Week 12 - Evaluation

In this post, I will go over my final thoughts on my title sequence to the show Evangelion. The animation was fully done in Adobe After Effects, using different techniques I have learned during the production process. Title song by PianoDeuss on Youtube "A Cruel Angel's Thesis but it's actually dark and depressive (Evangelion OP)".

The Title Sequence

https://vimeo.com/1039464901

I've uploaded the final export to Vimeo, as I've been struggling with YouTube. According to my research, the data rate limit on YouTube doesn't allow for the level of detail I need, so the videos end up looking compressed, which really bothers me. For my final submission, I'll link both the Vimeo video and the original file.

Evaluation Itself

Moving on to the animation itself, I'm highly satisfied with the end result. The animation ended up straying from my initial storyboard as I progressed, and the song ended up inspiring me to create transitions that sync up perfectly with the beat - which I think looks amazing.

Despite being overwhelmingly happy with the animation, there are still some things I'm not as thrilled about. For example, I'm quite upset that a lot of my assets turned out quite pixelated. I believe it's because I drew them on the wrong canvas size, and sadly I learned that the hard way. Fixing it would require redrawing everything, and I just don't have the time for that now.

I also completely fell out of love with the colour scheme. Initially, I loved the moody palette, but I wish I had included more complementary colours, or used more magenta in the final product. The greys end up blending together too much, making the sequence less eye catching.

Additionally, I am not particularly happy with the glow effects. In some scenes it looks amazing, however, in others it completely overshadows (put intended) the whole scenery. If I could go back, I would adjust the amount of glow for each section of the title sequence. I tried doing so whilst in the production phase, however, the project ended up being so massive that I struggled to add any changes towards the end.

Lastly, I wish I had synced the music better with the animation. Some parts just aren't as in sync as I'd hoped. I had a lot of issues with After Effects, and the previews were out of sync themselves. That's something I could fix fairly easily, but I'm afraid my PC might just explode if I keep pushing it. Maybe I'll need a better graphics card for a program like After Effects in the future.

Despite all those nitpicky issues, I'm amazed with the final animation. I am particularly pleased with the text animation, I believe it adds that level of professionalism I was going for. Additionally, I believe I have managed to efficiently represent my chosen subtext within my title sequence. For example, the colour scheme perfectly captures the themes of apathy and ties in seamlessly with apocalyptic themes. I am particularly found of my assets, the imagery of hands tackling the ideas of belonging, as well as the full body shot once again tying into the ideas of a postmodern reading of the show. On top of that, I have managed to add a subtle foreshadowing for the ending of the series with space imagery.

I went into this project completely blind, not knowing what to expect, and I'm beyond satisfied with what I've achieved. I learned so many new skills and overcame my anxiety about animation. At various points, I even considered it as a potential career path. It's incredibly rewarding to see the project come to life. In summary, this has been an amazing journey, and I hope anyone reading this has enjoyed it as much as I have. Most of all, I hope you enjoy my final animation - it means the world to me!