My Experience on This Project

Originally, I had made the decision to use the feedback obtained on both characters a platform for making alterations to them in order to create better, improved animation tests. However I soon came to realise that I had been unrealistic with this goal, because the original set of animation tests took longer than expected due to technical issues. Therefore, I decided to use the feedback gathered through the questionnaires as a way of analysing the success of each character, and to acknowledge how they could have potentially been improved if I were to use them again. 

Farah

For the character of Farah, luckily I managed to gather a lot of positive feedback. However something that did come up on more than one occasion was the fact that her 3D tests were less believable and slightly more robotic than the 2D versions. Therefore, if I were to animate her again in 3D, I would have to consider spending more time on it, in order to achieve a more fluid performance. In terms of her ability to be used in the 3D world, I was very happy with her design and felt it worked in both mediums. If I were to produce more tests, I would consider not just play blasting the Maya files, but actually rendering them all out with a background, because I felt this is something that may have also made the 3D tests seem less appealing in comparison to the 2D versions.  

Toby

After a while, when it was too late to make any massive changes, I had realised I was not as happy with my design for Toby. I couldn't fully put my finger on why, I think he just ended up not looking as good as I had been aiming for. However, despite this, he did prove to still have popularity amongst the participants. I came to the conclusion that as a character he was better suited to being 2D, because once I had finished modelling him in Maya, I thought he looked slightly odd. This reinforced to me, the importance of design when a character is going to be taken from 2D to 3D, and I now feel like I could do not only a better job a second time around, but I would also be able to go about it much quicker! 

Animation Testing

The animation tests produced allowed me to gather a broad and non-biased set of results, however there are certain aspects that I would consider making if I were to do an experiment like this again:

• I would ensure all tests were properly rendered with a background in order to keep it fair
• I would consider the use of more camera movement in 2D and not just 3D, due to the fact that this time I took advantage of the 3D tools at my disposal with out thinking about it for 2D
• I would produce performances that presented more movement and more extravagant actions actions from both characters, as I feel the tests for Farah were more subtle in comparison to the tests of Toby.

Writing 

The writing section of this project was by far one of the most interesting essays that I have had to carry out research for. It was an opportunity for me not only to submerge myself in a range of academic sources, but to also reach out and communicate with different practitioners, as well as taking advantage of my trips to MAF and ASFF. The process of gathering primary feedback from the practical work was extremely interesting, because I was able to identify a pattern running through the results, which hugely informed by final chapter. Finally, this project encouraged me to think more deeply about the more sensitive, cultural aspects that can influence a character's design. It encouraged me to have a more in depth outlook on the ethical issues that surround different stereotypes in animation, and how it is important to consider this when designing characters, especially when a character is of a specific ethnicity, gender, sexuality or religion. 

I have really enjoyed this project and  I feel I have not only produced some fresh concept work of which I am very happy with, I have also come out of this project feeling more enlightened and aware of the deeper, more sensitive aspects to character design.