Task 3: Evaluation

I got to choose between 5 different briefs. I chose to do an advert because I had a quite good idea
for what I could do. I also felt like I wanted a bit of a challenge and I thought an advert would be
quite good, in that sense. This is so I could do sound effects and voice over myself, however, I also
used the British Gas Christmas advert Soundtrack from 2016. I thought, by using that soundtrack, it
would be familiar for the audience and they would know what the advert was for, by hearing the
soundtrack. The brief required me to create a TV advert for any chosen product. The advert had to
contain the logo for the product. I thought this was quite good part of the brief because it would let
me make it clear for the audience, what the advert is for.

When I negotiated the Brief, I wanted to change some minor things, such as the length of the advert.
In the original brief, it said it had to be 30 seconds, but I knew my idea would be longer than that, so
I asked if it could be between 30 seconds and not exceed 2 minutes. I also negotiated music, so if the
product has a theme soundtrack, that could be used. I made these changes because I thought it
would make it easier for me to work with, for example, the timing of 30 seconds wouldnt have been
enough for my advert as I wouldnt have been able to tell the full story, so the extra 15 seconds did a
lot.

In order to meet my brief I will have a short storyline with two characters sitting on a sofa in a small
living room with a chimney and a Christmas tree. They are cold and shivering (this will be made clear
in the animation), and there will be a blue-ish tinted colour (edited on the screen) to enhance how
cold it is. They will be sat there for a few seconds, shivering and looking around, the fire isnt on, and
then Santa comes down the chimney and looks around then he puts the fire on and everything
warms up and a warm colour is clearly shown on screen, and then Santa gives them the presents and
theyre happy and the advert ends with the British Gas logo. My characters will be made out of clay/
Plasticine and I will mold/ make my own characters out of this material. I will try and use royalty free
music, but if necessary I might use commercial-available music. The lighting will change throughout
the advert, from dull and grey when the heating is off and theres no fire, to a nicer, warmer and
brighter lighting when Santa turns on the heating and the fire.

Animators such as Peter Lord created the Claymation Morph, which is a clay stop-motion animation,
which began in 1977. This involved making the Morph characters and then moving them about a
millimetre before taking each photograph. The famous animation started with Morph as the main
character, and then another character was soon introduced, named Chas, which was Morphs alter
ego. I would compare my animation to Morph Animation because the format is similar to what I
used - stop-motion. Morph was also made with clay, which is what I used for my animation. The
difference between mine and Morph, is that Morph is mainly just one character, (or started off with
just one character before they started introducing more), and in my animation I used three
characters. The first difference between my animation and Morph is that Morph is a set of short
clips aimed for kids, whereas my animation is an advert for British gas, aimed at 20+, both genders,
who have their own house and need heating and electricity.
In this example, it involves Morph and his alter ego, Chas. This production is very clear that it has
been made in a professional manner, for example, the characters are made out of better plasticine
and by professional model makers. They have more assets and resources such as studios and better
sets, meaning they have more professional lighting and equipment. You can tell that its at a
professional standard from the frame rates this this animation has used, from the smoothness; its
not very jumpy and you can tell they have put down a lot of time on the production. This is quite
different to mine, because looking at Morph and then mine; you can see that it is a lot jumpier.

Some parts, such as the scene where the fireplace is shaking as Santa is about to come down, are
quite smooth, but not to the professional standard of Morph.
I used the studio when making my animation because then I would have access to studio lighting and
adjust it the way I wanted. I also made my own sets by using just a shoe box and building the set
from that. This was quite easy, as I had made each of the props, such as Sofa and Christmas tree, etc.
and I just had to get some wallpaper for the walls so it would look more realistic. This added to the
atmosphere, as well, of it being a real home. I made the chimney/ fire place, sofa and radiator out of
clay. This way I could make them look how I wanted them to. In Morph, the only things which seem
to be made out of Clay are the character Morph and Chas. In my animation, my characters dont
talk, and theres just the British Gas soundtrack and voice over, whereas in Morph they have their
own made up language in gibberish.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkRBgKdoPZw

In these two pictures, I am comparing the set. In Morph, you can see that it is to a very professional
standard, with the objects not being made out of plasticine, and theyre in the same level size as
morph. They have also used very bright natural-looking lighting. In the picture from my animation,
you can see that most of my objects are made out of clay apart from the Christmas tree. My lighting
is also very different to Morph. This is mainly because I wanted the lighting this way to look
warmer and not so bright.

