Evaluation pictures.

These are screenshots of the different programmes we used during our project that we will use in our evaluation.

Comparison of our lead character with another lead character.

Our main character is an often bullied and shy kid who turns out to have an extraordinary gift, just like... Harry Potter.

There are many comparisons to draw between Potter and our character.  An example is both characters' escape into a magical world where their problems stop. However our character realises that this world is not the honourable path and chooses to face his fears at the end of the film.

What we are Happy and not Happy with in our Film opening

The things that we are happy with in our childrens film opening are as follows: how smoothly our characters were animated, i.e, their walking animations and the fighting sequence. For walking animations we drew individual walking movements so that the animations didn't look stiff and lazy. We also added blinking to the close-up shots of our protagonist, we did this to add to the realism. We are also happy with the vibrant colours that we used in the backgrounds and the colours of the characters, we used vibrant colours because its will attract the childrens attention and keep them interested in watching the film.

But there are some things that we are not so happy about; such as the fact that we couldn't use recording equipment for some parts due to time contraints due to the animation process. We also didn't leave enough time for music so we had to use loops which we don't think sound that professional.  

What Could Our Target Age Group Learn & Enjoy From Our Film?

Our Target Age group would enjoy the adventure that the main character goes through as they would be able to relate with him as they are of a similar age. We think they would enjoy the animation and would find parts of the film funny, for example the last scene with the flagpole. The viewers would sympathise with the main character and feel sorry for him, which would make them feel that bullying is wrong, which is a good moral message. Our character would also learn to face their fears as our main character does this near the end of the film.

Garage Band

We made all our music on Garage band, this was a lengthly process that took about 3 lessons to do. however we did not have any major difficulties while doing this.

Editing

In the editing we put in all the credits and title scenes and used video transitions such as fades and dissolves. We also put the soundtrack in and cropped some off the scenes to remove the table we filmed on from the scene.

Flag Post Scene

In this scene we drew one image and then zoomed out with the camera to create the effect we desired. We did not have any particular difficulties whilst filming this scene.

First Scene, "Main character walking"

This picture shows the set and the characters for the first 5 seconds of the film. As you can see we made 6 cutouts of the main character and used them in the correct order to make it look as if the character is walking. This was important to us, as when we viewed past work, we saw that the character just "floated" across the screen and we didn't think that it looked very good. 

Bully's First appearance

In this scene we drew the background set and then, we drew 3 copies of the main character each one with different facial expressions. This was so that we could make our character blink. The character on the left has eyes with no pupils and we created separate pupils so that we could move his eyes around. We drew the bully's shadow and moved it into the scene gradually.

Bully "hero Shot"

In this scene the bully appears for the first time. We drew the background and then we drew the bully on a separate piece of paper. Then we used blu-tac to stick the bully onto the set. When we did the stop-motion we moved the sheet of paper to make it look as if the main character was looking up at the big, intimidating bully.

Running Scene

In this scene where the main character runs from the bully, we drew the scene and the character in different stages of the running motion.  

Dolly Shot

In this scene where the main character runs from the bully, we drew the scene and the character in different stages of the running motion.  

This is our dolly shot where the child is trapped, we drew everything out and ingeniously used paper and Blu-Tac to keep the character in position. 

Fight Scene

For the fight scene, we made the characters go behind a bin so that the children do not see the fight. We drew the set and the characters and cut the characters up as the moved behind the bin. For the part where the bully comes out from behind the bin, we cut the set, so that we could just move the bully without cutting him up, we realised that this is also what we should have done for the whole scene.

 

For all the scenes that we filmed, we put the camera on a tripod and put the scene on the table as this enabled us to move the characters around easily.

Test Footage

This is test footage of our scene, deciding how the characters will move, how the shadow (in this case played by a pen) will appear, and the child's reaction.

This is test footage of our dolly shot, we found that there were some potential challenges with this scene as it was difficult to keep the character still, however we managed to overcome this by using Blu-Tac.

Credits

In the opening sequence to Monsters Inc there are lively credits made out of animations of doors, while some upbeat jazz music is playing. This keeps the opening sequence interesting and the children do not get bored.

For our opening sequence, we will fade in credits onto the frame during the sequence so that the credits are not boring for the viewers. The information that will be displayed is JOCA productions and the names of all who created the film.

Potential target audience

The potential target audience for our childrens film are young children, around 3-9 years old.
This target audience watch a lot of cartoons and animations, and that is partly why we have decided to create a stop-motion animation. We believe that young children of both genders would enjoy watching our film but because the main character is a young boy it is likely that boys would be more interested in watching it than girls would be. 

Basic Walking-Stop Motion

When we watched other students stop motion videos, we noticed that they werent making it seem like the character was moving, therefore one of our main aims in our childrens film, was to make it look like the characters are actually moving. This video clip is a preliminary clip of how we are going to make the characters seem like they are moving.

Preliminary and Final Character Designs

In this picture, we have going from left to right our preliminary designs for our main character, on the right is our final design. As you can see we are going for the typical vulnerable school child who is picked on. 

In this picture we have our preliminary  designs for our "bully" character, going from our first idea, far left to our final design far left. We have gone for your typical "jock" type american style bully.

Shots and Props list + Location planning, scripts and costumes

Shots:

• Establishing shot- Main character walking down the corridor, establishing the scene.
• Over the shoulder shot- Long distance shot form over the top of the bullys shoulder to show he is closing in on the main character.
• Mid shot- Main character is shown walking down the hall, with a smile on his face, until he realises the bully is behind him and his expression changes.
• Long shot- Main character is shown at the dead end of the hall, trapped by the bully.
• Close-up- Bully is shown in extreme detail from boots to head.
• Two shot- Main character and bully.

Props: 

• Most of our props are drawn, including sets, characters etc. Therefore we wont need to bring in any additional props besides paper and pens. All props will be drawn in accordance with the scene and what its needed.

location planning:

•  We will capture the stop-motion footage in the classroom with the set and the characters all that is visible in the frame.

Scripts and comstumes:

• There is only one bit of speech during the opening sequence, when the main character says "That's what I wish had happened, but this is what really happened."  As the film is animation there are no costumes.

Storyboard Draft 1

We have chosen plot idea 2, because we came up with more ideas in terms of cinematography and sound design, in contrast to the others which we felt were a bit basic and unoriginal.

As you can see we have drawn out all the scenes in the animation and included details of what happens within the scenes.