Dwarf Castle

 We needed a dwarf castle near the dwarf town. So, I modeled this referencing here and there on how a castle might look. I found some interesting castle images online and some of the books on Tolkien art. I took in what might be best for our purpose.

I wished to do some landscaping as a castle should look grand and luxurious. However, as much detail I might have put it would have made the castle look less papery. Kieran was very focused and clear on what he wanted. So, he asked me to be careful and refrain from extra detailing.

Transcribing Focus Group and Results

Transcribing the Focus Group took a lot of time as I had conducted two focus groups and I had to transcribe audio worth one hour forty five minutes.

 Part of transcription from FG1

Part of transcription from FG2

Results

Both the Focus Groups had five participants. Focus Group1 had one pet owner and Focus Group2 had four pet owners. It was seen that despite the number of pet owners being higher in Focus Group2 they were less sympathetic to the cause of wildlife preservation than Focus Group1.

The order in which the two animatics were screened also affected the participant’s opinion. It seemed that the participants from Focus Group1 were more involved due to the Gain-Framed Film being shown first while Focus Group2 Participants seemed disinterested after the Loss-Framed screening. Focus Group1 participants appeared to have watched the Loss-Framed Film attentively as they had been drawn in by the narration of the Gain-Framed Film while Focus Group2 Participants were impatient at the Gain-Framed Film’s screening.

After the ‘preaching’ as one of the participant remarked, they seemed distant to the cause of the animals. In fact, they found the dog to be ‘stupid’. One of them said, “Why was the bird still hungry after eating all the biscuit....the biscuits were almost the same size as the birds? They were still in the mind frame of facts and statistics of the Loss-Framed Film and could not accept exaggerated animation. Also, Focus Group1 found the ending of the Gain-Framed Film to be ‘good’ and the one that ‘restores balance to the nature’ while Focus Group2 thought that it made the animatic ‘boring’ and ‘it was not required’.

Four participants (all from Focus Group1) thought that both the animatics carried different messages. They said that the Gain-Framed Film did not show the impact on humans while the Loss-Framed showed not only the impact on humans but portrayed them as the actual cause of the problem. While the rest of the participants thought that both the film carried the same message of ‘caring for animals’ and ‘saving nature’. Focus Group1 Participants also felt that the impact on human beings was under-represented.

Four out of ten participants said that they found the Loss-framed Film baffling as their focus kept shifting back and forth between the monologue and the graphics.

Participants from both of the Focus Groups seemed to agree unanimously that the Gain-Framed Animatic was entertaining and thus more memorable than the Loss-Framed Animatic. It can be also deduced that narration can help in forming an opinion over given matter as the participants could relate to the characters. 

Focus Group

Since my research involved showing two films to the participants in a different chronological order, so I organised two focus Groups. One on Saturday(22.02.2014) and the other on Sunday(23.02.2014). On Saturday, I planned to show the Gain Framed Film first and then the Loss Framed Film, and on Sunday I showed the Loss Framed first and then the Gain Framed Film. I had invited 6 Participants for each Focus Group. 

On Saturday, however, only 4 turned up. I went knocking doors in my student accommodation to find participants. I found 1 student who was available and happily agreed to become a part of my research. As I could only find five people who were available on the day,I decided to carry on with the Focus Group. 

I asked them to sign the Participant Consent Form and then told them about Animatics and how it might differ from their viewings of an animation. Then,I showed them an animatic from Despicable 2 as an example. Further, proceeded with asking some general questions. Then I showed them the Gain Framed Film. I asked them several questions around the film. After that the Loss Framed Film was shown and questions were asked around the same. Further, questions were asked around both the films.

On Sunday, 5 turned up. So, I had equal participants on both the days. As mentioned above I showed the films in reverse order.Also, I followed the format as on Saturday.

Origami Mountain Paper Test

Since we had decided the look to be papery we we looking at different origami art pieces and working out their look in 3D space, I got this photo of the internet as a reference.

Reference Image

I stopped the modeling mid-way as it was looking very busy and quiet an overdose. However,it gave me a good idea of how to replicate the paper-folds that are evident in this example on other environmental models that I intended to make.

Pre-Visualisation of the layout for the town

We were following the map for the layout of the environment. So, I placed various assets modeled by John H., Rebecca and myself to see how it might look.

Loss Framed Animatic

As I am busy modeling Lily, George agreed to help me with the Loss Framed Animatic to get it ready in time for the focus groups.So, after I completed the story boarding for the Loss Framed Animatic I handed it all the details to him.

Lilly was kind to voice over this animatic. Here is the completed animatic.

Loss-Framed Story Development

I had  a meeting with Sharon regarding my focus Group Questionnaire. I took this opportunity to show her the almost finished animatic of the loss framed film. She really liked George's drawing. He has actually done an amazing job.

I have done its narration and story-boarding. Somehow, I was not happy with the finale scene. I wanted it to not only look grand but have an impact on the audience. However, the scene that I had in my mind looked simple and not graphically or artistically exciting.

Originally Planned

I relayed it to Sharon. She came up with this brilliant idea of zooming in to the windows of the cityscape and then sketching the food chain chart that I intended to make. I think it will be a smooth transition to the next shot. Then,there was this another amazing idea of switching off the window lights would signal the end of a line of specie. I intended gradual fade out to black. However, now I would prefer the lights to switch off abruptly and then the screen would be pitch black.

Final Story-board

I have relayed the entire concept to George after the meeting. He is also happy with this. We intend to get the polished animatic ready in time for my Focus Group tentatively on this Saturday(if I get my Ethics Application approved by then). The deadline of the polished animatic is Friday according to my Production Schedule. So,everything seems to be on time at the moment.