The document discusses various problems the author may encounter while creating an animated video project, including audio recording issues, software compatibility problems, file corruption, and properly utilizing animation software and tools. The author provides methods for overcoming these problems, such as testing microphone sensitivity, backing up files, practicing animation techniques, and separating character elements across different layers and programs. The techniques, strengths, and experimentation discussed aim to help the author produce high quality animation and audio for the project.

1. ProblemSolving
By Oliver Keppie

2. Equipment

3. Rode Mic and
Tascam
 I will be using a Rode mic and aTascam audio recorder to get the
narration/ voiceover for my video.The reason I am using the Rode
mic instead of just theTascam is because it has better audio and is
easier to directly capture audio. It will also have better audio
sensitivity so will pick up the audio cleaner.Although because of
this I could run into some problems. One of them could be that if
the mic sensitivity is too high it could pick up background noise
and if the sensitivity is too low the audio may sound muffled or too
quiet.To overcome this problem I will do a series of tests at
different sensitivities in a quiet room to find the best audio quality.
I will also try to get 1 on 1 recording sessions although I'm not sure
how many peoples voices I will be using in my project.The reason I
would do 1 on 1 sessions is to minimize the chance of any
background noise being created. I think using these methods it
should work out quite well.

4.  Another problem I could encounter is the audio recorder running
out of space or there not being a suitable place for recording.To
overcome these problems I will try to book some sort of music
room as a recording studio so I could get the highest quality audio
and get a quiet room. I would also remove all of the audio
beforehand from theTascam or move it onto a computer to get as
much space cleared as possible. I doubt this will be a problem as I
don’t have too much speech planned for my project.
 Overall I think the problems for the recording of my project are
quite easy to overcome and I don’t think I will come into contact
with many problems over the course of audio recording, especially
if I use all the techniques I've been speaking about here.
Rode Mic and
Tascam

5. Photoshop
andAfter
Effects
 I will be using Photoshop and After Effects for the animation
stages of my project.The reason I am going to use two pieces of
software is because using just Photoshop wont do the job well
enough or as easily as if I were to use After Effects. For example in
Photoshop if you would like to rotate an image you would have to
use a different layer for every frame of the rotation, whereas in
After Effects no new layers have to be made and it can all be done
in one movement. Some problems that could occur due to the
usage of two different software's could be the size of the screen
being different for each software and also the fluidity of the
animation.This would be because Photoshop generally looks a lot
more jumpy and less smooth that the movements in After Effects.
To overcome this I could only do certain sections that don’t show
as much movement in Photoshop or just do green screened
effects in there to add in After Effects or Premiere. I will also
double check my screen sizes in each software to make sure there
the same size.

6. Illustrator and
Photoshop
 Another problem I could encounter in some software's especially
Photoshop and Illustrator is creating the same art style as it’s a lot
harder to draw or create illustrations in Photoshop although it’s
easier to make text and more geometric things. For this reason all
of my characters and most moving segments that have to look
more fluid will drawn frame by frame in illustrator. For example if I
were to draw a simple face it would look a lot cleaner due to the
larger range of brush tools and also the auto smooth line
modification that can be found on Illustrator.
Illustrator: Photoshop:

7. Premiere
 I have encountered problems in Premiere before such as the audio
corrupting resulting in me having to re record the whole audio. I
have also had certain clips get corrupted and because I used to just
export the finished result and not save the Photoshop or After
Effects document I had to remake sections. For this reason I will
keep a file with all of the original Photoshop, Illustrator andAfter
effects documents and then another folder for MP4’s and JPG’s.
this way I will be able to re-render videos that may become
corrupt etc. I will also save my Premiere file at different intervals
under different names so if I lose one I can start without losing
much work.

8. Huion H420
Graphics
Tablet
 I wasn’t planning on using the graphics tablet until I decided to
revisit it and take some time to get to know it a bit better.
Personally I think that this image turned out better than the other
one where I used a mouse. I picked a face with lots of round edges
so that I could see if the tablet had good control. One problem I
ran into with and even without the graphics tablet is that its hard
to get sharp edges without creating a giant black line or smudge
look.To overcome this problem I could probably create a different
more sharp custom brush although I want my animation to have
most of the characters round anyway as when looking into shape
theory, I found that round means more happy.As the animation
goes on subtle things such as the clouds and or trees will become
more sharp instead of me juristically changing the appearance of
my main character.

9. Computer
 I will be using the computer to do all of my work on. I will also be
using this as the main place for all my work to be saved and
stored. Some problems this could cause are, having different
versions of software then the ones I use at home, for example the
Photoshop software versions not being the same. Another
problem that could occur would be the loss or corruption of my
saved work files on this computer.To overcome these problems I
could back up all of my work onto a memory stick or onto the
office online.To overcome the software issue I could try to save
the work I do at home to an older version of the application I am
using so that it will work on the college macs.

10. Techniques

11. LineWork,
Brushes and
Colors
 Some techniques I will use consist of creating my own custom
brushes to create different effects. For example here are 3
brushes.The top is the standard brush and the second is a custom
brush that I think just gives it a lot more life to the drawing and is
more my personalized style.The third brush would be used for
crating a kids drawing looking style. Some other techniques that I
would probably use is creating the character parts in Illustrator
such as the body, arms and all the moving components on
separate layers, transporting them into Photoshop to add color
and then finally moving them into After Effects as separate layers
so I can move them about. I think it’s a lot easier to add colors in
Photoshop and its also easier to get a larger range of colors.

12. Animation
 I have a few techniques prepared for my animation.The main one
is utilizing the fact that in After Effects you can import Photoshop
and Illustrator files which means I could put each limb and feature
that needs to be able to move on a separate layer and then move
them around easily.This is better than when I just used to use
Photoshop because it’s a lot easier to get advanced and smoother
movements although I'm not as confident in After Effects so I will
need to put a few more hours practice into it.
 Another technique I will use when animating is using green
screens and removing them in Premiere.This is a good way to
keep the original Photoshop or After Effects files clean and
minimize the layers. It is also a good way of separating characters
from backgrounds which makes creating a scene a lot easier and
clearer. I used this technique in my first year FMP and it worked
quite well and you can’t tell a green screen was used.

13. Ability

14. Software

15. Software

16. Art/ Drawing
skills
• One of my strengths is having some
knowledge how to draw human features
which means I will be able to draw my
character a lot of times which is wat I will
need to do to animate properly. It also
means that during the sketching out of
my characters I will be able to draw ides
easier.
• I also think this will help with deciding on
certain color schemes and compositions
of certain scenes and characters. I would
like colors to play a big roll in my project
as from previously researching color
theory and how each color portrays a
different emotion. Another reason I think
this skill will help me because I would use
color theory to help the audience feel a
certain way about a character or location
because I can’t add a lot of context to the
characters and scenes in a few minuets of
animation.

17. Experiments

18. Animation
Styles