Evaluation

I started this project with an indecisive attitude towards choosing what object I wanted my animation to be based on. I had lots of different options, but I finally made a decision that I wanted my object to be a coin. I hoped that by choosing something quite simple and common, there would be a broad range of ideas and approaches I could utilise for this project and I wouldn't be tied down to anything too specific. My research into coins started by looking through a collectors coin album. This gave me the chance to look at a variety of coins, old and new, from all over the world. I found myself very interested in the markings engraved on the coins, so I researched into what these illustrations meant. I focused on British coins since we are living in London and the audience would be able to relate to it. My research led me to find out that the lion wearing the crown jewels on the 10p coin symbolises the pride of Britain. I decided that this would be the coin that I want my animation to be focused on. I had several ideas but the one I liked the most was the idea of the lion in the coin coming to life. These ideas were all fine but they lacked any particular meaning, they were all just visually pleasing. I wanted to play more on the idea that this lion is supposed to represent the pride of Britain, so I thought it would be quite ironic given the current economic crisis to have the lion act like a playful kitten and inside of letting out a mighty roar it would let out a sheepish meow. 

The Making Of

The main difficulty I had when creating this animation was dealing with the amount of drawing that it entailed, I also found it hard to get into terms that 20 drawings would equal up to 2 seconds. This pained me as it was too late before I realised this, which led to my animation being shorter than expected. I also wish I could’ve experimented more with sound, so that there are no silent moments in the animation especially when the cat is running around. I also found out when I was editing it on Final Cut Pro that I would’ve been better off using Dragon rather than iStopMotion. However, after finding this out I decided that I didn’t mind that much about the grainy, boil-ridden quality of my animation, I really think it suits the quirkiness of the cat.