OUGD202 End of Module Self Evaluation

What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?
I have learnt a lot of skills throughout this module. I realised the importance of getting initial ideas down and developed before going on to producing any of them, which turned out to be highly beneficial to me as it allowed me to fully explore the possibilities of something before making any decisions: this will certainly be something I carry on with me in future modules. Also, I have learnt and become confident with using After Effects - something I thought wouldn't have ever been possible even at the start of this module. It's a skill that's now in the bank that could be used as a possible way to take briefs in the future.


What approaches to/methods of design production have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?
As explained in the previous question, I really developed my skills at getting initial ideas and developments down on paper throughout this module which is one of the key things for me really. I have always just come up with a few ideas and just stuck to my original ones but during this module I pushed myself to develop more and understand better what I was doing. I do believe that this is how my final outcomes have come out as effective as they have, and is definitely something I will push to do more with future briefs.


What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?
I think my whole development process throughout the module has been a strength for me. Through producing the sequences on After Effects, in my opinion I think it is clear that my skills within the software, and also how I approach things have improved a lot and I have come a long way with it. Also, I found that once I got out of the 'I just need to get this finished' mind set, it allowed me to spend more time with my developments which is what was needed.


What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future?
Whilst my development is definitely a strength, I do believe that my experimentation once I got into After Effects could improve. I have stuck to what I got down on paper for the sequences with a few tweaks every now and then, but I do believe that if I'd had planned out my time better then I could have allowed myself some time to just experiment with little techniques that I had considered doing but didn't get around to trying out. I have learnt from this while spending time developing and not trying to rush through things is the key to getting good developed ideas, I need to also allow myself the same sort of time/mind set to also do some more experimentation to develop my skills further.


Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?

1. Initial research - whilst I feel I collected enough for this module, I do believe that I could have spent a bit more time on this area of the design process as it may have helped more with my final out comes and development of ideas. I will relate back to everything we did during first year in terms of research and try to apply this a little better than I have.
2. Time management - my time management skills have improved a heck of a lot throughout this module and didn't end up having to cut myself short like I did with the previous module. This is a great sense of relief for me as it is something I have been trying to improve since the start of the course and I do believe I have cracked it better this time, so I will apply what I have learnt and push this further with future modules.
3. Blogging - I didn't do too bad with keeping up with my blogging during the beginning of the module, but as time was ticking away, so did the time that I was spending on blogging. I do think it has improved quite a bit since the last module, but it's still not on top form so I will try and set myself goals to try and keep on top of it more.
4. Experimentation - as I explained in a previous question, I am going to set myself more time aside to allow myself to experiment more with things as I think this will be a key skill I could really develop to help with pushing myself throughout the rest of the year and the course.
5. Prioritise - I will work on my skills of prioritising from now on, as I found it difficult to juggle everything we had going on once we started back after Christmas, so I will start and prioritise and plan out my time better to ensure I am spending enough and not too much time on all aspects of the course.

How would you grade yourself on the following areas:
Attendance = 4
Punctuality = 4
Motivation = 4
Commitment = 4
Quantity of work produced = 3
Quality of work produced = 4
Contribution to the group 3

Top Ten - Blink 182 Final Sequences

Here are my final sequences.

Title Sequence

Ident 1 - All The Small Things

Ident 2 - I Miss You 

Ident 3 - Always

Ident 4 - Stay Together For The Kids

Top Ten - Blink 182 DVD Packaging 2

Here is what I will be printing for my CD packaging on A3 double sided.

Top Ten - Blink 182 ATST - Idea & Production

After the last module I swore I wouldn't leave anything until the last minute then blame the time limit that is left for something, but I am going to a little bit for this one as the final presentations for our sequences is coming up soon and I need to be finished for this, so I have decided for my fourth ident, I will use a section of kinetic type from my title sequence for it. I don't mind this too much although I made a point of not wanting to repeat using songs, but I do really like the section that I have chosen to use anyway so it doesn't matter.

I am really pleased with how the effects worked out during the All The Small Things section of the sequence that has the lyrics 'say it aint so, I will not go, turn the lights off, carry me home', so this is the section that I have decided to use. I already have the storyboards produced for the title sequence for it, so I will use these as the storyboards to follow for producing this ident.

