Final Evaluation

Part One:

1.       I am very satisfied with the final result of my e-pub, though there are some things that I would have liked to be a bit better, such as the director’s commentary. I would have liked to record more commentary over my scenes but they were not long enough. I wasn’t able to record a commentary over one or two of my scenes because they were extremely short, I possibly could have recorded commentary by itself, but there also wasn’t too much to write about these scenes because they were so short, so I wrote the commentary underneath the video in the book. I could also have written a bit more for a few of the scenes, but I am very happy with what I have written. Overall I am happy with what I have put in my e-pub and I am very satisfied with it.

2.       The e-pub took around the same amount of time as I originally thought, though I did work on recording all the director’s commentary at home, rather than at school, which helped with timing and also gave me a quiet environment to record in. I stayed on track and finished a bit quicker than I expected, because I did work at home. I completed the iBook a few days earlier because of the early due date, as the weekend before it was due, I had events on both days, so I wouldn’t have had time to complete the iBook, so I worked on it at home and got through the work quickly and I am very pleased with the amount of time it took.

3.       I would have liked to change the amount of commentary I recorded. Because my scenes were very short, I couldn’t say much over them. For a couple of my scenes, I couldn’t record anything over them because they were extremely short, so I wrote the commentary underneath the video. I am happy with the layout of my iBook, though I would have been happy with putting a background in if I had a bit more time to choose one, as I cannot think of what to put there. I am happy with how my videos are place, the images I put in and also the audio over my videos.

4.       If I could start the project again, I would put in a background that I liked, record more director’s commentary and write a bit more one a few of the scenes I didn’t do as well as I planned, but overall I am happy with what I have done in my final iBook.

Part Two:

1.       My e-pub and poster turned out the way I envisioned, though I did change the poster towards the end to make it better. The text on the poster didn’t turn out very well at the beginning, though after Mr. Andrews pointed this out and gave me some ideas, I fixed this. So the poster I started with was how I had envisioned it, though the poster that is in my iBook is much better and I am much happier with it. The layout of the book is definitely how I pictured it and I am extremely happy with how it turned out.

2.       The poster and e-pub clearly depict the style of my animation. The e-pub design shows the simplicity of the story line and animation. The poster contributes towards showing the style of the animation, showing that it is a stop motion style. The poster shows this because of the images used, they are real, as is iStop Motion. If my animation was created in animation-ish I would have created the poster to show this style, meaning I would have drawn the specific images in a program such as animation-ish and put them in my poster, rather than using real images, like I used in my poster. I edited the colour of my poster in photoshop to create a lighter tone to it, as it is a fairly happy story, rather than a sad or scary one. If this were the case, I would have made the colours a lot darker and more sinister. I didn’t use contrast in my poster, as it would’ve created a striking effect, which I did not need for my simple story. I also didn’t need anything to stand out except for the text, which isn’t much of a contrast to the rest of the poster. The lines in the poster are quite simple, again to match the storyline, though the lines in the lockers aren’t quite as simple as the lines of the stick figure. Overall, the poster and layout contribute greatly to depicting the style of my animation.

3.       I didn’t have too much trouble recording my director’s commentary and putting my iBook together. There were a few issues whilst recording my sound. At one stage, the sound echoed quite a bit and was extremely noticeable, so I deleted that recording and redid it much better. Also, a few times during the process, the sound didn’t turn out right and made a buzzing noise, making me again delete the sound and re-record it. I didn’t have much trouble creating the iBook, for I had done all the planning and just had to insert it all into the iBook. I had a bit of trouble exporting the iBook in the lesson it was due, as I had downloaded iBooks author onto my own laptop, so there was a different way to export it. I tried putting it onto a school computer to export, but it wouldn’t open, as my version of iBooks author was a more updated copy. Mr Andrews showed us how to export off our own computers and mine froze the first couple of times but eventually it worked and I was able to hand my iBook in. These are the only difficulties I had in the process of making my iBook, as I had everything prepared before I started completing it.

