Reflective statement

For our summative submission next monday, we have to complete our reflective statementsas a means to understnad our semester better and get organised for next term.

I always enjoying writing these reflective statements out as it gives me a chance to thinking about what and how I can improve on in the future. And as we are continuing on with our films next term rather than starting something new, then the changes can be made as I go along.

Here is my final reflective statement below;

"I feel like this semester has been rather successful for me, whilst I did place a heavy workload on myself, I think it was completely worth it as I have created solid groundwork to work off of next year. I have thoroughly enjoyed all of the experiments I was able to do and the varying results I had. I think I work best when I am able to work this way and try new things. I really love my story and how it has progressed and morphed into its own world. As the story is so close to my heart, being related to my family, I think myself and others were worried at the start of the academic year that I may be too precious with the characters and plot to make good decisions about the story and the characters portrayals. But I think with the help from everyone in the studio and with the tutor’s guidance, that I was able to create a working and cohesive world for the characters to live in for the four minutes of the film. I know more drastic changes will probably take place during production next semester but I am open and willingly to them. I know they will make the film better and more cohesive to audience and I just want to do the story justice and tell my Grandad’s story.

The areas that I think require the most work and development are probably the techniques that I will be using to animate next semester. I have rounded out the end of this year carrying out animation tests on oil on glass, charcoal, watercolour and inks. And I think all of these tests have helped me immensely. The knowledge and experiences in these techniques have been so helpful and I think will put me in good stead for the start of next term. Over the Christmas break, I want to look a bit deeper into the movements that the characters will have when in the dinghy and how the mechanics of that will work. I really want to nail those scenes and have some great pieces of character animation so the audiences can really get to know the characters. I think this may be the biggest task I will face throughout this project, as the characters portrayals are so important to the story and peoples understanding of the situation.

Things I would differently if given the chance would probably the time, I spent developing environments and the close-up shots of the characters. The time I spent doing this was obviously important to the final product and defiantly necessary to the project. But I think I may have over done the time needed and lapsed into an area of just creating self-fulfilling art. Next semester I need to keep myself on target and on schedule to make sure everything is finished on time and with time to spare just in case anything is to happen. Either way, I am excited to see the progression and to get started on the production portion of the film."