3. Research
• What were the strengths of your research?
The strength Existing Products i looked very closely and made sure i picked out almost every detail myself. I also looked at a
lot of existing products that I was thinking of doing myself and that made sure what i was looking for in the products were
accurate and relevant.
The strength of the survey is that I could look at all the responses in quantitative data which made it really easy to compare
people's opinions.
The strength of the Interviews were that i could then ask people for more comprehensive qualitative data which meant I
people could expand on their opinions.
• How did your research help your product?
The Existing Products help me look at the products already on the market and look at the standard the audience would
expect from whatever products I would produce in this project.
The Research analysis allowed me to choose what aspects from the existing products i could try and include in my products.
The Survey allowed me to find my target audience audience and what they would have wanted using the quantitative data. I
then knew who would like my product and maybe they would also have a few suggestions for my product.
The Interview allowed people to expand their answers that they gave me in the survey so i would know how i should shape
the production for my product.
The Audience profile made me to identify the audience that my product would reach the most to help make it appeal towards
them better.
• What were the weaknesses of your research? What could you have done
better/improve? What effect would this have had on your product?
The weakness of Existing Products is that while I did look at a lot of products I don’t think I looked at enough products to get a
good idea of the industry standard but i think i did the best i could with limited time and only being one person
The weakness of the survey is that only 5 people answered my survey. This means my survey could be dangerously inaccurate
and could drastically damage my product.
The weakness with the Interview is that you cant turn those answers into percentages easily. So it can be harder to take all of
them into account.
4. Planning
• What were the strengths of your planning?
The strength of the Stylesheet was that I managed to get a wide range of items to look at/take inspiration from.
The strength of the Layouts plan was how quick and easy it was to do and how helpful it would be towards my final product.
The strength of Software and resources is that I already had lots of experience with things like this so i knew what software I
would need and what I would need to pull this project off.
The strength of Contingency planning is that I made sure to think of every problem that i had also faced in the past when
working on things like this.
The strength of Health and safety was that i very thoroughly thought about the dangers in the workplace.
• How did your planning help your product?
The Layout plan helped me imagine what the final product could look like. This very much helped me get an idea of what I
might need to do on the final product.
The Software and resources helped me list down everything I would need before moving into production. This would help me
not get half way through production and find out I need another software.
The Contingency planning helped me know how to stop/avoid problems that might affect the production. Thankfully it worked
as Autosaving helped me a few times while working on scenes.
The Health and safety helped avoid any health risks in the work environment to make sure nothing went wrong.
The Schedule helped me plan out when I would work, and what I would work on. This helped a lot to make sure I wasnt falling
behind.
• What were the weaknesses of your planning? What could you have done better/improve? What effect would this
have had on your product?
The weakness of the Stylesheet was that was imagining wasnt already there.
The weakness of the Layouts was that it was too basic. You cant cut out or build and you might not be able to build what you
want with already existing products. Its also in a limited format while its in a powerpoint slide. You cant quickly create a video
or audio layout.
The weakness of the Health and safety was that if anything was left out or forgot about it could end up in a lawsuit
The weakness of the Schedule was that everything took longer than expected and I ended up having to use up all my freetime
just to get the project done on time.
5. Time Management
• Did you manage your time well? Did you complete your project on time or would your products have improved with additional
time?
I completed my project on time. However it would have improved a lot if I wasnt alone and under such a tight time
restriction. I was trying to do the work of a whole studio within a few days. I managed to manage my time by sticking by
the schedule that I planned. However like i said on my contingency planning, When i started to fall behind i then had to
start working overtime working in all of my free time just to make sure everything got done. It was very stressful and
rushed but everything was handed in before the deadline.
• What would you have done if you had more time to produce your work?
If I had more time I could have gone back and improved a lot of my work or even rush less of it. I could have spent time
doing animations with characters to ground the scenes a little bit rather than it all being in space. If I had enough time i
probably could have created all the models myself rather than having to use pre existing ones. If I had more time i might
have been able to learn the glass effect better so i could improve how the text looks. I could have animated character
models if i had more time; I tried to but i ended up having to scrap it because I was having problems with the model i was
using from the ripped game.
6. Technical Qualities
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
6giUJY1NW3U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
bkgzXpKbVGE
Differences
● The other trailer is spectacular, it has so much detail and work gone into it. Some of it I
wouldn't know where to even start. My trailer has so many details missing that this one
has. I suspect that It was done inside a professional engine like maya but im not sure
how they did the effects inside maya. (effects possibly done in post)
● Theirs has realistic animation and super realistic lighting and amazing spec maps to
make the light look like its actually there. Where as mine looks more cartoon like and
less realistic
● Their trailer has really good models made specifically made for this trailer but mine just
uses pre existing models.
● Theirs has very good hair where mine wouldnt possibly be able to do that because of the
limits of element 3D
● My trailer is more like a collection of scenes throughout the whole game where as their
trailer is more of a short story.
● Theirs has better motion Blur quality. My motion blur isnt as good. That might be
because of my render settings that i chose, i didnt want to turn it up too high incase it
caused the render times to spike.
