Alex Castro
Project Final Report Project Title LoopDeLoop - Chicken - OUAN503 Project Name Description Project Sponsor Author(s) Date
LoopDeLoop - Chicken Create a short looping animation around the theme ‘Chicken’. Steve Henderson, Module Leader, Animation Alexi Castro, Student Animator, Animation April 21st, 2017
Summary LoopDeLoop is an international animation competition with the goal of creating short looping animation around a monthly theme. This month was ‘Chicken’.
I chose this brief because I have struggled to find another illustrative brief I would like to do instead and I felt that this was one of the best competitions for animation. It was a challenge to think of something to loop for this theme which I liked also. Project Successes Name
Idea Generation
Speed
Description
Lots of ideas were generated for this project including many stereotypical jokes and ideologies around chickens. E.g. Chicken crossing the road, headless chicken, bucket of chicken etc. I thought the idea of a chicken getting possessed was a unique idea. Work production was smooth, flowing and surprisingly quick. The character was so simple it didn’t take long to get him ready for animation and the whole thing was done using keyframes and VFX in After effects which sped the process up quite a lot.
Unexpected Events Description
Rejected Animation
Impact
Animation didn’t get shown on competition blog.
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Actions Taken Received written feedback in an email from one of the admins, got further feedback from tutors and university to better understand why it didn’t get submitted and what I need to improve.
Project Final Report
Lessons Learned Description
Impact on my Practice
New Software Skills
To get the results I wanted I had to look up tutorials online to create the effect of the portal. Through this I found a website I can download free VFX and how I can manipulate them with some of AfterEffects already programmed effects. After receiving the email with feedback and reasoning why it was not going on the blog, I remained professional and accepted the criticism and began preparing for the next theme to submit again.
Professionalism
Project Performance Planned Finish Date
26/03/17
Actual Finish Date
25/03/17
Success Criteria
1
Does It answer the brief criteria?
On Schedule Variance On Schedule (in days)
Meeting Expectations Criteria Met
Is it informative? Is it relevant?
Was the deadline met?
Did you miss anything out?
X
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Ahead of Schedule
Behind Schedule
X
Comments Yes, the animation looped and fit the theme. N/A Yes, my work clearly reflects the theme of the competition. Yes, the project was submitted the day before the deadline. All work was submitted successfully.
Alex Castro
Project Final Report Project Title D&AD Fur For Animals - OUAN503 Project Name Description Project Sponsor Author(s) Date
D&AD - Fur For Animals Create a content campaign for Respect For Animals that will change the minds of people buying or wearing fur. Steve Henderson, Module Leader, Animation Alexi Castro, Student Animator, Animation April 21st, 2017
Summary The brief asks for an effective campaign that will make people think about the moralities of killing animals for their fur and why we should stop this. For one it is inhumane and immoral. Without using shock tactics i need to contribute to creating a campaign in a team to inform people what really happens in the fur trade and why we as people should do something to stop it. In order to apply my practice to this i have teamed up with 2 other animators to create a demo for a mobile phone game which is interactive and fun but also informative to the player. This will target a wider range of people from young to old as there are no shock tactics or blood and will inform them with facts when they die, collect an item or complete a level. I chose this brief because it is a campaign and a cause I strongly believe in and I felt that I could bring some of that passion into my work for anyone to see when they view our game demo or pitch bible. Project Successes Name
Project Planning Communication
Work Flow
Description
Project Planning was clear, concise and easy to follow which allowed for clear instruction of what needed to be done by which date and by which person. Communication between co workers was clear, no misunderstandings or misleading information about work. Weekly meetings were scheduled to check progress of individual work for this project. Work production was steady and flowing from one week to the next. An online drive was created for each person to upload as work was completed so it could be used and accessed by someone else for relevant work.
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Project Final Report
Unexpected Events Description
Rendering Time
Impact
Delayed post production for 1 day
D&AD website submission went Submission date was offline due to overflow of extended by 5 days submissions on deadline. Wrong file format in submission. Email from D&AD informing us that our submission included file formats that were not allowed and remove credits to preserve anonymity.
Actions Taken Post production video parts such as sound were given to the editor to take home and apply when the animation was finished.
Resubmitted on new date.
Submission was unlocked by D&AD and allowed to be changed to correct file format and removal of credits.
Lessons Learned Professionalism
Description
Impact on my Practice
Working for a live brief made me think much more professionally in how I present my work, always very clean, clear and concise with relevant logo branding on each piece of work. Also consistent formatting in presentation of artwork, all on art boards with relevant logo. Working collaboratively has helped me to mange my time better as I have to meet weekly deadlines to produce work that can be used further by other people. For example, getting my character design done when it should be so I can pass it on to the 3D modeler. Working collaboratively has helped me learn to be flexible and adaptable to suit the needs of other people and not just myself. It has benefitted my communication skills, presentation as a group skills, time keeping the ability to meet compromises and giving constructive feedback.
Time Management
Working collaboratively
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Project Final Report
Project Performance Planned Finish Date
21/03/17
Actual Finish Date
22/03/17
Success Criteria
1
Does It answer the brief criteria?
