Reflection

In my project, I think that my pre-production was the best part. In all areas, there were certain things that went well, and certain things that went wrong, but I feel like I went into full detail with my concept art and character design, and I thought much more about design choices such as colour, general appearance and symbolism. I also love the artwork I created for my final media products (not the animation) since the poster and illustrations are to my liking, and are completed at a standard that I find acceptable for my idea. I think this was thanks to careful planning and a lot of time spent generating ideas. Because of my mood boards, inspirations and sketches beforehand, I was able to draw three beautiful pieces that fit nicely with the themes of change, the importance of art and culture, and identity, that I have chosen to present.

For my previous project, I felt that my blog work was much better than my production and that if I planned my time better, I would have completed the animation to a higher standard. For this project, I focused a lot on creating and as a result, explained took a step back, hence not having as much detail in certain blogs as I want. In response to the last brief, I tried even harder to nail down organisation and planning for this one, using all the methods that work for me and changing up my whole routine in order to be more productive. It all went wrong when I fell ill, however, which I clearly wasn’t prepared enough for. I lost a lot of time and motivation and I found it hard to get back into my working mindset, which hasn’t happened before at such a crucial time. I fell behind and had to rush aspects such as my animation in order to get everything finished. On the final day of my project, I also had a terrible headache and found it hard to work at my usual pace and finish off blogs, and I was strongly thinking about the possibility of a resub because an extra week could have done wonders for my blog. However, I know that working for a resub is bad and that I should try my hardest to meet the deadline and push through, even with certain issues slowing me down, as I could always focus on getting back to ‘normal’ after the brief is over. It was mainly unfortunate and unlucky circumstances that really interrupted my flow and which I wasn’t prepared enough or knowledgeable enough to handle and bounce back from.

In terms of what could have been improved, I want my animation to be of higher quality, as there is a lot of parts I don’t like. I also wish I added more detail to the case study and research posts because, by my personal standards, I didn’t reach a point where I felt 100% done – I feel like I could have added more and done an even better job, and if that thought is there, even with a good grade, I am not always satisfied. Next time, I will focus on my risk assessment and nail down a contingency plan for everything that could go wrong, so that I am prepared in case something happens. I will also work towards an earlier date so that I finish earlier and have a couple of days back-up in case something does happen and prevent me from finishing on time. Another thing I would really like to improve on next time is keeping my enthusiasm, and joy for my work more consistent; I have noticed a trend with every project that I have done in the past couple of years of my life and that is that I am always so excited and brimming with ideas at the start, whereas at the end, I feel deflated, tired and annoyed with my work. I don’t want to believe that this is inevitable, I would like to feel motivated and passionate when doing my work throughout since that is when I produce my best work. Instead of working for the sake of finishing, I want to find a way to work towards my goals and feel more empowered each time I hit them.