APD Week 3 - Play and Time (Animation)

Video Here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JP_sV5cyvU&ab_channel=PeterMavro
 

Context
I did a lot of research this week which correlated directly to my work. This video was inspired by Mafia City Ads. You can see them on this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yke9BhP1uks&ab_channel=Averroes. One of the biggest inspirations from these ads was the showcase of the leveling system. To me, it is a noteworthy way to show mastery of a certain skill.

I looked up inspirational quotes from various websites ( https://everhour.com/blog/time-management-quotes/ , https://clockify.me/blog/fun/quotes-about-time-management/ , https://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/70-best-time-management-quotes.html , http://www.art-quotes.com/getquotes.php?catid=106, https://www.museumofplay.org/education/education-and-play-resources/play-quotes). Even though I did not use any of these quotes directly, it helped me to form the ending sentence of my video and gave me insight into what be an inspirational message. Afterward, when creating the animation, I wanted to show a correlation between skill and level. This idea also stemmed from my quotes research, and the bar represents the time, failure, and progress as it increases one’s skill level, whereas having already mastered something and then investing more time would not increase that skill.

A website that is very informative stated, “maker culture emphasizes informal, networked, peer-led, and shared learning motivated by fun and self-fulfillment.” (PennState, n.d). The process explained what I did in the overall research and creation of this task.

Method
I used a program called Makehuman to create the character. I wanted this to be an animation exercise, so this really helped to get the character down. The cool part of this program is it is all procedural, and thus I was able to change the age of this character by dragging the age slider, exporting it, and animating it.
 
I created the pole in Blender with reference to Dragon Ball's power pole, though I did not follow it too closely. It was used to gain a loose idea of what I wanted to make. I made the animations and rendered it in Blender too. Then I put it all together and edited it in Hitfilm Express.

Response
I focused on play and time in terms of personal growth over the years, with the subject being stick spinning mastery. The character who first started out as a child only knew to play with it, but due to his lack of experience, he hits his head and falls over. Years later when he is older, which can be inferred by the way I made the skill level progress, he has practiced throughout the years, so he is able to spin it. However, he ends up dropping it as his catching skills are not yet developed. We move forward to when he has completely mastered the technique and the character shows his cool technique without fail. I wanted to make this video inspirational hence the message at the end. In short, I show someone who practices with a pole over years and thus increases his overall 'skill level' and 'level'.

Reflection
For not being an animator or having animated in a long time, I am proud of myself for this project, even though the quality is not perfect. I do believe there is still much more room for improvement, and as this subject encourages ‘play’ and experimentation, I look forward to trying out new things and growing my skillset.