Create and justify a planned animation (M3, D2)

Learning Outcome 3: Be able to create a planned animation 

M3: Optimise the content for use in the final animation 

Proper exporting of files is instrumental in achieving seamless distribution across media platforms. The device on which the video is intended to be played greatly affects export settings. For example, exporting a file to a size that is too large will strain a smartphone's memory space and processing power, resulting in sluggish loading and increased memory consumption. Due to this, the video will perform ineffectively or even fail to play.

File compression is also a significant consideration. More compressed files, though smaller and more convenient to share, lose quality. This becomes particularly apparent when the content is displayed on larger screens—a movie theatre, for example—where a low-quality video will be pixelated and amateurish.

Format-wise, a .mov file is higher quality as it is less compressed. It is ideal for high-end presentations or editing workflows where you need to preserve visual fidelity. However, .mov files are large and not well-suited for online sharing or playback on mobile devices. .mp4 files are more compatible and much smaller with more compression, which can degrade the overall video quality.

.mp4 (low quality)

The screenshot above shows me exporting my final animation as an .mp4 file. This format enables compression, making the file suitable for a wide range of devices, particularly smartphones and web platforms that may not support larger file sizes. In developing the animation's background, I opted for JPEG image files, which are a bitmap format that has a smaller file size. This was useful for optimising for mobile devices as per the brief's recognition that smartphones would make up the primary viewing option for audiences.

This approach allows the viewers to benefit from being able to stream the promotional animation on their device, providing the option for easy sharing with other people, which will eventually increase the brand's reach. To put this into perspective, the compressed .mp4 version of the animation was made smaller to just 115.4 MB, making it much more available to share. Of course, the smaller file size comes at the expense of image quality about resolution. In fact, the lower-resolution version of the animated promotion will be pixelated, and not only that, but the audio can suffer from loss of fidelity from compression too, in turn causing difficulties for the viewer's experience while watching an animation with an unclear message.

I decided to export the animation using the H.264 video codec to find a middle ground between quality and size. The H.264 (also known as AVC) codec is a popular codec that permits compression while keeping acceptable audio and visual output quality and helps limit the undesirable quality degradation of the animation, while still potentially showing up as an engaging animation on a range of devices.

.mov files (high quality)

In the screenshot above, I exported the final animation as a .mov file to maximise visual quality. The .mov format preserves all elements from the editing process at the highest fidelity, ensuring that visuals appear clear and sharp for viewers. I selected this format specifically to enhance the animation’s overall presentation, making it ideal for high-resolution displays such as computer monitors and cinema screens.

This type of file is very useful for the purpose of presenting the animation on larger screens, where preserving as much detail and clarity as possible really matters, but is challenging for mobile users. Because of it being such a big file size and using ProRes compression, the video will use lots of device memory and processing. It might be difficult or slow to stream on smartphones, which could hinder access for mobile users. See below for how I navigated the large file. In this final export, I also used vector image file formats. Vector graphics use mathematical coordinates instead of pixels, unlike bitmap images and are capable of being enlarged to any size without compromising quality. This means that the animation looked clear and sharp, even when projected onto bigger screens. In one of the scenes, I incorporated a moving image background instead of a static image to improve visual interest and help engage the audience further, giving depth and context to the setting.

The final file was 1.46 GB, because of the high-quality resolution content and many moving visuals incorporated into the edit. This obviously delivers a much more immersive and professional viewing experience whilst also demanding a lot more from the devices that will be used during the presentation.

