Pendulum Animation Critique Reflection



I feel as if I did well with the following:
  • Design
    • Camera angles and shot movement- I feel that I did a better job with this, especially by using quick pans in order to emphasize the action going on in the scene as well as formal balance vs informal balance.
    • Principles of design- Generally I believe that the background improved; the scene is now set in a cult room's feeding pit for In'myrr'zgg as opposed to the void of oblivion. This gives the story more flavor.
  • Technical
    • I think I did an okay job with the easing, especially in the shot where the camera goes around the pendulum in comparison to the sudden quick pan to In'myrr'zgg. 
  • Creativity
    • I think I got a lot more creative with the setup of the scene in general by creating a bleak room to emphasize the darkness/bleakness of the cult.
I think I need to improve on the following:
  • Design
    • Principles of design: I was using a variety of textures in the scene but some of the stone texture of the room ended up kind of wonky and weirdly angled, so I think I should put more stock into working on that. (Also, I should have fixed how 'shiny' the stone looks.)
      • Additionally, the whole scene is kind of bleak and could have used a third color or even a little more light. I understand the mood I was trying to emphasize, but I feel as if I made it a little *too* dark.
    • There was one particular angle in which the stone of the wall did not extend to cover up the void at the left end of the scene. I had already fixed a bunch of modeling mistakes but I feel as if I should have fixed that too by looking at all my camera angles in rendered mode before actually rendering the entire animation.
  • Technical
    • The pendulum movement itself definitely needs some work, but seeing how we were supposed to focus more on the camera movements, shot types, and scenery, I understand why I didn't really do anything with it.
    • The easing could also be better- some of the movements seem really jerky and sudden, but not in a good way.
  • Creativity
    • Adding a smaller window did create some repetition in the scene, as I already had two gaps for the cultists and In'myrr'zgg, but there wasn't really any scenery out there apart from a black void.
    • I think just repurposing a monkey head doesn't truly serve to show the horror of In'myrr'zgg's face. Modeling an entirely new creature would have taken up a lot more time, but I feel as if it would have been worth it to do so.
I think that I have a decent strength in telling a story through my animation as well as visualizing and executing the concept of a scene and its design. I also feel that I have a decent grasp on camera angles and shot movement. However, I feel that I am weak when it comes to keyframing things, and sometimes I forget to check parts of my animation to see whether or not any part of the empty void beyond the animation is visible or if there are any obvious defects in render mode.

For future projects, I should place more emphasis on keyframing and the type of movement I want to convey to the audience. I should also double-check everything before trying to render the animation. As for my strengths, I think I can make these stronger by making a storyboard or just a concept sketch before I start to model the scene; that way I will have a clearer image of the setting in my head as well as how it utilizes the principles of design.

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