FMP: Presentation

In the Summer Show, I am going to present my work on a laptop/computer as my target audience is likely to view the animation this way. I am posting the animation on video-based social media platforms such as YouTube and Vimeo, however, it may also reach social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter. These are sites accessed on laptops/computers, as well as phones, however, a phone screen would be less effective in showing my work as it is smaller than a computer/laptop screen. Using a laptop/computer to present my work makes it easily accessible, and links well to my target audience of women between the ages of 18 and 50.

My animation is targeted towards middle class women between the ages 18 and 50. I established this target audience by researching the people who donate to UK based mental health organisations such as Mind.org, Action Mental Health, and the Mental Health Foundation.

 

By looking at these demographics, I was able to combine them to produce my own target audience in relation to who is most likely to be interested in my animation about a mental health issue. My video meets the requirements of this market as I have used a female character in order to relate to my predominantly female audience through empathy, though I have made it clear that the disorder can affect anyone. As well as this, I have published the animation on video-based social media platforms such as YouTube and Vimeo, which can easily be accessed by my middle class target audience. As well as this, my target demographic are likely to be using other social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter; YouTube and Vimeo links allow easy sharing across these platforms.

My animation is likely to be most successful on websites such as YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook etc. due to my target audience having easy access to them. However, I have also thought about my video being successfully published on channels such as ITV. I have done some research on the type of entertainment the donors to the mental health charities (mentioned above) consume.

 

I noticed that a few of the TV programmes viewed by these demographics are shown in the evening, possibly relating to the fact that they are at work during the day and consume digital media in the evening. For example, TV shows such as ‘Paul O’Grady: For The Love of Dogs’ and ‘Emmerdale’ are shown in the evening, as well as other similar soap operas and documentaries which are likely to be viewed by this audience. Both of these shows are shown on ITV, therefore, this would be the best channel to publish my animation on in order to reach my target audience. I have also looked at the demographic of ITV viewers, using YouGov Profiles, and can see that the audience is similar to my target audience. They are also women, close to the age group I am targeting – when expanding the age data, I found that ITV’s audience ranges between the ages of 18 an 55+. The social position is different to my middle class target audience, however, the issue I’m raising is relevant to working class people and it is important that it reaches them as well as ITV’s middle class audience. 

Overall, I feel I have successfully aimed my animation towards my target audience in relation to content and presentation. I have made sure that the way I am presenting my work at the Summer Show is relevant to the way my target audience will access the video online, as well as making sure it is easily accessible to them online. Additionally, I have thought about other platforms my animation could be published on, such as television, to reach a wider audience. Altogether, I am pleased with the presentation of my work, and feel it is the most successful way to spread it through various digital media platforms in order to raise awareness of depersonalisation/derealisation to as many people as possible.

FMP: Evaluation

For my Final Major Project, I have produced a short animation on depersonalisation/derealisation disorder. The animation portrays a short narrative about a sufferer of the disorder, showing some of the symptoms they may experience through artistic imagery. As well as this short narrative structure, I have included some information about the disorder itself and links to where the viewer can access more information about it. The purpose of this short animation is to raise awareness of the very uncommonly known dissociative disorders, in order for sufferers to gain more support and treatment. If the video were to reach a larger audience, I feel the animation would be successful in fulfilling its purpose.

My target audience for this project was predominantly women between the ages of  18 and 50, which I decided when researching demographics of people who were involved in mental health charities/organisations. It was important that I looked at the demographic of people who were interested in the charity ‘Mind’, as this charity provides a lot of information on dissociative disorders. However, I used YouGov to look at the demographic of two other mental health organisations (‘Action Mental Health’ and the ‘Mental Health Foundation’). This confirmed that my target audience would be women between the ages 18 and 50, although I think the issues I am raising in my animation will also be relevant to men as depersonalisation/derealisation affects both men and women equally. In terms of social position, I targeted people in the ABC1 grade, i.e. middle class people, as these are the people most involved in mental health charities, and would be able to spread information about the disorder – especially due to their most common careers being in health and social care. My target audience is interested in British television, such as soap operas shown on the BBC and ITV. As well as this, they commonly watch shows such as ‘Paul O’Grady: For the Love of Dogs’ and ‘Emergency Animal Rescue’. This shows that, although they enjoy soap operas as a possible form of escapism, they are also interested in social causes.

