My diary.

25-04-18

Dear Diary,

                    Well this is it, BACK AGAIN, I thought id make a diary this time of my journey in hospital. Getting admitted tomorrow, its gotten a lot worse, terminal worse. Steven and I are up beat, we always have been, just such a shame, the 'family' talks were happening again. I feel good, Im positive, ill be staying strong no matter what, hope Steven can. Scared, see you soon. Song of the day...  x

03-05-18

Diary, 

           Well roughly a week in and im sick of hospital food but hey it could be worse at least I still have an appetite, Steven got me some lovely flowers today they were my favorite. The nurses here are lovely, all really caring and kind, really helped me settle in, even if the beds are awful! Treatment has started, Im still feeling really good about this. x

10-05-18

Diary,

          Steven is coping so well, im sure the house is a mess without me but oh well, ill let him have his fun. Made a friend on the ward, shes lovely, same boat as me. She has the most beautiful children, makes me wonder... I will beat this, treatment is getting heavier but im great, the foods getting no  better! x

16-05-18

Diary,

          Starting to get more and more tired now, losing my lovely glowing skin colour but I knew this was gonna come! Its all part of it, you have to make sacrifices, whatever it takes im staying strong! Steven was late today, said hes been really stressed at work, could tell he needed to get home so I sent him on his way with a big kiss, hes my rock! Song of the day... x

25-05-18

Diary,

         Not much has gone on really sorry for not writing! The friend I made sadly has been moved, shes really not doing well, I wish her all the best. Gets me worried but im doing good, nothing has gone wrong yet 'touch wood'. Steven has decided to take some time off work, with me having more and more treatment hes found it hard, he came today with a candle for me, the sentiment was cute Love him x 

         

10-06-18

Diary,

Ive not been very well. This is getting tough, enough energy to write today! In case you were getting worried. I just feel drained, but as soon as Steven gets here I perk right up, However, I didnt sleep well last night so got a few hours in with him here. I really need him now, more than ever! He knows that, hes just down at the moment, I said he should be working but he wont. Im optimistic, what else could I be? x

22-06-18

Diary,

          Much better today, dont know whats gotten into me but I even managed to go to the loo on my own! Steven was in good spirits, I can tell its a brave face but i appreciate it. Weve got to stay strong. Not heard from that lady, cant stop thinking about her and her kids, god, hope me and Steven come through this id love a family... x

25-06-18

Diary,

         Steven is worrying me abit, he was really really late today, he was tired, angry and abit snappy. I was taken back by it, I didnt realize how much this was affecting him, Ill always have his back! Treatment is steady, Im not reacting well to some of it apparently but its no cause for concern yet, STAYING STRONG...I love you Steven Hunt. Song of the day... x

1-7-18

Diary,

          Steven missed his appointment today. He text to say he couldn't make it, something to do with the car, I hope hes okay. Im doing okay, this place is getting lonely, Im home sick, I want to be back in the house, cosy with the candles and a film, Soon... i hope. x

7-7-18

Diary,

          Steven is due any second now, I cant wait, although he did say we need to talk, always shocks you when someone says that, Im sure it will be fine! probably just about the mess in the house or work. No matter what I am here for him! As he is me. Feeling somewhat weak today, nurses are really busy, they cant seem to fit me in anywhere today. Oh well, positive! I love you Steven Hunt x

Animation Sem 1 Assignment - Heaven

Ashlee Roberts

Critical Evaluation - Animation Assignment

Heaven

For my animation project I had to create a short animation film thirty to forty five seconds long including titles,credits and sound to accompany. Along with this I had to submit my original treatments, my original story board and this 2 page long evaluation.

Using 3 random film titles i came up with 3 different treatments for 3 different animation ideas:

1. Heaven - Clay figures combined with pixilation to create a story of God controlling happenings. Like a black and white video game style. Try and create a city, animals, maybe a battle of some sort. Like a world simulation, the creation of a place. Slowly more and more gets added.
2. New York Minute - A combination of time lapses put together to create an almost busy traffic yet serene setting. Lots of blur, colour and busy packed frames.
3. Conversation piece - Lots of random colourful shapes moving around frantically creating the essence of personification to which they all come together in the end to create one image as a sign of peace and love.

