Today Hayley and I showed all of our work and development so far to Sara and Martin, and we received so much feedback that we could apply to our concepts.
Firstly, we showed them our progress with the character models so far. They really liked what we had done and our tests, especially the ones with the mouths. They advised us to perhaps record some audio and do another test with the mouths, just to see if we can match the right movements up with the exact sounds. Martin also suggested that in post-production, perhaps we could delay the audio by two frames or so, to make the syncing even more realistic. He also said that it would be better for the mouths to move earlier to the sound than later, because the viewer sees before they hear (light travels faster than sound). This was really great advice because I have never heard of these sayings before, but it makes sense, as when you watch something where the mouth movements are a bit slower, you can really tell and it puts off the satisfaction and enjoyment of watching, so it is better to do them a bit earlier.
Some more feedback we got that was vital, was to do with the script. Both Sara and Martin said that our script was firstly, too long, and that we perhaps had too many characters. I was worried about how we would make all the models in time, but they advised us to perhaps stick to three animals and get rid of the farmer. They felt like there wasn't really any need for an introduction, because audiences nowadays are so involved with media like this, and 'mockumentary' humour. I didn't think of this before, but in a way I agreed with them, especially since this introduction took up a good 15 seconds of our animation that could be spent elsewhere. We discussed how we wanted to connect with our family audience, by having humour, and they said that this was good that we were considering it, and we can still market our animation to them without as many characters, perhaps even more so because we can focus on a few particularly and their personalities.
Furthermore, they also gave us some tips on how to structure this new idea, by having three parts. These could be introducing climate change, but a bit obscurely, then defining it further, and then finally saying how it is good/bad. Since I am writing the script, this helped me a lot because I struggled with thinking of how to structure this new concept. Along with this, they advised us to have a good few more establishing shots, where there isn't really any dialogue, to make the animation more natural and documentary like. This way the audience can get a feel of the personality and idea of the characters, instead of just cutting to several different ones over a short space of time.
Lastly, Sara and Martin gave us some tips for when we ask our narrators to voice over our dialogue. They advised us to give the narrators a lot of direction, and to structure the dialogue so that they can read it slowly and thoroughly, as people tend to speed up at the end of a sentence or paragraph. To help with this, perhaps breaking down a paragraph into bullet pointing would be more useful, as the narrator can treat the points as individual sentences, allowing them to take breaths and pauses, which are easier to edit out than to put in.
Overall, we received a lot of feedback to think over and take into consideration, but I appreciate it all because it is so useful, and is coming from people who have a lot of experience in the industry. The points brought up I think were much needed, and I feel more confident to alter them to create a more refined concept for our animation!
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