MYP Personal Project - Creating An Animation

Planning

My Learning Goal
When I was thinking about topics for my Personal
Project I felt lucky that I knew immediately what I wanted to
do. I have been drawing ever since I was a toddler and
through outside art classes and MYP Visual arts I have
continued to develop my ability. I spend lots of time doodling
and drawing things, and it is something I am really
passionate about. In the picture, you can see an example of
my drawing. In MYP 4 we did a unit in Visual Arts that
involved stop motion animation, and I enjoyed seeing my
drawings move and come to life. At the same time, I have
always been interested in animated films and fascinated by
the process behind them. The development of animation
over the past 30 years has been incredible and I grew up watching Pixar films, and
seeing ‘real’ life characters in the animations. I have never tried to animate any of my
drawings, but I would love to see my own characters come to life. I wanted to find out
if my doodling habit could be something more. For these reasons, I knew that the
Personal Project would be an ideal opportunity to learn more about the process,
therefore I decided that my learning goal would be to learn how to turn my drawings
into animation.

Product
My hope is that my learning goal will lead to me gaining some new skills and
being able to animate a short film, therefore my product will be a short animated film.
When considering a topic for my film, I considered a few options but settled on the
beauty of space. I have always been captivated by the beauty and aesthetics of space
and space travel and would love to show this in a film. I decided early on that my film
wouldn’t be scientific in nature, but would try and tell a story so that I could really use
my imagination and be as creative as I liked.

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Product Success Criteria
When considering the success criteria for my animated film, I started by
reviewing the purpose of my product. I wanted to show that I could animate my
drawings. I then had to make some decisions about the parameters for this. To help
me, I did some initial research on animations. When researching, I would see what
professional animators are capable of and set myself realistic standards based on that,
ensuring that the work I do will be of respectable quality. When setting the more artistic
goals for myself, I ensured to make them realistic but difficult to reach, and I borrowed
some of the strands from the design cycle, using things such as aesthetics as things
to assess my product on.

Product Success Criteria Details

Function: It is important that my animation has a story. I want to be sure that

I can create an animation that is meaningful and has a purpose.
1. The story is clear and
understandable to all by I will measure this through a short survey that I will give to a test
the end of the film. group of viewers.

Aesthetics: I want to make sure that the drawings are my best work, and that
I include details (such as shading) that makes them look realistic.
2. All of the drawings are of
high visual quality, I will ask my art teacher to assess my drawings prior to animation,
complete with shading based on my criteria.
and finer details

Animation: After my initial research, I was able to set realistic expectations for wha
and within the recommended hours for the Personal Project.
3. I will create 2 minutes of It seems that within my time frame, and with all of the work I have to
animation do, 2 minutes will be challenging but achievable.

4. Movement in the I want to make sure that my animation is more than stop-motion, so
animation will be fluid that I can prove to myself that I can move to the next level. I want my
and realistic work to look polished, even though I am a beginner.

I will measure this through a short survey that I will give to a test
group of viewers.

5. All of the animation My initial research told me that colouring backgrounds and frames
frames must be coloured would take me considerable time, but would be essential to

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 and complete. achieve a finished look in my animation (with no white spaces or
missing parts). I decided early on that I wanted to make sure I
achieved as professional a look as I could, so I included this as one
indication (criteria) for the success of my product.

Plan for Achieving the Product

I created two separate timelines for the project, one being a general timeline for
the entire project and all its due dates, and the second being a product specific one.
The general timeline is more of a weekly/monthly planner that will just give me a
general understanding of what I am supposed to be working on, while the product
specific timeline was created to plan out each step of my creation process up until
January 26th. I set up task lists or ‘to do’ lists for each deadline to ensure that I could
complete everything I planned by the due date. While creating my plan, I was careful
to consider my product criteria, to ensure that I focused on the specific requirements I
had set myself. I found it easier to do this by adding a column to my plan which
reminded me which criteria was being addressed.

