Flash Animation Reflection

Using the feedback I received from my class I have improved my animation. One of the comments made about my animation was that it wasn't very linear. So what I have done, rather than having a static view and a few rollover animations, I have made it so that there are buttons to go to the next/last frame. Another comment made about my animation was that it needs more animations. This was because only a few of my frames in the comic had rollover animations. So what I have done now is made a rollover animation for every frame. The last suggestion to improve my animation was to add a title and end screen. So what I have done is made a title screen with a play button and an end screen which has a play again button.

Overall I think I did quite well with my animation. It had a good use of buttons and rollover events and most people agreed that the story was quite good and easy to follow. I am also very happy with how the artwork turned out, I think it's to very high standards and some of the best artwork I've done in flash. All the goals I set for myself after receiving feedback I have achieved, so I am happy to have achieved what I set out to do.

Looking back on it now, by using my comic strip for my animation I was preventing myself from being able to create a fully linear animation. If I were to do this again, I would start completely from scratch, and make a fully linear animation, rather than use something I had made previously.

When comparing it to a professional example there are a few things I notice. The first is the aspect of sound, many flash animations are accompanied by sound and music, often making the animation more enjoyable. There is also the aspect, as stated above, of the animations being much more fluid in professional examples, whereas in my animation the action was more repetitive and simple. I also notice that the artwork itself is often a lot cleaner in professional examples, where there are no mistakes and things look as they should, whereas in mine some parts of the art are a bit wonky and warped. Overall however, my animation as a whole wasn't far off from the level of a professional and I am happy with the results.

Here is a professional of a flash animation:

And here is my final animation: