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During the past two weeks I have bee working hard on finishing the documents and worksheet as allocated in the brief. Me and Ashley have also devised questions that we should like to ask out audience, to get feedback from them. After considering the different option from getting feedback we decided to conduct two focus groups as well as getting written peer feedback.

We decided to conduct focus group because we wanted to talk to our audience and really gage what they thought. We then spend the next day asking around the college campus for people to participate in our focus group.

One of our focus groups was conducted in the leaning difficulties department on campus. I wanted us to go there because I really wanted to know what people with a variety of leaning difficulties (aged 16-25) thought.

However we also planned another focus group with other students in the college aged between 16-25, just so we could get the opinion of a variety of people in this age group.

Later in the week we also pitched our finished ident to the client, which they said they were very pleased with.

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- Learning how to use rented sound recorder

- Recording sound effects, that we had planned, trying out different noised and positions (found quiet room)

- Getting a free actor in to record character voice (like morph and pingue)

- I did female voice over (my acting experience, and saved time because I knew what we wanted and the tone to use)

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- Onion Skinning

- shot sheet

- mimicking human facial expressions and body language (by filming or watching real people e.g Ashley)

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So that I could fit the logo into the 16x9 frame I had to open a copy of the logo into Photoshop and give it a bigger white background.

Originally I was going to size it to fit in a 4x3 aspect ration, which was what the animation was filmed in. However I later found that keeping making the image bigger had a much nicer effect and draws more attention to the logo.

After this we also added the credits and rendered the whole project, before exporting it as a quicktime file.

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Here is where I wanted the animated clip of the logo moving to match up with digital image of the logo as the ending scene of the ident. To do this I lined them up on the timeline and added a fade transition to join them together. This then also allowed be to see them layered together (onion skinning) so I could then adjust the image of the logo with the animation of the moving logo. This worked really well and allowed me to layer the clips together almost seemlessly.

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Here was one of the filter effect We experimented with, but drawing and dropping it onto the clip.

We initially though it would show the progression of the the 4x3 framing transform in to the 16x9 framing (of the still image at the end). However we liked how the white backgrounds layered together more fluidly, so we decided against it.

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By double clicking on the time line enable me to see the joining of clips. I also show where i had decided to cut each end, and allowed be to alter or change the joining points.

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We ended up spending a lot of time changing the lighting and colour enhancements, so that the clip matched up. This was one of the drawback of using multiple sets. Also unfortunately there were a few technical errors with the camera we used, because some of the clip came out with a pink or blue tinge to them. This was odd add we had thoroughly check and compared the lighting during the production. I think it may have been due to use not being able to see the definition of the white balance of the low resolution monitors we used.

Anyway, to get around this issue I selected each clip and them selected 'enhance colour' option which took me to the colour and exposure settings. Once I adjusted the colours and exposure on the clip, I then use the 'match colour' tool which enabled be to either copy or compare the setting to another clip. This sis make the whole process slightly easier. However we did decide to do the colour correction last, because I knew we needed to prioritize cutting the scenes first.

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Later on when editing the sign post scene, I used the razor tool again to segment parts of the clips. This them enabled me to select the segments and speed up or slow down the clips (as we planned in pre production). This worked really well and created the effect of the sign post spinning really fast and then stopping apruptly.

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Firstly I started by arranging the clips into order and then cutting them down my using the 'razor' tool.

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We originally planned for the editing to take one day however, due to some complications with the colour connection and lighting, it ended up taking two.

what we did:

Firstly we imported all of our animation footage, which we labeled e..g scene 1 etc.. This made it easy for us to place the clips in order as there were 9 in total. I did later make the decision to switch the order of one or two scenes, but it was mostly in the original order that was in the storyboard.

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During the production process I set up all the lighting and sets with Ash and help of a lighting technician, in the morning. We then conducted a short team meeting where we discussed what neeed to be done on the first day, and to reiterate the possible hazards that were highlighted in the risk assessment. I also made sure that we got the biggest set area in the studio and that was also the furtherest away from everyone else's project. This was because I knew we would be changing the lighting and sets a lot and I did' want to disturb any ones work by our team moving about.

Once we got the first set in place and had set all the equipment up we began work, me animating the character and directing the scene, whist Ashley took the shots on each frame. We also made the decision to shoot everything in 1's so that it was smooth.