Plan for Achieving the Product

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Applying Skills

Achieving the Learning Goal - ATL Skill: Research

In order to achieve my Learning Goal of understanding how to turn my drawings
into animation I had to prepare and do a considerable amount of research. When I
began doing my research my first step was to create a research plan

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Excerpt from Research Plan

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 My research plan was very useful because in it I outlined all the content I need
to cover throughout my research and what information I need to find, along with some
starting links and potential sources. I would refer to the plan whenever I would get
stuck or confused to get myself back on track. As for the research itself, it went by
well. I had looked at a wide variety of sources when doing research. I had primary
research, which was information gathered directly by myself, such as interviews and
lessons in animation. Then there were books and textbooks, which were useful when
it came to astronomy, as it is more factual therefore is easier to find in books. Then
there was online research such as various videos, articles, interview transcripts,
amature posts on social media, and official organization websites. However because
not all sources can be trusted, I had to evaluate them in order to see if the information
is actually reliable and can be used. In order to do that, I went through them using the
CARRDS method. The evaluation helped me to identify the sources which would be
the best ones to help me reach my goal. When conducting research, most particular
on animation and art, I would try to balance the sources between professional and
amateur ones and look at a variety of sources. I would look at documentaries or
interviews with people from the animation business such as professional animators,
editors or storyboard artists (Berkeley Advanced Media Institute, 2016), but also go on
blogs (Aneyka, 2016) where other students or amateur artists would write their own
tips and suggestions that I could later consider. I did this because I wanted to
understand animation and digital art in particular from a perspective of a trained
professional and a self-taught amateur. This approach helped me to achieve my
learning goal because it helped me to understand what was possible for me as an
amateur, and the skills and techniques that I could practice for myself. In the end I
wrote all my research out on a single document which helped me put it together and
answer the questions I had before starting my product. One of the best pieces of
research I did was the in-person lesson on CGI animation. Being able to talk it through
with an expert was very valuable. I did some general research on the topic before the
lesson so that I was able to prepare questions in advance. My learning goal was to
learn how to turn my drawings into animation and I feel that the research I did gave
me an answer to that question, and prepared me to create my product.

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 CARRDS Evaluation of Sources

Source: Karpenko, N. (2017). CGI Animation Beginner's Lesson. [Personalized lesson to

student researcher] 28 October 2017

CREDIBILITY: This was a direct, in-person lesson with a professional computer animator, Nikolay
Karpenko. He has been in the field of art, graphic design and animation for over 20 years,
and over 10 in computer animation specifically. He has given me his contact details for
any further questions I might have, and is willing to organize a second or even third lesson
if I need more practice and experience. Since animation is not an exact science or math,
there are not a lot of wrong and rights, but rather styles where the wrong and rights vary.
In CGI, there is a certain process and style many studios stick to, and that is what I got to
experience and try out. I can trust my teacher as he has had years worth of experience in
one of the most successful computer animation studios of the country.

ACCURACY: I have done brief research on CGI before the lesson, so that I would not be completely
clueless and we would have something to start from rather than starting from scratch. I
did research on the process of an average computer animation process, and the layout
and animating process. From what I have done with him, the concept seems to be almost
identical to what I researched, and the process was rather similar with certain differences
due to the large market and variety of animation software.

RELIABILITY: During the lesson, the only form of bias present was the bias towards his and his studio’s
animating style and technique, however he did mention that there is an endless list of
possibilities to do certain things he was showing me, and that if I continued practicing I
would experience these styles myself, or just see them around me in things like movies or
video games. Therefore, it is clear that he was not forceful and pressuring with his bias,
and can be trusted - he clearly stated that his way is not necessarily the only correct way,
but rather an approach.

RELEVANCE: This is an in-depth primary source that has not only expanded my knowledge of the topic
but also the experience I have in the field, preparing me for my final product rather well.
With something like the arts, it is crucial to have first hand experience with what you’re
researching if you are hoping to apply it to real life somehow, and with CGI it was a great
opportunity to try out, as CGI softwares are usually not just expensive (hundreds to
thousands of dollars) but also difficult to figure out as an amateur with no guidance. This
lesson has given me first hand experience as well as taught me more about the process -
and it was easier to understand and process the given information as it was an interactive
lesson.

DATE: This information was not created the day of the lesson, but rather collected and then
developed, evaluated, reflected upon, and adjusted to be as useful as it can be. The
teacher has been gaining the experience he shared with me for years, and he got it all by
working on animated pieces on his own, and learnt from his own mistakes and improved.
That is the best sort of information I can get, as with animation, experience is crucial, and
my teacher had lots of it. Therefore the stretched out data collection period of time is
ideal for my topic and project.

