Assignment Brief

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.

E4 E-Sting Animation

Assessment Feedback

U5

First submission
GC1
You have comprehensively explained the requirements of working to a brief and you have managed to link to both your own experiences and industry practice and examples throughout. You should change program to programme (for TV) and I think it is non-negotiable but fantastic work James.

GC2
You have planned a response to a specified brief that takes into account thorough and in-depth research into the client and the targeted audience. You have conceptualised an idea that is fit for purpose and that would appeal to the target audience. You worked independently and to professional expectations.

GC3
You have produced a response to a brief which has been created to near-professional standards by someone who has worked professionally. You worked independently and even when things were not going exactly as planned, you did not sacrifice the creativity of the piece or opt for something easier – you continued and the results are excellent.

GC4
You have commented on your work with appropriate terminology and you have started to reflect on audience responses and how well you worked within constraints and to the brief.

Resubmission
GC4
You have honestly and critically commented on and evaluated your own work and experiences working to a brief. You have analysed responses gathered by surveying viewers and you have used and applied terminology correctly.

The Requirements of Working to a Brief

Research & Planning: Designing an E-Sting (Pre-Production)

E-Sting Terms & Conditions

     The E4 E-Sting Terms & Conditions page for sending in an entry defines many rules the film product must abide by. Amongst the most important are:

• Entry must be exactly 10 seconds long
• It must contain the E4 logo
• Music and sound effects must be only what is provided by E4 as part of the competition
• To enter, you need a Twitter & YouTube account
• The entry must be all your own work, or the work of a group you are part of
• All entrants must be over 16 and UK residents
• One entry per person

Questions

What Format?

     I will be making my animation using stop motion in a similar format to South Park. The characters and backgrounds will be made out of paper, shot face down onto a table. Moving the paper characters between each shot will provide the movement.

What Happens?

     In the first shot, we see a bus drive along a road. In the background, smoke rises from a chimney and a person walks their dog. Next we see three people inside the bus: two stand holding onto a pole, and one in a wheelchair which rocks back and forth slightly. A ball rolls down the bus aisle. One man begins to sneeze. Then we see a bus stop, with a person waiting to get on the bus, the bus enters and blocks them from the shot. We hear the sneeze, and the E4 logo appears on the bus window.

What Setting?

     A residential area with a bus route. Some of the animation is set on the bus itself.

What Difficulties?

     Other than the problems presented when trying to create movement, getting the paper to stay in one place for the photos could be difficult as it is so light. Any light wind could be an issue and ruin a shot. Also, some bits of paper may be quite small and fiddly so attention to detail is important.

Who is the Audience?

    15-35 year olds, the audience E4 aims to attract to its programmes.

Characters & Locations

Audio

The sound effects I will be using are below. Most of them were sourced through Freesound.com on a creative commons licence which allows me to use them. I will also embed the music below as chosen from a selection provided by E4 purposely for the E-Stings. This keeps all of the E-Stings entered into the competition consistent and royalty free.

Pre-Production Paperwork

Research & Planning: E4 Brief

E4 and their Target Audience

     E4 is a television broadcaster in the UK, owned by the public but managed by the Channel Four Television Company. The channel started as a subscription service in 2001, before being made free to air for the public in 2005 (2008 for Sky's satellite subscription service). The channel regularly broadcasts many US imported shows, including:

• The Cleveland Show
• Smallville
• Veronica Mars
• How I Met Your Mother
• Rules of Engagement
• The Big Bang Theory

     Previously, E4 also held the rights for Friends, before it was bought by Comedy Central in 2011. The channel also broadcasts UK entertainment programmes including:

• Misfits
• The Ricky Gervais Show
• Shameless
• Hollyoaks
• Made In Chelsea
• The Inbetweeners

     The Inbetweeners holds the channel's record for most watched programme, pulling in roughly 3 million viewers for every episode of its third series in 2010. Very much in line with this programme, E4's primary target audience is teenagers and young adults, a demographic aged roughly 15-35 and psychographic of working classes and lower middle classes. Their favourite programmes on the channel are likely to include How I Met Your Mother, Hollyoaks and - of course - the Inbetweeners. The secondary target audience would be a slightly older demographic, those aged roughly 35-45, who fitted into the primary target audience in earlier years, and enjoy replays of some slightly older shows such as The Ricky Gervais Show and, previously, Friends.

