation conveyed to horror conventions more, meaning that the animation was of a higher quality.