Major Project - Reflective Statement

I really enjoyed the major project, although it was a very intense project with a heavy workload I feel as if the reward of seeing my film come together made the whole experience joyful. Coming out of the minor project fuelled with enthusiasm I immediately started to refine and remodel the spider bed. This posed some interesting challenges, I found it difficult at first to achieve the look of the spider bed but with some advice and help from my tutors I was able to create a creature I was happy with. After the spider bed was finalised I moved onto getting the shark bed and blanket hand done which also had some interesting challenges to overcome, this cost me some time which cut into some of the time that I had planned for animation.

Unfortunately I didn't get as much time as I wanted to animate, a variety of things caused this and I lost time in jobs that I had planned less time for. This made the whole experience feel a lot more intense as when it came to animation I was forced to work quicker and more strategically. The animation in my film at the moment isn't where I want it to be, however I am very happy that I managed to get the whole film animated and rendered. Once the deadline crept closer I had to finalise the animation the best I could and move onto lighting. When I started lighting I really struggled to get shots to look how I wanted. It took me a lot longer than I had hoped but with the help of Alan I was able to achieve lighting that helped tell my story. 

There are a few things that I would like to add to the film, one is kelp during the underwater scene to add more depth and to create a more interesting space. The next is sound design, I feel as if I could spend a lot more time working on the sound effects. It is something I don't find easy but it is something that will help bring my world to life. I think the film is also missing a score, I had trouble finding a composer early on and as the deadline got closer it became increasingly difficult to step away from work and commit time to finding someone. Lastly I would like to touch up the animation, throughout the whole film there is a lot of work that can be done animation wise to really help sell myself as an animator. I want to choose two or three scenes to really put a lot of time and effort in to use for a future showreel.

The project overall has been very rewarding, I feel as if I have tackled all of the issues head on and attempted to make the best film I could in the time period. I am happy with how the film looks overall, however as previously stated I will be touching up the animation post hand in. Looking back over the last three years I really feel a sense of achievement, which I believe is reflected throughout my work. I can see a huge improvement over the projects and it is strange to think that this is my last project on the course.