The main focus of my animation was to create a character with personality and expression. I chose to animate a teddy bear, which is a favourite children’s toy, to see one showing both positive and negative human emotions would be an excellent contrast that the young audience could relate to. My research into human expressions linked to behaviour was interesting and it informed my decision as to what to incorporate, I came up with various ideas before deciding on my final choice.
By concentrating on the behaviour and the emotional features of the animation, the storyline was only ever hinted at and the audience would not be able to see the little girl (the owner of the bear). On reflection the teddy bear character with his textured grey patchwork exterior appears to be mean and moody, which gives emphasis to the negative emotions. However, this may mean that he is not so appealing to a young audience, especially four year old children. To balance this I decided to end the animation on a positive note; the bear gives a cheeky wink to show he is happy again.
For me the most challenging aspect of this assignment was acquiring the skills needed to create a professional animation. The difficulty was getting the character to look and act exactly how I wanted. It was important that I created a good range of movement in my character, combined with the use of sound effects to highlight each individual emotion. However, when I attempted to combine the movement of the bear with the emotion I had several problems. The technical features required to produce the animation did not always work, especially when it came to making the ears move and attaching the head to the body. I had to settle for the ears moving backwards and forwards, rather than up and down to indicate sadness. I was successful in solving the problem of attaching the head to the body. To make a more elaborate animation that I would be happier with, would require more time than what was available to me.
Whilst creating my 3D animation I have gained more experience in solid surface detailed modelling. I have become skilled at using FFD box tool; I found it useful when moving eyes and eyebrows as it gave a fun cartoon element to the character. However, it was not suitable for what I intended for my animation as I wanted to keep an element of realism to the emotions displayed by my bear. I have also gained knowledge in the use of physique modifier, skinning and rigging animation techniques as I am able to produce characters with movements that are specifically focused on targeted body parts. These are skills and techniques that I can adapt and develop for future projects.