4.       I had to find/download a few new materials to be able to complete my e-pub. I had to find an image of lockers on flickr to complete my poster. I made sure it was copyright free and I was allowed to use it before I downloaded it. I believe the poster wouldn’t have looked as good if I had used an image of the school lockers. I also had to redraw my stick figure, as I no longer had him, and take a picture of him to use. In addition to this, I had to download iBooks author to my own laptop so I could work on the project at home.

5.       In the planning process, I wrote out what I was going to say and what I was going to write for my director’s commentary for every scene of my animation. I also wrote what I was going to write for the planning of my animation, the story line, and the music and deleted scenes. I wrote these in detail so I wouldn’t have any trouble with it later on in the process and I could just copy and paste the writing later on. Once the planning was complete, I went on to start my iBook. Firstly, I recorded all the director’s commentary over my scenes and exported them. I then completed my poster and began to place all of this into the iBook. To create my poster, I found an image of lockers on flickr and placed this in photoshop. I then masked my stick figure image I had taken and masked out all the excess paper that I did not need. I then placed him on top of the locker image and moved him to where I needed him. Once this was done, I put text on the image, with the title, a quote and the director’s name, which I then put drop shadows and outer glows on to make them stand out more. I then gave the stick figure a shadow to make it look slightly more realistic. To create my iBook, I firstly created a title page and added in my film to the intro media. Once this was done, I created a chapter dedicated to my director’s commentary and began to fill in the pages of the iBook. I also made a chapter dedicated to extras such as photoshopping, deleted scenes and planning.

6.       To plan, I used a word document and wrote down everything I needed to put in my iBook. This helped considerably when it came to completing the iBook, as all I needed to do was copy and past what I had written into iBooks author and it made the process a lot quicker and easier.

7.       I didn’t have any time management issues during this assignment. I stayed ahead of the task and worked on it at home so I wouldn’t fall behind or get too stressed for I had a lot of other assessment I needed to complete at the same time. If I had only completed the task in class, it would have taken a very long time and I wouldn’t have finished a few lessons early, which gave me the chance to go over the e-pub to check for mistakes and add more. Finishing early also gave me the opportunity to get a bit of criticism off Mr Andrews about my poster, which caused me to make the text stand out more, which made my poster look much better. I am very glad that I stayed ahead on this project, as I believe I wouldn’t have been able to finish as well as I have.

8.       I undertook quite a bit of reflection during this project. I placed all my planning up on my blog, which shows what I was working on in class. I also had a couple of posts about how my e-pub was going. I could have put more posts up on my blog, though I did not. I could have reflected in a lot more detail but my planning shows how much detail I had been putting into my iBook and how much work I had been doing in class. I believe I have enough reflections to support my work. I am happy with how many reflections I did, though I admit that I could have completed more. 

iBook

My iBook is going very well, I haven't got much left to do and I think I will finish it either today or tomorrow, ready for Monday, when it's due. I am very happy with my progress and I need to fix up a couple things and add in a few more things as well. Below are some screenshots of a couple of the pages showing my progress.

COMPLETED PLANNING

WHAT TO PUT IN YOUR DIRECTOR’S COMMENTARY:

·         Create a title image for your iBook

·         Cut your animation into scenes

·         Create an iBook chapter for each scene

·         Write a director’s commentary for each scene. This might include some or all of the following

Ø  What each scene means to you

Ø  How you shot/animated each scene (What skills you used)

Ø  How you solved problems

Ø  What scenes you deleted

Ø  What you might have liked to do if you had your time over again

·         Insert the animated scene at the end of each commentary

Who is your target audience – commentary aimed at this

DIRECTORS COMMENTARY:

Intro:

I’m Charli Bawden, the creator of the film, and throughout this book there will be director’s commentary over each of the scenes in the animation, telling you what the scene is about and how it was made. 

Title Scene:

·         Drew the title on the paper to show the effect of the animation being drawn

SPOKEN - This is the title scene of the film. It was a last minute addition and introduces the film with the title. The title is written on paper, to introduce the theme of the film and the letters were written in a large way to clearly show the title.