     E4's management company Channel 4 also broadcasts multiple other channels. Aside from Channel 4 itself, 'More4' and '4Seven' broadcast mainly replays of other Channel 4 programmes, primarily Come Dine With Me. 4Music is another channel, launched in 2008 which broadcasts chart music with their videos.

Analysing E Stings

     An E Sting is a 10 second ident which is aired before and between programmes, with its main purpose being to remind the audience what channel they are watching. The E Stings are produced by members of the public in an open competition on E4's website. Sixteen of the entries are short-listed every year, and aired on TV to allow the public to vote for the best E Sting.
   


     This E Sting, from the 2015 competition, is a computer animated comedy, made for the teenage demographic due to the humour. The E Sting consists of several sloths celebrating over some decks, and eating a giant E4 shaped leaf. I liked this E Sting because it was funny, and the animation style really stands out with its high quality look, and plenty of details throughout.

     Another 2015 E Sting proves that they don't all have to be animated. 'The Cat Goes Out' is made with live action footage from the perspective of a cat as it looks at its bowl of milk before leaving through the cat flap. Anyone could be the audience here (because cats don't have a specific audience themselves!) but its manly focused at the 15-35 demographic due to the lower quality in filming and evident low budget. I enjoyed it because it was different to many of the others but also interesting because of the POV shot.

   
     'Admiral Beard' is a comedy stop motion E Sting, also made for the 15-35 demographic. It consists of a sailor and his boat getting sunk into the sea when pushed into the E4 logo. The animated figures are knitted, including the E4 logo, but also features a human hand which briefly breaks the fourth wall of stop motion animation. It was enjoyable because it was different because I haven't seen animated wool before, and also funny due to the hand scenario. In addition, the stop motion is incredibly well done , the sailor sinking is particularly impressive in my opinion.

Planning & Preparation

     To prepare for producing my own E Sting, I have been experimenting with different types of animation. First, I produced my own versions of early animation techniques including a Thaumatrope, Zoetrope and Praxinoscope.

     In groups, we produced a Lego stop motion animation; our one featured a brick character getting kidnapped in a hovercraft!

My E Sting

     For my own animation, I will be using card cut-out characters and objects to provide movement in a similar style to early episodes of South Park. It will tell the simple story of a man who sneezes on the bus, producing the E4 logo with his phlegm.

Sources

http://www.channel4.com/e4

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E4_(TV_channel)

http://estings.e4.com/

History & Development of Animation

Part 1: Pioneers & Technology

Part 2: Developers

George Pal

     Pal was a fantasy and science fiction animator, using toys to create stop motion films. He was born in Hungary, but migrated to the USA. Throughout his career he was nominated for multiple Academy Awards, and received an honorary award in 1944 for his animated series Puppetoons. At the start of the next decade, he moved into live action film making as well. Watch 'Tulips Shall Grow' (1942)

Willis O'Brien

     O’Brien began working with stop motion due to his fascination with dinosaurs, animating marble models which led to his creation of The Dinosaur and the Missing Link (1915). From this he was noticed by Thomas Edison, who hired him to produce several short stop motion films. Later in life, he incorporated live action with stop motion, most famously on King Kong (1933).

Ray Harryhausen

     Harryhausen started animating with marionettes and string puppets, experimenting to recreate sequences from O’Brien’s King Kong. In his late teens he began creating and using model dinosaurs in his work, meeting O’Brien and later working with George Pal to produce 13 Puppetoons. During the war he made many propaganda films, and after the war he worked with models to produce his Mother Goose series, which was distributed to schools. Later he worked on mixing live action and animation together, notably in Jason andthe Argonauts (1963). During this time he developed the Dynamation technique to split live action and stop motion. 

Phil Tippett

     Tippett is a model animator, who was inspired by Harryhausen's work from a young age. He is most famous for animating the stop motion miniature chess scene in the first Star Wars film, and helping to bring dinosaurs to life in Jurassic Park. Despite claiming he had "become extinct" as a Stop Motion animator when CGI was being developed, Tippett has worked on films incorporating the two. This has included Starship Troopers (1997) and My Favourite Martian (1999).

