Create and justify a planned animation (M3, D2)
M3: Provide and annotate screenshots of the optimisation process. Include screenshots
of the tools used to create these effects.
Learning Outcome 3: Be able to create a planned animation
After completing the first draft of my animation, I made the decision to change the background present in the production's first scene. This is mainly due to the fact that moving image backgrounds, similar to the one in the first scene of my animation, cause the file to be exported at a much bigger size. This, paired with the fact that the video background brought down the legitimacy of my production because of the video's lack of flooring. By changing the video background in the first scene to a much simpler bitmap backplate, I effectively brought down the file size of my production further adhering to the client brief by making the animation more suitable for computers and mobile devices by simply making the background of the first scene a still image.
D2: With reference to your plan and client brief, write a report justifying your final
product.
Justification of Stop Motion
I decided to use stop motion for my animation. The reason behind this mainly being that the brief stated the final product should be made before the Zombie March took place, automatically putting a time constraint on whatever I ended up making. Because stop motion would've most likely taken less time than an animating technique such as line boil, which would have caused me to draw each frame two or three times. Another factor contributing to the time was the fact that because stop motion wouldn't require me to learn a new animating software (as I was already familiar with Final Cut Pro X before I started the project). Learning a new animating software and using trial and error to execute my production would have most likely ended with me not being able to meet my deadline, furthering my inclination to use stop motion as the animating technique for my production.
Another variable that needed to be factored into mo decision regarding the animating technique of my project were the animating styles already associated with the zombie genre. Because the majority of people associated zombie cartoons with the Plants Vs Zombies line of mobile games, I didn't want people to have preconceived notions about my animation before seeing it. There haven't been any stop motion zombie animations that have entered the mainstream or have even achieved cult status, a fact which I saw to the animating technique's advantage as there would be no expectations about my animation before audiences viewed it further proving the stop motion technique's strength and making me ultimately choose it over the other techniques available.
I generally used a 10 fps frame rate throughout the production of the video, however in scenes that are more dependant on action, I used a 15 fps frame rate. This allowed these scenes to seem like they flowed more smoothly to the target audience and required a higher frame rate because of the increase in movement from the characters. This linked in with my research, but also provided a more enjoyable viewing experience for my target audience. Additionally, using this frame rate didn't affect the file once optimised.
Because the animation is a promotion for the Zombie March, the client and I didn't want it to exceed 2 minutes in length as this would most likely anger the viewer who simply wants to access the info regarding the zombie march. Another factor that needed consideration when making the animation was the clay I was using for the props and characters in the animation. Because of their material and its tendency to change in consistency if left overnight, I was prompted to keep the animation's length to a minimum as it would take less time to film and therefore a smaller chance of the props changing form overnight.
Test Chart
Debug Plan
Why my animation was fit for its purpose
Following the GRACE model (gender, race, age, class, ethnicity) for my target demographic, I concluded that their gender and race wouldn't have affected my final production, however their age would. The age of my target audience would have determined the amount of gore, violence and crass language that I could include in my final production (it had to show a certain amount of elements associated with the horror genre as it was marketed towards horror enthusiasts). Because my primary target audience's age would most likely be 20-45, I could be inclined to include as much graphic imagery as I wanted, but I also had to factor in the secondary target audience being the primary target audience's (potentially young) children. Therefore all gore was kept to a minimum, with the small amount present obviously being clay, as to not frighten any audiences. Therefore, for the age aspect of my target audiences, my animation was fit for its purpose.
The second element of the relevant GRACE categories was the class of my target audience. Although it wasn't explicitly stated in the brief, I wanted to expand the amount of viewers my animation got that wasn't based on their class. I therefore had the two main leads of my animation have jobs from both extremes of the class system. A being the scientist and E being the janitor. This was done to not alienate my audience and to make anyone on the class system relate to the characters in my animation.