SOURCES: He did not cite any sources as this experience was gained directly, and the lesson was
purely verbal (besides the parts where we worked on the software).

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Gathering information

Animation
The following is an explanation of the modern animating process of anime, as it is the most common
example of traditional animation in the 21st century (mostly due to the fact that most other movies and shows
have moved onto 2D or 3D computer animation rather than traditional), and it has a rather large group of fans due
to the variety of genres within the medium. As for the animating process specifically, it is split into specific sections
which are managed by different groups of crew members. The first step after the completion of the storyboard and
all final meetings, is the production of key frames. That is usually done by the key animator(s) (who are usually
most important and respected, as their artistic style that they include in the key frames is what the final shot will
look like, as the other animators will have to recreate and continue what they started), and it is a collection of a
small amount of frames drawn for each shot, usually varying between 2-5 shots depending on the amount of action,
i.e. simple facial movements vs a full body movement (Richmond, 2009).
Once the key frames are done, they are passed down to the in-between animators, but not before they are
checked by the animation directors. Animation directors check for style consistency and double check that the style
chosen by the key animators are appropriate. Then they are passed down to the in-between animators. Their
position is rather self-explanatory. These animators are in charge of filling in the gaps left by the key animator, and
make a smoothly running animation in the end. They use the key frames given as guides for what they produce,
and strictly follow the design and style of the key frames to maintain consistency. Once all the frames have been
drawn out and are neat and ready for work, they are scanned and transferred to computers for further work,
specifically inking (tracing/lineart), and coloring. A group of animators, using digital art tablets and a digital art
software (depends on studio) will then proceed to trace each scan of each individual frame whilst still maintaining
a consistent style, essentially creating everything exactly as it is on paper. Once that is done and they have a traced
and transparent lineart of the frames, the coloring begins. The coloring is done by a group of animators who have
an assigned color palette for each scene (i.e. nighttime palette, sunset palette, and so on), and they simply color in
the corresponding areas of the frame to the assigned colors. The colors they apply are the base colors, and they
are simple flat colors. Once all the frames have been fully completed, they are passed onto the shading department,
in which a group of animators simply add the necessary colors to the scene such as shading, highlights and so on.
Once all coloring is complete, the frames are then passed down to the special effects department. No CGI is involved
(with some exceptions, depending on the anime), but there are still special effects in anime. In many action pieces,
special effects such as fire or explosions are required, and that is what the special effects department is responsible
for. They add all necessary sparkles, glows, shimmers and explosions to the frames. As well as add special effects,
these animators also wrap up the animation part of the production. However while the frames are being worked
on, a separate group of artists develop all the necessary backgrounds with a similar method. If this process does
not seem extremely difficult as is, then it is necessary to say that the average number of frames per a 20-25 minute
episode is around 15,000. Again, this depends on the amount of action in the piece (Washi, n.d.).

Applying Skills to create a product: Thinking Skills (Critical and Creative

Thinking)
When I was done with my research, I realized how challenging this product
really is. When I researched the process of how traditional animation was done I
understood that I will struggle to do any of that as an individual amateur, and decided
that I need to manage my time really well to avoid the risk of turning in an incomplete
animation. I had to think creatively in order to be successful. Throughout my planning
and brainstorming process I would often write ideas that I had to cut because they

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were unrealistic, and I would often have to check that I’m not underestimating the
difficulty of the project. When I realized I was behind schedule with my film production,
I brainstormed some alternative ways for me to complete the project, such as changing
movements of the character to something easier to animate or adding in less
complicated background paintings in place of more advanced ones. Once I started the
animating process, I also briefly struggled with the software I was using, as the only
animation software I was familiar with was that from a private lesson I took on CGI
(Karpenko, 2017). However since CGI and traditional animation are quite different, it
wasn’t easy to figure out the traditional software. To solve this problem, I added some
time into my plan to just get to know the software, playing around and seeing what
worked. I realised that as I had scheduled the extra time, I didn’t feel stressed and
could take my time and get to know the
program. After exploring the program,
I started noticing similar terms in the
options and began finding my way
through, eventually familiarizing
myself with the software. This solution
ultimately helped me to achieve my
product as it allowed me the time I
needed to ensure I had the necessary
skills. In the picture, you can see
evidence of the software I used, and
some of the steps I took to develop my
product.