In total we had 9 scenes to shoot, although toward the end we decided to not shoot scene 7 as we didn't need it (because we cover it's content in scene 6).

We used 3 front view sets, and one rostrum set (which is feature in the image below).

During the whole production process I used the storyboards, shot sheet to keep on track of where we were an to make sure we would meet the deadline, as outlines in t he proposal. Due the the planning we did, we managed to finished all of the shots wiht the two we had allocated to shoot. We even had time to animate the logo the end, which was a scene that wouldn't have been used in out contingency plan.

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So that we communicated as a team, we conducted a scrum, where we all clarified what we were doing and how far on track we were with individual tasks.

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Abi you have evidenced your detailed commitment to the project and how you have brainstormed and developed ideas for the production of a suitable animated ident for ELO. You have demonstrated your understanding for the procedures that you have applied through the preproduction process effectively. Your attendance and commitment has been exceptional... working through a period of illness and communicating with Ashley effectively. Well done

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Cutout animation experimentation (Me and Elliot) - cutout and claymation

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Cutout animation experimentation (Me and Elliot) - cutout and claymation

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We decided to create our own sound effects and narrations for our ident. We need:

- voice over narration (to be played at end of ident) to be recored by Abi. We wanted a female narrator, because the ident character is male, and we didn't want to look biased or have a preference to either gender.

- 'pop' sound effect to show characters entrance (recored by Ash).

- swishing signpost sound effect, (to be recorded by Ash).

- signpost stoping sound effect (record, using a ruler rebutting against a desk)

- wind (light breeze)

- Foot steps of characer (optional, if we have time, or could be sourced royalty free from internet)

- Could also source 'happy' background music to add the tone of the ident

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After all the production paperwork was completed I was then able to work on building the characters and props needed. I started by making the main character out of plasticine. I spent approximately six hours, spaced between two days, building the character. However most of that time was taken to make the head and sculpturing facial features. I used my hands to mound the design and sometimes used a few clay tools to cut or separate the clay (and cut the hair).

However as the character has facial features I had to make him quite big, to allow for the detail. This was an issue I had already discussed with ash, as we knew we had to make a sets that would fit the characters size and proportion. I then came up with the idea of creating more that on version of the same character. So we would use the big model for the close ups and a smaller model to the other set e.g the overhead maze (where your wouldn't see the characters face).

Once I got the proportions of the character right I was able to star making the sets and the props e.g. the signpost, archway, and some of the of the binary maze sets.

As I was in charge of making the character we decided that I should make the sets where the characters size needed to fit the scale of the set e.g. the front view of the maze and the archway scene, so that the character didn't appear to big or too small within the set.

However for the shot with the birds eye view of the maze we needed to make a different set. However this one didn't need to be scaled with the character in a much detail ( as the character only appears of a speck inside the maze). So we decided that Ashley could make that set with out any scale issues.

Before half term I also measured the maximum size the set could be to fit under the rostrum (and be within the camera frame) so that Ashley would know what size to build the maze.

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For the pitch I am responsible for explaining:

- character and set development

- production schedule, resources and equipment

- contingency plan

- risk assessment

- the budget

Practicing

how it went

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After half term me and Ashley had a team meeting to make sure everything was on track. We both found that writing the proposal was difficult, especially as neither of us had written one before. Therefore because of this we spent the first day finalising and editing our proposals to make sure they were perfect. I also discovered that there were a few things wrong with the budget which we changed.

I also then worked on perfecting the power point, add all the necessary points and aligning them up with the presenter notes (both mine and Ashley's ). I also took pictures of the character sketches, parts of the storyboard and written feedback from the questionnaires, to use as visual aids and to back up out point as well.

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During half term I have completed and caught up with all the documentation I missed such as the constraints and suit of idents work sheet. I also analysed all the results from the questionnaires and made several charts and worker out some useful facts and figures we could use for the pitch I also took pictures of some of the comments left in the questionnaires and uploaded them to the power point (show visual proof of comments, which look good, honest and supports our points for our presentation).

I also email Ash there results so that he was up to date on the findings.

I also did some extra set sketches and finalise the character sketches that I made before and annotated them. I also completed my dope sheet (3 second signpost scene).

