End of Marking 2

 Exploration Of Ideas:

I have had many different ideas through the course of this marking period. Too many to show, but overall I know the idea of each animation is emotion. I originally chose politics and the social order to study at the beginning of the year, but after a couple days I realized what I really want to do is looking inward at the human experience. What I really care about in animation is emotion and bringing something not real (2D or 3D) to life and feeling human, or like the subject has human emotion and qualities. After I came to that conclusion I found many ideas for films and animations both 2D and 3D. None of them seemed realistic though for me to do because the ideas were too eccentric. I then felt lost so I began to study facial expression in 2D animation. I tested that for a little while, then went back to the drawing board for my animation I want to work on. I took up a lot of time feeling down that I couldn't do my big ideas, so now I have found a great idea for something I will definitely get finished and be able to show my work. I have decided to do 2D animation this year as modeling and rigging is not something I like to do and it is hard to find models with rigs that work well with ideas you want to do. 2D animation allows for a lot more freedoms and less materials for animation and after taking so long amongst my thoughts, simplicity and easily accessible is what I went with.

Planning:

 

At first I really wanted to make sure I was making an animation short film the right way so I studied a lot of videos on how to do it correctly and follow the right steps. Then I needed to come up with an idea that is actually reasonable for me to do and I can do quickly so I have something to show to my peers and colleges. A short cute story about a fly is what I came up with. The process of making this came very quick and easy after I settled on simplicity and didn't try to get perfection. I know I can finish this project very quickly as I think I am only going to use black and white or only some color and not worry too much on details. I made sure before I started on anything to have a very clear vision of what I wanted to create. I made a thorough storyboard and outline in both my sketchbook and notepad on my phone. I see what I want it to look like already and think it is a blessing and a curse.

 

Producing:

The story Flybye is my concept. Below you can see what I have created so far and it was very easy to accomplish, yet there is something there. I have only gotten up to my second panel of my storyboard if you compare the animation to my production, but so far so good. This only took me a short amount of time, so I'm sure if I simply work on this for some hours I can get a substantial way through the animation and have a full story to show.  

Evaluating:

This year has been very hard for me and my head has been in all sorts of places. I could not tie myself down to an idea for the life of me, but now I can finally say I have an idea I am sticking to and I am able to do. Do I feel the idea is too simple and I can do more? Yes, but I think it is much more important for me to do something fun and simple than struggle with something more difficult that I may not get done. This for sure I know I will get done because even just working on the animation part for a little time I got a bit done. I will not let myself give up on this project halfway through just because it doesn't meet the standards in my head. I am excited to pay this out and have a finished project and after this maybe I can do another small project like this or start on something bigger, but for now I think I am finally in a good headspace to get something done and I can show it to my peers and put it in my portfolio. Back though to it being to simple, it worries me that by the end I will see it and it looks like something anyone can to and not something that is 'me'. I know that is not really the case, but I am in my head about every step and every frame from every project I do. Overall though, I do think this project will turn out well.

Integrating:

I learned a lot from myself and my research this year. After being stuck in and rut battling myself, I have come to terms that I can't do a lot of my ideas and that simplicity is not a bad thing. I grew a lot and am excited to see what comes from it. Studying the "how's" and "what's" to do to create an animated short film helped me get a good foundation for my ideas, and without a good foundation you can't have a good creation. Hopefully my animation lives up to my expectations, although I know it possibly couldn't, I also know it could also be better than what I expected it to be like and I just need to trust myself and my abilities to get what I want done. In the future I now know to trust myself better and that I should not get caught up with perfection. I know I have big ideas and I love them, but it is unrealistic to believe I could get something like that done with the time I have and materials I have. Some of my ideas would be possible if I put everything I had into it like I would want to, but as the responsibilities of a student you can't just do that. For the future of this class I will finish this, then start on a new project that I will want to finish before the end of either next marking period or middle of next marking period. I plan to finish this animation probably in sometime next moth, towards the beginning of the month or sooner. I want to make up for the lost time of me stuck in my head and come out on top. I would get this animation done as soon as possible, but I have a lot more classes to work on other than this, unfortunately.