[COP3] Evaluation

From the beginning of COP, i did not believe I could have finished the dissertation with good quality of research and evaluation since I was not really reading much for the past two years for COP. To be honest, it was very difficult to begin with. I found it difficult to find useful and specific information in a book but now I know that it is super easy and have alternative ways to look for informations such as books, online resources and google scholar helps me so much! This joinery has been so long, from starting the topic at body language to researching a lot in dancing, a lot of ideas to narrow it down to anthropomorphism. I learn how to organise my thought and time, and do not stuck in the same place when things are not going as well as I thought. If I did not change my topic, it is possible that I would finish my dissertation with a frown instead of a smile. The tutors helped me a lot to define a right topic for me, showing me the suitable books and keep up with my progress. My time management skill is still very good in my view. I determined to finish the dissertation and animation in Christmas which I did and have a week to wrap up everything. I think this is my strength and definitely essential to maintain for the next project and even when I got a job. The numbers of vocabulary obviously increase dramatically during these three months. Words like: authenticate, anthropomorphism, obstacle, comprehension, obligation etc.

Working on Anthropomorphism gives me a lot of new perspective of seeing an object character in animation. Before, I would just think that they could create empathy because they are animated, but actually their are more reason behind that and the mechanisms. By knowing so, I am able to approach to a character in psychological way, examine audience reactions instead of only focusing on the character because interaction with people is a big thing for objects. They could only exist as character when audiences allow them. In this case, showing familiar actions and spend enough time with them. The Practical also is a good chance of proofing my theory about the importance of movement in object character which I think it honestly compare two animation with a significant result and give an answer to the theory. I think the animation could be improved by having a more narrative script next time when it is not use as comparing. I like the moving character more because it is more energetic and actually does seem to have a life!

This project also provides me a valuable opportunity to talk to Mr. Paul Wells. I would never be brave enough to talk to a professional before this project and I really appreciate my initiative and pushing my own boundary when writing this dissertation, both in reaching out to people and reading difficult books. This is the most productive three months I have ever had! Although it was tough and have so many rough time, even want to give up, I learn more than I thought and finish a 9000 word dissertation!

[COP3] Music

I found my background music from a website. It is oddly perfectly for my animation where paces change during scene changes. I know that it would be better if I collaborate with other music students for a perfectly designed background music but I am out of time and music is the minor factor in this case. I also use other sound effects on youtube sound library where they have various useful soundtrack that I could use, no need to mention the creators. Eventually I decided to use the Cosmo sound track because I love the beginning of the track which fits perfectly with the zoom in space scene in the animation. I did not test for more so next time I need to give out more time to search or collaborate for better music choice.

[COP3]The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics (1965) Chuck Jones

Chuck Jones's The Dot and the Line is a good example to demonstrate my aim of the practical except the narration. The use of shapes and geometric are so clever that it would still work even without narration. The use of colour helps tell and story and Jones morph the shapes to make them into different things. I found that he like to make use of the proportion of the scene for example the line drops and making the scene have 2/3 blank space, introducing a sense of tightness and the weight of the line. I think the animation proofs that it still demanding audiences' imagination to make it success. If we have no experience of meeting someone or encounter similar situation, it is impossible for this animation to work. Also I think the message is different in every audience since there are no restricted appearance for the characters and also different shapes and image would have various impression on people. Therefore, I think in order to be able to generate empathy from every audience, it is important to keep the movement simple and distinguishable. Obviously narration helps a lot to help audience absorb the information and if I could make the animation again, I would try introduce narrative to it. What's more, Jones is good at using the property of the shape, stretching the line or shorten it, expending their functionality to extreme. There are so much we could play around with object in animation that could also able to create empathy from audience with movement.

[COP3]further development

Since last week Mike suggested me to change the spot light scene into two separate scenes to show how oxygen could be taken into the body through nose and mouth, I remake the scenes. Although the major difference are simply the movable/unmovable characters, I think the impact is big enough to change the perception of audience. 

less movement

more movement

The scene to show that all the air is sucked into the trachea and the moving oxygen particles seems very lively compare to the still motion. The movement gives them a sense of free will and showing a direction of where they are heading to instead of floating randomly. Since there are quite a lot of things I need to maintain the same in both animation just as to make it a fair test, I could not make the 'more animated' one have better narrative or have totally different performance therefore it looks a bit bland if watching two whole animation. However, it kind of proof that moving characters are much powerful to make audience feels that there is a personality in the object. By doing so, even without narrative or human character or dialogue, i can successfully create a influential object character.

less movement

more movement

Also with the aid from the surrounding, it makes things which no thoughts more performative and change the entire atmosphere even though the message and the plot is the same. What is needed to be improved is the amount of performance. Stepping out of being a fair test, the plots needs to be changed for the movable object because I think the non-narrative plot is unable to support the large amount of information hidden inside the character. It might be better if introducing more interesting scenes for example with different perspective or events so as to provide better stages for these moving characters to perform. On the other hand, it feels normal to put the less animated characters and the simple backgrounds together because there are less information around and audience might feel more comfortable to look at. Therefore I think once you decide to make a object move, it is necessary to have other moving backgrounds or characters together in order to make the story more it more fluid.

[COP3] 5/1/2017 final tutorial

I showed Mike the final animation and he was generally happy about that. He like the texture and the concept but not sure about a particular part of the animation which is the scene where the oxygen first went into the body. Mike pointed out that the spotlight was a bit point-less showing the moving teeth and tongue which are not really needed. So instead, he suggested me to make two cut shots to indicate how air could be taken in both through the nose and the mouth. I am willing to change to this idea but I also think my original idea was not too bad just simply because of the time I spent with this animation. There is always something others could see in my own work therefore I believe that it will provide a positive result and upgrade the animation. Other than that, I am very ahead of schedule and I have my two dissertation bounded on Friday already so as to a have range of time to do some correction if needed. For now, I just have to do some more blogs and redo that scene of animation, double check everything which should be alright for submission on Thursday!