Unit 33 & Unit 5 LO4: Evaluation

Bullion is where great visual storytelling happens. What began as a collective of

talented directors, producers and cinematographers in East London has quickly
grown into a production company that creates fresh and engaging films, whether
they are music videos, commercials, fashion or short films. As our company
grows and new deals are made, Bullion Production House is now looking for up
and coming new talent to work alongside our creative and editing team. In order
to be selected for an interview we are asking wannabe animators to create a
music video using the stop motion technique. The song and style is being left to
the creator to decide but what Bullion request is that the piece is no longer than
30 seconds. Terms and conditions can be found at
http://thcvibeproductions.weebly.com/task-b.html Productions must be completed by
the 13th January 2017 and submitted to Sarah Wilson or Adam Jones
This was the initial brief I was presented with; after negotiation, the time of the
animation was extended to 1 minute and 17 seconds. This was done as I
personally believed a longer time frame allowed me to showcase more of skills
as an animator, as well as giving more justice to the song. I primarily decided
that my song would be Cant Help Falling in Love by Elvis Presley, as this is a
love song, I believed that the narrative should follow a love story of some kind.
As this is a slow, somewhat sad song, I thought that a tragic ending would
complement it perfectly. One of the key things in this brief was about the visual
language and the effectiveness of which. This led me to focus on the aesthetics
in this piece, mostly the lighting and incorporating a variety of shots.
Upon evaluating my feedback, I can deter that my project was an overall
success. This is suggested through the comments about my lighting and the
effectiveness of which. One comment said I liked the fact that it was dark and
the red tint to the whole piece foreshadows the fire at the end. I believe that if
the viewer has noticed the intended use of foreshadowing, the narrative and use
of lighting was a strong aspect of the project. Use of lighting is what received the
most positive feedback, with respondents making comments such as I liked the
lighting and the use of shadows, it made the video artistic and emotional and
the way lighting is used to create shadows on the walls is very effectual. This
shows the importance of the lighting on the creation of an atmosphere in this
piece. When lighting the set, specific colours were
used to reflect the characters emotions, as well as
attempting to forbade the end. The content of the
piece is dark; therefore, the set was lit in order to
cast shadows, highlighting only specific parts of the
set and characters. Certain parts of the animation
were shot as silhouettes, I shot these scenes in this
manner to create the idea of ghosts, reflecting a characters past. This was
symbolic for the characters romance being dead, shot with red lighting to
indicate the anger and the eventual pain the main character feels.
Although the lighting of this piece received overall positive feedback; it was also
critiqued. I think the lighting could be more consistent as some shots are a lot
darker than most and are hard to see and The colours could be improved as a
couple of shots are hard to see because they are so dark, are some of the less

positive comments. They both comment on similar issues with the project; that
some of the shots are too dark. This could be improved whilst filming or fixed
later during the post production process. I also
believe this issue arose when the filters were applied
to the animation; as they darkened the shots
considerably. Comparing the darkness of my shots to
a professional production with a similar style, the
way to fix this issue is apparent. In this picture, we
can see a shot from Tim Burtons Vincent. In this
particular shot, the character is surrounded by
darkness, however the key details in this scene can still be seen. In contrast to
this shot taken from my work, this appears to be a more effective way in which
to shoot using shadow, whilst making the fine points of the shot clear to the
viewer.
As can be seen
from this shot,
I have
attempted to
light the shot
in a similar
way. However,
the intensity of
the light could be boosted, this would allow for the piece to be clearer, and the
expressions of the characters would be more poignant.
Another aspect of my animation was the storyline, despite being a music video it
intended to have a narrative for the viewer to follow. The initial brief was also
negotiated to extend the time of the production to 1:15, in order to have time to
develop a strong, convincing plot. The intended narrative fit into the
romance/tragedy genre, something that upon reviewing feedback was
communicated well to the audience. When asked what the narrative was,
respondents said, There was a disaster of some kind, it is a story of tragedy
and The narrative was about two characters falling in love and how it hurt
them. The intended target audience were females, as the romance genre
appeals more to this group. As the respondents were predominately female, and
overall positive about the plot, I believe the animation successfully accomplished
this aspect of the target audience. The narrative was important, and feedback
suggests it was overall a strong aspect of this animation. However, some
criticism was received regarding the ending of the story. The narrative starts off
clear but more clear on the ending would be great, was a comment left by one
respondent. This suggests that they do not understand the plot, and why the
events transpire in such a manner. Conversely, this may not be due to the plot,
but due to some of the physical elements of the piece, such as the fire, not
communicating the story to the viewer. The fire was a bit dark for, well, fire.
Very nice for a paper aesthetic, as I know it is hard to make fake fire glow as if it
were real, so it is understandable given your resources. The use of fire in this
production is one of the weaker aspects; the understanding of the death of the
characters is derived from this part of the animation. However, as the comment
stated, glow of fire is hard to achieve, and was attempted by placing the light
shining up at the characters, to appear as if it was below them. To improve this, I

