Reflections on the ANIMATIC

STUDENT REFLECTIONS

Before making our animatic, we made this storyboard:

After it was done, we realised that we needed to add more shots than we had planned to fit the dialogue between the two characters towards the end. We also had to make changes to the order of the shot-reverse-shots during the collision, when the characters bump into each other, in order to fit with dialogue and what the characters were doing, e.g. a mid shot from the side when they were trying to walk around each other but ended up walking in the same direction, rather than over the shoulder, so the audience can actually see what's happening.
We also made an adjustment to the script: Naomi would recognise Christopher from her class at university before following him, because this makes more sense - she won't just be randomly interested in him and won't appear as overly eccentric or crazy.

When making our animatic, we realised that we had to make alterations to the script, because the voiceover was too long - if it had started at the point we had originally intended, which was when Christopher was looking in the mirror, it would not have finished until after he had left the house, which is not what we wanted. We had to cut out some of the voiceover and start it at the first shot, when Christopher is lying in bed.

When we took the photos, we found that some shots would be more difficult than we had thought, e.g. the first shot of Christopher (it was difficult to get a shot from exactly above that wasn't angled), and the shot from inside the wardrobe. But we could get them to work.

We also realised that the music and dialogue at the end ended too abruptly, and we would need to make it start fading out the volume earlier.

Overall, we think the animatic went well! It has given us a better understanding as to what shots we will use when, particularly at the end with the conversation between Naomi and Christopher. The music seemed to fit and eventually the dialogue fit with the shots.

We also changed our idea for the titles. Initially, we had intended them to be black and in capitals, but for the animatic they looked better white and not all in capitals for the font we decided on. Whether we use black or white titles for our actual opening will depend on lighting and what is in the shot.

TEACHER FEEDBACK
Some parts of our animatic weren't clear, for example, towards the end during the conversation when Christopher and Naomi are trying to get past each other. Our camera movement also isn't shown in the animatic, so it gives the impression that our opening will be very static, which it will not be.
At one point, Christopher leaves the house but then comes back in to flick the light switch three times before leaving again - this was to highlight his OCD traits. But we have decided not to include this - it is unnecessary since we only have two minutes. It also is not clear in our animatic what is going on here. He will still flick the light switch, but he will do this before leaving the house the first time.