David+Hiwa Unit+3

Unit Title: What Development and Changes Do People Go Through?
__**Task of the unit:**__ Our task is to create an animation that shows how we are changing and how it affects us socially. We can choose how we show change and how we have changed in any way.

__Investigation Stage__
During the lifetime of a human, they go through many different changes. Some changes are more visible to others. These changes can usually be split into 2 main groups physical and mental changes. These are some of the changes that people go through in their lifetimes:

Physical changes:

 * ====Height====
 * ====Weight====
 * ====Hair====
 * ====Size====
 * ====Muscle Stature====

Mental Changes:

 * ====Knowledge====
 * ====Conscience====
 * ====Reasoning====
 * ====Understanding====

__**Animation Investigation (Part 1):**__
Animation is a series of pictures that are put together in sequence and shown quickly to make it look as if it is one image moving. Animation can be created by hand drawings and sculptures or using different kinds of computer software. To trick the mind pictures are shown an then quickly replaced by other pictures but ones that are close similar to the ones they had before. Each picture is one different frame and frame speeds vary depending on the animation. The simple animation below is at a speed of 10 fps ( frames per second). This means that in 1 second, 10 different pictures are shown. This animation is quite slow because most animations are about 24-30 fps. There are a number of programs that can make flash animations like this one, but the biggest is Macromedia Flash (Also Known As Adobe Flash). There are also other software which is called Blender. It is a 3D animation software which is more advanced and you can create very clever and interesting animations. It is very complicated and might take someone a long time to learn to use efficiently.
 * __Animation and Software:__**

I have decided to use Flash because I know more about Flash, I know more skills and how to do things that I wouldn't be able to do. Blender is just to advanced and it will be easier to get my message and convey the point that I want through the animation.

__**Kinds Of Animations:**__

__**Storyboards:**__ Storyboards are a group of images that are put into a sequence that help to plan and organize the animation. Storyboards are created to show different ideas of how a scene might progress. It is created in the style of a comic book in the way that the drawings and the dialogue progress. Some storyboards are less detailed and they only explain the story using a few pictures to aid them. Some storyboards are more detailed and they show exactly how the scene will look and, if it is for a movie or something shot with a camera, exactly the camera angle and how the actors will stand.

__**Animation Skills:**__ There are a lot of skills needed to create animation. 3D animation is harder to create than 2D animation because the dimensions of all the objects needed to be similar. A lot of tools on the animation programs are very useful and can allow you to create a very good animation if you know them. Some skills are more difficult to use will and make your animation look good. Very good animators will know how to use all the features in the program to aid them in making a good animation. I knew that I had to include a moving background in my final animation so I went and found a website which taught you how to make a moving background and found out the skill.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_animation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storyboard

**__Animation Investigation (Part 2):__**
These are the 3 pictures that we had to make to show our skills in animation software.

1. Stick man walking then stopping and jumping media type="file" key="David 9REL Flash Example 1.swf" width="360" height="270"

2. A word which rotates and changes color and becomes smaller. media type="file" key="David 9REL Flash Example 2.swf" width="360" height="270"

3. A car (Re nault Laguna) morphing into another car (Toyota Supra) media type="file" key="David 9REL Flash Example 4.swf" width="360" height="270"

**__Design__ __Brief:__**
I am going to make an animation that shows how I am changing and how this change affects me and my community socially. It should appeal to people from the ages of 12-15.

__Design Specifications and Tests:__
This is a table showing what I need to include in my final animation and how I can test them:

Have a morphing image ||< To fulfill the task ||< Get people to watch the animation and then give them a checklist to see whether the conditions have been fulfilled ||
 * < **What It Needs** ||< **Why It Is Important** ||< **Tests to See If It Is There** ||
 * < A background that moves
 * < Must be at least 15 seconds long ||^  ||< Take screenshots of the work to show that each of the requirements have been fulfilled ||
 * < Have at least 5 layers ||^  ||^   ||
 * < Play at 12 fps (frames per second) ||^  ||^   ||
 * < Show how I am changing in some way ||< To fulfill the design brief and the task ||< Get a few people to watch the animation for understanding and to answer a questionnaire to check if they can see that all these points have been fulfilled. These are also the things that I will be checking my designs for. ||
 * < It should be interesting ||< So that the people who are watching will be interested ||^  ||
 * < Show my effect socially ||< To fulfill the task and the design brief ||^  ||
 * < It should have color ||< To make it eye catching ||^  ||

__Design Stage:__
For the design stage I decided that I should make 3 different storyboards so that I would have a greater range of options.