For my user tests, I purposely had two different ends of the GRACE model view my animation. This included a 12 year old boy and a 30 something year old woman. As you can see in the video they were both very excited throughout the animation despite the technical difficulties at hand (the computer freezing and displaying a green screen at times). This shows evidence of the production being suitable for both the primary and secondary audiences with neither viewer having a problem with the amount of gore or violence present in the animation. After viewing the animation, both parties said that they thoroughly enjoyed the production they saw with one even saying "that was the greatest thing my eyes have ever seen" (it was hard to make out if they were being sarcastic or not). After being told that the animation was meant for a Zombie March promotion and having a bit more context regarding the graphics at the end, both viewers of the animation said that they would have had adequate knowledge about the event and would be able to go if they had any interest in doing so further demonstrating the animation's fit for purpose.
of the tools used to create these effects.
Learning Outcome 3: Be able to create a planned animation
When exporting the video I initially used the Source - Apple ProRes 422 to get the video file. However, when going back to the brief I remembered that the video was meant for a website/mobile phone format meaning that a 1.02 Gigabyte file would be far too large. This is because the majority of mobile users wouldn't want to download a 1 Gigabyte + app just for a video and information about a zombie march. I therefore opted for the H.264 video codec to export the file. By doing this I brought down the file size of the animation to 159 Megabyte by trading the size of the file for a small decrease in my product's video quality. However, because the animation was meant to be used on computers or mobile phone users, this small decrease in video quality will most likely not affect most users because A) the video was not meant to be taken seriously and B) the majority of the film's target audience will most likely not have 4K phones or computers.
 |
| Screenshot of my original export video codec |
 |
| Screenshot of my revised video codec with the improved H.264 video codec. |
By exporting in a different video codec (H.264) it ensures fast playback on smartphones and websites. This is the standard codec compression for video encoding and ensures that the file size decreases, which in turn creates a compression file type. This doesn't result in a loss of quality, but does however improve the viewing experience. Additionally, I removed the moving back plate from scene one (as discussed in P6) and replaced it with a static graphic image. This also helped to decrease the file size. The bitmap back plates aren't over complicated and help with the optimisation process - zooming in on a bitmap file pixelates. However, because the majority of my audience will most likely not be zooming in my backplates, it's a small price to pay for a smaller file size. This is because vector backgrounds, despite being higher quality, greatly increase the video's size therefore further going against the assignment criteria of the animation being mobile phone and internet friendly.
I have saved the file as a .mov. This file is widely used for video files providing good quality. It was originally used to support Quicktime, however this file type is now supported on websites and smartphone devices. Because of the widespread use of .mov files on Apple, Android and PC devices, my animation can continue to adhere to the client brief by not making the user have to download a third party app such as Flash Player to access the animation (which could result in users wanting to delete the application altogether). Therefore it was ultimately beneficial for my product to be exported as a .mov file. This exportation process's strengths can be further exemplified through its comparisons to other options, such as .flv files. Despite supporting animations, flv. files require Flash Player to be player, which as explained earlier, users may not feel comfortable installing a third party app just to access one. Even if users had this sense of being comfortable with downloading third party apps to access all of the ZombieFest March app's features, Adobe will no longer be supporting Flash Player after the 31st December 2020 meaning that the app and website therefore the animation would not age well.
I have saved the file as a .mov. This file is widely used for video files providing good quality. It was originally used to support Quicktime, however this file type is now supported on websites and smartphone devices. Because of the widespread use of .mov files on Apple, Android and PC devices, my animation can continue to adhere to the client brief by not making the user have to download a third party app such as Flash Player to access the animation (which could result in users wanting to delete the application altogether). Therefore it was ultimately beneficial for my product to be exported as a .mov file. This exportation process's strengths can be further exemplified through its comparisons to other options, such as .flv files. Despite supporting animations, flv. files require Flash Player to be player, which as explained earlier, users may not feel comfortable installing a third party app just to access one. Even if users had this sense of being comfortable with downloading third party apps to access all of the ZombieFest March app's features, Adobe will no longer be supporting Flash Player after the 31st December 2020 meaning that the app and website therefore the animation would not age well.
After completing the first draft of my animation, I made the decision to change the background present in the production's first scene. This is mainly due to the fact that moving image backgrounds, similar to the one in the first scene of my animation, cause the file to be exported at a much bigger size. This, paired with the fact that the video background brought down the legitimacy of my production because of the video's lack of flooring. By changing the video background in the first scene to a much simpler bitmap backplate, I effectively brought down the file size of my production further adhering to the client brief by making the animation more suitable for computers and mobile devices by simply making the background of the first scene a still image.