Otmar Gutmann
     Gutmann is most well known for creating and animating children's television show Pingu (1986-2000). He animated Pingu and his family of penguins using claymation at Trickfilmstudio in Switzerland. After Gutmann's death, multiple other series were produced of Pingu for broadcast on the BBC and around the world.

Tim Burton & Henry Selick

     Burton and Selick have worked together on a number of animation films, including The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) and Corpse Bride (2005). Selick is usually mainly responsible for the stop motion animation - with Burton in the producing role - which is created using large puppet-like models. In addition, Selick has worked on Coraline (2009) and now works for Disney where he is said to be working on a number of projects in a directing role.

Adam Shaheen
     Shaheen founded his company Cuppa Coffee Studio in 1992, with the purpose of making animation in both stop motion and 2D animation. He has produced animations for over 200 commercials for Disney and Nickelodeon amongst others.  He has also animated for several TV series including the 5th series of Celebrity Deathmatch (2006-07), a claymation animation, and Henry's World (2002-2007). Shaheen has also worked as a television producer and screenwriter.

The Brothers Quay
      Stephen and Timothy Quay started animating together after studying film and illustration respectively. They founded a company called Koninck with Keith Griffiths, a film producer, in 1980 and began creating often creepy animations, using partly assembled old dolls and toys in gloomy dark settings. Examples of their work include Street of Crocodiles (1986) and music videos such as Are We Still Married.

Nick Park
     Park is a British animator known for his work in claymation stop motion animation working for Aardman since 1985. His most famous animations are centred on the Wallace and Gromit characters, in four short films: A Grand Day Out (1990), The Wrong Trousers (1993), A Close Shave (1995) and A Matter of Loaf and Death (2010). Other shorts include Creature Comforts and children's TV programme Shaun the Sheep. He has also worked on several feature length films including Chicken Run (2000), Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were Rabbit (2005) and Flushed Away (2006) which was actually animated by computers - but made to look like clay models - due to difficulty in animating water.

Part 3: Media Platforms & Audiences

TV Shows

• Shaun the Sheep: Claymation by Aardman. Created by Nick Park. Targeted at children due to the simplicity of story lines, short length of episodes, and large amounts of comedy and mischief.
  

• Robot Chicken: Stop Motion Animation of toys and models. Created by Seth Green and Matthew Senreich. Aimed at an older adult audience due to celebrity references, adult humour and frequent violence.

Advertisements

• Cravendale Advertisements: Stop Motion Animation of model toys. Created by Vincent Patar and Stephane Aubier. Targeted at anyone who use milk because that's what it is advertising, but specifically those in the general age range of 20-35 because of the humour used. 

• Doritos Tribe: Stop Motion Animation of Doritos crisps. Created by Matt Bowron and John Addis. Aimed an audience of 18-35 because that is the rough target audience of the product, and it features a man of this age range in the animation.

NOTE: Other examples are coming! They're typed up in Word and I've ran out of time to finish converting and embedding! D:

Lego Stop Motion

Early Optical Illusions

Thaumatrope

What is it?

A Thaumatrope is a round disc with half of one image on each side. When rotated quickly the image halves blend together and appear to make one single image. The most famous example of this is the bird and the cage.

Does it work?

My Thaumatrope does not work very well at all, one half of the image is not very obvious and so the eye only sees half of it unless specifically looking for the other half.

What could be Improved?

The second half of the image, the apple and the arrow, could be much cleared and so easier to see.

Zoetrope

What is it?

A Zoetrope is a slip of paper with several frames of animation drawn on, inserted into a round drum which is rotated quickly. When looking through the slits in the drum the frames blend together to create an illusion of fluid movement.

Does it work?
My Zoetrope does work rather well, just not so easily on camera. I was also rotating the drum a bit too fast for it to be completely clear. However it is clear

What could be Improved?
The images are not very similarly drawn which results in some frames not blending together very well, so I could re-draw some of them to make it appear more fluid.

Praxinoscope

What is it?

A Praxinoscope is a series of images drawn in a circle which are shown reflected upon angled mirrors. Again, when the device is rotated, it gives the illusion of fluid movement.

Does it work?

To an extent, yes. The images are much clearer than either of my other two devices. However, it appears a little jumpy between frames, and so is not very fluid.

What could be Improved?

Each frame could be slightly more similar to the one before it to give a more fluid illusion of movement between the images of the circle rotating.

Zoetropes Presentation

Zoetropes from James McConnell