Including all of the other elements that I have used within my other 3 idents, I produced the ident on after effects.

I am happy with how this sequence has turned out, and also pleased wth myself that I have managed to reproduce the effects of this section again and to the same sort of standard which has proved to myself it wasn't just a fluke the first time. I am glad that I haven't just done this with all of the sequence where I have just taken a section from my title sequence, but I think for this one it was a good section to take. If I did have more time remaining before the deadline then I could maybe have just tried some out to experiment with and what not, but never mind.

Top Ten - Blink 182 4th TV Ident - Idea & Production

After getting to the stage in the brief, I have only just realised that I haven't yet got round to producing an idea for my 4th and final TV Ident that I will be needing - oops! I have considered producing something slightly different for this sequence, that won't include any kinetic type but just consist of the countdown timer and fuzzy noise, with introduction to songs that are in the top ten fading in and out of the fuzz.

I don't need to produce a storyboard for this as I already have the countdown timer done and that's all I'll really be using in terms of the graphics so I got straight on to after effects with it. When I altered the amount of time it takes to countdown in the previous sequences, I reduced it from taking 1 second to taking 15 frames - I think if I was to do the same for this sequence it may countdown and finish a little too quickly, so I have decided to up it to 20 frames for this one.

I got to producing about half of the ident before realising that this idea isn't really a good idea. Here is where I got to:

Even just watching back the few seconds that I have I think it's quite boring really. I don't think if that was to come on tv I would take an notice of it so I have decided to give it up as a bad job. The graphics aren't necessarily visually engaging enough in my opinion for it to work well enough as my 4th ident and work along side the sequences that I have already produced so I will decide on an alternate idea to use instead.

Top Ten - Blink 182 STFTK - Sequence Production 1

Now that I have the set format for my TV Idents, I think it will be pretty straight forward getting my next one done for Stay Togethe For The Kids as I just need to follow this and follow the storyboards I produced earlier on. The sequence idea I have chosen to go with is:

I have chosen to produce this one as I believe it's the most interesting idea I have got down for it. So following what I have done for the previous idents, I put together and collected files on photoshop ready to take over into after effects and produced the sequence.

I think it's interesting how not too long ago I wouldn't have even know where to begin to produce something like this. I have learnt a lot throughout this module and I am really pleased with how each of my outcomes have turned out so far. The sequence effects for this ident happen a little fast but I think it sill works.

Top Ten - Blink 182 Always - Sequence Production 4

Following the changes as I explained in the previous blog post in response to the crit, I made the same changes to my Always TV Ident as well.

Agai, I really like the stage that these are now at, and think the crit feedback couldn't have come at a better time as it has enabled me to really push what was said and make the appropriate changes that I have. 

Top Ten - Blink 182 I Miss You - Sequence Production 3

Taking into account the updates that I made on my title sequence, I went on next to apply these changes as well to my I Miss You TV Ident. I did it just to this for now to ensure that they work as effectively as they do on the other. I updated the timer so that it counts down faster using 15 frames as opposed to 1 second, and I included the fade into the Blink smiley at the end as well.

Another piece of feedback that I received from the crit which I also discussed with Lisa after was that she thinks it needs to have the full countdown on it of the countdown circle to make more sense of what it's about. I did understand her point, but I don't have enough time within the 10 seconds unless I was to make it countdown at a rate of like 5 frames for each number to include every number in the countdown. I was thinking about it though, and have decided that I will have the start of the sequence start at 10, and the end of the sequence end with 1 and then the smiley. That way it is still essentially counting down the whole countdown, but a section is covered by the interruption of the kinetic type section.

I also updated the audio on it so that the song and fuzzy sections fade with each other like I have on the title sequence.

Now with these changes, here is how the I Miss You ident now plays. Again, this feels pretty much finished but I will wait until I have everything done before making that decision.

Top Ten - Blink 182 60 Second Sequence - Production 6

After watching back my title sequence numerous times since adding the updates I made from the crit, it feels pretty much finished. I don't want to say definitely at this point as I will wait until I have my idents as well to see, but here is how the title sequence is now as a whole.

