Animation evaluation worksheet:

2 3:3.2 Evaluate the effectiveness of design and research tools, methods, and skills to develop ideas for creative media production

5 3:3.1. Analyse the effectiveness of solutions to an audio-based problem in creative media production.

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Animation evaluation/reflection questions

For this task, take your time and think about your experiences of this assignment.
You must answer ALL of these in order to pass this section.
Your answers should be at least 2-3 lines long for each question in order to pass.

Task 1/3: Reflect on your own research. (U2 3:3.2)

This is about the three worksheets you did as well as anything you have added to your production blog by week, such
as learning about Phonemes, facial structure or anything else you feel is relevant.

What did you use from your
research that helped you?
What did you discard and why?
What else would have been more determine whether I could have added additional scenes to my animation and a longer
useful to know from your
research if you did it again?
How would you find this out
(P/S/Q/Q)? *
*primary/secondary/qualitative/quantitative
One part of my research prior to beginning my animation that I found extremely useful was
my exploration into phonemes and their purpose. I discovered that there are many different
shapes that the mouth makes upon speaking and, by learning all the different sounds and
shapes, this knowledge was crucial in providing me the foundation for my sun and cloud
character’s mouth movements. Also, upon finding out through my primary research that
many people enjoy watching animations with warm and vivid colour palettes, I was able to
incorporate these elements into my animation to make it more visually appealing to watch
for my viewers. Moreover, I was able to include specific features of drawing styles that I liked
of suns and clouds as a result of my secondary research where I found examples of different
animated drawings which appealed to me. This was extremely useful and benefitted me
during my drawing process as it influenced me to include different elements to my drawings.
Although it proved useful into showing me what parts of animations make people sad, I didn’t
refer to my answers from the ‘Name a scene from an animated movie that makes you sad
and why’ question in my primary research survey. This is because, in my opinion, I don’t think
my animation evokes any feeling of sadness. Additionally, I didn’t include these elements in
my animation because I believe that my animation delivers the message without a big
emotional scene. Another part that I discarded was my research into the advantages and
disadvantages of different research methods in my exploring research worksheet as, during
this project, I predominately used the internet. This is because it is such easy access for me
and has an almost limitless amount of information according to what I needed.
Personally, I think it would have been extremely useful if I had learnt from my primary
research survey about how long peoples’ attention span is in regard to watching longer or
shorter animation videos. I believe I would have benefitted from this as this question would
introduction or whether it’s better to keep it short and sweet. Also, I believe it would have
been more useful if I had found out which age group my animation is targeted towards. This
is because, if it was for young children, I could have involved more engaging sound effects
that are familiar to them and bolder drawings in contrast with if my animation’s audience was
adults who can comprehend more darker and scary drawings.
I would have discovered the information about people’s taste in animation duration with
either primary or secondary research. This is because I could have questioned family
members and friends close to me about their preferences or I could search on the internet to
discover what others around the globe are bias to. Additionally, I could conduct a survey via
primary research on whether the audience of my animation would have liked a more graphic
approach or soft, child-like scenes throughout.

Task 2/3: Reflect on your own design, practical skills and build. (U2 3:3.2)
This is about the practical skills you learnt each week. Feel free to go back over the Animation Teams channel if it
helps you remember. Answer each question, including any relevant screen grabs.

What did you use from your
practical skills lessons that helped
you?
A practical skills lesson that I found extremely essential during my animation process was
when I learned how to create a two shot. This is because, in the course of the session, I was
made to duplicate the space background I had used and rotate it to make the next scene look
like it was appearing in a different area of space. This was an easy and quick process so as not
to appear lazy but still keep my viewers immersed with the slight change in backdrop.
So, I incorporated this skill in my animation by duplicating the clouds I had drawn for my

