E-sting Evaluation

STEP 1

STEP 2
When reviewing my E sting animation I will evaluate it with a written report. I will do this to ensure I can go into detail on my blog. I can also provide examples of screen shots so people can fully understand what I am talking about if they are inexperienced in editing or filming.

The way in which I exhibited my E sting was through a unstructed questionnaire. This is when the audience is given the opportunities to elaborate on their answers and views on the project. There are many ways in the media industry that work is exhibted. One of these ways could be when a upcoming film blockbuster is coming out. Usually companies will send copies of the film to cinema's across the world. Another way could be through billboards. Recently with the rise of social media networks youtube spent a lot of money on making billboards for the youtubers they wanted to promote. E.g. Epic Rap Battles of History.

Seeing as these methods of exhibting is unrealistic in the position I am in as a student. I could have exhibited in the form of focus groups. This is when a group of people watch the work and they then discuss it amougst themselves. Focus groups generate a lot of qualitative data which would have been useful in getting critical feedback from. 

I obtained feedback from a variety of sources. I got most of my replys from asking relatives and peers through sending them a link of the questionnaire through Smart survey. Smart survey is an online questionnaire that allows you to customize a questionaire. However the disadvantage if sending the questionnaire to these respondents is the risk of bias. As they are people I know and they know me this may effect the answers they give because they might answer in the way they think I want them to answer. This can affect the reliability of the answers. Never the less I didn't juest send out the questionnaire to people I know. I also posted the questionnaire on social media sites like Yahoo answers, facebook and reddit. 

The general feedback was rather positive with some helpful critism in improving various elemets within the E sting. With the feedback criteria requiring aesthetic and the technical opinions on the E sting I recieved a variety of answers. The general reactions to the work consisted of something good about the E sting and then some critiscm. For example some of the audiences responses were on the characters clothes and the actions they did.

During production this was an area in which I wanted to focus on so when I had some comments of appraisal of this it was a relieve to see that the work had payed off. However others did comment on some improvements that could have been made to the animation. Some of these were made about how the setting could have been more detailed and it needs more colour.

Some of these comments I would agree with because I do feel I could have added some more detail to the setting e.g. adding some sand to the floor. As in the screenshots show that there isn't much detail in it. If I were to have had more time I would have changed the setting because audience feedback is very important in the media industry.

STEP 3

Did You Experience Any Constraints When Making Your E-sting ?
When I was creating my E-sting I had some constraints on the content I could produce on my E-sting. This was mentioned on the E4 site presenting the brief.

These were compulsory guidelines that we were made to follow to make sure our E-stings could be aired on E4. If we were to break any of these our animation wouldn't be accepted so we had to be careful to follow this brief. Other constraints include the regulatory organisations like ofcom. This organisation will monitor the animation to make sure it doesn't break any of the governments rules. Ofcom enforce these rules like content that could potentially harm anyone else.

How Well Did You Manage Your Time?
In my opinion I felt I did rather well managing time however I was unorganized at times which may have been a factor for the final product. In total we had 24 days to finish the whole animation. 8 days for pre-production, filming and editing. During the process of pre-production I had made a production schedule to plan out when I was going to film. I didn't really stick to this however I finished the E-sting.

I also felt I didn't manage myself during the project because I had other assignments interrupting the production of the E sting. My time management skills aren't always the best while in production because of the other assignments going on in other courses. In the future I should be more organised when in production. Another example of lack of time management was the level of detail I went into the location. In my opinion I could have done more to the saloon and maybe used some materials for the sand on the ground. 

However in my opinion the level of detail I went into the characters in the time I was given I feel I did rather well in this.

Did You Meet The Requirements of the Briefs Content? 

The brief of the E-sting had many requirements that I needed to meet unless I wanted my E sting to be entered into the competition. One of these was to use one of the sound tracks in the E sting. 

I had met this guideline however in production I felt that the sound tracks were very limited to the theme of the project I was creating. There were 10 sound track beds and the theme of my project was a western showdown which made the sound track feel out of place in my opinion. Another condition that I had to meet was the duration of my E sting.The E sting had to be 10 seconds exactly to be entered in the competition. 

When I had done all of the shots for my production of the E sting it had come to about 7 seconds. I then decided to add more shots as I realized that the ones that I had didn't really capture the stereotypical western genre. Furthermore because of this I added some shots of tumble weed which is iconic in the western genre of film. 

Where Did You Obtain Feedback from and What Was The General Tone of it?

Most of the feed back given was mostly positive when my E sting was shown to the class however there was some useful changes I could make to the E sting in my spare time. Some of these were to spend more time on the setting as it didn't feel like a western. Another criticism that people had was that the scene with the tumbleweed was to quick and a lot of the E sting's setting could have been improved on. In my opinion I agree with this feedback as I felt that I didn't really manage my time well to add more detail in the E sting. I also felt the overall location wasn't built large enough to get enough of the detail in. As I got some feedback in class I thought it was nessercery to get feedback from another source. Most of the feedback from the social media sites I posted my E sting on was also positive but with critism. Most of this feedback was mixed as some thought the characters weren't detailed enough but some really approved of them. When I created the characters I enjoyed making them into the stereotypical bad guy and good guy. However it was disapointing when people thought they looked similar. If I have two different characters in another project I will make sure to give them distinctive differences so they will be noticed. 

What Do You Feel You have Learn't From This Project?

When replying to a Brief it is importaunt that people make sure they reach the deadline as it can really be crucial in making a living within this industry. As I am a student meeting deadlines is crucial to getting the qualification I need. As going through this project I am getting better with meeting deadlines. I have also learn't that some companies may restrict you in some ways in creativity. Before I didn't really realise that the companies don't want you to be creative with some work. Usually they will want something distinctive to show people. However I realised that this isn't always the case. During the time I was learning the theory of the briefs I found out that you can be creative with briefs about the details they don't mention. E.g. Genre and Themes. When taking on real briefs I will keep this in mind when replying to it.

Do You Think You Would Make A Good Candidate For Working In The Media Industry?

In my opinion I believe I would make a good candidate because I feel I have some experience in working with briefs. Including this brief I have responded to I have also been involved in projects in my spare time. I was in a group of three taking part in an animation project. We divided up the work and my task was to produce a film of the attractions of the town where the project was based. Once I had made the product I was given £30 pounds for expenses I had made in the project. As in my class not many people have this sort of experience so I feel I would be more suitable in the eyes of other clients for them to give me a commission. 

How Do You Feel Taking Animation Further?

Although I have had fun working with animation for the first time I prefer the film format to the animation. However I feel that the skills I have procured by practicing animation could very well benefit in the film format of the media industry. Animation requires a lot of patience also in the case of film you have to make sure everything in a scene is to your liking which is also the case with animation however you pay more attention to how the enviorement and characters move. I could use this skill when filming and spotting contunity errors.