Final Evaluation

This project was called the Final Major Project, and was the project at the end of the course to pick any area of design you liked and to create the best work you have ever created. I picked motion design for idents, as I had no experience in it and thought it was a good choice for a final project.

When I began my FMP, I wanted to create a TV ident for a channel. I wanted to create something like Channel Five’s idents, as I thought they were interesting and fun to watch. I never realised just how important idents were, and always took them for granted. In this project I learnt just how important they are and how much they can impact your channel. In the beginning I didn’t think I would create my own channel, and was planning on creating an ident for a channel such as Channel 5 or ComedyCentral. This changed halfway in, when I realised my work would be of a higher standard if I went out of my way to create a channel. Other than the channel creation my goal from the beginning to end has remained the same.

In this FMP, time was the biggest restraint, as there was too little time for too much work. I needed to create videos using very complicated software and simply didn’t have enough time to get everything done at once. This led me to the decision that I would begin creating videos and animations right from the start, as it would give me time to reflect on my creations and to improve over time. I chose to create research afterwards, since my goal and the thing I wanted to create was in sight right from the start. Research helped me understand idents and helped push my work to a higher level, which is why I was in another creation stage at the end of the research. Research is done in almost every project, but learning new programs are not. This is why I took it upon myself to manage my time efficiently. Cost was another constraint, as I could have created better animations by purchasing scripts and effect packs, or make my work look better by buying certain fonts. Another constraint was buying prints. An A1 print cost £8, so two of them would be £16. I then had 4 A2 prints, so that would rack up to £32 altogether. Certain websites also cost money to use, such as website builders and similar sites.

My target audience is mainly Aspirers, as a lot of teenagers and adults are aspirers, and are interested in the modern style of my work. Today’s style varies a lot, and contains all kinds of art, be it old or new. This is why retro art and old things are so popular nowadays, as people like to be reminded of the past.  This ties in with my glitch art, as some parts of it can be linked to the past. For instance, films like War Games featured computer animation and I like thinking that my work was influenced from old movies such as this.

Aspirers are usually into action films, and huge flashy sequences. They are usually into the main trending movies and TV shows at the current time, and since the current trend is a very urban lifestyle and is leaning towards futuristic urban style, my glitch effect fits in very well with this. Movies such as Chappie or Wall E or films set in the future but where everything is broken are usually followed by many glitchy animations. This is why I think my design will fit in well with the current trend. I asked many people about what their honest opinion of my work was, and many of them agreed with me that it did look like it was futuristic and looked broken, which is exactly the effect I was going for. I also incorporated smooth animation as well as the lagging glitch effect, just in case people wanted to see good examples of normal smooth TV idents.

The research I did on idents went as far as the early 2000’s, as I researched channels such as the BBC and Channel 4. The older videos did not really influence my decisions, as they were quite outdated. A lot of the channels I researched used footage in their idents, and rarely used motion graphics. I had my goal in sight before the research, so the channels that I looked at were helpful and provided some insight into idents as a subject, but did not really help me focus on a particular idea.

For this project I learnt so many skills that it would be almost impossible to write them all down here. I don’t want to sound like I’m bragging, but I learnt the basics of After Effects within a matter of months.  I myself don’t see this as much of an achievement, but I see the creations I have made over the span of a short time as achievements. After Effects was a very big part of this project, as it essentially fuelled the project for me, and would have been impossible without it. For example, I learnt the very basics of how properties are changed to create movement or animation, which is simply keyframes. A keyframe would be used when you want to change something, so I will use an example. If I want to change the position of something, I would put a keyframe when the shape was in its original place, scrub down the timeline to when I wanted it at the end point, then move the shape to where I wanted it. I would then set another keyframe there. If I then watched the animation, I would see the shape move from one place to another. This is one of the most basic forms of animation on after effects and I am glad and proud that I progressed so fast and well through it. I also learnt to use charts within After Effects, such as the graph editor to make animations less boring and make them ease into their desired movement or positions. I also learnt how to manage my time better, as rendering would take a very long time depending on the animation, so this meant I would have to do any work I desperately needed to do before rendering so when I began rendering I would not have anything left to do on the computer, thus making it render as fast as possible. Overall, I went out of my comfort zone in this project and decided to learn an entirely new program, which will hopefully lead to many opportunities.

Because I created the majority of my work on a computer and didn’t have any hands-on work, my only health and safety considerations would be looking at a screen too long. I had to take long breaks from doing work due to my eyes being exposed to too much artificial bright lighting, which also caused me headaches at times. Another health and safety risk is my computer. My computer can get very hot if on for a long time, so I had to make sure my room was kept cool and I had to render when I switched on my computer rather than 4 or 5 hours later. Another health and safety risk is chair posture, which also led me to taking long breaks where I wasn’t sitting down on a chair. Hands can get tired if kept on a mouse or if you keep typing. This was also one of the many reasons I had to take breaks from work.

I think my work is of a high standard, and all my final videos have come out the way I want to. The software I used is also used by many production companies, as it has so many possibilities. My work is quite strong in sending a message and explains what it is just in a 4 second video. Another strength I have is that all the movement in my work is smooth and nothing is tacky or looks like it was made on lower amateur software. The actual quality of my work is very high, and was rendered in 60 frames a second, which means incredibly smooth animation and professional standard work. I think my work is also fit for its purpose, as the purpose was to create an eye-catching animation for an ident. One of the weaknesses is that there is no music in the videos, which make them almost boring without any atmosphere. The middle animation with the glitch effect has glitch sound effects to aid the video, but there isn’t any actual music.

As time was a constraint, I was not able to put music into my work. However if I had the chance to do this project again, I would make the music my priority, as this is what pulls your eye to the screen if you are not facing it. I would not change the way it looks and would only change the sound, as this would be a major improvement. I would even consider creating another animation, as I would only be gaining something if I created another animation.

I assessed my own progress as I went along with the project and decided what looked good with what. Of course, assessing your own work isn’t as good as a second opinion, which is why when the group crit took place I was given some suggestions for animations, such as a request to make them more urban. I wouldn’t say I fully completed this request, as I am sure they were also talking about a lot more footage, but I took what they said and acted upon it, making the group crit a success. I also received a lot of feedback from my tutors, and used this as constructive criticism. I also put my work next to others I had found on the internet, which then gave me more ideas and in turn led me to new things.

The FMP for me was all about motion design. Everyone in the class that I talked to had never used After Effects, and had never been taught it. We weren’t being taught how to use the program in class either, so I took it completely on myself to learn how to use the program. I also chose the channels by myself by looking at the channels I see most often, as then I would have a better chance of talking about more, which would lead to more information. To be perfectly candid, a lot of this project was more about me experimenting with what I thought about in After Effects. A lot of it was also very independent, as I created the animations by myself and created most of the logos by myself. I asked my tutors for a few things and had a lot of support but created everything purely by myself, with no inside help. Overall, I think I did a good job with this project and pushed myself further than any other project.

I liked this project, not because I was able to pick anything I wanted to, but because I chose something I had no idea how to create. It was also the end of the course, which meant I wanted to give it my all, to finish off the course with the best work I had ever produced. The work I created for this FMP is what I think, my best work.