Below are my responses to the questions given to us in the lead up to the final presentation of our films for this project:

What have you learned during this project? Consider what you have learned about yourself, your working process, technology, craft.

I have worked with stop motion a bit in the past but only ever with existing objects and I definitely found it much harder to use a self-created object. I have learnt about the technicalities of puppet making (although I was only able to implement them in basic form for this project). I don’t work in film a lot so it was interesting to discover that sound can add/ help a lot in illustrating something.

What gave you a hard time during this project?

Creating a model which can withstand being moved around without breaking. Having to work without materials that I couldn’t get at short notice (e.g. the right coloured clay).

How did you overcome problems?

Watched videos about puppet making.

Were there points where you noticed your own resistance?

I love stop motion but it did test my patience.

Did you procrastinate or feel like you couldn’t do it? If so, what was that like?

Didn’t really procrastinate- to overcome I just made a really bad basic version to prove to myself that it was possible (e.g. although it looked awful, you could still tell what it was representing). However, I do wish I was more skilled in it so my outcome was more professional.

How are you feeling about what you have done? Do you feel satisfied with the outcome and with your working process?

I think it looks very amateur which is fine for now as it’s what I needed to teach me the basics but I do wish I had time to experiment with different materials etc. to see how the ‘finish’ could’ve been effected. For example, it would’ve been good to try out different puppet making techniques e.g. papier mache techniques, more advanced wire bases, string held puppets etc. (I did touch on these techniques but only to make small parts, not finished with paint etc.). I also wish I had experimented more with some of the other characters that appeared to me during the mindfulness exercise as they were more abstract beings so could have given the opportunity for more original storylines. However, I wanted to use the fisherman as I really wanted to try out using different materials such as cling film and foil to represent real life things and as that was my only idea at the time I just went with it to save procrastination etc. I also ran out of time during this project- although the animation is over the required length, I had hoped to add another section at the end where the polaroid photo zooms out to reveal a photo album of the fisherman in various different sink locations with all of his different fish catches, so I’m annoyed I didn’t get the chance to add this extra bit.

Overall, even though I am not overly happy with the aesthetic/ execution of my final outcome, I really enjoyed doing the project. I usually struggle the most with coming up with and deciding upon which ideas to go with when working, once I am on to the practical side of things, I usually get more work done. In this project however, our subconscious came up with all the ideas for us during the mindfulness exercise meaning this was no longer a problem, so suited me well. It has definitely made me want to look into animation more in the future, including drawn animation as this is something I have never done before.