E4 Animation Evaluation

Step One: Collecting Responses
Click here to view the survey. Click through the flipbook below for the responses.


Step Two: Evaluating Responses

To evaluate my animation, I have decided to write a written report which I can upload to my blog. The animation was exhibited on my YouTube channel, where it has received over 75 views as of writing, even though it is unlisted. The link to it was shared on my Twitter, and from my survey where I could collect opinions on it. To further exhibit the animation, I could firstly make the video viewable by the public on YouTube and share the link to it around more. I could also upload it on other video sharing websites, such as Vimeo. Furthermore, it could be physically exhibited in a public space with a sort of premiere – although this would seem rather pointless for a 10 second video!

My feedback was obtained through a survey hosted on surveymonkey.com, which I created myself and posted around on social media until I had a fairly substantial amount of respondents. Due to this, many of the people who answered had little knowledge of the media industry and so struggled with some questions. According to the questions regarding gender and age, there was an equal split of male and female respondents, with a majority aged over 35. This means many of the respondents are out of the target audience age range for E4, which is 15-35, so this may lead to some slightly negative feedback on the advert as it would not necessarily appeal to them.

The third question regarding genres was met with four responses from people not being sure of the different genres in animation. Many responses thought it was an animation or comedy which is fine. The next question dealt with the type of person they thought would enjoy the animation, with many commenting young people, students or working classes, with a mixture of genders; this mostly fits within the E4 target audience.

When asked to describe what happened in the animation, there were varying responses. Many were correct, describing the boy on the bus as sneezing on to the window. However, this question also presented a number of issues. It is evident that some people watched the animation without sound, thus not hearing the sound effect which makes the sneeze obvious. One respondent commented that at first they thought the male character was shooting the female character, as it was not clear what was happening when you could not hear it. The female character also proved to distract many from what was meant to be the focus of the animation – many respondents described in detail what she was doing whereas she was just meant to be a backing character to make the bus look busier. Evidently one or two people did not recognise the E4 logo, either.

The following question asked respondents what they thought was good and what could be improved. Recurring comments for good things were about the use of colour, the concept itself, the sneeze sound effect and the music. Recurring comments for improvements were that the characters could have been more detailed, the lack of ‘story’, and – ironically – that it was too short and quick. A later question, asking what respondents would have done differently if tasked with making the same animation, uncovered similar responses. Some went on to say they would have used different music, although I was of course limited to only the music that E4 provides. Some commented they would have used a different style of animation because it appears ‘old fashioned’, but this only suggests I did achieve the look I was going for. A few commented that they would not change anything

Some of the words used to describe the type and style of animation were ‘stop animation’, ‘funky’, ‘modernist’ and ‘south park’. In addition, I asked respondents to fill out a table which rated the frame rate, camera work, lighting and skill in animating multiple objects on a scale of terrible to excellent. Thankfully, nobody rated any of the skills as terrible, and only one person thought the frame rate was ‘bad’. There were a number of ‘not sure’ respondents, especially for lighting, but most skills were rated with a majority of ‘good’. The frame rate was never considered ‘excellent’, which is fair as it was edited at a frame rate of only 12 frames per second as opposed to the usual standards of 25 or 30. Nearly half of the respondents thought my skill in animating multiple objects was ‘excellent’, which is fantastic because it makes all the work between frames seem worth it!

I think the general reaction to the work was positive, even amongst people who had possibly never seen an E4 E-Sting before. There were certainly possible improvements to be made with the camera work – some of it was noticeably out of focus – and if I was to do it again I would attempt to shoot at least double the frames, with smaller movements to improve frame rate. As I am unable to make it longer or use a wide range of music, some negativity is unavoidable. The initial concept seemed to impress many people as well as all of the small animated movements, a couple even commented that it would be well suited on E4. Overall, a largely positive response for the animation.