● Theirs has amazing cloth physics. Element 3D wouldnt be able to simulate that.
● Very good title animations and very unique way of transfering to the logo. Where as
mine are kinda unique but nowhere near the level of quality behind it.
● Theirs has better camera movement. Where as mine doesnt have as much detail in the
movement (ie when a object is moving past it, it doesnt shake)
● Theirs has better engine effects. There is also more going on with them where as mine
just move with little more detail added on
● Theirs has a lot more detail on the models, where as my trailer doesnt look as good up
close to the models.
● Their camera’s have focus Blur. I wanted ot use focus blur but I just couldnt seem to get
it to work so i decided to leave it out
● Theirs has amazing fluid animation where as i cant because of the limitations of element
3D
Similaritie
● Sinister voice acting at the start. This is a great opening to
the trailer.
● Tone of the scenes are changed by the lighting of the
scenes.
● Good Particle replicator to animate whole fleets. This is a
very good trick but you have to be careful not to replicate
too many, but it has the downside of that you cant
animate them as easily and it increases render times.
● Good 360 space map. This is important when filming
scenes in space because the space has to feel like it is
moving.
● They both include Illumination maps to add more depth to
the scene. It is also a very good to create an illusion of light
● Both use very good heat distortions. We both uses heat
distortions within some of the scenes and it was very good
7. Aesthetic Qualities
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
6giUJY1NW3U
weaknesses
● Limited voice’s from already existing material. This is a weakness because
it really limits what i could do with the trailer
● Focus’s too much on mass effect. I think this is a problem caused by the
lack of usable star wars lines. Being limited to what you can do doesnt
help when creating these trailers.
● Sounds off in some places. I dont know what it is, either the way i got the
sounds or maybe how i cut them but it sounds strange on some parts. Its
not a big thing but its just something that could have used improvement
● Some of the animation is off and stiff. This weakness is because i had to
rush a lot of it. Stiff animation often unimmerse the players and turned
them off from the trailer making them uninterested and you dont want
that to happen.
● Bad textures in some places. This is mainly on the lucasfilm logo and the
super star destroyer where it doesnt look detailed enough and didnt turn
out how i wanted it to turn out.
● Some bad skeletal animations. This is mainly on the scene with the reaper
destroyers. It looks weird but you dont notice it unless you look very
close to it
● Not enough sound effects within the scenes. This takes away from the
scene. Not getting feedback from something hitting the floor or a ships
engines just doesnt sound right if there is no sound so ill have to work on
improving that.
Strengths
● Thematic colours suggesting tone of scenes. I think this is one of my trailers biggest
strengths. Even though it is very suttle it massively impacts the scene making it feel
more cinematic and makes people feel emotions which they associate with the
colour
● The self made Illumination maps work very well to add a bit more depth and detail
to the scene.
● Good visual effects. The effects can be better but they give a good sense of action to
the scene. Lasers, explosions, etc.
● Smooth good looking animation in some parts. Smooth, realistic and natural
animation is very important when immersing the viewer but there are some scenes
that I had to rush too much to make the animation the best it could be.
● Dynamic lighting/Good shadows. That is very important to the scene. Even though
lighting in after effects/element 3D is limited, its still possible to maybe use better
lighting within maya.
● Creepy tone when starting off. That is a very good way to kick off the trailer. It also
starts it off with a little mystery to make the audience wonder and question which
will stick with them after the trailer has finished.
● Good music choice. Good music is important for a good trailer. It helps give more
energy to the action to the scenes and whats going on. It can also act as inspiration
for what you want to happen in those scenes.
● Good titles and logos. I think the logos and titles i created are very good and a good
design can help make the logo look professional and stick in the viewers head.
● Good voices taken from the game. Because the voices are taken from the game, Its
professional and well done. The only problem is that because the lines are recorded
for the trailer it limits what we can do with them
● There are lots of Creative ideas used in the trailer. Pushing these ideas forward and
trying new techniques is very good and not only improves this project but also
I think a lot of the work in the trailer looks very good and cinematic at some points and I think i
managed to do a lot very creatively trying to work out ways to do scenes that I imagined, turning that
into something visual.
I like the style of a lot of it and the custom render settings i did look very good on it. I want to improve
the animation in a lot of areas and I want to improve a lot of the renders to make them look a lot
better and more cinematic. The way i could do that is add more lens textures, add grain, saturate the
colours more and add some bloom. I kinda wanted this to look more like end battle of mass effect 3
Quality. I could Improve the animations by spending more time on them and making sure they all feel
alright before i move on.
The last way i think i could have improved the trailer is by creating my own cinematic models. This
would have taken a long time but i could have done a lot more with models that are specifically built
for cinematic renders.
8. Audience Appeal
• How have you appealed to your target audience? What specific bits of content would appeal to your target audience.
I made sure to include star wars and mass effect. This is something I talked about during my research and people responded positively
towards it in my Survey.
