I created a questionnaire for my animation. Here are the results:
1. Did you understand that a focus of the animation was Eadweard Muybridge’s photography career?
I got a 100% positive response for this question showing how I was able to convey a clear purpose through my animation.
2. Were you engaged throughout the entire animation?
I got a 100% positive response and so it shows how my ideas were presented in an engaging way.
3. How appealing did you find the design of the environments?
For this feedback, the majority was entirely positive but for the lower ratings, I can see how my environments can appear flat despite the detail added.
4. How appealing did you find the design of the character?
The majority of ratings are on the higher end however I understand that the design of the character is highly cartoon oriented which is a specific style that not everyone would personally favour; opening up for the possibility for a negative response.
5. How well did the animation flow between environments?
Whilst the higher ratings are nice, I understand how my animation could warrant a more negative response due to the fact that my scene transitions weren’t necessarily very intriguing. To add better flow to the scenes, I need to think about clever ways to link scenes.
6. How much did you enjoy the music?
I am happy with these results as the majority are positive and I understand that the responses can be justified with personal preference.
7. What kind of atmosphere came across in my animation?
I am very happy with these results as I successfully conveyed the relaxed and positive atmosphere in my animation as shown by the responses that say things like ‘chill’ and ‘joyful and upbeat’.
8. What aspect did you like most about the animation?
I am happy that the environment design was most favoured as they were the main focus of the animation. I feel that the results are fair as I did spend less time on the other aspects and so to improve, I should work on balancing the effort to spread evenly across the production of each feature so that everything is at a high standard instead of having one or two redeeming qualities. This will ensure for a good quality all-rounder.
9. What didn’t you like about the animation and how might you change it?
With a specific response, I found that the idea of having Muybridge’s original photography might not have fit well in the animation. I could’ve thought about re-creating his photos so that they don’t appear so out of place.
Another popular response was the way that the wings appeared not to move. I understand this criticism as they were only moving a little bit and so it wasn’t very clearly shown. Next time, I need to take into consideration that when audiences watch an animation, there will be other things that will catch their attention such as backgrounds and camerawork. This means that I need to make sure that things I definitely want to be taken note of are exaggerated to an extent where it is clear but not too over the top so that it becomes tacky or is able to overshadow too much of the other aspects of my animation.
10. Would you share this animation with your friends and family?
This response shows that it is suitable for a wide audience and is interesting enough for people to share with others.
Overall, the feedback was positive in terms of how my peers liked the nature and message of my animation. Things I have picked up from the constructive criticism is that I need to be able to apply an equal amount of effort to all aspects of my projects so that the result is an all-rounder. I should also keep in mind that when creating an animation, exaggeration is important for when I want to draw attention to a certain aspect – in this case, it was the wings as my audience couldn’t see that they were moving.
Jasmine Cooper 