HA2 Task 5 - Evaluation

E Sting Review

The final ten second animation for my E Sting was, in my opinion, of good quality and a decent standard, replicating the professionalism of ones I had seen on the official website and on youtube. Mine was not as good as some, as others will clearly have had much more experience than me in this particular field, along with the access to much more sophisticated software that improves the look and style of their animations. I believe I could have managed my time much better as I went over the deadline by approximately 11 weeks. This was due to my inexperience with the software I was using (After Effects) and my subsequent inability to do some of the harder commands on the application without the assistance of my tutor. Some details of this are featured in my production log.

I used Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator to manipulate some of the images which I found off the internet, to make them usable in After Effects and so they could work in conjunction with each- other. I also added effects to some of the pictures, such as shadows on the clouds, removing the door from the plane and adding a black square behind it to look like the dark interior. This was a hard process which I think I could have done better if in-between sessions I learnt more about the software I was using via tutorials on youtube, which may have helped speed up the entire creation process.

I enjoyed many aspects of my video however, as it is a good, basic animation with relatively few flaws. I think the idea was creative and the final outcome was very good. The soundbed I inserted into the clip matches its pace, sound and the style suits the animation. In the E Sting, a plane is flying through a cloudy sky, with its door soon sliding open. The plane stays still but I used the positioning tool to make the set of clouds move to the right, so it would appear the plane is moving instead. Two E4 logos jump out one after the other, with their parachutes deploying and sending them off into a different direction. The latter logo comes up to the fore of the screen, with the background turning black. The purpose of the ending was to show that it was a sting for E4, through clearly displaying the channel’s logo.

When the logos jump out, the parachute opening sequence is fast and goes through four stages: Not opened, partially-opened, semi-opened and fully opened. I think that better software would allow the stages to be faster and more fluid and more closely resemble an opening parachute. However, with the software I was using I believe that it was very good. The directional change of the logos is also good but, when their respective parachutes are deployed, they go up. This was before I realized that they only slow down and parachuting footage that makes it look like they go up is due to the cameramen still going down at full speed. Despite this slight error, due to a lack of factual research, I think the logos movement is good.

I believe minor details could improve my E Sting, such as the movement of the parachuting logos and the parachutes opening sequence. Overall however, I am very pleased with the outcome of my sting and I think I matched points in the brief, such as planning and creating the sting, whilst using creativity and flair. Other than the creation process, I think the next time I have a task of this nature, I will learn more about the software I am using beforehand, while also managing my time better.