I instantly connected with the title heaven and the idea I had to accompany it being the idea of the creation of the world. Having a ‘God’ like figure creating the world. The inspiration I had for this idea was the classic PC game Black vs White. In which you were a god like figure, creating nature and mankind focusing on the idea of total control. So i definitely wanted to take that concept and use its influences.

I really like the whole idea of the game, graphics, concept and overall look. Although i couldn't replicate the actual look I mainly took the concept and used that instead of the actual graphics and visuals etc. Its also quite similar or can be taken the way that the animator is a ‘God’ as he has total control and they have their idea and creation come to life the same of that of God’s creation of the world. I also took a lot of inspiration from PES on YouTube, how he used live action along with animation really is interesting and entertaining to watch and to me vas a bit of a challenged yet if done properly a challenge worth taking on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWEl8-PHhMI : I particularly like this one as it's comical, light hearted, but very complex and innovative in terms of animation hence its popularity.

I decided on the plasticine as i saw it as visually what I was wanting, a very happy, colourful piece of film. It was also easy to manipulate having not much movement to deal with anyway, i basically had a static set with simple movements, however I feel with the hand involved too it wasn't needed as the complexity and selling point was already there.

Once decided on a technique and concept i then began to build the story more and more. I decided to take a more deep thoughtful approach especially when thinking of the theme. So I decided to end my animation with the message of mankind ruining what beautiful world was already created before hand. I originally had the idea and actually story boarded the ending of 'God' creating the human then realising the mistake and squashing the human as a way of correcting his error however when filming i changed the idea as the hand technique was becoming a bit tedious and i thought using the ending i have now sends a clearer message. It also translates alot better to the screen like the imagery is a lot more powerful. I feel it is a very prominent message worth tackling and addressing with today's lack of attention on what is important and what the media portrays instead about celebrities etc.

The animation itself didn't have too many problems, my time management as a project on a whole was not very good however i managed to film my animation in a one day sitting, the plasticine helped a lot as it did not involve too much artistic quality as I feel i lack in that area for instance I have never been a great drawer or artist so to get past this i chose the plasticine to very good effect. The software was very simple to use, I didn't configure too many settings I basically just set the tripod up with the camera to shoot facing instead of above as that's what I needed for my film. I did find i9t difficult at first to film my hand and control the camera however after many tries and retakes I got it to what i believe is the best of my ability with very little error involved or very few poor frames. There is a couple which include too much of my person however for the purpose of the piece itself and the narrative I thought it was worth keeping in as it really isn't that noticeable when played in full speed. The clay although being very useful and maneuverable it was a bit frustrating when they would fall down, making you have to press them in making them lose shape slightly however for my piece it's not too much of an issue however from my point of view it didn't give the clean professional look i was going for. When it comes to the end product and my actual vision I think the piece does me a lot of justice, i think it turned out how i wanted if not better. Another criticism however is when the heart shaped hands come on the screen I needed it to last longer so copy and pasted the frames which in the viewing looks clunky and very unnatural in comparison to the rest of the piece. However due to time constraints I couldn't really go back and alter it which for me is disappointing as it puts a shadow over the film for me as the creator. Editing the piece i really enjoyed as i feel this is an area I may want to specialise in, picking the right sound effects was a fun process however FreeSFX.com is a great website for these types of projects. I didn't want the sounds to be too gimmicky however i wanted the piece to still have the light hearted feel to match the visuals, very child like almost, sending a message to the younger generation, however one that adults can relate to. I think they all work very well with the piece. I also decided to not involve as many camera movements in the film as I had hoped mainly due to timing. I would of liked to have shown a few more shots just to keep the piece interesting to watch however i think for it only being around 35 seconds the viewer is always interested. The camera i also used along with the software was new to me so i struggled to find a functioning zoom without having to physically move the camera which was irritating as getting it back to the original spot is difficult so I decided against it until the last shot of the piece which is a slight close up of the human highlighting the darkness he has brought to the world.
The end product is pleasing for me, I believe it sends the message I wanted and also to a degree of good quality. The issues i cam across i dealt with appropriately to come out with a finished piece of work which stands alone as an animation short.