Scene 1:

·         Scene where the stick figure stands up out of the paper

·         Set the camera up above the paper

·         Had a light set up above the paper to make it clearer

·         Had to reshoot the scene a couple of times

·         Took a while to create this scene

·         Had a lot of trouble filming this scene

·         Had trouble keeping the stick figure standing

·         Had trouble photoshopping out the stick that was used to hold it up – colours and shadows

·         Once up – easier to move

·         Fell down – had to reset him

SPOKEN - In this scene, the protagonist of the film is introduced. He is drawn on the paper and he then proceeds to stand up and out of it. The camera was set up above the camera for this scene so everything could clearly be seen, such as the stick figure slowly appearing on the paper and then coming out.

WRITTEN – There was also a light set up above the paper to again make everything clearer; to get rid of the shadows and to allow the camera to could pick up on the pencil. The scene had to be reshot multiple times, as there were multiple issues that were encountered. It took numerous times to complete the scene correctly without any complications. Some problems that were encountered include; the stick figure falling over and the angle of the light to get rid of the shadows. When the stick figure fell over, it was very hard to reset him in the exact same position, as many of the positions used were hard to duplicate. A stick was used to keep the stick figure standing while he was upright, so photoshop was used to remove it at a later date. There were a few issues whilst photoshopping this out, as it was difficult to match the colours and shadows of the frames. Once the stick figure was standing up, it became much easier to move him around and keep him standing. Overall, this scene is one of my personal favourites, as it turned out much better than I had expected and captures the idea of the scene and introduces the film very well. 

Scene 2:

·         Very short scene

·         Show the emotion of the stick figure

·         He is shocked because he is out of the paper

·         Photoshopped the shocked expression in

·         Took a few goes to get the zooming in right

WRITTEN – This scene is extremely short, as it is used to show the emotion of the stick figure. He is shocked, as he has just gotten out of the paper he was drawn on. The mouth of the figure was Photoshopped in after the scene was filmed and it was a very quick process. The first few tries at this scene didn’t work, as it took a few tries to get the close up right. The initial try was too shaky, as were a few tries after this, but the scene seen here is the final try and it worked well.

Scene 3:

·         Scene where the stick figure falls off the table and onto the floor and stands up

·         Didn’t take long to film

·         Changed the camera angle to show different views of what was happening

·         Camera placed on the ground to show the height he was falling from

·         Changed the view to show where he fell to

·         Dropped him to show the effect of him falling to the ground – took photos quickly to catch the falling motion

·         Crucial part of the storyline

SPOKEN – In this scene, the stick figure walks to the edge of the table and falls off. This scene didn’t take too long to film, as it was one of the last ones that I filmed, so I had had a lot of practice at moving the stick figure and animating him.

WRITTEN – I changed the camera angle multiple times to create different effects throughout this scene. There was a close up at the beginning to show the stick figure walking out of view. This then cut to the camera being set up below the desk to show the height the figure was falling from and show how small he is from this distance. The view then cut to a view of the ground, which is then occupied when he falls into the shot. Dropping him and taking photos very quickly created the effect where he fell into view. This scene is a crucial part of the storyline as it is the first scene where he is in the ‘real world’.

Scene 4:

·         Scene where he walks out of the classroom and goes outside

·         Used blu tack to create the look of him jumping down the ledge

·         Used blu tack to make him stay up – and wire

·         One of my favourite scenes

SPOKEN – In this scene, the stick figure walks out of the classroom and into the outside section of the school. I used different techniques to finish the scene. I used blu tack and wire to keep the stick figure standing, as he was still paper.

Scenes 5 & 8:

·         Filler scenes for where the stick figure walked

·         Did this without having to physically move the figure as it was too time consuming

·         Didn’t have time to make him walk the whole way

·         Decided to just show how he got there

SPOKEN ON SCENE 5 – This is one of the filler scenes. In this scene it shows that he walked to the lockers, away from the classroom.

