During animation studio, I was put in one of several groups that had to produce their own animation. I started off with a group that came up with the concept of the space Olympics, but I later switched to a group that came up with the idea of a magic academy. There were changes to the concept such as characters and tone, but once everything was finalized by the group, I started animating.
I started doing the animation digitally for the rest of the animation to be consistent with the rest of the group. This was my first animation ever done digitally with a drawing tablet, using the animation software, Krita and I think it came out well, especially for the shots I had to do and how long the shots are.
I think the work on the animation has helped me think more of how to frame my shots in an appealing way. In shot 3, I have 3 silhouetted I felt like I tried to be ambitious with several of the shots, through I used the frame to simulate camera movements in a 2d space, through the use of perspective. I tried to experiment with each of these shots, by trying to use these techniques. For example, in shot 4, the character of Fern shoots a beam out of her magic wand and then in the proceeding shot, it is framed from the POV of the beam as it goes off in the headmasters face.
Another way I tried to experiment was with the coloring. The group came up with color references for the characters and the locations and this helped me find the colors I could use to create interesting color combinations.
There were several problems I had with the production of the animation. One problem I had with the animation was how inconsistently I drew the character designs, as they looked slightly different, even from the same angles. I believe the shot that this problem is most evident in is shot 4, as I think with how it was one of the first shots I finished and how I haven’t tried to animate this kind of shot before, it caused it come out very wonky with how I drew the characters, with their proportions changing in each frame, as well as having the linework look very amateurish and sloppy. I believe with practice, I can overcome this problem. If I were to do it again, I would redo that shot with the experience I have from doing the proceeding shots.
I also wished I could’ve made the animation more kinetic. I focused more on making the animation more cinematic through the direction and framing, but I think I could’ve made the posing more interesting.
Lastly, I believe I worked well with the rest of my group. We had no problems while we were all pitching ideas towards the project and even though we all had different concepts for what the animation should be like, it all meshed well. Everyone was positive on what the animation should be aesthetically, including my concept design for the headmaster character. I enjoyed my work on this project.