On Schedule Variance On Schedule (in days)
Meeting Expectations Criteria Met
Is it informative?
Is it relevant?
Was the deadline met?
Did you miss anything out?
X
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Ahead of Schedule
Behind Schedule
X
X
Comments The brief asks for a new idea for a digital world. We have met this criteria by creating a Smartphone game app. All facts and statements have been picked from reliable sources such as Respect for animals website and other charity pages as well as online news articles. It is in the form of a digital media to meet the criteria, it features animal characters relevant to the fur trade, it doesn't use shock tactics, it informs the public of the nature of the trade in hopes of persuading them to change their minds about buying and wearing fur. Yes, the project was submitted on the day of the deadline and resubmitted on the new deadline when the website went down. No, all work was submitted in a pitch bible and a final demo animation of how to play the game. All artwork created was presented in either the pitch bible or the video itself.
Alex Castro
Project Final Report Project Title Penguin Book Cover Design - OUAN503 Project Name Description Project Sponsor Author(s) Date
Penguin Book Cover Design Design a new cover for 'To Kill A Mockingbird' in the adult fiction category. Steve Henderson, Module Leader, Animation Alexi Castro, Student Animator, Animation April 21st, 2017
Summary To Kill a Mockingbird is an adult fiction book that explores the ideologies of racism and stereotypes during the time of The Great Depression in the state of Alabama, USA. I chose this brief because I want to focus on my illustrative skills seeing as I would like to make a career in the concept pre-production stage in the gaming industry. I thought this would be a good competition to practice some of those skills on a professional live brief. Project Successes Name
Research & Planning Final Product
Description
Research was a key part of my planning as I have not read ‘To Kill A Mockingbird ‘. I began by reading some plot overviews, picking out key visual points and looking at previous published covers. The final product fit the brief and looked professional in design and composition. I was happy with the outcome.
Unexpected Events Description
Software Failure
Impact
Lost work
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Actions Taken Restarted the software but was unable to recover work. Had to restart.
Project Final Report
Lessons Learned Description
Impact on my Practice
Saving work often Professionalism
Prevent loss of work should software fail. How to create a book cover that would be acceptable to publish worldwide. keeping my work consistent with house style and tidiness.
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Project Performance Planned Finish Date
06/03/17
Actual Finish Date
06/03/17
Success Criteria
0
Does It answer the brief criteria?
On Schedule Variance On Schedule (in days)
Meeting Expectations Criteria Met
Is it informative? Is it relevant?
Was the deadline met?
Did you miss anything out?
X
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Ahead of Schedule
Behind Schedule
X
X
Comments Yes, I produced and submitted a fresh new cover for penguin that is relevant to the story. N/A Yes, my cover related to the story and was suitable for any audience. Yes, the project was submitted on the day of the deadline. All work was submitted successfully.
Alex Castro
Project Final Report Project Title LoopDeLoop - Six - OUAN503 Project Name Description Project Sponsor Author(s) Date
LoopDeLoop – Six – OUAN503 Create a short looping animation around the theme ‘Six’. Steve Henderson, Module Leader, Animation Alexi Castro, Student Animator, Animation April 21st, 2017
Summary LoopDeLoop is an international animation competition with the goal of creating short looping animation around a monthly theme. This month was ‘Six’.
I chose this brief because my animation didn’t make it onto the competition blog for LoopDeLoop last month and i wanted to challenge myself to try again. Project Successes Name
Time management Organization
Post-Production
Description
Final product completed long before the deadline for university hand in and competition deadline as well and to a good standard. Project was well organized in planning, research and production. All assets composed in pre-comps in After Effects and all layers named appropriately. Made work production clear, concise and easy to follow if I were to pass on to another person to work on. Exported as image sequence and rendered very quick. Brought into Premier to add sound. All free sound effects worked well.
Unexpected Events Description
Impact
Importing files from Photoshop to Scrambled layers out of order and all over the AfterEffects.
composition with no apparent order. Photoshop document was intact but did not transport across the same way.
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Actions Taken Tried to reorganized it and animate in key frames but body parts kept coming apart. Had to install DUIK and rig character using DUIK to keep limb layers together to do a quick animation.
Project Final Report
Lessons Learned Description
Organization
Impact on my Practice
Being more organized in advance helped workflow run much quicker and smoother with less mistakes as well as being more professional. Learned new 2.5D parallax effect in AfterEffects to create a nice 3D panning effect one the planets as the spaceship passes.
New Software Skills
Project Performance Planned Finish Date
18/04/17
Actual Finish Date
20/04/17
Success Criteria
2
Does It answer the brief criteria?
On Schedule Variance On Schedule (in days)
Meeting Expectations Criteria Met
Is it informative? Is it relevant?
Was the deadline met?
Did you miss anything out?
X
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Ahead of Schedule
Behind Schedule
X
X
Comments Yes, I created a looping animation around the theme of ‘Six’ Yes, it loops and contains reference to the number six (Saturn the 6th planet from the sun). Yes, the project was submitted way before university deadline and competition deadline to a good standard. No, all work was submitted.