Step Three: Reviewing Work

Constraints

                There were some constraints present in the production of the E-Sting. Legally, the animation had to avoid any copyright issues, including all visuals and sound. To avoid this, I had to design and create all of the animated objects and backgrounds myself; all the imagery was self-designed in Photoshop to be printed, cut out and photographed. The music was sourced directly from E4’s provided database, and sound effects were either recorded myself or sourced online from a website allowing creative commons access. Regarding the regulatory constraints, I had to make sure the animation complied with broadcasting standards. As E4 say on their website for E-Sting terms and conditions, the entry “must be of broadcast quality and must not contain anything that is obscene, indecent, defamatory, un-lawful, offensive or that infringes the copyright, intellectual property rights, moral rights or any other right of a third party. Your Entry must also be suitable for daytime broadcast.”

            The brief itself presented a number of other constraints on the animation, particularly in regards to the length of the finished video being only ten seconds. Finances were not an issue as all the equipment was available to me from college. A physical constraint was my lack of experience in using Photoshop. I had to learn as I was going on, which was at times frustrating when I knew how I wanted something to look but could not quite achieve it.

Time Management

                The time frame for the project was six weeks. We were given two weeks to plan, two weeks to film and two weeks to edit (although we could move time around within that allocated frame). It took a very long time to prepare all of my items in Photoshop and this set me back considerably, meaning I had to 'borrow' time from another stage of production.

                Had I of anticipated earlier the length of time the Photoshop work would have taken me, I would have looked at other means of creating the objects; however once I had started I did not simply want to give it up. It also would have been wise to work with a partner for the project so that the work could have been shared out.

Brief Requirements

                The requirements of the brief, as specified by E4 and our teacher, were fully met: the E-Sting was exactly 10 seconds long; it contained the E4 logo (for over a second at the end); the music used was supplied by E4; everything contained within it was my own work; it was created using stop motion animation techniques with various moving items. It was also important that the animation applied to the target audience of E4, which I believe I have achieved by creating a cartoon-like environment, young looking characters, and relevant music. See this post for more details on the requirements of the animation, and this post for details of E4’s target audience.

Feedback
            I received feedback from a few sources, including the survey as described and analysed above. I also presented the animation to some friends, family, class mates and tutors. Most friends and family said it was good, and they were impressed as it was ‘better than anything [they] could make’. Some commented on the high level of detail in the backgrounds of each shot, noticing something different each time they watched it. Class feedback was very similar, although some picked up on issues with animated objects being out of focus. The music was criticised by many, however from what I had available from E4 I believe it to be the most suitable. The sound effects were praised, a lot of viewers wanted to know who it was who did the huge great sneeze (it wasn’t me)! From the survey, there were some mixed responses but the general tone was positive. You can read above for my full analysis of the survey feedback.

What I have learnt from this Project

            To complete the project, I had to learn how to use Photoshop well to design all of the objects and characters and backgrounds. This was particularly difficult whilst attempting to work within the allocated schedule as I was teaching myself as I went along, occasionally having to go onto YouTube to find out how to do something. Before completing this project, I did not know how to edit an animation at all, and so that was also something I had to learn. In addition to condensing the images to be the same length to create movement, there was some ‘green screen’ editing too; one of the shots needed a moving background that would have been incredibly difficult to physically animate. To achieve the look of a moving background in post-production, I learnt how to use Chroma and Motion tracking effects in Premiere Pro.

I think the main takeaway from the project was that it was too big of an idea to have took on by myself, and if I were to do it again I would try to get somebody on board to work with. Having said that, it was still enjoyable to work on the project and gave me additional satisfaction upon completion knowing that it was all my own individual work.

Working within the Media Industry

        I would like to think that I would be the perfect candidate for working within the media industry, and regularly working towards a brief. Undoubtedly I need more practice at keeping to deadlines, and more experience with more software and tools will help towards this.

Taking Animation Further

          Although there were some elements of producing the animation that I enjoyed, I was beginning to find the process too slow and laborious and therefore am unlikely to go into it as a career option. However, the occasional short animation may be fun within my own time – particularly with Lego as I enjoyed the practice animation a lot.