What research did you undertake and how did it help develop your project?

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For researching my final major project I first conducted a SWOT analysis which composed of my strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. I found from writing this essay that while I enjoy coming up with ideas for creative projects I need to work on my self-confidence on my projects and being able to accept constructive criticism. Also being able to advance my skills in editing as I can access the software at home though as I am still learning the tools on the software it may be difficult to ask for help. Before researching I was interested in creating a music video and viewed a video focusing on a music video's codes and convections though from speaking with my lecturer I decided it would be best to focus on an animated short film. 

 

Prior to deciding to focus on paper stop-motion I viewed many Disney animated short films, which were assessed via Disney plus I selected three to analyse each of their visuals, audio, technical and narrative aspects. I learned many different things from each short such as from the Pixar short Piper, that though the storyline is simple it can be effective at the same time. Then from feedback I received from my lecturer who suggested that I look into the narrative structure on a short film I viewed a Pixar short Lou and studied its narrative structure for instance its story-line, specifically how it begins and ends and found two videos discussing storytelling which I found very beneficial to my research.

 

I then looked into stop-motion animation and found two videos online, one was a stop-motion short short film, the other focused on making stop-motion movements smoother.  After deciding to do paper stop-motion I had viewed and analysed many paper stop-motion short films, 

 

How did you develop and improve your ideas throughout the project?

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After presenting my pitch to a group of peers from my course, I then received feedback from them. They suggested that I need to develop the project's concept and narrative, in addition to how the minor characters would be utilized in my project. But praised my idea for using stop-motion animation and one peer pointed out how I was able to identify my target audience (children) for the project. I did find the criticism from my pitch to be fair, as at the time I was still working on the narrative for the project.

 

So from the feedback I further researched into story and narrative and then created a mind map showcasing all of my ideas for my final major project, also as my final major project was primarily stop-motion I found three videos online two were stop-motion shorts and the other was tips on making a stop-motion video which I found very resourceful and I then decided to research further into stop-motion techniques by experimenting with each of them which included clay, paper and figures. From the experimentation while I enjoyed using clay and had experience with using figures, I decided to go with paper stop-motion this is because at the time I wanted to something different as most of my previous stop-motion heavily involved using dolls and I decided to challenge myself with a different stop-motion technique.

 

What was the outcome of the project/task?

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The outcome of the project based on what I was doing, was to create a paper stop-motion short film.

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How did you feel about the project before you started?

 

I was nervous starting the project as I had never done paper stop-motion before and thus was my first time. Despite this I have had experience with stop-motion though with dolls and figures.  

 

What do you think about your project development and how did it help you to refine your idea?

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I found from researching animated short films then transitioning into stop-motion animation short films I found that I wanted to do paper stop-motion, so then I researched into paper stop-motion by viewing short films with paper stop-motion and had to analyse the different techniques and narratives in each short film.  Through this from progressing into paper stop-motion I then was able to come up with my story idea, as I had chosen what stop-motion technique I was using.

 

How did you feel when the project was completed and why?

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After completing the project I felt relived as the stress of dealing with production had gone so I was able to relax a bit, though before screening the project to my peers I was really nervous as I had no idea what they would think of it and whether they would like the project or not.

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What were the good points about the project/task and what did you learn from them?

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That I could come up with an idea for my project's story-line, from this I learned that I am capable of coming up with ideas for projects. Another good thing about the project is more of a personal goal rather than a work goal as though the production stage wasn't a good point about the project what came from that experience was that I was able to persist through the remaining stages of the project, resulting in the project's completion.

 

What challenges did you face and how did you respond to them?

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Most of the challenges occurred during the production stage of my final major project, which included designing the face expressions of the paper models, luckily I received assistance from my father who made

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Though the main problem during the production stage was the film equipment I used specially the tripod I used, one example was that using the tripod was tricky filming a close-up as I would have to hold the tripod rather close to the position I wanted to film, but at times it

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I did respond to that difficulty by replacing the tripod with a phone gripper and hoped it would keep the phone in place and would stay stable when filming, as you were able to screw it onto the platform set I was using to shoot all of my scenes however using the phone gripper didn't work as well as I hoped it would and the phone would often slip through the grippers. From the second I was able to burrow two tripods from my lecturer and first tested them both to see which one worked, I found from the first one that phone was to big to be placed in the stand so I used the second one instead which worked better. With that close-up shot while filming I couldn't convey the scene as a close-up I had to later edit the scene in post-production by zooming in on the shot.

