Lemonade Money

CWC Ident Evaluation

(Although our ident was not uploaded onto YouTube in time, here is my evaluation)

We were given the task of creating a channel ident for our college, City Of Westminster. To begin with, we had to produce some ideas and plans for a channel identity for the college, and after researching the various animation techniques that we could use, such as cut-out, pixilation, object animation, flip book animation and claymation, we decided that clay animation would suit our idea the most.

Emilly and I began the task well, with creating our story board, clay characters and props to a great standard. We set up our webcam by fastening it to a mic stand with sellotape so that it was facing the desk, which would be our idents background as it worked as a blank canvas. However, we then decided to change our camera equipment to using a DSLR, which would overall give our ident a more professional feel due to the high quality of the images.

I believe that Emilly and I worked well as a team to ensure that the task was done as quickly and efficiently. With one of us playing the role of moving the characters and the other being in charge of taking the photo. Once all of the photos were taken, I then uploaded the images onto the computer, leaving Emilly in charge of editing the photos together to make our ident.

In hindsight, there are some things that I think we could have done better. For example, if we had perhaps slowed the pace down slightly, silly mistakes would not have been made. Such as our animation displaying the words 'WCW' instead of 'CWC' for the final scene. Although we were both focused on the ident, it would have also have benefited us and our ident if we did not get so distracted during the process by other things.

Our ident however, was aimed at showing how our college brings a diverse range of communities together to work, and Emilly and I are the epitome of just that message.

Genre Analysis

What Is A Freelancer?

A freelancer is the term used to define an individual who is self employed. The individual is hired by various companies to provide a service and work on specific assignments. A freelancer has the option of working for more than one company at a time, and has no long-term commitment to any of their employers.

With regards to fees, a freelancer will usually work for their employers and charge an hourly fee. Freelance Journalists, however, may charge their clients per word.

There are many advantages to being a freelancer. For example, you can pick your own hours to work and be in complete control of your time management. You are able to choose what you wish to work on each project, and can also work from home if you wish to. Your schedule will, overall, be incredibly flexible and up to you.

However, there are also many disadvantages to freelancing. As a self-employed individual, it cannot always be guaranteed that you will get as much work as you desire...if any! This results in a very unpredictable salary throughout the year, as it is never for certain that freelancers will receive consistent amounts of work to do. Being a freelancer also means being your own accountant, as you will be in charge of handling your tax.

Claymation Animation + Critical Evaluation

For our clip, Emilly and I used the infamous stop-motion technique using plasticine figures, known as claymation. This technique shot to fame thanks to a show called 'Morph', which was first shown on British television in 1977 for the BBC. The morph characters often featured in a programme with late illustrator and television presenter Tony Hart for such shows as Vision On, Take Hart and Hart Beat. The morph characters were created by a company called Aardman Animations, who are also well known for creating Wallace and Gromit.

Our short claymation clip begins with only the football being in the camera's point of view. The non-diagetic soundtrack then begins to play and we are introduced to our first morph character (A), who waddles over to wave at the audience. A then notices the football behind him, which causes him to make joyful gestures towards the audience about his new discovery. A walks over to the football and, surprisingly, kicks the ball. This then sends the ball flying into a new area of view, where our next character (B) is already standing. Minding his own business, B notices the ball which has landed right next to him and responds to his discovery just as A did in the previous frame. B picks up the ball and begins to play catch with himself . Whilst he is doing this, A walks into the shot and confronts B about having his ball. After a short squabble and a few pushes and shoves, the ball is knocked onto the floor where the pair race to retrieve it before the other. While racing, B trips up and lands on all fours, where A kindly helps him up. The two then become friends and happily wave goodbye to the audience.

The process to making this clip was relatively simple. Using a Logitech webcam to film the whole video, which was fixed with cellotape onto a prop to achieve the angle we used. The entire clip was created using a programme called iStopMotion, where we would take a photo for each frame we wanted to add to the final clip. The soundtrack was then added onto the final video by using Final Cut Pro.

This was a very enjoyable task, and Emilly and I had a lot of fun making it. Unfortunately, our first attempt at claymation was lost due to technical issues with the computer that we were using. However we were proactive, positive and continued to put our time and effort into producing a highly plausible and animated piece. Filming the animation was probably the most stressful part of the process, as it took a lot of time to create our chosen number of frames per second.

In hindsight, I think that we could have added some more special effects to the clip to increase just how animated the experience could have been. However, overall, I am incredibly happy with the outcome of our claymation animation.

Channel Ident Storyboard

Produce a storyboard for the animation (the storyboard must also show evidence that you have considered movement, frames per second, soundtrack, sound effect, and script it appropriate).

Frames per second
The advert will run at 24 FPS.

Soundtrack.
(There will be no dialogue in the ident).


Special Effects.

- When Character B walks over to the ball: http://youtu.be/-lnfmzXQdQ4
- When character B kicks the ball: http://youtu.be/AxJWvH84kME
- When the pair are spinning (2:00): http://youtu.be/QGYuOqA0pnw
- As the clay begins to fly out of the newly formed ball (00:11-00:13): http://youtu.be/nwDE9gFPThY 

Channel Ident Pitch

For my channel ident based on our college, City Of Westminster, I have decided to use Clay Animation. My reasoning behind this is because I believe that clay appeals to a large audience, and will help entice younger viewers to really engage fully with the ident they are watching as it is a fun way to get a message put across.

The ident will begin by displaying two clay characters, both made from different coloured clay. I chose to do this because I wanted to convey the message that City Of Westminster College helps to bring communities together. Whether that be race, religion or sexual preference.

Character A then notices a football (also made from clay) which has been placed in between the two clay figures. Character A will proceed to walk to the ball, and then kick it over to Character B. The pair will then begin to play and interact with each other.  The pair begin to interact further, and help each other to do tricks with the football. I chose to make the characters do this as it is a relatable and comprehendible way to portray one of the colleges three values: respect.

The two clay characters then join hands and begin to spin around. As they spin faster, this will eventually result in the pair conjoining and becoming one. The characters, now seen as one big ball of clay will then transform into the letters of the college (CWC) in an animated way.