Through research and analysis, you will compile a written report on how digital animations are developed and applied in a variety of contexts.

Course

HND Art & Design – Graphic Design

Academic Year

Year 2

Unit Number & Unit Title

Unit 60 - Digital Animation

Assignment Author

Assessors

Assignment Title

Production Company Branding

Date issued

25/2/20

IV Name and Date

Ruth Brooks

Formative Submission Deadline

Summative Submission Deadline

Group

Deadline

Group

Deadline

AGF20

12^th Apr 21

AGF20

Purpose of this assessment

Students will be assessed on their technical skills in motion graphics and their ability to apply branding, logo and typography skills to a moving image format.  Also, to test student understanding of how digital animation and moving images in general are relevant to a graphic design career.

Scenario

You have been commissioned by a production company/ TV Channel to create a short moving animation for one of their programs or movie productions to showcase the opening title and credits. The sequence should embody and communicate the program or film’s subject matter and aesthetic. You will have a choice of four companies to choose from. You will need to research the channel and the relevant program or film and their existing title sequence, as well as decide how to animate it, bearing in mind the audience for the program or film.

The options are:

a.BBC2

b.Netflix

c. MTV

d.POP!

e.History Channel

f. A production company of your choice.

In order to do this, you must first research digital animation history and then Film titles and production company and TV channels in particular, and then plan, render and present your final work.

Task 1: Unit 60 - Digital Animation

Research File

First you must conduct research into the history of digital animation and animated film titles and program titles and write an illustrated report.

Your report should contain:

Through research and analysis, you will compile a written report on how digital animations are developed and applied in a variety of contexts.

Your written report should include the following:

• A brief history of the evolution of digital animation.
• Digital animation computer hardware and software applications.
• Job roles involved in digital animation.
• Different types of animation and in particular digital animation
• Exploration of digital animations for different contexts, such as advertising, retail, social media, information based, film, music video and others.
• A comparison of titles that have been animated using traditional formats and digitally animated titles showing the benefits and challenges of each technique.
• A micro analysis of at least two animated titles from different types of companies, i.e. film, commercial, TV channel, video game.
• A conclusion that highlights how digital animation can be used to further develop film titles and program credits.

Include images – in this case screen grabs are appropriate - and annotation in your research file and apply the Harvard Referencing System with in-text citations and a reference list.

Also include secondary research from reliable sources such as books on the subject and comment on your findings.

This provides evidence for LO1

Submission Format: Unit 60 - Digital Animation

Submit this as the first part of your main PDF.

A report showing your initial research which MUST include both primary and secondary research, and research into a range of both historic and contemporary practitioners relevant to your brief.

Include images, screengrabs where appropriate and links to videos if necessary and wherever possible.

Your research (including images and screengrabs) should be referenced using the Harvard referencing system.

Please also provide a reference list using the Harvard referencing system.

Task 2

Further Research and Planning

Choose a brief from one of the companies.

First you will research the conventions that are used for the type of channel and program or film you have chosen to work with (outlined in the brief).

Identify and research the target market for the channel and program you have chosen to work with and conduct an analysis of their brand identity in terms of tone and consumer messaging.

Create at least two mood-boards containing relevant images and research for the film, program. Create mindmaps to help you with idea generation.

Once you have gathered information about your client’s brand identity and needs, you must come up with an idea and make detailed logistical production plans to help you create a professional film or program titles. This should include storyboards and an animatic if appropriate.

Gather and develop your materials for the animation, this may be graphics, photography/images, video, sets that you prepare, paper cut-outs and similar.

Finally, create initial tests to broaden your digital animation skills, including 3D rigging tests.

Once you have this in place, conduct a short evaluation to see if it will meet the needs of your client and the brief.

This provides evidence for LO2

Submission Format

 Submit this as the second part of your main PDF. The following should be included:

- A critical analysis of the brief

- Further research into relevant film and program titles.

- Development work showing your ideas for the titles animation with annotations to show your creative decision making

- A production plan, including storyboard

- Any test shots or rehearsals conducted, with annotation

- Include your 3D rigging experiments.

Task 3

Titles sequence

Now that you have planned your project you must create it and edit it using Adobe After Effects.

Create a film titles sequence that conveys the program or film that follows and displays an understanding of target market and identity.

Render your animation using Adobe Media Encoder. This will be your final product as an MP4 file. Document both the work with the encoder and any work using sound, these will evidence for your post-production process.

In addition to the finished animation you must include early tests and a description of the process you went through.

Explain how the credits should be seen, and by who.

Describe how the film/program titles you have created are relevant to the client’s needs and assess its success in communicating the program to the audience.

This provides evidence for LO3

Submission Format

Include the below in your main PDF:

The final title sequence must be delivered to a dropbox on Moodle and in an accessible link to an online streaming service such as YouTube or Vimeo- ensure you include a password if it is not a publicly available video. Also, a compressed .zip file of your After Effect folder and all associated assets should be uploaded to Moodle.

You must also include annotation explaining all of your creative decisions and how they relate to client need and the end audience.

Task 4

Feedback and Evaluation

Get feedback, in the form of a short survey from people who fall in line with your intended target market audience.

Analyse this feedback and add your own opinions about how well your Titles sequnce communicates the following film/program to the intended audience. 