SPOKEN ON SCENE 6 – This is the other filler scene. In this scene it shows that he walked away from the lockers, towards the classroom.

WRITTEN – These two scenes were used as filler scenes in the animation. They show where the stick figure walked instead of actually physically having to move him as this would be too time consuming. I did not have time to make him walk the whole way, so I decided to just show where he walked instead of moving him.

Scene 6:

·         Scene where he walks into the locker room

·         Challenging to film because it was outside and there were natural happenings that I could not prevent

·         Had to reshoot a few times because of background interference

·         Would have had the camera behind him as he was walking in but I couldn’t show the wire and blu tack on the back

SPOKEN – This is the scene where the figure walks into the locker room. The camera was placed in the locker room so there would be a front view of him walking into the room. This is because of the wire and blu tack attached to his back. If this was seen in a shot it would ruin the effect of the film.

WRITTEN – This scene was challenging to film as there were many natural happenings going on in the background that could not be prevented. The scene had to be reshot a few times because of this. There were ibises in the background that kept moving so I had to replace the figure and reshoot some of the shots. This scene turned out okay and I am happy with it.

Scene 7:

·         Scene in the locker room

·         Added a bell sound in here – signal the end of a lesson

·         Only filmed the feet to show how small the figure is

·         Stick figure is against the wall to show he is scared

·         Took a few tries to capture the walking properly

·         Shaky to show he is outside and outside his comfort zone

SPOKEN - This is the scene in the locker room. When the person walks past, I decided to only film the feet, as it shows how small the figure is compared to the person and it also shows how insignificant he feels outside. I also added sound effect in here, such as a bell sounding to signal the end of class and footsteps.

WRITTEN – The stick figure is standing up against the wall to show that he is scared and still feeling insignificant. It took a few attempts to correctly film the person walking. The first couple of tries didn’t look like walking, so I did not use them and instead I tried a few different ways I could do it. The camera moves shakily because he is outside and out of his comfort zone.

Scene 9:

·         Scene where the stick figure climbs back into the classroom

·         Used blu tack for the climbing part to keep him still and in position

·         Leaf in the background moves quite a bit – didn’t have time to fix it

·         One of my favourite scenes and was fun to film

·         Set up the camera in the classroom to show him climbing

·         Had the camera in front of him because of the wire and blu tack on the back of him

SPOKEN – This scene is where the stick figure climbs back into the classroom from outside. This is one of my favourite scenes in the whole animation. Blu tack was used to create the effect of the figure climbing up the step.

WRITTEN – There were a few background interferences in this scene again. There was a leaf in the background at one stage that moves around a lot but I did not have time to fix this problem. I set up the camera in the classroom so the wire would not show again. This scene was very fun to film and I am very happy with it.

Scene 10:

·         This is also a filler scene

·         It is a pan around the classroom to show where the stick figure walked – again, it would be too time consuming to making him walk that far

·         Not a very long scene and didn’t take long to shoot

·         Shot it from the door right around to where he was walking to

SPOKEN – This is also a filler scene similar to scenes five and eight. It is to show where he walked rather than actually making the character move, as it would have been too time consuming.

WRITTEN – If I had physically moved the character, I would have run out of time and not been able to complete my animation.  The scene is a pan around the classroom to show where he walked. It was not a very long scene and it did not take long to film. I placed the camera at the door and rotated it to show the whole pathway he walked on.

Scene 11:

·         This is the scene where he climbs up the post

·         This is one of the final scenes of the animation

·         This is the last scene where he is doing a lot in the ‘real world’

·         He walks into the scene and realises how tall the pole he has to climb is

·         Zoomed in on his face to show how shocked/scared he is

·         Photoshopped in the scared expression

·         Used blu tack to keep him attached to the pole

·         Climbed the pole a bit too fast

·         Shot to show how tall the pole was – followed the post up

SPOKEN – This is the scene where the figure climbs up the pole. It is one of the finals scenes of the animation and is the last scene where he is doing quite a bit in the ‘real world’.