After the bulk of the preproduction was complete, I then was able to continue working on my proposal and making sure the grammar and spelling was correct.

Me and Ashley also assigned who was going to cover what in the pitch presentation and we also chose out house style theme on power point.

At home I then created my half of the power point and presenter notes for the pitch and also practised my half of the pitch and made sure it was roughly 4 minutes long.

I did this so that when I retuned after half term me and Ashley would be able to combine our power point presentation, and practice the pitch together.

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During the previous week I had an unfortunate accident which meant that I had to take a few days off work. During this time me and Ashley stayed in contact by email and messaging. Lucky me and Ashley had already finalised our idea and storyline, so we both knew what we were doing.

Ashley was very understanding during this time he completed a lot of the written documents that we needed such as the risk assessment and the script whilst I was unwell. However I did get find the time to completer eh storyboard and some of the set sketches as well as character sketches and brainstorms.

Today came back to college where me and Ashley had a team meeting to make sure everything was on track and sorted out anything that I had missed from last week. We also discussed our pitch and presentation, and who was going to present what. We came to the conclusion that we should both be part of the introduction of the pitch, to show how we can work together.

I also started my proposal draft, which I produced from my plan that I had completed the previous day.

We also worked on finalising our production schedule, as I wasn't here, we needed to confirm dates, and make our job roles clear.

I also spent the day cutting down the storyboard (e.g. the computer scene) to make it simpler to make it easier for us to achieve for the deadline. We also discussed my ideas and sketches or the main character.

I also printed off and handed out my half of the audience questionnaires to a variety of people around the college. I then planned out how i would collect the results and what data I should make into a chart, so We could use it for our pitch.

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Today me and Ashley had our first official team meeting and discussed our own individual ideas. I was surprised to find that Ashley had come up with a similar concept to mine, which was to use a character to represent the audience being 'lost'.

I then explained my idea of having character disappearing into a computer into a 'virtual world(the internet ) where he is alone and doesn't know where to find help. Then he finds a spinning signposts which gives him the simple and tailored options on where to go (represents the Essex local offer website, helping direct people to the correct information and support for them.

After explaining my idea Ash told be about his 'Maze' idea and we started to brainstorm on how we could combine the two and how the narrative should go.

We also talked about how to make the visual language and subtitles or a voice-over to make the ident accessible for all audiences, and simple enough so that everyone could understand it e.g. audio or visual impaired viewers.

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Today I research the 'Essex Local offer' website and created a detailed mind map for my ideas for my animated ident. I also illustrated some sketches and a rough storyboard for my ideas and the different directions I could go with it. I also started to think about the formation of my character and weather It should be 'morph' like with a simple design, or more human like (similar to the productions and models I have made before.

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Over the last couple of weeks I have researched several different stop-motion productions. I found that I prefer claymation as a technique because it think is allows characters to have more expression and fluid movement.

I experimented with cut out and claymation techniques, I found that the cut out technique was very fiddly and time consuming. After a few practices I started to get the hang of it, however is still prefer using plasticise, for more freedom of movement.

We were also given a brief from the 'Essex Local Offer' and they asked us to create and animated ident for their website.

They also said that we would have the creative control, but, they wanted the ident to attract young people (18-25) and not include flashing images or harsh content.

This will impact my design, as will need to make sure that the content is interesting for young people, but not boring or childish (and family friendly) .

Me and Ashley also discussed which animation formats we could use. As we had both experimented with plasticine,object and cut-out animation before.

I briefly thought about the other techniques we could use such as puppetry (used in productions like Tim Burton's 'frankenweenie' ). However I didn't think that using puppets (made out of fabrics or wire etc.) would be the best or most cost effective techniques to use for our ident (as puppets take a long time to make effectively and can be difficult to move).

After our discussion we came to the conclusion that using plasticine( clay ) for the main character would be best as clay is far more tangible and easy to mould and animate (as clay is strong yet easier movable, there there are less limitations).

We also concluded that we could use props (mix formats) mad out of cardboard and possibly soft board, which is easier to cut.

We also researched the Nytol stop-motion advert, which also used claymation, and the techniques they used to make it look so life like.

One of the things they did, and is still commonly used in industry,is mimicking human facial expressions and body language (by filming or watching real people). I thought this would be a really useful techniques we could use to capture the human essence through our character.