Final Low Resolution Edit:

Final High Resolution Edit:

D2: Justify the choice of animation technique for the frame rate and duration 

To develop the zombie animation, I used a stop-motion, clay-mation style to allow the audience to engage with the characters in a unique and visually distinct way. Animating with this technique involves deeply story-specific and developable parts; effectively, I basically create the story as I animate, and thus it has a specific look and tone that I do not think other animation styles would have achieved. The motion I went through was completed at 24 frames per second (fps), which is the industry standard. By achieving this frame rate, the resulting animation reflects realistic time and motion; it is fluid, instead of stuttering or jerky. Working at 24fps also enabled me to ascertain the number of shots needed to successfully meet the requirements of a short promotional animation of approximately one minute or greater. I also chose to utilise these techniques as they demonstrate stylistic features that my intended audience will be familiar with and enjoy. The claymation style lends itself nicely to a nostalgic and unique visual that is unlike a more standard animation. This allows not only for an impactful viewing experience but also emotionally engages the audience with the same visual styles they are already somewhat intimately associated with. With the childhood feel of claymation combined with a darker, horror-based theme of zombies and combat, the animation directly appeals to my target demographic. The nature of the animation is unexpected, while also having an engaging experience when there is a combination of the childhood concept of clay animation, coupled with the story's visually horror-inspired content.

While 24fps is typical for most films and animations, we often see higher frame rates such as 60fps in sports footage to exhibit fast-moving clarity, however, 24fps was accommodating of the slower purposeful pacing of this project and allowed for greater storytelling capacity; in addition, it gave the viewer time to take in and understand the plot line and visuals, which I considered to be an important factor given the subject matter and target audience. With that in mind, there was a specific moment at the beginning of the animation where I chose to speed up the worm's movement. This increased the fps of this specific moment, which I changed into a compound clip on Final Cut Pro and edited its duration, increasing the parts fps to around 40 fps. I made this minor change for smoother motion and fluidity of the action to avoid the sequence coming off stagnant or unnatural, and simply by speeding it up for even a short period, the animation felt more active and was more visually interesting while still stylistically in line with the rest of the animation. This may have also been a moment of contrast to the rhythm of the rest of the animation, which may help keep the audience feeling engaged, and ensures the narrative's flow remains interesting from the start as well.

The final animation is 1 minute and 31 seconds long, following the client's requirements. Shorts of this length work well for the promotional aspect, as a viewer can quickly consume the short and remain somewhat aware of the film's messaging, which a longer run time could spiral into a diversion. A little over a minute works well, but in future repetitions, it is feasible to extend the animation by even 15-20 seconds. This would provide even deeper storytelling, and even more intense engaging experience, especially for an adult horror audience that is presumably more willing to engage with longer developed content.

Debug Chart

User Testing

Test 1: Mark Bailey (Primary audience)

Test 2: George Godfrey (Secondary audience)

Final Evaluation

In terms of the intended audience for my animation, the audience is adults aged 18+ who are horror fans who enjoy scary and zombie themes. The content could appeal to both females and males, considering the main character is a female. This content is appealing to all ethnicities, races and classes as horror can bring a variety of people together to participate in this event. I made sure that the content connected to people who like holidays like Halloween and go to horror films, so that the promotional content appealed to the right audience members who would attend the zombie fest event. The final animation fits this audience as the horror genre fits it, but starts off subtle to appeal to a larger audience. The horror genre is clear from the start, with the zombie worm coming into frame. The backgrounds used and animated were realistic to show the environment where the ultimate zombie fest will be held.

The brief makes no mention of race and ethnicity, meaning the animation can be appealing to all. The zombie characters are presented in a non-ambiguous colour, for example red and grey, meaning that when developing the final animation, there are no points of reference for one race to identify with better than another. In terms of the character's gender, they are male due to the nature of animation (with clay worms = men) and having a battle involving the zombies. Therefore, it is likely to appeal to a male target audience. Males are stereotypically interested in the horror genre, which will be aimed at them; factored into it would males are more likely to pay to see it, no matter the quality; but obviously, females and other groups are also likely to be interested in the genre as well. As discussed again, I was keen to attract the middle class as we feel they have an interest in the story and the events animating it, as shown by humour and dependence in the other themes, and are likely to attend the event. Furthermore, the event will take place in Leicester Square with food vendors and autograph signings, meaning audiences must have a high disposable income to spend on these things, which might be considered a luxury to some. Additionally, the secondary target audience might be those who are siblings or children of the primary audience who wish to view the animation as they are influenced by those around them. Teenagers, on the other hand, will likely view this regardless of age, due to their want to want to fit in and do things which are trending and their older siblings/family members are engaging in.