Top Ten - Blink 182 60 Second Sequence - Production 5

By making the changes to the countdown sections as explained in the previous post, this helped a lot with helping me address the feedback I got that explained that with the sequence just ending on 1 and that being it feels quite abrupt, and after the crit I had a discussion with Lisa about it (she was one of the people in my group that was giving feedback), she explained how she felt it just needed a little bit more to it to just finish off the sequence better. So by editing the countdown sections, this free'd up around 3 extra seconds at the end for me to develop.

I had a think (for quite a while) about what I could possibly do, and it was suggested that I maybe zoom into the title but I think this may look a little unconsidered, and I eventually came up with the idea to have the circle fade out from being what it is to being the Blink smiley logo. Doing this will be simple as an element of the circle is already a section of the smiley as I explained back when designing it, so I will just have a layer that appears over the top and fades on to the sequence replacing the sequence. I produced the smiley to be consistent with the colour scheme:

I added this then to the sequence.

I did it so that the layer fades on to he screen in the amount of time it takes for the ticker to do a full rotation around the circle, and also decided to keep that rotating so that you can still slightly see it rotating round whilst the logo is appearing. I think it's quite a nice effect and just ends the video nicely. I am glad that I received the feedback that I did in order to allow me to add this as I may not have considered to do so prior to it. I will also add this effect to the end of the idents too, but instead of having it last for a couple of seconds at the end as soon as it appears it will be pretty much the end of the sequence.

Top Ten - Blink 182 60 Second Sequence - Production 4

Following the feedback I received from the final crit which I have addressed in the previous post, I got straight to editing my 60 second sequence taking on board the suggestions that were given. I have decided to reduce the time that the countdown timer takes to countdown from being 1 second per number to being 15 seconds per number. This is much quicker but not too quick. Also, I completely agree 100% with the audio situation, and had actually considered doing it anyway to have the music fade in and out of the fuzzy noise, so I also updated this so that it does that now. Here's how this now is (the video is just a section to give an example of the updates):

Top Ten - Final Crit 01/02/2012

scan and upload crit sheets

evaluate feedback

got given them sheets to fill in as well to talk about where at - fill this in?

Top Ten - Blink 182 I Miss You - Sequence Production 2

I had enough time before the final crit to also edit the I Miss You TV ident sequence, so I did. I included the countdown timer the same as I did with the Always sequence, but had it begin and end with different numbers, and also included the logo on the countdown sections of the sequence.

Looking at the difference between this version and the previous one of this sequence, I do feel like I have progressed a whole lot since I began producing them and it certainly shows. This version is a lot more visually engaging and works better as a whole than the previous version did. And the content looks a lot more considered.

I have also done the screen shots of this sequence as well.

For the final crit on 01/02/2012, I will have 2 TV Idents and my title sequence to take to it. I had planned to have all of the sequences finished but with things taking longer than I had anticipated (as we were warned), I haven't managed to have all 4 idents. Never mind, I am much happier having these that I do have to the standard than they are at then having everything and probably not being at the same stage/standard.

Top Ten - Blink 182 Always - Sequence Production 3

Following the recent change to include the logo within the countdown sections on the title sequence, I have also decided to include this in the TV idents. Here is how the Always TV Ident now looks ready for the final crit.

I have also took screen shots of this sequence as well to put into a contact sheet to have for the crit.

Top Ten - Blink 182 60 Second Sequence - Production 3

After making the changed on to the Always TV ident, I came back then to producing my title sequence, which I have managed to finish ready in time for the final crit (woop!).

I do think though towards the end it is maybe a little more obvious than it is at the beginning that I have been just trying to get it finished and maybe not putting as much effort in as I was. Even so, I think as a whole at this stage the sequence works well.

Whilst I was producing the sequence as I was approaching the end, I was thinking about how I was going to tie it in with Kerrang so that it is represented in the sequence that this is what channel it will be shown on. Now that I was at the stage of being almost completed with it, I weren't so keen on having the yellow logo just zoom into the screen at the end I think it needs to be a little more subtle than that. So back to YouTube. I looked at more ways that Kerrang have their adverts, and came across this one here, and have now decided that this is how I will have the logo incorporated into the sequence, and it will appear each time the countdown timer is on.