What did you discard and why?
What would you now include and
why?
What practical skills would you
like to revisit if you did it again?
Are there any new ones you think
would be useful for this project?
How does your final animation
compare to professional
examples? Give at least one
positive and one thing you would
focus on improving.
Task 3/3: Reflect on your audio ideas and work. (U5 3:3.1)
This is about the audio skills you learnt each week. Feel free to go back over the Animation Teams channel if it helps
you remember. Answer each question, including any relevant screen grabs.
What did you use from your
audio skills lessons that helped
you?
What did you discard and why?
What would you now include and
background and flipping them around, so I had more varied and different shaped clouds in my
backdrop. This proved helpful and saved me a lot of crucial time as, if I had drawn them all
individually, my animation would probably not be completed to the same standard as it is
now. Another practical skill I referred to a lot was from my stop-mo and tweening lesson
which allowed me to make my sun blink in my animation via stop-motion as well as creating
movement for all the important characters, such as the sun and cloud, using motion tweens.
When looking back to all the practical skills I have learnt previously, I decided not to refer to
my first solid drawing where I created shadows on the object during my animation process.
This is because, despite the shadow creating depth and making the object look more
interesting and 3D, if I had added this to every element of my drawing it would have taken a
lot of time and I wouldn’t have been able to finish my animation without obsessing over
every minor detail.
If I had the opportunity, I would like to add a walk cycle into my animation of my crowd of
rabbits. This is because, instead of the gif style drawing I used, it would’ve been very
entertaining to see the group of rabbits walk into frame when they are cheering the sun and
booing the cloud. In addition to this, if I were to do the project again, I would attempt to
experiment with drawing in two or three-point-perspective to make my drawings more
detailed and interesting for my viewers.
Personally, I would like to revisit the lesson on how to lip-sync on Adobe Animate. This is
because, during my animating process, I used a different method to lip-sync my sun and cloud
characters and, although it worked effectively, it cost me a lot of time as I had to continuedly
redraw the same mouth shape at different parts of the audio. This was due to me drawing
each individual mouth at different points when my character’s spoke. Therefore, I believe I
would extremely benefit if I could revisit how to find and use the lip-sync frame picker on
Animate which enables me to only draw the number of mouths according to the number of
different shapes it makes when speaking.
I would have really liked to learn how to use different shaped brushes on Adobe Animate as I
believe it would add texture to my animation and make my drawings look more appealing.
For example, I would utilize a feathered brush stroke for the grass in my animation’s
backdrop. Another thing I would have benefitted from learning is how to blur out the edges
of my drawing. In my opinion, I think my sun would have looked more realistic and interesting
if I was able to blur the edges of its circular shape and blend it into the sky backdrop.
One positive element about my animation is I believe that it highly resembles many well-
made cartoon series’ that people watch daily such as Adventure Time or The Simpsons. This is
because I involved a cohesive and compelling colour palette throughout which I think shall
largely appeal to my animation’s audience. Also, similar to professional animations, I included
a synonymous colour palette throughout so audience members can instantly recognise the
cartoon. Moreover, my drawing style remains the same which can be seen in my characters
and background plate; this makes the viewing of my animation more fluid and immersive. In
contrast, one thing I think I could improve on is making my cloud leave the screen in a more
interesting way; this is due to the line in the audio ‘The cloud fled the scene like a pantomime
villain.’ Thus, I believe I could have made this character’s exit more interesting according to
the piece of audio that accompanies the scene.
One part of my audio skills lessons that was essential to me during my animation process was
learning how to cut audio on Adobe Animate. By learning this, it enabled me to create a new
window on the software with the piece of audio I had cut so I could focus/ work up close on a
detailed part of action in my animation. I used this skill mainly during the sun and cloud
interaction as it helped me individually on each of their lip-syncing. Additionally, another
audio skill I utilised was increasing the volume of audio clips on Premiere Pro which helped
me ensure all my sound effects were the at the same level and sounded coherent together. I
also focused on using lip-syncing to bring my sun and cloud characters to life in my animation
as they mouth the different parts of my audio where they talk. It was crucial that my lip-
syncing was in time with my audio and looked correct so I referred to my phonemes research
to do this.
I decided to discard my new knowledge from my audio skills lesson on how to add effects to
my pieces of audio on Adobe Premiere Pro. This is because I recorded my sound effects to the
best of my ability by using the Voice Memos app on my phone and I believe they didn’t need
to be enhanced or amplified as they suited my animation. Also, to save time, I didn’t think my
audio needed to be edited as I was proud of what I recorded and I think it sound audibly
appealing.
Personally, in regard to what I know now, I think I would include an additional sound effect of

why?
What audio skills would you like
to revisit if you did it again?
Are there any new ones you think
would be useful for this project?
How does your final audio
compare to professional
examples? Give at least one
positive and one thing you would
focus on improving.
the flowing river in the background of the audio I used for my animation. This is because,
even when the river is not apparent in the scene occurring, it would add fluidity to my
animation and show that it is still running in the background.
In my opinion, I believe it would be really useful and interesting if we recapped the
production of foley sound and how to source it. Personally, I would have loved to experiment
making different types of sounds and trying to remake the harp-like music I utilised in the
introduction of my animation. This is because I think it would make my animation more
personal to my style and more unique.
Personally, I think it would have been extremely useful if I could have learnt how to make a
rotating audio structure such as 8D audio, where a ‘panning effect’ is applied to my
animation’s sound effects to make them alternate from left to right. For instance, I believe
that, if this effect was added to the part where the cloud laughs evilly, my animation would
be far more immersive for my audience and would further grab their attention. Moreover, by
applying this effect to this specific part of the audio, it would further create an uneasy and
alarmed atmosphere for my viewers as they wonder what will happen to the sun.
Considering this is one of the first times I have sourced and recorded my own audio for a
media project, I am immensely proud of what I have achieved. This is because all of my sound
effects and pieces of audio sounded clear and I eliminated all background noise to ensure my
animation sounded smooth and audible. In addition to this, I am especially proud of my
splash sound effect as I had to attempt different methods to discover which one suited my
animation the most. This involved me being creative and putting a cloth at the bottom of a
bowl of water so, when I dropped the pebble which created the splashing sound, it didn’t
create a loud thud as it hit the bottom of the bowl. Conversely, one thing I would have liked
to improve on is re-recording my brother screaming ‘Ahh’ as the fish character in my
animation. In my opinion, the final sound effect I had chosen didn’t perfectly represent the
fear the fish felt as the cloud ‘darkened the land’ and, therefore, next time I would focus on
making sure all of the sound effects I filmed were to the best standard.