My target audience are likely to be living busy lives, as they are middle class women of working ages. In order to meet their requirements, I needed to produce an animation which was short; not too time consuming; but gets the message across. The video I produced was under a minute, and very simplistic (it can even be watched without sound). This means my target audience can watch the video at any time, e.g. on public transport, during a lunch break, walking to work. In addition to this, the most commonly watched TV programmes by my target demographic are shown in the evening e.g. soap operas and documentaries.This means they are likely to be working all day and consuming digital media in the evening – a way to get my video across to my target audience would be to place the animation within the adverts between these evening TV programmes. I was able to target my middle class audience by using specific video-based social media platforms to upload the animation (YouTube and Vimeo). This is likely to reach middle class people as they have easy access to the internet, and are then able to share the video using other social media platforms. Within a full-time working person’s life, mental health is likely to be very important, therefore, addressing a mental health issue they may not know about will interest them and they may share this information to other full-time workers. I have used a female protagonist in my animation in order to appeal to my primarily female target audience. This creates a sense of empathy, though the video itself isn’t gender specific, ensuring that it is evident that the disorder can affect anyone.

Research greatly influenced my project, and I wouldn’t have been able to complete it without the extensive research I did on rotoscope animation and depersonalisation/derealisation disorder. I had never produced a rotoscope animation, nor had I worked with Adobe Animate, therefore, I had to do a lot of research into tutorials of how to use Animate to rotoscope. I attended the BFI Animation Camp in February, which helped develop some of the skills I used in my final major piece – for example, I learned about line boiling, which makes an animation look less static, as well as working with different frame rates. With this experience, along with the research I did on rotoscope animation, I was able to produce 5 different rotoscope animated scenes for my final video. As well as researching rotoscope animation, I made sure to do some research on depersonalisation/derealisation disorder so that my animation was well informed. While doing this, I found some common symptoms of the disorder, which I used when producing imagery. Visual research was important in this project, as I used a lot of videos and pictures for inspiration when creating my own imagery. For example, I found rotoscope animations to influence the line drawing style of my animation, and created a mood board of images I liked to inspire the sketches I used in my storyboard. Overall, the research aspect of this project was very important in influencing my creative decisions, and the project wouldn’t have been as successful without the information and visual inspiration I found.

I feel the project has gone well as, despite the fact that the end result is different to what I had planned, I am happy with the final video and feel it fulfils its purpose well. I created a short animation, using rotoscope animation, which highlights depersonalisation/derealisation disorder, and would inform the audience on this. I have completed my main aim of this project, therefore, I feel it was successful. I am most pleased with the way I quickly learned to use Adobe Animate to create a rotoscope animation, through small experiments and researching how to do this. Developing this skill was important as it meant I was able to create my own style, and experiment with new software to gain skills I can use in the future. In addition to this, the planning and research went very well in terms of what influenced my work visually and informatively. Due to some things not going as planned, I had to use my problem solving skills in order to come up with a solution and finish the project on time. To do this, I added some information cards to the video, which I talked about in my problem solving post. I am pleased with the way I handled this situation, and feel the information cards I created added to the video in a positive way, as they gave more information on what the animation itself was about.

Time planning was a problem within this project, and I was unable to stick to the time plan I had set myself. Initially, the planning and research was going according to plan, however, I was unable to film during the time I had allowed for filming (over half term). This meant I had to push back filming days by a couple weeks, leaving me less time for animation. As well as this, I had thought that I would complete at least 4 seconds of animation per day, however, once I started animating I noticed I was only able to complete about 2 seconds per day, meaning my production time would need to be doubled. Because of this, I was unable to complete all of the scenes for the animation, so I solved this by creating some animated text, which was less time consuming.

The production aspect of this project didn’t go to plan due to failing to plan successfully, and inconveniences such as having to push back filming dates. Though I am pleased with the animations I did make, I am slightly disappointed that I wasn’t able to complete more/all of the imagery I wanted to include. Although I don’t think I would have been able to complete all of the animated scenes within this time frame, as I may have been too ambitious, I could have improved the process by planning more effectively. I would have given myself less time for planning and more time for production, as I needed much more time for animation. As well as this, I would have tested before hand roughly how many seconds of animation I could complete in a day, in order to plan my time more accurately.

