Conclusion

In conclusion, this project has taught me the importance of body language and how it can easily define a character.

Before I started this project, I would never really think about my character's movements before animating. It was really all about the aesthetics. If it looked great, it was good enough. Thanks to this module, I now know that coming up with a personality for the character can be equally, if not, more important than coming up with a good design.

I researched some animated characters from various sources, such as the Pixar films, 2D animated cartoons and even stop motion characters. I also looked into how the body reacts to emotions. This research (namely the character Scrat from the Ice Age films) inspired me to come up with my own character whom I believe to be bursting with personality.

The character had to be designed for 4-14 year olds and to have a strong personality. I came up with a simple character with a simple aim - a pig trying to get an apple from a tree. Each scene that he appears in, I tried to convincingly convey an emotion. Due to the cartoon nature of the animation, I was able to excagerate his movements in order to effectively show his emotions, which I believe helped to bring an extra layer to the character.

I am very happy with the final animation. It has turned out even better then I had imagined. I believe that the target audience would like it as its short, has a cartoony style to it and has the type of humour that would appeal to them. It also meets the specifications of the brief as I have put a lot of effort into the movements of my character.

A few things that do not like about my animation are that despite my best efforts, I just could not completely get rid of all of the pinching on the Pigham. As I mentioned before, I must not have riged him perfectly, as trying to go back and change it after it has been animated is a nightmare. I wish I had spent more time on it. Another thing that I would change would be to excagerate Pigham's movements even further, just to emphesis his personality and emotions. I am definately happy with the animation as it is, but perhaps emphesising his movements even more would have better conveyed his personality. Perhaps if I was not limited to 1 minute, I would have been more confident in doing this, as I would not have to worry about editing it down. Finally and least importantly, I would add more details to the background. Although the main aim of the animation was to create a character with a strong personailty, it probably wouldnt have hurt to make a more eye-catching background, just to make it more visually pleasing.

Overall, despite a few minor issues, it has met the criterea of the brief. I believe that the animation has tuned out to be a success and I am very proud of it.