My 10 Second Animation Evaluation - "The Power of the Flower"

The Power of the Flower.

After scanning into photoshop each originally hand-drawn frame and labouring for a whole day drawing over each individual 100 frames and rendering them on a video timeline, then adding the flickering background, floor and key framing the trees, I have finished, and I am happy with the aesthetic I have achieved in only a weeks work. 

I have managed to achieve a snippet of narrative in only 10 seconds of footage, which I am really impressed with, with also an element of ambiguity. The audience are left on a cliff hanger thinking what will happen to him as the trees enclose him. I think my narrative is made very evident, with the inclusion of the "glowing aura" around the flower, indicating to the audience its physical importance and therefore the desire of the character to own it. Then this glow fades as he reaps it from the earth, showing to the audience that this is a bad thing that he has done,  as the trees enclose him the audience are made aware how the earth is retaliating.

I love the overall aesthetic of the animation. The setting remains colourless and monochrome, only Butternut and the flower possess colour, which is very symbolic. Like Butternut lives in a world desolate of life and vitality, so he seeks life in the form of a magical flower, which he adorns to himself to show their is life in the world after-all. However, this act depletes the life of the flower at the same time, creating a paradox. The background I individually hand-crafted myself with ink on paper. I dispersed the ink into patches by flicking water to create an acid-wear, expressive look. When added onto the animation the blotches flicker from each slide creating this atmospheric, stormy feel, complementing the austere aesthetic of the animation. Butternut himself flickers from frame to frame, enhancing this sketchy, imperfect feel. The colours I have used all coexist perfectly, the orange and purple, although near opposites on the colour wheel, go together so well, along with the monochrome.

If I had longer time I would of spent more time on the overall quality, by outlining the flower more, upping the dpi of my scans so the video could play in really high resolution, and maybe neatening his movements. I would of also adjusted my character to a more complex level, maybe included spiny legs so I could show a walk cycle and so on.

The biggest challenge I faced in the development was adding in an extra frame to exaggerate his pulling movement. After feedback and lots of examination I felt it was most vital to adjust his movement to exaggerate the pull. I corrected this by adding another frame in-between, which improved things massively. I also found time a challenge, I set myself a big task in a small time period, but I have managed my time effectively and completed to a good standard.