Overall, I have learned a lot throughout the process of this project. I have gained skills working with rotsocope animation in both Photoshop and Adobe Animate, especially learning how to use Adobe Animate after never using it beforehand. I developed my research skills, and was able to use this in order to inform my project. As well as this, I feel I improved when researching target audience, and this helped when aiming my animation towards a specific demographic. I learned that, in future, I need to plan my time more effectively in order to ensure I can complete the project on time. This means working out how much time I need for production more accurately, as I didn’t give myself enough time in this project. Despite this, it gave me a chance to work on my problem solving skills in order to save the project and complete the animated video on time. Altogether, I am pleased with the way I completed this project, however, I feel my time planning should have been a lot better.

FMP: BLOG THE WEEK

30th April – 17th June

After filming, I went through all of the footage I had and selected the best of what I had, separating all of these clips into different scenes, and exporting them separately. As well as this, I did some simple editing in order to create the desired effect I wanted, e.g. overlapping two mirror shots to make it look as though the person in the mirror is moving, but not the person stood in front of it.

I did this to make it easier to animate as I would only need to import one clip into Adobe Animate – the cut between the two shots is noticeable, however, this was unimportant as I’d be drawing over the frames anyway. Once I had exported each individual clip, I started animating in Animate.

Above (on the left) is showing a frame which I have drawn over in Adobe Animate, using a simple black paintbrush tool. On the right is the same frame, however, I have hidden the video in the background (this is how it will look when it is exported).

I screen recorded me using Adobe Animate to drawing over a frame of the mirror clip, showing the simplistic method I use – simply drawing the outline of the main body parts, not even including the facial features. This wasn’t the original plan, however, I didn’t like the look of the facial features being drawn over, as it would need a lot more detail to be successful. I didn’t want to add this extra detail as it would be too consuming, and would take away from the simple design I was producing.

Once I had completed the animations, I edited together what I had in Premiere Pro (this differed from my original storyboard due to underestimating how long the animations themselves would take, which I explained in my problem solving post). I produced 5 different edits of the video, to give me more options on the order of the animation clips. These are the edits I produced:

After doing this, I selected the two edits I liked best (2 and 4). I liked these two edits best as I felt the second edit did well in explaining the disorder throughout, and each piece of text slightly related to the animation which followed it. However, I liked the fourth edit as it left more of a mystery as to what the animation was about, leaving the explanation til the end. As well as this, the information is less likely to be forgotten if it isn’t surrounded by the short animations which may distract from the points being made.

It was important to then put the music with these two edits, to see which fit best. The music I chose was ‘A Model of the Universe’ by Jóhann Jóhannsson. I looked at a number of simplistic instrumentals, however, the slow piano at the start of this song worked very well with the tone of my animation.

I put this music with the edits I had chosen, and produced 3 final edits (two for the second sequence and one for the fourth sequence):

Of these edits, I like the third one the most as I feel the notes of the music fit well with the cuts in the video. As well as this, I feel the order of the clips is more successful in informing the audience on the social issue, and there is no distraction from the information or the short story the animation is telling of someone suffering from depersonalisation/derealisation disorder.

Overall, I am pleased with the final edit of the video, as well as the process of getting to it. This project has been successful, despite having to make some changes to the video itself towards the end due to time constraints. My next and final target is to produce an evaluation of the project as a whole.

FMP: Final Video

FMP: Problem Solving

During the animation process, I noticed that it was taking slightly longer than anticipated to animate each scene, i.e. animating 2 seconds per day instead of the 4 seconds I wanted to complete. Because of this, I decided to cut some of the scenes, choosing the most important animations to complete in the time I had left. This meant that a lot of the scenes wouldn’t make it into the final video, shortening the amount of animation I had.