 

What were the bad points about the experience, and what could you have done to improve them? 

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I found that the filming my final major project was incredibly stressful as I had hoped for production to go well and wanted the scenes that I filmed to be perfect. To improve I may test out the equipment I have for example a tripod 

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How would you rate the final piece?

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Poor

Satisfactory

Good

Excellent

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How well would your design appeal to the target market?

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I was aiming my target audience at a younger demographic, specifically children though open to any age demographic. I think the paper stop-motion technique will appeal to children, in addition to the story-line featured in my short with the main protagonist, struggling to fit in with her friend group, that the younger demographic will be able to relate to. 

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In what ways was the overall project a success?

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That despite the difficulties I faced during production I was happy that I managed to persevere with the project. I also found personally that the research and development stage of the project was successful, as what I had wanted to research was accessible online for instance there were a variety of short animated films available on Disney plus so I was able to view many animated short films which contributed to the research for my final major project.

 

What elements did not go well and why?

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Often during the production stage it was rather difficult filming with paper resulting in filming being delayed and not being able to film all of the scenes that I had wanted to film.

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How did your skills develop during the portfolio?

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My skills and knowledge of stop-motion animation had advanced as I learnt how to create paper-stop motion and viewed many paper stop-motion films during the time of my final major project, as prior to this I had been used to using dolls and figures for my previous projects which involved stop-motion.

 

What meaning and messages did you want to convey and were you successful?

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From when the project's idea began I was hoping to tell a personal experience I went through, when sending the screenplay to my peers, one peer commented that the story of not fitting in with group is something that many young people will be able to relate to, I do feel that I was able to capture that in my project, though one thing I found was not being able to tell all of the story though due to difficulties in production.

 

What feedback did you get from your peers and viewings?

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After completing my final major project I created a questionnaire to capture information what people liked about my project what I could improve on and whether they liked the technique I used.

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From the questionnaire the majority of participants liked my final major project and all of the participants liked the stop-motion technique featured and the project's title.

 

I also asked the participants on what they liked about the short film and what could be improved?

From what they liked one of the participants commented on the message being showcased in the short. Another admired how parts of the animation were smooth and how I was able to capture the movements, two participants liked the story and another participant enjoyed the emotional element of my short film and the aspect of it being a silent film.

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Whilst for improvement, two of the participants recommended adding dialogue to my short. On the other hand two of the participants found no improvements required for my short film. Though one participant mentioned that they didn't understand the story in the short film One participant suggested I use leg and arm movement in the paper models.

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What would you do differently in the future and why?

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Before entering the production stage of any project, I would test out the film equipment for instance the tripod, in order to see whether they would be able to hold the phone or camera well, so I can capture any shots, particularly close-up shots, as this is because they require still footage when being shot.

 

What knowledge have you gained that would help you in the future to improve your project? Also, what knowledge from academic literature and professionals has helped and why?

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If you were making a similar project in the future, what would you do differently?

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If I was doing a project similar to this in the future I would make sure I would have experience in the paper stop-motion technique by experimenting with the technique and creating demos before going on to a paper-stop-motion project again.  

 

How could you develop your skills for future projects? Please identify the appropriate resources and courses. For example, webpages, tutorials, books, short courses and qualifications.

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I would like to explore paper animation again but I personally believe that I would need more practice, before doing another project similar to this one again. I could access tutorials on a online platform such as YouTube which may suggest tips on how to make the models.I found a video on YouTube showing how to create stop-motion animation with paper.  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xx8pLcXnIKM&t=10s link to video)

 

I also could find a course on animation or a course that spefically covers stop-motion animation. I did find a course via Future Learn on Animation which does feature a topic on stop-motion animation https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/explore-animation (link to course)    

 

What personal attributes could you develop to ensure you are working at a professional level?

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That I personally feel that i need to keep improving my time management, to improve this I could schedule a timetable for the day and when place the times for when I am working, and my breaks. Another personal goal for me is to learn that things can go wrong during each of the project's stages and find ways to resolve the issue, for example discussing the problems with my lecturer, or if I am working in a group with my peers, find ways as a group together to resolve the individual issue.