I obtained user feedback through user testing plans. Both viewers revealed that they understood the story from start to finish and understood that the worm was going to the ZombieFest march. They suggested it was for 18+ audiences, but one of them found that the target audience could have been made clearer, due to it being made out of clay. Sound and music are essential in capturing and engaging the audience. Both user testers said that the sound effects and the music used reflected the genre, and was an appropriate fit for the journey to the march and the mood of the character starting off as a innocenct worm, turning into a battle sequence, and then getting on with his day like nothing happened, engaging in his day to day life. The voiceover helped fit the horror vibe since the foley artist read the leaflet about the march in a creepy voice to affect the audience. The audio and visuals worked well together in the animation, and kept it interesting to the audience without being overly intriguing or confusing as to what was happening. The length of the animation was appropriate, and the audience felt that it did not feel too long or too short, which is good in sustaining their engagement throughout.

The style used for my final animation was stop motion, specifically, claymation. Here, I was able to use clay characters and props to generate a narrative and communicate this effectively to audiences. This would engage the audience as the clay characters may be reminiscent of their own childhoods, and therefore, the audience can reflect on happy memories through watching this promotional animation. The correlation between happy memories and our animation would work in our favour by sponsoring the BrainGoo event, as audiences are far more inclined to visit the event due to positive reflections. Furthermore, the zombified characters are clearly zombies, and they also include battle and fight scenes, which would engage horror genre audiences and my specific target audience, who enjoy that graphic aspect of the genre. Interestingly, through the zombie characters, audiences may be able to find a level of connection. For instance, the backdrops of the settings combined with the characters will allow them to see themselves, and therefore relate to the character, and the overall animation. Moreover, the ability to stop the characters in positions allowed me to be free in moving the characters as I would wish, and therefore express the best representation of the story to ensure audience engagement of the overall promotional animation. I also selected these techniques because the nostalgic claymation style has a lot of emotional connectivity and visual uniqueness for my target audience. Combining the nostalgic, childlike feel of clay animation with horror elements produces an interesting and unique animation experience for the target audience while meeting their expectations.

Lastly, the music played in the animation would sit well with our target audience. The first song used in the animation was 'Time's Up' by OC. This song best suited the vibe and mood I was going for, before the fight sequence happened, the ominous and threatening tone and beat I thought would intrigue our audience in the intro and continue watching. On the complete opposite, the second song I used was "Wouldn't it be nice" by The Beach Boys. The song is upbeat and catchy, and is also accurately conventional to what is happening in the scene, a happy worm strutting about mindlessly in the sun, which ties in nicely as a contrast to the song when the music completely shifts the moment the worms stop fighting, and clive the worm makes his way into Central London transforming into zombies. Both songs used in the animation were catchy, consequently allowing viewers to retain the tune after initial viewing, proving the promotion was successful.

On the whole, I received positive feedback from the target audiences, primary and secondary. The intended response was achieved for the animation, and this was verified during user testing shown above. One consistent piece of feedback I received was to make it more obvious that it was zombie-themed, as well as making it more visually focused on my primary audience. Conducting the user tests allowed me to establish some of the strengths within the project, for instance, the music used was fitting for the genre of the animation and made for an engaging and fun viewing experience for the viewer.

The final animated product was ultimately fit for purpose, as has been evidenced by the feedback provided through the use of user testing. The overall animation was made to promote BrainGoo's zombie fest march event, which was successfully done through the use of narrative and end credits with presenting the details of this event as further context. Interestingly, it is clearly shown to be taking place within Leicester Square due to the green screen backdrop, and overall helps the audience understand where the march has taken place. Another purpose of the promotional item was for entertainment, and this was also achieved, as the animated style indicated a level of fun for the audience. The animations, along with music, video elements and graphics, made it interesting for viewers and, as such, were concluded to be a successful promotional item/product overall.