Another animation I would compare mine with is the British Gas Christmas Advert 2016. This is a
digital animation. It involves a Penguin that goes into a house and looks around and feels/ sees how
warm it is. At 0:28 you see the penguin looking at a flame, which is almost like British Gass signature
to use the flame, as it is used in most of their adverts. The majority of their adverts are digital
animations. At the end of this advert, the penguin leaves the house and slides down the slope in the
snow. This would be a good advert for me to compare my animation with because I made mine for
British Gas.

The similarities between mine and the original British Gas advert is that they are both adverts and
animations, and theyre both Christmas themed. The British gas is digitally animated, however, and
mine is Stop-motion. I have also tried using similar sort of camera angles, such as the close-ups and
panning, etc. However, the difference between the two animations is that the British Gas advert is
made in a much more professional manner. You can see this on the lighting, and the context. As it is
a digital animation, it will look more realistic and smoother frame rates and transitions, whereas
mine is a stop-motion animation, and not to a professional standard, so will therefore look more
jumpy at certain parts throughout.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qw8scHY-Y7s

My brief didnt give me any instructions on what the format should be, so I decided to do mine in
Clay (Claymation). By making the characters with clay, it would allow me to move them for each
frame, much easier, as it is a stop-motion. Using clay was one of the hardest things I couldve used,
but at the same time it was quite useful. The hard part about using clay was that some of the colour
would come off on my hands when moving them each time, and then that colour would come on to
another part of the clay characters.
I created a survey, asking questions about my animation and getting feedback on it. From the
feedback I received, it was clear to my audience that the animation was an advert due to the text at
the bottom of the screen that says Monthly fees apply. Exclusions, Limitations and Conditions
Apply and the voice over at the end. The soundtrack is also from a previous British Gas Christmas
Advert, so this makes it more familiar to the audience and lets them know it is for British Gas.
The narrative of the advert involves a couple at Christmas, who doesnt have any electricity and
heating, and when Santa comes down the chimney he fixes that. I had this as one of my questions in
the survey, asking the audience if it is clear what is happening in the advert and what the narrative
tells you. The responses I got were positive, as the majority said that the narrative is clear and they
understand what is happening. The voice over and text at the bottom of the screen helped to give
more detail about the advert. In my animation I had a blue/ grey tint at the beginning of the advert,
before Santa comes, to show how cold it is, and then when Santa comes down he fixes the electricity
and heating and the picture turns into a warmer colour. In my survey, I got positive feedback about
this, as they thought I had made this clear and they liked this idea of using the blue colour tint at the
start to show how cold it is. This is what I was trying to accomplish - I wanted to create more of an
atmosphere and really show how cold it is by using the blue tint. Looking at the feedback, I think I
managed to achieve this and did a quite good job with it.

The brief didnt tell me that I had to have a specific style in the animation, which made it easier for
me to choose the style I wanted. I ended up having a quite neutral style to the advert, starting off
quite gloomy and then becoming more joyful.
The feedback I received about my style for my animation told me that I had met what I wanted to
accomplish. It was a bit mixed but not too drastically. A few responses said it was neutral, and others
said it started off quite sad and dramatic but then had a happy ending. I agree with this, because it
does start off quite sad with the couple who has a quite depressing Christmas with no warmth, and
no Christmas lights, etc. But when Santa comes, he makes them happy again.

I had three different characters one man, one woman and Santa. The man and woman being a
couple. This met the brief, as it required me to have at least two characters in the animation. In my
survey I asked the question Is it clear who the characters are? and looking at my feedback I can see
that my audience thought they were a couple, possible married, etc. which was positive as it tells me
that I had done a good job in making it clear for the audience that the two characters were a couple.

From looking at my feedback, I could see that the majority of responses thought the animation
techniques were good the frame rate was good, good transitions between frames and it had been
edited well. Some critique about the technical qualities was that it was a bit jumpy during the
zooming at the beginning and end, but other than that, it was good.
For the zooming in and out at the beginning and end, I didnt have the right equipment for doing a
zoom in stop-motion, as it turned out quite jumpy. The panning, for example form the fireplace to
the sofa, is good as I had full control, but the zooming was a bit challenging with getting it right.

The technical qualities in my animation include the set design and lighting, etc. I had created the set
myself, using the inside of a shoebox I printed out wallpaper to put around the insides. The radiator,
sofa and the chimney were made using clay. I used clay and not Plasticine because it would dry,
which would make it easier to use. My audience liked the use of different lighting, and said they
thought there was good contrast of colours of the backgrounds, from the beginning when there is a
blue tint to show the dullness and coldness, and then it changes to warmer colours as the place
lights up (fireplace and Christmas tree).

