1. What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?
I have learned how to use After Effects which is something I have wanted to do for a long time. I can competently animate assets generated in Photoshop and Illustrator and know how to prepare each document so that it looks high quality when turned into an animation. I have learned how to add and edit sound to fit in with videos and now realise what an integral part music plays when developing an animation. I discovered how to use key frames and how useful they can be when you desire a certain effect. I also liked using the default effects that After Effects provides and found them to add to my compositions in a positive way. I think that in both the silent movie and my top 10 video, I have shown how much I have learned. A few months ago I never would have thought that I could do what I have achieved so even though my pieces aren't quite the next Citizen Kane, I'm proud of what I have produced.

A vital part of designing for digital media is storyboarding and I think that I have learned how to portray my ideas quickly and effectively. There is a certain way that you have to visualise things so that they can be animated and that was quite difficult to learn but now that I have done this I find it a lot easier to imagine the way I want things to look on screen. Storyboards are really helpful even for things like the website.

I learned how to use iWeb and how to put together a website using this program. It is a very simple WYSIWYG web design program that is often too simple so after creating most of it in iWeb I used Dreamweaver to add the things that iWeb cannot. So I developed my skills in both of these programs and feel that I have gotten back into the swing of things in terms of web design. It is very tedious and frustrating at times to code websites and make sure all the different assets of websites show up exactly where you want them to but I find it really rewarding when you can create something and immediately put it out in the world, for a very low price.

I found learning about all the different parts of design for digital media to be really interesting. I used to think that all I wanted to do was digital media design because I had some experience in coding websites, then the print module changed my mind. I think I sit somewhere inbetween in that I can competently use both of these production methods. The use of both print and digital media are things that I can now consider using in the future to improve the quality and professional finish of my work.

2. What approaches to generating work and solutions to problems have you developed and how have they helped?
I found storyboarding to be a very important part of problem solving. They allowed me to get my ideas down on paper very quickly. As well as drawing them, we also did some workshops using photography to help develop sequences and this helped me to think about the way that shots can evolve and change. Because storyboards are mainly to get your ideas down on paper you don't have to spend a lot of time drawing them out, which meant that I could generate more work in order to develop appropriate designs.

The sessions we had on drawing schematics was also really helpful. I think schematic diagrams an important part of designing a website as it allows you to plan which parts link together, how many pages you need to create and how to divide up the work you have produced. It also showed me exactly what I would need to produce in order to show the development of my work clearly and effectively.

Although I tried to stick to what I had drawn on my storyboards I found that just playing around on After Effects helped me to develop my work. I was not aware of the possibilities available to me through the use of this program so by just trying out the different effect filters meant that I could introduce new ideas to my work.

3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?

I think that my use of colour in this project has helped to unify my work. I kept to limited colour palettes in both the silent movie (black, white and turquoise) and the top 10 (black, white, red and grey) and this improved the overall visual impact. My animation style is very simple but I think the way that I designed my storyboards meant that my animations came together well. In the top 10 I was aiming for a really cheesy feel, reflective of the style of old B-Movies and the simple animation style contributed to the achievement of this effect. My web production skills have also improved as I did a lot of hand coding in addition to iWeb. Although I had done websites before that was a long time ago and I felt that I had to teach it to myself again, which luckily wasn't that hard. I enjoyed this and think that I might design websites more often in future projects.

4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how could you exploit these more fully?

I felt that I didn't time manage this project very well as I don't have that many test pieces for my final top 10 video. I had to rush my final video as the deadline was fast approaching and so I often just settled for the first thing that I did on After Effects. I was slightly arrogant when it came to the web design portion. I thought because I had previous experience in the subject it would be easy and I would be able to do it quickly. Therefore I didn't put much effort into the design of the site and I'm not as pleased with it as I should be.

My research in this project wasn't as strong as it probably should have been. Its no excuse but I was busy over Christmas and so didn't have any time to do anything other than internet based research. Personally I prefer to do intricate research and then develop my ideas from that. However it proved somewhat difficult to do that in this project - not least because vampires are hard to do primary research on.

5. Identify five things that you will do different next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?
1. Spend more time working on storyboards so that I know exactly what I am going to produce.
2. Balance my time more so that I have enough time to develop my storyboards fully as well as create an animation to a high enough standard.
3. Try out more ideas and link the different bits that work rather than scrapping a whole idea just because I can't get one little thing right.
4. Learn more about masks because I didn't understand them and think my animation could have been made better by using them.
5. Do some innovative research on the chosen subject rather than just doing internet based research.


6. How would you grade yourself on the following areas:

Attendance - 5
Punctuality - 5
Motivation - 5
Commitment - 4
Quantity Of Work Produced - 3
Quality Of Work Produced - 3
Contribution To The Group - 3 0 comments