The Lifting Tower Brief: Change of Plan...

Working on this brief has been incredibly confusing. At the beginning we were asked to produce a 1-2 minute narrative, and after investing a couple of weeks into our ideas, our groups were split up and we were then told that our clips were to be cut up into short animations. It was a little frustrating because of the wasted time we'd invested, but I was still on board as I liked the ideas we'd been able to come up with based on Tom's concept boards.

Showing our progress in a meeting, we were advised to make more fun, snappy animations, and not to worry about a narrative across them. Again, this was quite frustrating as we'd put time into forming a short narrative that still made sense once cut up into short clips. Though it did mean that I could produce a series of quick animations involving the Yeti and Penguin characters that Tom had provided us with. The understanding at this point was to simply make our group's work consistent by using the same characters.

Yeti Parade

Yeti Portal

Yetis Waving

March of the Penguins

Penguins Falling

Flying!

I'm really pleased with the work I've been able to produce for this brief - especially my 'Flying!' animation, as I think the character animation is the strongest in this short - and it has given me experience at using the Puppet Pin tool. However, I'm not so pleased with the overall experience of working on this brief. It has been very back and forth in terms of what was required of us and very confusing as to who we were supposed to go to with our progress. Also, by the end of the project it didn't feel much like a group effort, rather individual projects (minus the character design contribution from Tom). The only aspect that made it feel like I was part of a group was that I'd ask for feedback once I'd completed each animation. Other than that there wasn't a great deal of communicating, and in the end we had deviated from our original ideas and produced work that wasn't necessarily consistent in style. 

I also feel like I took on a lot more work in comparison to the other members of my team. Which is fine for me, because I'm happy with the experience of the work and what I now have to show for it, but I'm hoping that as a group we have enough to show and that it fits what the client is looking for. We shall have to wait and see.

Despite a few organisational issues and the confusion, I'm happy that I participated with this brief. It has widened my skill set and has given me a chance to look at projection mapping, which I wouldn't have considered looking into had it not been for this brief. I'm excited to see how it looks projected in Leeds, more on that as it develops.