eval

CRITICAL EVALUATION
Audiences

Aaron Barefoot
Interactive Media Production 2009
I9008638
CHIRO - FLASH ANIMATION PIECE

My piece “Chiro” a tale of a young girl who finds herself in contact with a god of death ends up with getting more than she wished for, my production of this was very troubled as my idea constantly was changing to fit something more suitable each time. The idea began with her going on an adventure, but the amount of time put into each scene meant that doing this would be too time consuming, and so I had to simplify my idea to what it is now.

I feel its aesthetically a strong piece, I would of liked to have included more interaction, however I could not see a place where it would suit having more interaction so I left that aside. Flash gave me many problems, A lot of times I had to colour in areas with the brush which in turn broke my images up into 20-30 sections for a single images which if course made it very difficult to work with, I could not convert to symbol either as I’d loose ability to manipulate as much. Technical problems was what stood in my way with this program. Unfittingly I done my work scene by scene, each scene a new fla. file. When it came to putting them all onto one timeline many problems arose and I lost a lot of scenes through this, (these scenes will be in my project development) Flash would state “replace missing files” or not, either way my files seem to get lost even though on the original file they worked fine. This was a major hindrance to my work.

I feel that it makes up for it however in its visuals, I employed a lot of filters etc to give depth to the image instead of the traditionally over simplified look of flash animations. I would of liked to have produced a stronger storyline, and had the use of voice actors to give much more of a viewing experience to my piece.

The story, being simple, I feel speaks for itself and the viewer can gather what happens in the piece and can hopefully relate to the character and feel sympathy for Chiro during the piece. It contains some glitches I noticed after I had finished, some brush dots that I couldn’t remove without starting the whole piece again. Flash is a fairly difficult program for me to use as it’s very particular about what can and can’t be done. I’d like to feel however overall my animation is fairly strong and is hopefully different to what is usually produced on flash and has more of a vibrancy to itself. If I could start again I would simplify the story and make sure I work only on one timeline as again, it caused me much trouble in finishing the piece. Also I would make sure the paint bucket detects the shapes so I wouldn’t have to paint by brush which was very counterproductive to my piece. Overall however I feel it came out well and I learnt a lot about using Flash.

fus

what i've been looking at all day

Chiro

Character Designs

Here are the drawings that led to my character, Chiro.

First designs, I liked the look of this, but on importing it, and attempting it on Flash I felt it was a bit too complecated and would of been to hard to animate.


I done some doodles while on the train and decided to go more with a simplie version, with a more cartoon feel.


these, a more concrete look at the character, with some angles.


final design for Chiro, made in Flash:

Flash - Audiences - Research

Animation in relation to audience

1. The Tired city
www.iwantmyflash.com


“The tired city” is a great example of an animation aimed at a more mature audience, it is very stylised and employs many well devised shots and angles to give it density and atmosphere. It uses these in itself to add to the story, and also relies on the user to interpretate these, thus making it a more mature piece. Also the darker colours, and fair amount of dialogue imply this. It is also longer which is more suitable for an older audience, as younger viewers would more than likely loose focus. I would classify this as an adult piece (age 18+. This is the style I would like to produce in my flash, a more mature, aesthetically thoughtful and diverse piece.

2. Joe Cartoon
www.joecartoon.com


A good flash example of animation aimed at the young adult audience, around 18-24, being more brightly coloured and simpler, aiming more for the humour element than artistic etc. it’s fairly crude and vulgar and uses bad language for jokes, which is another reason for it being aimed at younger adults, and not suitable as such for a young audience. They also use a lot more interaction and are closer to games, than say short animations. The interaction again is to add to the humour element, and give the bored young adult something to do.

3. Dog of man
www.fat-pie.com


A very dark and strange series of flash movies by David Frith, it’s clearly not mainstream material, yet this site has a cult following and that is it’s own fan base, generally young adults, it contains a lot of gore and of course isn’t suitable for teenagers. The context of the movies again is aimed at this “cult” following. People who like dark humour and don’t shy away from It because of what’s happening, but instead find it funny/appealing. The fan base would be generally 18+ to around 25, young adults. Aesthetically it is less simple and has a fairly high quality production which is also something that aims it to a higher aged audience.

4. Skunk fu
http://www.cartoonsaloon.ie/website.htm


A fairly simple and short flash called “Skunk Fu” it’s inoffensive, simply colours, quite bright and friendly, so I’d say this is aimed at a mainstream teenage audience, it has very basic narrative and is more about fun and humour than anything else. It doesn’t use any dialogue and does this I feel to keep it simple so the viewer can just see it and understand the basic linear stories involved. It is produced well and is fairly fast paced to be in tune with the younger audience. According to its synopsis it is infact aimed at 6-11 so around teenage, young teenagers which I gathered from viewing it beforehand. This in itself is a unique audience.

Chirod Flash character