Moho Forum

This is my first proper animation. I made it for my final major project at college. I think it does need more work but time was against me. I've noticed that this forum is pretty good for feedback so just wanted to know what you guys think.

Video is divx (7.61mb)
www.weatherill.ndo.co.uk/forfoxsake.avi

I wasn't sure what format to use.
What is the most preferred format to share work?

I probably should say what the animation is about. It is about the recent ban on fox hunting. Now i dont want to start an argument about it. My animation isn't really one sided anyway.

Thanks,
Luke

good job, i like the style
may u should use more sound

yeh sound is still something i'm still experimenting with
it was the hardest thing to do on this project

thanks for your comment

I think there are enough sound effects, but -- if possible -- some incidental music could do wonders for the more dramatic scenes, to build up the suspense.

I really liked the way the characters are glued onto the screen in the beginning of the movie and the poppy eyes of the sheep and gruesome look of the fox. However, I couldn't really place the computer game scene, but that might just be me being of an older generation. Anyway, the overall impression was very positive.

And most people either post MOV, AVI or WMV. An often used codec seems to be Sorenson 3 (related to H.264) or -- in case of larger projects -- DivX. All these file types and codecs can be displayed cross platform with freeware viewers, so there shouldn't be any problems.

well the computer game scene was to show that fox hunting is seen as a game or sport nowadays but i have had a mixed response from it

yeh might try and rustle up some background music for some of the scenes like the intro and when the fox is creeping up

thanks

From a visual point of view, I think it's great! I really, really liked the beginning style with the stick on trees and other objects. I like it so much I may steal/borrow that style. heh I also really liked the video game style - the pixelization looked very authentic to me.

From a sound point of view, I'd agree with the others that it is the weakest part. The sounds during the video game are good, with ambient and sound effects. But the rest feels a bit empty, and needs incidental music for sure.

Finally, from a story-telling point of view, it's a bit confusing for me. Is the story about the sheep? Is it about the fox? Is it about the dogs? The focus seems to change during the movie, and this was a bit disconcerting for me.

Overall, it's a great work!

not overly keen about you stealing my style as i'm quite proud of it .

I've had no experience in sound before. Has anyone got any tips or tutorials or anything that could help me create and manipulate sound effects. The prog i used was cool edit pro.

Well the story is about fox hunting and its supposed to show that the fox will get killed with or without a ban. The ban does ban hunting with dogs but it doesn't ban shooting foxes.

This piece was mainly experimental which is why its a mix of styles.

Any suggestions on how the story could be altered for the better

Thanks,
Luke

Interesting work! Congratulations!:D

You noted that hounds can´t hunt foxes, but foxes can still be shot.
Yet, in the end you have a hound hunt and kill a fox (with a rifle).
How about story ending idea something along the lines of:
- the dogs can´t hunt the fox, but instead of the dogs killing the fox as you have it, a human hunter comes along and kills the fox.
Something such as:
- fox taunting hunter´s dogs,
- hunter tells dogs to go after fox,
- dogs won´t (hold up law forbidding dogs hunting foxes),
- hunter says heck with it, pulls out giant gun and blasts fox away....
- and then maybe some text or other graphic that says something along the lines of "hunting foxes with hounds is forbidden, but hunting foxes with guns is not..."

One feels sympathetic to the fox at the end...but in the beginning the fox is a bad, mean, rabies-infected-looking, snarling beast, killing the poor baby sheep. That seems to be a conflict in the message of the story. Which is worse, the killing of the fox or the killing of the sheep? :?::?:

well actually i should have been a bit more specific

what i should have said was hunters can hunt a fox with a maximum of 2 dogs but the dogs are not allowed to kill the fox with its teeth. The hunter can kill the fox with a gun. So thats why i have the dog shoot the fox...a sort of unpredictable twist at the end.

lol i've picked a tough topic to animate

i may have to look back at some of my storyboards

After looking at your animation again, I was kept wondering if I was to feel sympathetic for the fox or not...
Is this a pro-fox hunting animation or anti-fox hunting animation?

If it is anti-fox hunting message animation then the first half of the animation should be removed . The part showing the dramatic stalking by the evil, mean, vicious fox (nice drawing of that, by the way) of the innocent cute little lamb and then the murderous fox brutally killing the sweet lamb of the poor mother sheep.
At that part of the animation one thinks foxes are bad.
(If we are to feel sympathetic for the fox then a different setup needs to be employed; such as the momma and poppa fox happily playing with their fox babies and hunting all the bad mice that eat all the farmer´s corn.)

But then later the animation tries to make us feel sympathetic to the fox that is hunted down by the hounds and the hunter. But then one thinks back to the beginning of the animation...but foxes murder baby sheep, foxes are bad, foxes should be killed!!!!

So one gets a confused message: is this animation for killing foxes or against killing foxes???

well i didn't want it to be anti or pro fox hunting. it was just to expose the fox hunting ban.

hmm but i may change it to an anti or pro hunting animation