could boost the intensity of the light, to create a

harsher light, to indicate fire. There are a number of
ways to animate fire; in this shot, taken from a short
stop motion named Forest Fire Stop Motion, after
effects has been used to create the effect of fire. This
is
an effective way to portray the look of fire, with out looking out of place from the
animation. Although the effects on this piece appear brash and slightly
unrealistic, they communicate an effective point to the audience, in a clearer
manner than my work, pictured adjacent.
Romantic drama is portrayed clearly through the actions of the characters, this
response indicates that the romantic nature of the song and the content worked
well, as they noticed the intended genre. The technical qualities of my
production received overall positive feedback, with comments such as High
quality frame production. However, some comments were more mixed, one
respondent said The technical qualities are good. I feel like the editing is a little
choppy in places. Shots which felt like they should have held a little longer often
cut quite abruptly. This comment has been taken into consideration, and should
there be a reshoot, I would seriously reconsider the length of the shots, and the
importance of which. The comment then
continued with Use of the camera is
excellent with a variety of effective shots
and good use of depth of field. I believe
that the camera control was one of the
stronger attributes to this production, and
improved the overall aesthetic quality of the
animation. In the shot captured and
presented adjacent, aperture had been used in
order to add depth to the shot, but also allowed to
switch to whom was the main focus in each scene,
in a manner in which was easy for the audience to
follow.
The style of my animation could be compared to
that of the Brothers Quay. The productions are shot
in a similar manner and use similar levels of mis en scene. Similarities can be
seen in this shot from the production Street of Crocodiles, in direct comparison
from my own work. In this shot we see a small sign, a small detail in the overall
production but significant none the less. This small detail of the set completes
the look of the set. The design and colours in a set are an important part of any
stop motion animation, as they help set a tone and a style from the outset. In the
brief provided, the production company says, Bullion is where great visual
storytelling happens. My production largely depends on visual keys, and how
they are interpreted. Similarly, to the Brothers Quays production, my set was
built with small, almost overlooked elements, that pull together the room and
create an appropriate atmosphere. As seen in the picture below, framed pictures
were placed in the set, with incoherent writing on them. This frame fits in with
the rest of the set, as it is weathered and frayed. In a direct comparison to my
own set, I have used similar methods to create an atmosphere. In my set, I used
silver frames with pictures of real people as seen below. This tied in to the odd
atmosphere of my set, as well as the colours tying in with the rest of my set. It

may also make the audience question the symbolism behind the props. This
allows for the audience to interpret their own meaning. The work is similar in
style, particularly with use of filters. Both appear grainy and aged, giving it a
certain eerie effect. It is also similar in regards to the use of characters. Both
productions use found objects, specifically old toys. These characters do not rely
on facial expression, but their intentions are portrayed through their movement,
actions and reactions to the events that unfold. This is another aspect of both
productions that adds to the already eerie atmosphere, as a lack of emotions
displaces the audience in a Brechtian manner. The similarities can be seen in the
pictures below.

Three ways in which my animation could be improved are; editing, narrative and
mis en scene regarding character costumes. In reference to the editing, this
could be improved by making the cuts and transitions flow in a smoother
manner. I could also achieve this by editing the colours in certain parts of the
animation to make them lighter, and more apprehensible by the viewer. When
editing this, I used a filter, to
create the effect of aging film. I
believe this effected the
brightness of some shots; this
could be re- edited in order to
improve the overall look of the
production. The narrative was
strong, but not always clear; this
can be improved by making the
key moments clearer visually. A
major aspect of the story that was missed by most viewers was the use of fire. If
I were to re make this piece, I could use different materials such as tissue paper
or coloured lighting to create the effect of fire. The fire could also be improved
if the flames showed more movement, although they do appear to flicker this
isnt consistent throughout the scene, and didnt create the required effect for
the story. When receiving feedback about my animation, there was a large
amount of confusement regarding one of the characters and their costume. It
was said that their costume caused them to look like a child. This observation
effects the storyline, as the character appears as a love interest. In order to
make this characters intentions and importance clearer, I could either find a new
toy to replace him, or simply replace the costume, to define the storyline to the
viewer.