I got one of these logos from google and edited it so that it fits the colour scheme I am working to:

Also, in preparation for the final crit, we were advised to have screen shots of our sequences so I got these to use too.

Top Ten - Blink 182 Always - Sequence Production 2

Following the recent decisions to include the countdown times within the title sequence, I have decided to also include this within my tv idents as well as I think as a whole looking over the progress I have made on that so far it looks to work a lot stronger visually.

I added this to the beginning and the end of the sequence, and had the numbers start and end in the middle of the countdown. I figured that the title sequence will probably be seen enough times to understand where it is coming from in the idents with them starting from numbers within the countdown, such as from 7. It suggests that they are within the countdown themselves and could potentially be added to the title sequence within them numbers the kinetic type is between.

I do think that just by adding this to the sequence it is a lot stronger visually, and has more structure to it and meaning so it doesn't just look like a bit of kinetic type thats been shuvved in the middle of a couple other adverts. Good move.

Top Ten - Blink 182 60 Second Sequence - Production 2

Following the first sitting of working on my title sequence, I had my second one which progressed me on to being up to The Rock Show section. 

Again, me being over picky with tiny details is meaning that producing this sequence is taking a really long time, longer than I had anticipated anyway. It is a different experience producing this as opposed to producing one of the tv idents that I have already done. Even so, I do like how this is pulling together, and the longer I spend on it the most confident I feel working in it. 

I have one section to go on this now as well as the final part of the countdown at the end. I am hoping to have it completed for the final crit that we have on 01/02/2012 so that I can get some feedback on it for how to improve it. I can think of one or two little tweaks I'd like to try, but for now I want to concentrate more on actually getting it finished before going back and reworking anything.

Top Ten - Blink 182 60 Second Sequence - Production 1

Now that I have each of my sequences developed and ideas chosen, as well as the circle countdown section being prepped up and ready to use, I am now ready to begin the production of my title sequence. Exciting.

I prepped up the files for each of the sections before I began in after effects so that they are all there and ready to use. I began with the opening countdown circle sequence, and as I got this correct, I decided to include my top ten title on this as well so that each time it appears for the few seconds it is there to see. I experimented with how I could have this on the layout of this frame on photoshop including the title and then the day and time on some. Here's the experiments on this I tried out before making my decision.

The last one on the right is the layout that I am happy with and have decided to use in the sequences. Just saving the file with this on immediately updates what I have on after effects already, I will also update it on my tv idents too and have it on them.

I spent quite a while in the first sitting of producing the title sequence and by the time I had finished I was up to the All The Small Things section.

I am very pleased with the progress that I have made on my title sequence, and think it is coming along nicely. My need to be precise and be overly picky is really showing when I am working on this as I seem to be spending a lot of time on tiny aspects of the sequence as I go through - this can only be a good thing to ensure that as a whole it doesn't turn out to look sloppy, which is what I would hate to happen.

The effects are working very nicely and just as I was imagining them to. I particularly like the ones towards the end of this video where the effects relate to the actual lyrics like I discussed in the development of these ideas.

Top Ten - Blink 182 60 Second Sequence - Time Line

In order to make sure that I do things in the right order, I produced a time line for my title sequence (hooray!). It isn't necessarily to the frame perfect with how things will appear, but it is a rough guideline to work to in order to get the order right and what not.

To produce the time line, I have a long wall that is just white in my flat, so I scanned and printed out the final storyboards that I did for each of the sections and cut these up into frames. Then making a rough time line out of long, thin pieces of paper i stuck everything to the wall. The order that I have decided that I want the sequence to run in is

1. Countdown circle
2. Adam's Song
3. Countdown circle
4. All The Small Things
5. Countdown circle
6. The Rock Show
7. Countdown circle
8. What's my Age Again?
9. Countdown circle

I have chosen this order as I don't want the songs to appear in the order as they are in the actual top ten as it will pretty much just give it away and then there would be no point in actually watching the programme. Also, I think this will be a good balance between the paces of the songs and will tie in nicely together. Below is an image of my wall once I had done sticking the what felt like hundreds of frames everywhere.

upload image of walllllllll

Top Ten - Blink 182 60 Second Sequence - Adam's Song Sequence Idea Storyboard

Here are the ideas that I have selected from the sketched storyboard I produced for Adam's Song that I have decided to include within my title sequence.