Because of this, I decided to make some text cards which gave some brief information on depersonalisation/derealisation disorder. The facts I included were:

• Depersonalisation/derealisation is a severely underdiagnosed disorder, affecting roughly 1% of the population.
• It can cause an individual to feel detached from themselves and/or their surroundings.
• Sufferers have reported feeling as though their body parts are distorted, or that they’re not in control of them.
• Derealisation often makes an individual feel as though there is a pane of glass between them and the rest of the world.
• Lack of awareness means many people are failing to be diagnosed with dissociative disorders, making treatment difficult.
• Talk about dissociative disorders. Help those being affected. For more information, visit: mind.org.uk or http://www.nhs.uk

To create these cards, I wrote out the text on Photoshop, and exported them as JPEG images. I then imported these into Animate an traced over the text, producing three frames for each card, which I repeated to produce a boiling text effect. These are still images of the information cards:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Overall, I am disappointed that I was unable to get all of the animations finished, however, I am very pleased with the animations I was able to produce in the time I had. As well as this, I am glad that this led to me introducing some information into the video in order to make some more sense of the video. I feel this helps to explain the narrative of the animation, as well as being more successful as raising awareness of dissociative disorders to the viewers, which was the main aim of the video. In future, I will make sure to plan my time more effectively because, although I am pleased with the way the video looks, I think I was being slightly too ambitious. I should have tested exactly how much I’d be able to get done, as well as giving myself some room for adjustment in my time plan, which I will keep in mind for any future projects.

FMP: BLOG THE WEEK

16th – 29th April

Using the mood board of images I produced, I began sketching some potential scenes for my animation. As well as using the images I collected, I made sure to reference the research I had done on dissociative disorders, to link to the symptoms a sufferer may experience. Through doing this, I was able to produce 10 sketches which I could use in my storyboard. I annotated these sketches to explain how they link to dissociative disorders, and the symptoms I had found out about while doing research. These sketches can be found in my animation imagery ideas post.

After producing these sketches, I put together a storyboard, using the sketches to come up with a short narrative structure. I chose the imagery I felt was most powerful in representing the possible symptoms of depersonalisation/derealisation. My storyboard can be found in my storyboard post. I wrote a small description of what was happening in each scene below each sketch to help me when filming – i.e. telling me what to film.

Producing the storyboard gave me more of a clear idea of the narrative my animation was creating. I noticed that this part of my proposal was fairly vague, therefore, I produced a second draft of my proposal, which I am now using as my final draft. I expanded more on the content of my animation, as well as why I have chosen this topic.

Once the storyboard and imagery was complete, it was time to film each scene. The filming was very simple, as I didn’t need to focus on external problems such as background noise or movement in the background, as I wasn’t using sound, and I would only animate what I wanted to from the footage. Filming went smoothly, and I made sure to get several shots of each scene to ensure I could pick the most effective shot, and that I wouldn’t need to plan time for extra filming. I now have all the footage I need for animating, and will start editing this when I get back to college.

Overall, the storyboarding and filming was very successful and I was able to complete both things without problems. The storyboard helped greatly with filming, and will also help when it comes to editing the footage ready for animation. Next, I will choose the footage I want to use, and edit this in Premiere Pro, ready to start animating each scene separately in Adobe Animate.

 

 

FMP: Storyboard

 

FMP: Proposal and Bibliography (Final Draft)

Review

Throughout the projects I have produced so far, I have experimented with both film and digital animation. Within this project I’d like to combine the skills I have learned when working with live action and animation by animating over film (rotoscoping). In my last project, I focused a lot on target audience and marketing as they relate to the marketing course I am planning to study at university. I am going to focus on these again, and use them to influence my production, in order to use the skills I have learned and develop them further. Within my previous projects I have shown strengths in research, however, would like to develop my storytelling abilities. In order to do this I will be focusing on a mental health issue, however, will be presenting it through a narrative structure.