D2: With reference to your plan and client brief, write a report justifying your final
product.
Justification of Stop Motion
I decided to use stop motion for my animation. The reason behind this mainly being that the brief stated the final product should be made before the Zombie March took place, automatically putting a time constraint on whatever I ended up making. Because stop motion would've most likely taken less time than an animating technique such as line boil, which would have caused me to draw each frame two or three times. Another factor contributing to the time was the fact that because stop motion wouldn't require me to learn a new animating software (as I was already familiar with Final Cut Pro X before I started the project). Learning a new animating software and using trial and error to execute my production would have most likely ended with me not being able to meet my deadline, furthering my inclination to use stop motion as the animating technique for my production.
Another variable that needed to be factored into mo decision regarding the animating technique of my project were the animating styles already associated with the zombie genre. Because the majority of people associated zombie cartoons with the Plants Vs Zombies line of mobile games, I didn't want people to have preconceived notions about my animation before seeing it. There haven't been any stop motion zombie animations that have entered the mainstream or have even achieved cult status, a fact which I saw to the animating technique's advantage as there would be no expectations about my animation before audiences viewed it further proving the stop motion technique's strength and making me ultimately choose it over the other techniques available.
I generally used a 10 fps frame rate throughout the production of the video, however in scenes that are more dependant on action, I used a 15 fps frame rate. This allowed these scenes to seem like they flowed more smoothly to the target audience and required a higher frame rate because of the increase in movement from the characters. This linked in with my research, but also provided a more enjoyable viewing experience for my target audience. Additionally, using this frame rate didn't affect the file once optimised.
Because the animation is a promotion for the Zombie March, the client and I didn't want it to exceed 2 minutes in length as this would most likely anger the viewer who simply wants to access the info regarding the zombie march. Another factor that needed consideration when making the animation was the clay I was using for the props and characters in the animation. Because of their material and its tendency to change in consistency if left overnight, I was prompted to keep the animation's length to a minimum as it would take less time to film and therefore a smaller chance of the props changing form overnight.
Test Chart
Debug Plan
Why my animation was fit for its purpose
Following the GRACE model (gender, race, age, class, ethnicity) for my target demographic, I concluded that their gender and race wouldn't have affected my final production, however their age would. The age of my target audience would have determined the amount of gore, violence and crass language that I could include in my final production (it had to show a certain amount of elements associated with the horror genre as it was marketed towards horror enthusiasts). Because my primary target audience's age would most likely be 20-45, I could be inclined to include as much graphic imagery as I wanted, but I also had to factor in the secondary target audience being the primary target audience's (potentially young) children. Therefore all gore was kept to a minimum, with the small amount present obviously being clay, as to not frighten any audiences. Therefore, for the age aspect of my target audiences, my animation was fit for its purpose.
The second element of the relevant GRACE categories was the class of my target audience. Although it wasn't explicitly stated in the brief, I wanted to expand the amount of viewers my animation got that wasn't based on their class. I therefore had the two main leads of my animation have jobs from both extremes of the class system. A being the scientist and E being the janitor. This was done to not alienate my audience and to make anyone on the class system relate to the characters in my animation.
For my user tests, I purposely had two different ends of the GRACE model view my animation. This included a 12 year old boy and a 30 something year old woman. As you can see in the video they were both very excited throughout the animation despite the technical difficulties at hand (the computer freezing and displaying a green screen at times). This shows evidence of the production being suitable for both the primary and secondary audiences with neither viewer having a problem with the amount of gore or violence present in the animation. After viewing the animation, both parties said that they thoroughly enjoyed the production they saw with one even saying "that was the greatest thing my eyes have ever seen" (it was hard to make out if they were being sarcastic or not). After being told that the animation was meant for a Zombie March promotion and having a bit more context regarding the graphics at the end, both viewers of the animation said that they would have had adequate knowledge about the event and would be able to go if they had any interest in doing so further demonstrating the animation's fit for purpose.
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