Now that I have each of the 4 sections planned out for the title sequence I am now ready to start the production of it. I was hoping to before I begin using after effects on this to have drawn out a lot neater storyboards to work from using the correct typeface but time is ticking and I don't want to spend too long doing this and cut myself short on managing to be finished with the title sequence in time so I will work from these for now and see how much time I have left later - probably not the right attitude to have, but I do believe that these storyboards I have are neat and clear enough to work from to produce the title sequence effectively.

Top Ten - Blink 182 60 Second Sequence - The Rock Show Sequence Idea Storyboard

From the ideas that I sketched down, I spent quite a bit of time selecting the ideas that I want to include within The Rock Show section of my title sequence as I want to ensure that I select ones that will work most effectively within the faster pace which the song has.

upload final ideas storyboards

Top Ten - Blink 182 60 Second Sequence - WMAA Sequence Idea Storyboard

Again, after leaving a bit of time between completing and deciding the sequences, I chose from the ideas I produced for What's My Age Again? on the previous storyboards that I will include within the title sequence. I included the arrows annotation as explained for the previous section sequence.

Top Ten - Blink 182 60 Second Sequence - ATST Sequence Idea Storyboard

In order to ensure I made the right decisions with choosing which of the ideas to use in the actual sequence that I have come up with in the initial storyboards, I left quite a while between completing them and making decisions so that when I did come back to them I had a fresh mind and could really review and consider what to use.

So from the initial storyboarded ideas, here is the ideas that I have selected to use within my title sequence. I have included the arrows again on these storyboards that I have drawn out to represent how the sequence will look/run, but haven't re wrote every little detail as it is documented well enough in the previous storyboards.

Top Ten - Blink 182 60 Second Sequence - The Rock Show Initial Storyboards

I'm now on to the last section within the title sequence for the song The Rock Show. I have been doing these storyboards for quite a while now so I am loosing focus a bit, which resulted in me not exploring some ideas as must as I possibly could have. Even so, I did get some interesting ones down.

upload these storyboardssssssssssss


This song is really fast paced, so I need to keep this in mind when choosing ideas as the transitions between sections may be too quick to look as effective as they could do. Even so, I like the idea of having this one fast as opposed to say Adam's Song, which is a lot slower paced. I think the contrast between the two tied together with a section of the countdown clock will be quite nice.

Top Ten - Blink 182 60 Second Sequence - Adam's Song Initial Storyboards

While I was doing these sketched storyboards for Adam's Song section of the title sequence, I got a little carried away a bit and did quite a lot of ideas for sections. I didn't necessarily realise at the time but looking back over them now I have - this can only be a good thing though to show I have explored the possibilities of it thoroughly.

Again, I think there are some sections within what I have done that I think will work really effectively on after effects - providing I manage to get them to do as I am visioning them to. Some though may not necessarily work as there may be an issue with the amount of time for the transition between the sections. This is something that I will have to seriously consider when I come to making decisions to to which ideas to use within the sequence.

Top Ten - Blink 182 60 Second Sequence - WMAA Initial Storyboards

Doing the same again for the What's My Age Again?'s section in the title sequence, I roughly storyboarded the ideas and tweaked the ones I though might look better in certain ways for each of the ideas I came up with what I produced the initial sketched for this song. 

Some sections that have been developed will (in my opinion) work quite nice once I get them into after effects, and I can't wait to get started on producing this now. Doing the storyboards like this have been a lot more enjoyable than what it was like for the idents ones, and I found I got into doing them a lot more. This is good because it means I started coming up with more ideas and could really vision things better and clearer. The section that I think will be the most effective for this song section is the last two lines that read 'what's my again again', due to the way that I have it scroll across the frame one way the reverse back the other way. I think that will look quite playful, which will tie in nicely with the meaning of the song.