The responses I got for the Aesthetic qualities of my animation was very positive. People liked how
colours were used to express feeling and emphasise the atmosphere at the beginning of the
animation, as it starts off with a blue tint, making it look more dull and highlights that they have no
heating and its cold, but then when Santa comes down the chimney, he fixes the heating and the
lights on the Christmas tree turn on and the fire in the fireplace comes on, and then the colour
changes so it looks warmer. Some aesthetic qualities were quite difficult to control, such as lighting
because I only had access to using a warm colour of lighting, which would be useful for the second
half of my advert. However, I worked around this and edited the first half to make it brighter, and
then I added the blue tint over to give it the cold atmosphere.

The colour transition, from the blue tint at the beginning, when its cold and no heating or electricity,
is really effective because it enhances the coldness and makes it clear for the audience what is
happening in the advert. I had really thought this out, and thought it worked really well with when
Santa came down the chimney and saw that they had no heating, etc. and then he helps the couple
and fixes the heating/ electricity with British Gas. I also thought it worked well with Santa being the
one who fixed it, as it was Christmas themed.

Looking at the feedback, the audience seemed to really like the idea and thought it was creative.
They liked the idea of Santa coming down the chimney and then fixing the heating and electricity, as
it worked really well with it being an advert for British Gas and Christmas themed.

One strength of the advert, I would say is the part from the chimney, something comes out and it
turns into Santa it was a problem I solved, because I had made my Santa character out of clay and
then I had to figure out how he actually comes down the chimney, so I made a lump of red clay, as
Santas primary colour, and then it morphed into him. The transition between colours from the dull
darker colour to the warmer colour as the heating and electricity comes on was also one of the more
creative qualities of the advert, and something that was popular within the audience.

I couldve improve this scene a bit by making each shot slightly smoother, by moving everything less
and then having more frames each second. The scene where the chimney is moving, before Santa
comes down, is very smooth and not jumpy, which is what I would try to do for the rest of the
animation if I had to do it again.

When making my animation, I tried my best with making as small changes as possible when taking
each picture, between character movements and camera movements. However, when zooming in
and out at the beginning and end, it was quite hard keeping the camera still when zooming out as I
didnt have the right equipment for that kind of technique, whereas if it was professionally done, I
wouldve had the camera on either a dolly or use a steady-cam.
If I had to do the animation again I would change a few things, such as not having clay furniture, and
change it out for doll-house sized furniture. I would also use better plasticine instead of play-doh,
when sculpting my characters, so they dont dry out and I could use them a day later. I would also
set up my equipment better, such as lighting. I would try to use more natural looking lighting at the
beginning so it would be easier to put the blue tint over the beginning so it would look more icy, but
keep the warm lighting after Santa comes and fixes the heating. I would also try to use better
equipment for the camera when zooming, such as something to lean the camera on and pull back
slightly for each frame.
I think the feedback I received has helped me see what I could improve on, as well as helped me see
what I did well. The feedback also helped me see what I would have to do in order to improve my
animation for next time, if I had to do it again. This would include having more frame rates for each
second to make the animation look smoother and more professional. I would also try and make the
zooming smoother by having the camera on something thats easy to control when moving. This
would reduce the jumpiness in the animation and improve the whole advert quite a bit. I would take
my time a bit more, and be more careful with making each character, so that they dont get other
colours on them. I would also use a more natural lighting half way through before Santa comes
down the chimney, so that the blue tint over each picture would be more clear that it was icy blue,
to emphasise the coldness a bit more, before Santa comes and fixes the heating and electricity and
makes it warm (where the transition into warmer colours comes in).

I think I would do well in the animation industry. Looking at my final animation advert, you can see
that I have managed to follow the brief well. Choosing between 5 different briefs I had to make sure
I chose the right one for me, that I would enjoy and do well. Due to the limited amount of
knowledge and equipment I had access to, I wasnt able to create a digital animation, but I made my
advert a stop-motion animation or Claymation.
The original brief stated that I had to create a glossy and snappy advert for any chosen product, and
it had to be within 30 seconds. When I negotiated the brief I asked for the advert to be between 30
seconds and 2 minutes long; mine turned out to be 45 seconds long. It was a snappy advert the
narrative was clear and enjoyable, and the use of technical qualities and aesthetic qualities made
things clearer and easier to understand for the audience, for example the blue tint at the beginning
of the advert which emphasised how cold it was. This was something I had had in mind and thought
about for my advert, which otherwise, it might not have looked as professional.
The frame rates in my stop-motion were not bad you could see what was happening, and it wasnt
too jumpy in the advert as a whole, except for at certain parts, especially the zooming out at the
beginning and the end, which could have been made smoother if I had the right equipment.