This design is good because it shows each stage of development and it clearly shows the difference between the people at each stage. This design might be a bit boring though for people at the age range I specified because it shows a lot of still images. Comparison to the design specs:
 * __Design 1:__**
 * **__What it needs__** || Rating out of 5 ||
 * Show how I am changing || 5 – It shows all stages of development in a very clear manner ||
 * Should be interesting || 2 – it is very repetitive and the themes are very similar ||
 * It should have color || 3 – only the background and pictures are in color ||
 * Have a social aspect || 1 – very little social aspect because the little animations are all very small and just to illustrate the changes ||

This design is good because you see how members of a family interact with each other and it has a good social element which means it is relatable. This is the design that would take the longest time to create because of all the people that I would need to create and make. Comparison to the design specs:
 * __Design 2:__**
 * **__What it needs__** || Rating out of 5 ||
 * Show how I am changing || 4 – it shows the difference between the people in the family ||
 * Should be interesting || 4 – it has a story and it is also relatable which will make people more interested ||
 * It should have color || 5 – the whole animation has color ||
 * Have a social aspect || 4 – it is very social because of the family and how everybody connects with each other ||

This animation is more about kids our age and the differences in people (how people change at different times) and it will probably appeal to people within the age range. The only problem is trying to create an animation which does not victimize or insult anyone.
 * __Design 3:__**
 * **__What it needs__** || Rating out of 5 ||
 * Show how I am changing || 4 – it shows how changes occur ||
 * Should be interesting || 3 – people will find it interesting because the age will be similar between the characters and the people watching ||
 * It should have color || 5 – the whole animation is in color ||
 * Have a social aspect || 4 – the social aspect is how the friends interact ||

I am choosing the 2nd design because it is the design that I think will get me the best grade. It is also the hardest and longest design to create so I think that it will help me develop my skills on Flash. I decided to incorporate some ideas from the third design into the final design. The story will focus on the girls experience at school to improve the social element.

__**Plan Stage:**__

 * **18th February 2013:** By this day i should have my designs finished and they should have been chosen. I should begin looking to see of need to improve any skills in flash or research any that I don't know
 * **19th February 2013:** In this lesson I should begin creating my animation. I should start using flash and creating the final.
 * **25th February 2013:** In this lesson I should continue working on my final piece. (I was a bit behind with designs so in this lesson I caught up and I did not work on my final piece)
 * **26th February 2013:** In this lesson I should look at the differences in my plan and my design for my final piece and I should comment on any differences between the 2
 * **5th March 2013:** In this lesson I should be finishing up my final piece.
 * **5th March - 8th March 2013:** I should work on the final piece at home just to touch it up and make it better. Upload it onto the wiki

__**Create Stage**__
This is my final animation: media type="file" key="David 9REL Final Animation Movie.swf" width="360" height="270"

I changed elements of the final. I decided to change the scene from the house and make the girl go to school instead. I thought that this would make the animation in a more social light.

__**Evaluation Stage:**__
I think that my animation deserves a 5 based on the fact that it briefly talks about the changes in people. The bad points are in the briefness of the animation and the lack of detail in showing the changes that people go through.


 * Classmates Evaluation Of My Animation:**

On average I got a score of 4.9/10. Most of the people said that it was too fast, which was one of the reasons why I didn't get a higher final total. Apparently it was too fast too read so people could not understand. A lot of people commented on the lack of realism in the animation but looking at some of the other animations, I am not the only person with this problem.


 * What I would change:**

If I had the chance top do this project again, I would not use this idea because it was very long and not the clearest way of showing how I have changed. Also I would make fewer characters and keep it very simple and effective.


 * Performance in the unit:**

I think that this was not my best unit because I didn't focus on my work as much and I spent too much time on the investigation. I also think that I could've made better designs (although, this was also because there was confusion between the way the designs were made)