Looking at all aspects of your work for this unit – research, experimentation and your final work – evaluate how well you have been able to meet the brief in a written report.

In your report consider how your research and development has helped you to create your final animation, what went well and what you could have done better, and what you would do differently in your next assignment.

Contextualise your work by comparing and contrasting it with the practitioners you have researched and reference it where appropriate using credible sources. 

This provides evidence for LO4 

Submission Format

Submit this as the last part of your main PDF.

The following sections should be included:

-      Evidence of feedback from the audience of your animation and an analysis of their comments

-      A report evaluating the effectiveness of your final animation, bearing target market audience in mind

-      a 300-word Personal Development statement describing what you have learned and what skill areas you have identified for improvement.  

Grading Criteria

Learning Outcomes

Pass

Merit

Distinction

Task No.

Evidence

LO1 Explore the development of digital animation and its application in different contexts.

P1 Explore the development of digital animation in relation to traditional forms of animation.

P2 Discuss how forms of digital animation may meet audience expectation in different contexts.

M1 Compare traditional and digital forms of animation, highlighting benefits or challenges of using digital forms.

D1 Critically evaluate the role of digital animation and its application within the broader creative industries.

Task 1

PDF report containing your research

LO2 Plan a digital animation using storyboards, sketches and planning tools.

P3 Identify a target audience and context for a digital animation.

P4 Use storyboards, sketches and animatics to plan a digital animation.

M2 Prepare and rig 3D models for animation test in preparation for production.

LO2 & LO3

D2 Create final animation outputs that reflect fluency in the application of production and post-production techniques, based on a critical analysis of target audience.

Task 2

PDF report containing your development work

LO3 Use industry standard production and post-production tools and techniques to develop a digital animation, for a specific target audience.

P5 Use industry-standard tools and techniques in the production of a rendered digital animation.

P6 Carry out post-production processes to output digital animation for a given audience and context.

M3 Justify the approach to production and post-production in developing a digital animation for a given audience.

Task 3

Short video accessible online

LO4 Critically evaluate a digital animation based on viewer feedback and reflection.

P7 Analyse viewer feedback following presentation of a digital animation.

P8 Evaluate a digital animation, reflecting on own process and practice.

M4 Analyse digital animation output in meeting client needs and audience expectations.

D3 Critically analyse digital animation output in relation to viewer feedback, to identify areas for improvement in creative practice.

Task 4

PDF report containing your evaluation

Student Achievements and Assessor Feedback

Student achievement and Assessor feedback for both formative and summative submissions will be recorded within Grademark Turnitin via Moodle and will be available for students to view as notified on Turnitin. Please use exclusively the grade classification below.  

Assessment Grading Scale

Student submission and declaration

The following declaration will be inserted in the Turnitin link for both formative and summative submissions:

‘I certify that by submitting the work for this assessment on Moodle (and via Turnitin) it is my own work and all research sources are fully acknowledged using the Harvard system of references. I certify that there are no personal or mitigating circumstances that have affected my work.’

By submitting such document, you acknowledge that your work is your own, and abides by the DGHE code of conduct, and Pearson regulations.

Please note that in case of academic malpractice DGHE reserves the right to decline to accept the work for assessment purposes, and/or conduct an investigation, which might result in an oral presentation, oral or written exam, or any other appropriate form of examination. Further information can be found in the academic integrity and misconduct policy, the assessment policy, and the student handbook.

Understanding what a command verb is

Your assignment will always have a series of questions or points that you will need to address. The first step in successfully addressing your assignment questions is by understanding what your lecturer wants from you, and this means understanding the command verb of the question.

What is a command verb?

This is constituted by an imperative verb that gives you a specific instruction.

What are the common command verbs your assignment has and what they mean?

The following is not a complete list however, it can help you to understand what is expected of you.

Explain = to describe a situation in detail or present relevant facts. E.g. To say it’s a chair, it’s descriptive but not explanatory, to say it’s a wooden chair, made of mango woods, that has four legs, and an arm rest, is to explain.

Assess = to evaluate the relevance of something. E.g. To say Brexit is an important event in the UK, is factual but not evaluative. To say that the impact of Brexit on the automotive industry is yet to be determined, but a likely estimate situates a loss of manufacturing plants, and consequently jobs in the UK, is evaluative.

Compare = to measure how similar or different something is. E.g. To say that surrealism is different from cubism, is to state a fact. However, to state that while both movements are considered modern art, cubism popularised by Picasso, breaks down the subject matter and reassembles it in an abstract form, while surrealism, popularised by Salvador Dali, focuses on the subconscious mind and portrays everyday objects in a unfamiliar setting.

Analyse = to examine something in detail. E.g. To say that the UK judicial system is complex is too simple however, to say that the UK judicial system is complex due to historical reasons, and that has led to separate jurisdictions with one system for England and Wales, another for Scotland, and another for Northern Ireland. In England Wales at the lower instance you have the magistrate courts and tribunals, followed by the crown court, and the county court, high court and court of appeal (detailing what are the key functions for each of these and how the interrelate with one another, and for the other judiciary systems, and finalising with the UK Supreme Court is to analyse a subject).

Don’t forget you can always refer to your lecturer for other verbs not included here or your study skills tutor.