Was action packed like i promised during pre production and something found in the existing products. This idea of it being action
packed to be a good idea.
Cinematic quality. I found during my research that cinematic quality works very well for the audience and helps them become
immersed in the action occurring.
The audience in the survey and the interview said they would buy Promotional products. Since they responded positively to the idea I
created shirts, cereal, phone cases and more.
The audiance in the interview said they wanted Good designs for the products, i spent a lot of time making sure these designs are both
good looking and artistic.
Scenes and cinematography inspired by star wars and mass effect. Since these two franchises were responded two positively and the
interview expanded on the ideas on how to create the trailer. They suggested that I should take inspiration from those franchises so i
agreed and got to work.
10. Feedback 1
• What did you like about the product?
The end logo animation was good
The movement animation for the ship going in between the reapers legs.
Some of the audio was good such as the first few parts.
Good ship design
The reapers swarm the caption and the logo is a good design.
Strong design in the centre and logo No EA in list of creators
For PS4
Good logo design and pretty good design in the middle
Good caption and very few stars in the middle.
Good reaper design with stars in the background.
Good caption
Simple cool design
• What improvements could have been made to the product?
– Deluxe edition
– Movement of when the Tie fighter was taken down and the rebel ship takes its place.
– Have someone else make the game as it is ruined otherwise.
– Then there is the movement of the destroyed ships and the reapers crawling over the star destroyer.
– No stars in the background.
– Nostars in the middle of cereal box
– And the reflection of the star destroyer on the left
– Mature audience
– No stars in the middle of the games case
– Dislike the middle design
– Studio logo Too simple
11. Feedback 2
• What did you like about the product?
the animation
- the way each slide fits in together
- the designs of the logo
- the timing of each slide
• What improvements could have been made to the product?
– -focuses more on Mass Effect than Star Wars
- the music doesn't fit because it's the Avengers theme
-some animation moves too oddly in some parts
- the sound quality is somewhat off
12. Feedback 3
• What did you like about the product?
Tells a story and draws the viewer into the narrative. A good mix of modelling and scenes balancing high volume
instantiations for visual impact with low volume narrative driven scenes giving a good sense of scale and proportion.
The lighting has been well implemented with some good shadow casting work as well as weapons fire etc. A good use
of colour mostly throughout. The breakaway sections whilst simple work well visually and whilst not realistic do a
very good job of telling the story.
The overall pace of each scene is well matched giving the feel of all scenes having been made to complement one
another and with the same directorial intent.
• What improvements could have been made to
the product?
Texture work to reflect damage. Additional breakaway animations to illustrate damage. Additional texture work to show age and
battle scarred machinery. Additional animation to create more independence of each instantiation within scene. Possible
improvement to texture work of Lucas FIlm logo.
13. Peer Feedback Summary
• What do you agree with from your peer feedback?
– I agree that I have good lighting in places. Thankfully I learned a lot about lighting however it is restricted somewhat
by After Effects lighting engine, something like Maya is better but hard to get working how you want.
– Agree it focus’s on star wars too much. I could have fixed this by having more star wars lines or maybe just having star
wars characters in ground scenes but unfortunately I didnt have time to animate star wars characters so i was left
with just animating ships.
– That it needs more texture work, Especially On the lucasfilm logo. I could have improved with maybe having more
time to learn more about the glass effect and make it more look like shiny metal..
– I agree there is odd, rushed animation at parts. That was because I had to end up rushing a lot of scenes to do all my
work within this amount of time.
– I agree it Needs better sound quality and more sound effects. With more time and more research I could have found
more sound effects and applied them to the trailer.
• What do you disagree with from your peer feedback?
– I disagree that the “Studio logo Too simple”. I think simple designs stand out more.
– I disagree that it being for a mature audience is a bad thing. Its just a warning for what is in the final game and not in
the trailer.
– I dont think “Deluxe edition” Is a bad thing, because its just one of the marketing tools used in pretty much every game
these days
14. Peer Feedback Summary
I would change the amount of time I spent on the product to make sure I would improve the animation because I had to rush a
lot to make sure i met the date that i had to submit my work. I could have worked on/developed a lot more ideas if i wasnt on
these restrictions
I would work on improving the sound quality and adding more sound effects. I agree that the sound effects were little to non, and
i wish i had time to try and go back and fix that but I didnt. I want to improve it is because without the sound in the background
something just doesnt seem right in the trailer.
I would make it focus on star wars more. I think that it was right to point out that i didnt focus on star wars enough, There should
have been more connects and scenes with the empire and the rebels. I tried to make it about them whenever possible but I didnt
have any time to work on character models and animate them. I think focusing more on star wars would have made it feel more
like a cross over rather than feeling like its just more mass effect
Maybe try harder to remove the avengers theme. I think that would make it fit better as the feedback said the theme didnt fit. I
did remove some of the avengers theme from the trailer, however it was difficult to remove it at the end of the trailer, because
the music builds up to something grand and i couldnt find a star wars or mass effect track the had the same grand ending so in
the end i had to leave it where it was.
