As a whole, I think this project has gone very well considering this has been my first real attempt at using video layers in Photoshop. I think I have been able to create a smooth running animation, that has demonstrated good use of some of the principles of animation, in particular "squash and stretch" and "exaggeration" in my jump sequence. I also like to think I've done a good job at creating character appeal; my animation certainly got good feedback at my critique session and others commented on how they liked the subtle actions/movements the characters made. I'd definitely consider these aspects to be my strengths, along with time management. Unlike my last project, I was able to complete the pre-production stages fairly quickly, which allowed for me to really focus on my animation. I even found that I finished this in good time, so I had a few weeks to consider the post-production adjustments, which worked massively in my favour as I had a lot to do. This is also the stage where I encountered the majority of my problems, so I had enough time to figure these out and overcome them. For example, the volume of my sound recordings, as well as trying to use Premiere and After Effects.
If I were to redo this animation, I think it would have been beneficial to use a different program, or at least a combination of a number of programs. Towards the end of the animation it was getting incredibly confusing due to how many different layers I had to work with. It all looked great when I played it back, but when I came back after my critique to make improvements that were suggested (make the shoulders rise more as the girl inhaled) I didn't know where to start and ended up not being able to find out how to edit the girl's movements. I don't think this greatly effected my final animation but it would have been nice to see what I could have done, especially as I had a whole week to make changes. I also think it definitely would have been easier to create the transitions (camera zooming out to reveal more characters) on after effects, as I could have simply created two keyframes and adjusted the position of the two frames so it would gradually zoom out. However I found out about this technique after I had scaled each frame individually on Photoshop. At least now I know what I am able to do for the future.
Despite all my issues, I think I have done well and I'm glad I pushed myself to work digitally and out of my comfort zone because now I know what I am capable of with Photoshop and the other programs I have used. I've really enjoyed it too, and I look forward to seeing if i'd be capable of producing more complex sequences digitally, rather than just focusing on facial features and character appeal.
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