WRITTEN – The stick figure walks into the scene and realises just how big the pole he has to climb actually is. To show how tall the pole was, I followed it up with the camera. The camera then zoomed in on his face to show his expression, which I Photoshopped on so he looked shocked/scared. Blu tack was used again to keep him standing and attached to the pole. In the finished product he climbed the pole a bit too fast, but there wasn’t enough time to reshoot the scene.

Scene 12:

·         This is the scene where he climbs onto the table off the pole and falls back into the paper, which is then taken by a person

·         Used blu tack to keep him in place

·         Used the wire to slowly lower him back into the paper

·         A hand is used to take him away again – the person has come back for him after class

·         Only show the hand of the person so you can still see the figure

SPOKEN – In this scene, the figure climbs onto the table off the pole, and falls back into the paper, which is then taken by a student. Blue tack was again used to keep him in place.

WRITTEN – Wire was used to slowly lower the figure back into place on the paper. I used my own hand to take the paper away. This person that is taking away the paper is a student that has come back after class. The hand is the only part of the person shown so you can still see the figure. 

STORYLINE:

This is a story about a stick figure that comes to life. First, he gets drawn on a piece of paper, which he then proceeds to stand up out of. He is extremely shocked and doesn’t know how this happened. He then walks to the edge of the table his paper is situated on, and falls off the edge, placing him in the ‘real world’. He stands up and walks out of the classroom and over to the locker room. Once he reaches the locker room, the bell goes, signalling the end of class, and he runs to the wall where he hides as someone walks past. Thankful that they didn’t step on him or see him, he walks back to the classroom and walks to the leg of the table he fell off. He then climbs this pole and walks back over to his paper, which he then falls back into. The last scene of the film is where a student picks his paper up and leaves with it.

PLANNING:

Shot list:

1.Stick figure drawn on paper

2.Stick figure peels itself off the paper

3.Stick figure gets shocked look

4.Stick figure walks off the page

5. Stick figure walks to the edge of the desk

6. Stick figure falls off the desk

7. Stick figure stands up

8. Stick figure walks out of classroom

9. Camera pans around from classroom to the lockers

10. Stick figure walks into the lockers

11. *Bell rings*, stick figure walks to the side of the lockers

12. Person walks past stick figure

13. Stick figure walks towards camera, camera zooms in on stick figure

14. Camera pans from lockers to classroom

15. Stick figure climbs into the classroom

16. Stick figure walks off screen

17. Camera pans from door of classroom to hallway/desks and chairs

18. Stick figure walks to desk post

19. Camera shows the post (follows the post up)

20. Camera shows close up of stick figures shocked expression

21. Stick figure climbs up the post

22. Stick figure climbs onto the table

23. Stick figure walks onto the paper and falls back into it

24. Paper is picked up and taken off the screen

*INSERT STORYBOARDS*

PHOTOSHOP:

I used photoshop a few times in the animation. The main reason for this was to change the expression on the stick figures face, which I did for multiple scenes. The process used to do this is to take shots and export them into photoshop. Once they are in photoshop you edit them the way you want and then you import them back into iStop motion. I used photoshop instead of actually changing the expression of the figure because it was much easier to complete it in photoshop. Being able to edit scenes and frames in photoshop made the animating process a lot easier.

MUSIC:

*Insert music*

The music for the animation took a while to create. I had to use many different garage band loops and pile them to make different sounds. The music didn’t turn out as well as I had hoped because I didn’t leave enough time to complete the music to the standards I wanted to, but I am happy with how it turned out.

DELETED SCENES:

These are a few of the scenes that didn’t make it into the animation. They are all test shots, tests or first attempts at scenes.

*Insert deleted/attempts/tests of scenes*

IBOOK:

·         Cover - poster

·         Storyline

·         Director’s commentary

·         Extras – photoshop, importing/exporting shots, storyboards, character profile, shot list