Monday 12 March 2012

Improvements & Feedback

I have now completed my first version of my animation. It took 23 hours to render (I'm guessing that’s due to the volume light I used), but I now have a finished project. Thinking back to week one , I am surprised at how much I have achieved; however I still feel that I could improve in several ways.

After gathering feedback from my peers, the general opinion was similar to my views.

Soundtrack or not?
Before I had completed the video, I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to add a soundtrack onto the animation. Listening with and without it, helped me come to the conclusion that I should include a soundtrack- simply because it seems to give the sequence life. I chose a eerie track which featured choir boys singing. This instantly made it obvious to the audience that it is set in a church. A few comments from the feedback suggested that I should consider changing the music to the speed of the camera, I completely agree. By changing the music speed as the camera flies around the two main rooms would smoothen out some of the smaller issues.

Walls:
I started building my walls for my project right at the beginning of the five week cycle. This was the stage when I was still experimenting with the software, I made the walls by creating different cubes and resizing them to fit, although this has worked perfectly well, I feel that it could be improved further by carefully connecting each of the walls- so that they are not separate and cannot be moved around individually. 


Bell tower:
The bell tower was created through trial and error, I wasn't sure how I would tackle making something seem realistic. Although it works well within the scene and fits together with the rest of the environment, there are some changes I would consider completing.  I have already thought about editing some parts which include creating the spire and ensuring that all the walls line up. After watching it back I would like to progress this further, I noticed that some of the windows were offset from the rest of the wall (as seen from the image below). It is particularly obvious and could be resolved easily. 





Furniture:
I am pleased with the standard of furniture in my environment, but looking at others work I feel that I could have pushed myself further and added more into each scene. However, I do think part of why my environment works well is the fact that is isn't overcrowded and remains quite empty and desolate. I would have liked to model a Italian style sofa and also possibly added another room such as a dungeon to expand my characters capability. The main problem was the time and having to fit my whole project into five weeks, if I did have the chance or more time to work on it, I would have  certainly added small extras.

Camera:
I was surprised by how difficult I found adding the camera into the scene. It seemed like a simple task at the begginning, but as I divulged into it, I realised that I had spent a couple of hours and hadn't achieved that effect I wanted. I could feel myself growing more annoyed at trying to complete a simple task. I wanted the camera to feel like my character strolling around the rooms, remembering her wedding. To a certain extent, I feel that I did achieve that, but it some areas the camera path needs to be modified further, especially in the bell tower. The camera jerks around too much, and needs a smoother route. I'd also like to focus on individual elements a little longer, I feel that a minute isn't enough to show off the environment as well as I wanted to.

Outside Space:
Looking back over the project, I wish I had paid more attention of modelling the outside area, because the first corridor has many windows, it would have been nice to be able to see varied outside surroundings. Due to fact it is set under a church, looking outside and seeing a graveyard would have contributed to the atmosphere in the environment.

Most of the comments I received from speaking to others about my project were positive:
"How about creating flames for the candles"
"The camera reminds me of the character and how she will walk around the empty corridors reminiscing about her ex-partner,. The way the bell stays still but the you can hear the chimes, seems as though she is remembering.'
'The environment instantly reminds me of a church'
'Some of the camera movements are a little jerky, could be smoothed out slightly'

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