Reflecting

Reflection: The impact of my

project on my learning
When I started the project I
thought that I would be able to learn
everything I needed to make my product through traditional research. The biggest
takeaway for me was that I was surprised to find that actually, I learned more through

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the creation of the film and my tutorial than through reading books and websites, as
animation is such an interactive topic that it is easier to learn trying it out rather than
reading about it. After I got to experiment with various techniques and styles I found a
middle ground that suits my skill level and worked comfortably with it, exploring tools
in painting softwares that I never knew about. Those tools I found out about are
actually extremely useful and I have already began using them for my own personal
drawings I do outside of school. I also learnt about CGI as well as traditional animation
and how they’re made. Creating the drawings and the animations, taught me about
the beautiful things humans are able to create to express themselves and tell stories
and ideas. I combined those two together to understand that even though earth is
technically insignificant in the universe, we can create significant things such as
animation to tell stories and express emotion to share them with each other to make
our insignificant planet significant to us. Overall, as a result of this, I will now feel more
comfortable in taking risks and learning while doing, where I would have previously
held back. I understand that research can also be practical, and trial and error.

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Product Evaluation

My Product

My final product was a short animated film, consisting of 12 backgrounds and

4 animation sequences. The film shows the journey of a young astronaut and his
sidekick traveling from earth, beyond the solar system and through the universe until
they reach an alien civilization. I was most inspired by the traditional animation style
during research, therefore implemented the Japanese anime-style techniques into my
process, resulting in frame by frame movements and more Japanese inspired
character aesthetics. While working on the film, I had my criteria by my side to ensure
that I am covering all the strands. I would see if what I am doing actually hits the
standards I set for myself and if I am moving towards a good grade. The film’s visuals
depict the beauty of space and what it might potentially hold, which meets my goal.
The film shows ideas such as the journey of a man through space and eventually
discovering a new civilization, however everything turns out to be a dream in the end.
The sad ending suggests that even though it is not possible yet, some day human
migration can eventually lead us to meeting other species. I used the global context
as inspiration for me to create a film that shows a personal story of one astronaut who
gets to see the beauty of outer space, and thus share what he sees with the audience.

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 Product success criteria: One point rubric

Areas of strength Product success criteria Areas for development

(Glows) (Grows)

All of the responses from my Function:

survey said that they had The story is clear and
understood the story. I was understandable to all by the
pleased that the storyboarding end of the film.
process had contributed effectively
to this criterion.

Aesthetics: My art teacher observed (and I already

knew) that there were sometimes
All of the drawings are of high inconsistencies in the drawings between
visual quality, complete with frames (for example in the details of the
shading and finer details man’s face in the two close-up scenes).
I need to focus more on details and
making sure I am consistent.

My final animation was 2 minutes Animation:

and 20 seconds long, and I felt that
the pacing was good. I was able to I will create 2 minutes of
match my story to the mood and animation
tone of the music.

Movement in the animation will Although I am an amateur, I had high

be fluid and realistic expectations for myself. The movement
is generally good, but there are some
areas it could have been smoother. I
might go back and fix them after the final
project. I did not have time to make them
exactly as I would have wanted them.
Particularly the movement of the
spaceship between the flight frames - it
felt jumpy and stilted.

I was very pleased that I had no All of the frames must be

issues with colouring or finishing coloured and complete.
the frames. All of my backgrounds
were complete, even the nebula. I
was especially pleased with the
space walk scene and the
costumes.

Overall Evaluation: I think that I created a successful product, however not to the highest
standard possible. I believe that I did well for a person with my skill level, but naturally nothing is perfect
and there’s always room for improvement, especially in terms of art. My main weaknesses were
maintaining consistent character design and creating fluid movement, and the lack of accurate

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representation of my knowledge of astronomy. I feel like I could have done more practice background
drawings before starting the the movie to be more familiar drawing techniques, because I redid a lot
of my backgrounds more than once because I couldn’t get them to look accurate. If I did trial pieces
beforehand, I could have gotten through the process quicker and done more backgrounds to show
even more of my knowledge. I met my goal, but not as well as I could have. I sent out a survey to my
peers that hits on all strands of my criteria so that I could consider their opinion in my final evaluation.

