Final evaluation

1. Write an explanation of your brief - what did you have to do? How did you come up with the ideas for this project? 
To follow up from the CD packaging project is my Personal Project, which allowed me to write my own brief rather then follow a brief set out at the beginning and as such it deviates more noticeably from what I have done before as the project allowed me to explore methods and techniques which I personally preferred more. In the end, my idea involved designing and making toys handmade as it was a hobby I did in my spare time, however this would have to include various links to follow up from my previous project, which I chose to me the artwork, the design of the toys linking to my artist/ performer for the CD project and the use of colour and textiles to have a similar theme. My main theme from the CD project was the idea of space and exploration so I used some of artwork in the background and the idea for the top motion came from the exploration aspect so I decided on giving my toy character a journey.

2. Write about the creative 'journey' of the project - how did the project and ideas evolve from start to finish through experimentation and research?

It started from what my ideas of what I most wanted to do for this project so I mind mapped my best ideas which were 'toy making', 'animation' and 'costume design t-shirts' and all these projects would have to link to the CD packaging project. I chose the toy making idea but decided on using the toys I would make in a stop-motion animation advert after a discussion with my teacher on the purposes of my toys and the meaning of graphic communication design as a whole as a way of telling an audience what it is so you can sell it to them. I started then to look for inspiration for not only the animation and toy design, but the fabric and artwork I wanted to include as detail in my toy. I would say that my biggest inspirations were marydoodles, whose artwork and film editing of her illustrations, though not exactly stop-motion, shows her use of film understanding and narrative as well as inspiring ink illustrations and Shawnimals, who create simple yet stunning toys for children. Here I decided that what I making these toys would be for a recycling company it reflected the message in the song I wanted to use in my advert, 'I wanna be' by StarKid. I also decided to design a new logo as StarKid is Musical theatre production company, not a toy company though they do sell merchandise. My logo development really helped my think about what fabric and colours I should use and reflecting on StarKid's puppets in their various productions and linking it to my theme and who I am making it for, I took a puppet and made it with all the developments I made to make it my own. While this was happening, I was also discovering a story for my animation and practising my toy movement. In my final animation shoot, I decided to feature some of my main work from the the CD packaging project as that best suited with my theme and also I tied up the links in this personal project.

3. Who inspired your final outcomes? - You MUST talk about who has inspired your work - include images and links where possible. 

In my AS-A2, my inspirations came from these virtual wallpaper tutorials as they were the lift of to further experimentation: 

For my Personal project, I wanted these tutorials to be the building blocks and inspiration for the design of my toy as they were a big part of my AS- A2 work, though I knew I needed more inspiration then just the artwork of the piece. Looking at animation and toy artists were a big help as well too, as they helped understand how creative I could make my toy and video. It started with quite a few people, but my biggest inspirations were Jan Svankmajer for stop motion, Marydoodles for artwork, editing and effects and the Shawnimals toy company. 

4. What do you think you have done well? What has worked? Are you happy with your final outcomes?

What has worked the best in my video outcome has been the editing I think. I am happy with the way shots move together so my toy looks like it is moving and the transitions and pacing works well. I was initially aiming for the video length of 30 seconds, but as the video can out at a minutes length, this works even better as my message is fully addressed and it works well as a story. In editing I lost some detail of smoother movement, but when I cut it, I thought it was for the best so it could speed up the number of shots per second, though in a way which wouldn't make it too jumpy. 

5. What do you think you could have improved in your final outcome? - you need to talk about something, nobody is perfect!

What I could of definitely improved on would be the quality of the shot. I limited due to my camera as it adjusts it's focus and flash every shot, so each shot looks different in the way of lighting and focus. I also had to press my camera to take the shots rather than using it with a remote meaning that in many shots the camera moves out of position, so it isn't lined perfectly and looks unprofessional. I would have definitely have used a better camera. I could also spent more time on my sets and typography and as it is, my video looks rushed.

6. Conclusion - overall how did you find the project? What techniques would you like to develop further in the future?

It was hard at first, figuring out what we had to do ourselves. Making things not taught everyday is often hard, I think I adapted and did the best I can. I certainly helped figure out the best way to dye fabric and sew a child's toy, so I can do better in the future.