The Brief

You need to develop an animation that develops the idea from your comic. It should contain at least two scenes. Your idea should be aimed at young people and viewed on a web or mobile device. 

The finished product should be edited, rendered and exported in the correct format, including sounds or narration and run clear at a reasonable quality and resolution. You will need to spend at least 10 hours animating. This should be evidenced through screenshots taken every hour which you will then annotate.

Pre-Production Documents

Final Animation

Feedback

'You wanted to convey a strong message and show this through more simplistic characters that would attract a younger audience. The animation style is appealing and easy to follow, as it is a more hand-drawn and sketched style. The added voiceover and piano melody add a rustic charm and help the viewer connect further to the animation.'  

'It meets the brief as it can be aimed at a younger audience due to the imagery assets that have been involved like the characters of animals including bears, rats and rabbits. It does follow a social issue of mental health which is a very important factor to bring up in today's society. Personally, the animation style you used reminds me of the illustrated comic Heartstopper by Alice Osemen, and I know that she targets her work for a very similar audience. The flow of the animation reflects the flow of the narrative well - it has very seamless transitions between shots and dialogue.'

'The effective animation style was very in-depth with very precise and detailed frames and was very creative. Compared to other similar animation styles this one is more detailed in depth and better. For the narrative, I believe that your animation is a suitable length to appropriately demonstrate your ideas and the overall message. The jumps between scenes are not harsh, they are soft and smooth which is vital for covering such a strong topic like depression. The animation is at a perfect pace and I believe that it was not too face or too slow it was just right. I believe that it was not jumpy and that the flow was very smooth.' 

Evaluation

The method that I chose to follow throughout my final animation is Traditional digital drawing, this is because it's easier and convertible from my previous comic. The process is inspired by the classic Winnie the Pooh book-like animations from 1977 since it has been a wonder in my childhood. I also find the lack of style in modern-day animation due to the advancement of technology.

The other option that I considered but decided to avoid was 3D CGI since it is too sophisticated and difficult to learn and process for a 1.30 min animation. Hand-drawn stop motion was also considered which I have done before, however, it's too time-consuming and expensive, especially for the animation that I am doing! Another reason I chose to animate using the traditional style is for its reminiscent values of the classic old animations, in hopes of educating younger generations and interest them in what I was once interested in! It's also nostalgic and fitting for all age ranges no matter their preference for styles. The target audience is 11-17 including some younger audiences who enjoy watching animations. My topic is suitable as it takes the metaphor of depression and explains how important it is to have support and people who understand it. The story explains the modern way its viewed by taking the concept of predator and prey in comparison to youths. The animations appearance is quite childlike and suitable for the audience for its clear and effective presentation., including the portrayal of depression and how it links with the viewers. The frame rate I chose to take in the animation is 10 frames per second which is near enough the average fate of small animations. However the animation affects the pacing of each individual frame and the duration of which it appears for, this determines the overall flow and length of the whole animation. In order to preview the look of the animation, I used the built in export preview tool and exported the animation with the content that is rendered at the time, not only to view it but also capture the progress of the animation. The whole animation is 1 minute and 30 seconds, this is to tell the story and overall appear as a whole track rather than separate random scenes being clipped into a project. The animation is suitable for social media as the story can be cut short or viewed in the intended dimension, being 1920 x 1080, the usual resolution of most devices. This way it is suitable for most platforms.

Finally, I have learnt that animation takes a lot of time, consideration and attempts in order to master the style of animation and frames. The approach I would take differently next time is to choose a shorter animation to focus on the quantity and flow of frames and spending more time to make it smoother. Overall I am happy with the result however I personally feel its a bit choppy and definitely cut short by the end. However, it does meet the brief as it covers a social issue that affects many young people in their own ways.