Product Evaluation: excerpt from my survey

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 MYP personal project

Candidate identifier Creating an animation

Criterion A B C TOTAL/MAXIMUM

Level awarded/maximum 8/8 8/8 8/8 24/24

Criterion A: Planning Explanatory commentary: Referencing the task-specific Level by

clarification, what in this work characterizes it as limited, Strand
adequate, substantial, or excellent?

Strand i: state a learning goal for the There is a clear learning goal provided by the student. When the 8
project and explain how a personal student says that they “would love to see my own characters come
interest led to that goal. to life”, they are specifically making a connection between their
personal interest and their learning goal, and giving reasons for this
connection.

Strand ii: state an intended product The student states their product (the animation). Five criteria are 8
and develop appropriate success presented by the student for the product, and they are considered
criteria for the product. to be appropriate because the student is able to justify the reasons
for choosing them: “My initial research told me that colouring
backgrounds and frames would take me considerable time, but would
be essential to achieve a finished look in my animation.” The criteria
are also appropriate because they address different and multiple
elements of the product (function, aesthetics and animation). The
student has made their criteria detailed by including information on
how they will be tested.

Strand iii: present a clear, detailed The student has successfully presented their plan in the form of 8
plan for achieving the product and its a table. In addition to the dates and deadlines for each task, the
associated success criteria. student has included additional specific details in a ‘to do’ list for
each task. The student has clearly linked the plan to each of the
product criteria and sub-criteria (each element of the animation
criterion is also addressed in the plan).

Overall criterion 8 What aspects of the work made it difficult to arrive at a level? How did you
level compensate in ‘best fit’?
n/a

Criterion B: Applying skills Explanatory commentary: Referencing the task-specific Level by

clarification, what in this work characterizes it as limited, Strand
adequate, substantial, or excellent?

Strand i: explain how the ATL skill(s) The student explicitly identifies research skills as an AtL skill that 8
was/were applied to help achieve was applied to help them achieve their learning goal, and provides a
their learning goal. number of examples for this. The student explains that the research
skills (using a variety of primary and secondary sources) helped by
including reasons such as “This approach helped me to achieve my
learning goal because it helped me to understand what was possible for
me as an amateur, and the skills and techniques that I could practice for
myself”. This shows a clear link between the AtL skill (research skills)
and the learning goal. The student provides multiple examples
of evidence (a source evaluation, a research plan) to support their
examples.

Examiner assessment comments, Example report 1 1

 MYP personal project

Strand ii: explain how the ATL skill(s) The student explicitly identifies thinking skills as an AtL that was 8
was/were applied to help achieve applied to help them achieve their product. The student provides an
their product. example of problem solving, and explains that the solution directly
helped in the creation of the product when they say “This solution
ultimately helped me to achieve my product as it allowed me the time I
needed to ensure I had the necessary skills.”

Overall criterion 8 What aspects of the work made it difficult to arrive at a level? How did you
level compensate in ‘best fit’?
n/a

Criterion C: Reflecting Explanatory commentary: Referencing the task-specific Level by

clarification, what in this work characterizes it as limited, Strand
adequate, substantial, or excellent?

Strand i: explain the impact of The student explains that completing the project caused them 8
the project on themselves or their to become more comfortable in a specific learning situation and
learning. gain new insights about themselves as a learner. The explanation
is highlighted when the student says “Overall, as a result of this, I will
now feel more comfortable in taking risks and learning while doing,
where I would have previously held back.”

Strand ii: evaluate the product based The student provides an evaluation by looking at the strengths and 8
on the success criteria. weaknesses of the product. These are clearly provided in a table
format with headings showing ‘areas of strength’ and ‘areas for
development’. The student identifies features about the product
which are strengths (“All of the responses from my survey said that they
had understood the story”) and weaknesses (“there were sometimes
inconsistencies in the drawings between frames”), using specific
examples. The student addresses all of the product criteria and
includes examples and evidence (including a sample of the survey).

Overall criterion 8 What aspects of the work made it difficult to arrive at a level? How did you
level compensate in ‘best fit’?
n/a

Examiner assessment comments, Example report 1 2