Evaluation and Feedback:
The brief for the unit stated that we were to create two factual entertainment productions one
being an animation and the other being a short film that followed the subject of issues facing
British Youth. The productions should be able to appeal to younger audiences and the
subject could be anything from Brexit, voting rights, mental health or social media. For my
productions I chose to go with the mental health angle and follow the subject of adhd in
British Youth due to me having adhd. Each of my productions represented adhd in a different
way. In my animation I wanted to give the audience a look into how adhd isn’t visible and
can operate below the surface so I wanted to represent this by giving people a look into the
mind of someone with adhd. Then in my short film I wanted to show how adhd can mess
with someone’s day to day life so I represented this by showing the audience the daily
routine of someone with adhd. I worked on the animation by myself but for my short film I
had some friends help me out in order to achieve certain camera shots that I would have
been unable to do by myself.
Before I began production I sent out surveys to my target audience to see what they wanted
to see in my production. The responses I got detailed that my production should have a
serious but comedic tone, it should have a happy ending and the information should be
delivered in a creative and entertaining manner. One of the questions I asked was how in
depth I should be about adhd. I gave them three answers to choose from:
● Very in depth
● Not to in depth
● Somewhere in the middle
The majority of people answered Somewhere in the middle. This meant that when it came
for me to deliver information in the production I would have to keep it simple and not get too
complicated so that audiences were able to understand.
One of my main sources of inspiration for my short film was the short film “An ADHD
Experience” by ADHD Management. I utilized many of the techniques used in the film such
as the framing device of a daily routine, most of the dialogue spoken in narration and I
implemented the idea of a relaxing song playing in the background. I also reused certain
narrative details such as the main character having to go back inside to retrieve an item they
forgot, the main character having breakfast or taking medication.
One source of inspiration for my animation came from the lego war stop motions made by
JD Brick Productions. This is due to the videos being a great example of how lego can be
used for animation due to its versatile nature.
The feedback for the short film was greatly positive. Audiences stated that they really
enjoyed the narrative, camerawork, voiceover and music. The subject of the film which was
adhd was very well understood by the audience who found it very easy to pick up on the
information that was being given. However one criticism of the film was the use of an ear
ringing sound effect that can be heard a couple times throughout the film. Audiences found
that the sound was very jarring and confusing which hindered their enjoyment of the film.
The feedback for my animation was also positive with audiences enjoying the use of lego
bricks, the animation and the sound design. But unlike the short film audiences found it a
little harder to understand the subject due to a lack of information in the film but most were
able to get the jist of the subject. The animation suffered a large criticism of the camerawork
with audiences calling it shaky and unstable. This was due to me not using a tripod during
production so in any future animation projects I will need to use a tripod.
Due to this brief I was able to learn some new skills such as batch processing as well as how
to properly make a stop motion short and that when I make a stop motion I should use a
tripod for better stability. I was also able to gain experience by working by myself when I was
filming scenes for my short film with no help. My work on this brief also helped my editing
skills as I am now able to edit much more efficiently as well as colour grade certain scenes
which can help me in future projects.
