Major Project Reflective Statement

 Comparing my minor project to my major project is unfair, but I will do it nonetheless. During the first term in year 3 I felt that every day I tried to work on my project, it moved further away from my grasp but through the course of the major project, I felt that I was able to build that confidence back up again, slowly and day by day, but I did it, so a very big part of me is proud to say that I have indeed a project that I can hand in.

 I am aware that the animation is not perfect, and I have realised that my timing in Maya is too slow, but that I am unable to judge the timing unless the animation is fully rendered and I can play it as a video rather than a playback, so in that regard if I would have done the animating a month ago and rendered it straight away, I would have noticed the flaws. But I would have also spent a lot more on render farms, soooo…. I guess I should have asked a few more people for opinions? But I could not bear to ask people too stressed to think clearly for their opinion, as they clearly needed their energy elsewhere.

 The models and choices of colours are my pride and joy, as they have turned a formerly square and grey project into something, cute, round and colourful and therefore seem to be at the heart of the animation, especially the field scene with its bright and vivid colours continues to excite me every time I look at it.

 This is possibly the hardest I have ever worked on a project, and if I would have been more organised I could have sampled the sounds earlier, as I feel that freesound.org was sadly lacking in choices I really would have liked. The piece of music used on the other hand was a lucky find, as I feel that it has something of the wild west with cowboys and daredevils (which goes hand in hand with kids and ponies) and a country music vibe, but absolutely directed towards children with a lot of fun and energy in the melody and rhythm, so I could not have been happier.

 Overall, I have grown a lot during this project, and I have also used it to reflect of what my choices are after the degree (as Chrissie said, children’s toys are a huge market and I would fit right in with bright colours and cute shapes) and I feel that I know a lot more about myself as a person.

I am happy with the animation I’ve produced, and even though it may have parts that are lacking slightly, I can’t wait to receive some feedback that I can possibly use for the minor project.