Project Concept

The final product of this project will be a short rotoscope animation giving a message in relation to Dissociation disorders. I chose this subject as I have always had an interest in Psychology, and first found out about this disorder when I was studying it at AS Level. The disorder affects each person in a unique way which I found very interesting, therefore, I’d like to explore the symptoms while highlighting the often unrecognised disorder. The video itself will have a narrative structure and will raise awareness for these disorders by showing the cause and effect, rather than factually explaining the cause and effect. I will be researching target audiences to find out how a public audience connects with a video related to mental health, and who is most likely to do this. I will use the findings from this research to influence the content of the video in relation to the way it makes people feel, react, etc. As well as this, I will research Dissociative disorders to make sure I am presenting them in a respectful and accurate way. In order to produce this video, I will need equipment such as: a camera; lighting; a tripod; a Wacom graphics tablet; Photoshop; Premiere Pro. This equipment is necessary for shooting the video, as well as doing the rotoscope animation. I need to research and experiment with rotoscoping, making note of the outcomes in relation to frame rate, successful drawing techniques, and timings. I will make sure to receive feedback throughout the project from my peers to ensure that my project is on track and is being produced to the highest standard possible. At the start of my project I will be independently conducting research and studying secondary research resources in order to influence and inform my production. This research will be relevant throughout the whole project in terms of the content of the video; the way it is presented; and the way it connects with the audience.

Evaluation

By the end of this project, I will have produced a rotoscope animation, as well as research, planning, and experiments to support it. The video will target a specific audience by allowing them to connect with the content of the video. In order to ensure the work I am producing to the best standard I can produce, I will use research to inform the content, as well as asking others to share their feedback on my work. I will set myself weekly targets to make sure I am staying on track, and will complete a written evaluation at the end of this project to reflect on my work overall.

Bibliography

Adobe Blog. (2017). Moving Art: How to Create a Rotoscope Animation in Photoshop CC | Adobe Blog. [online] Available at: https://theblog.adobe.com/moving-art-how-to-create-a-rotoscope-animation-in-photoshop-cc/ [Accessed 8 Mar. 2018].

Salu, G. (2015). Cite a Website – Cite This For Me. [online] Guardian.ng. Available at: https://guardian.ng/art/using-short-films-to-drive-social-change/ [Accessed 8 Mar. 2018].

Wedmore, J. (2013). How to Create YouTube Videos That Connect With People. [online] Socialmediaexaminer.com. Available at: https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/5-styles-of-youtube-videos/ [Accessed 8 Mar. 2018].

Hayes, H. (2016). Happy.. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0VMmlP8rUE [Accessed 8 Mar. 2018].

Steinberg, M. and Schnall, M. (2001). The Stranger in the Mirror. New York: HarperCollins e-books.

Mind.org.uk. (n.d.). Dissociative disorders | Mind, the mental health charity – help for mental health problems. [online] Available at: https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/dissociative-disorders/#.WuCQGFMrLVo [Accessed 25 Apr. 2018].

Simeon, D. and Abugel, J. (2006). Feeling unreal. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

FMP: Animation Imagery Ideas

Mood board:

Sketches:

Kaleidoscope

Symmetry

Symmetry is used in film as an expressive art form to give a different perspective on shots. It is often created while shooting, however, symmetry can also be created in post production by mirroring the shots along a line of symmetry. This works well when there is movement in the footage, either created by things moving in the shot, or by moving the camera.

An example of mirroring is in the opening credits of the Netflix series ‘Dark’:

Symmetry is used in this video to create a specific tone in order to represent the series. The mirrored images distort the shots used within this in a way which creates a slightly unsettling tone.

“There’s a discomfort in the imagery, an awkward folding of bodies and forms. Doorways bend into themselves. Eyes blink impossibly inwards.” [1]

The colour selection in these opening credits is clearly carefully chosen in order to continue this provoked discomfort. Reds and blacks are mostly used – these are colours which have connotations of darkness and blood, often used in thrillers.

I experimented with the techniques used in this to create two mirrored shots of my own:

I chose the first shot as I noticed a mirrored eye in the opening credits video and wanted to experiment with this imagery. I made sure to keep the pupil in the centre of the shot so the iris would still be present in the mirrored footage. As well as this, I darkened the footage slightly and added a red tone similar to in the Dark opening credits. I am happy with the way this looks as it is slightly unsettling. I chose the second shot as I thought the mirrored effect of water would look quite effective when mirrored horizontally. It is effective, however, I feel the first experiment was more successful in recreating the type of mirrored shots used in the Dark intro.

—

References:

[1] Landekic, L. (2018). Dark. [online] Available at: http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/dark/ [Accessed 19 Apr. 2018]