ba2batomicmoo

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Online Portfolio.

The online portfolios and websites I’ve seen and liked have been these simple, clean, easy to navigate places that get to the point. I’ve decided to be a little more casual in the hopes of reflecting my personality and to attract people who will be easier to work with. Not terribly so though. I think it’s a nice balance for a website based portfolio. 

 I decided to use Wix at the moment since a few people I know are using it and I liked that it helped set up a different style of a web page depending on what you needed from it. 

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Self-reflection and getting ready for year 3.

Over the past two years on this course, I've learnt a lot and am continuing to slowly improve. I picked this course because I wanted to do something I enjoyed. I never really considered what I would do afterwards. 

Some of the things I’ve enjoyed on the course the most have been: 

- The making of anything physically with my hands, such as stop motion puppets, backgrounds, props, costumes. 

- Adding meaning to a story, creating ways to create emotion, figuring out the composition to help tell my story. 

- Mixing mediums together, trying to animate in no traditional forms such as etching or using people as puppets. I’ve not had much time to try this.

Some things I’ve enjoyed less:

- The lack of time to get my projects to the standard I wanted.

- Working on multiple projects at a time. 

As far as what I might want to do for work I really have no idea. I think anything pre-production would be best? But at the same time, I’ve really not had the opportunity to practice my animation skills besides our projects which I’ve always felt rushed through to the finish so I’ve never liked how my end of showreels have turned out. So I think after uni I’m going to work and save up some funds for equipment and make myself a showreel and portfolio that I think shows my passions off the way they should be. Whilst doing this I’m going to try freelancing whilst looking for a job in the industry. I’m hoping by taking this time I will be able to feel out what it is I might or might not want to do in the industry. 

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How do short projects improve professional skills?

Short projects are a great way to focus your energy and concentration over a small period of time without getting too burnt out and to see what you can produce. This could help you figure out what your strengths and weaknesses are in our project are. 

It could also help you improve your planning skills and timekeeping skills as you learn how best you work when you work the most efficiently and where. It’ll help you estimate the time needed for future projects. This will mean you’ll also be able to estimate self deadlines for personal projects.

Practice makes perfect after all. 

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How do new software and technology change how we communicate?

“ We can communicate faster and more cost-effectively. “

“ As the speed of communicating has ramped up, costs have been dramatically reduced.“

“ We have access to more information. “  “ Internet providing much more knowledge at the click of a mouse than could even be imagined in the past. This means there is much more data that can be communicated about any topic than was previously possible, limited only by our own ability to find, absorb, and store this information. “

“ We communicate with a different style. “   “ Mobile devices that fit in our pockets have tiny keyboards that make expedient communication desirable; hence an increase in the use of shortcuts, symbols, abbreviations, and new words that get the point across with fewer characters.“  (Such as emojis. Here is a cheese example:)

“ We have more choices on how to communicate. “ 

(https://blog.wps.com/how-technology-has-changed-the-way-we-communicate/)

(https://www.brighthubpm.com/methods-strategies/79052-exploring-how-technology-has-changed-communication/)  This article has many pointers on the way we communicate from cave paintings to phones.  

Technology also helps people organise, such as google drive and other applications like Excel, etc.that help teams of people work more efficiently together. 

"Emoji are very popular in text communication, but we have shown that people do not interpret them in the same way," the researchers, from the University of Minnesota's GroupLens Research lab, wrote in their paper. This means that "emoji usage may be ripe for misconstrued communication," the researchers concluded.“  (https://www.livescience.com/54390-emoji-interpretation.html) 

(https://grouplens.org/blog/investigating-the-potential-for-miscommunication-using-emoji/) Is an article about how emojis on different platforms can affect the way we interpreted written sentences.

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Visual language as communication.

“Product designers frequently resort to metaphors to exhibit original and aesthetic solutions to design problems.“ 

“ We use outdated products as symbols because they are ingrained in our mind’s dictionary.“

“Ludwig Wittgenstein, in his second book, Philosophical Investigations (1953), compared the various uses of the term “games” (board games, card games, ball games, Olympic games, and so on) and came to the conclusion that they do not have a common denominator, but rather possessed what he called family resemblance. “

“ Recent evidence suggests that culture and language can influence perception; for example, there is evidence that people tend to perceive things in ways that are influenced by the manner in which they have learned to think in order to function efficiently in their ecological setting. In English we call the device that records incoming telephone messages “answering machine” (a genderless mechanical device). In Hebrew the term used is “electronic secretary” (a humanized feminine electronic gadget).  “

“ Just as people can verbalize their thinking, they can visualize it. A diagram, a map, and a painting are all examples of uses of visual language. Its structural units include line, shape, color, form, motion, texture, pattern, direction, orientation, scale, angle, space, and proportion. “

(https://www.fastcompany.com/3047340/how-your-brain-understands-visual-language)

“ people that spoke different languages into contact with each other. In order to communicate, people developed pictograms around the 4th millennium BC as a way to communicate. Pictograms are images that represent physical objects and were used to share ideas or ask questions. “

“ visual communications is called semiotics “

“ why do we look at a picture and automatically know that it means tree? This is primarily because people learn through society and culture what the word 'tree' means, which they then associate with the object and is ultimately recognized in the picture. “ 

(https://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-visual-communication-definition-history-theory-examples.html)

“ Semiotics is an investigation into how meaning is created and how meaning is communicated. Its origins lie in the academic study of how signs and symbols (visual and linguistic) create meaning.“ 

“ For instance, when we see the different colours of a traffic light, we automatically know how to react to them. We know this without even thinking about it. But this is a sign which has been established by cultural convention over a long period of time and which we learn as children and requires a deal of unconscious cultural knowledge to understand its meaning.“ 

“ But in scuba diving, this sign means go up to the surface, and by the side of the road it means you want to hitch a ride.“ 

“ In other words, we need to understand the context in which a sign is communicated in order to comprehend its real meaning and hence act appropriately. What is going on around the sign is usually as important for us to know as the sign itself in order to interpret its meaning. “

(https://signsalad.com/our-thoughts/what-is-semiotics/)

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Research into freelancing with health issues.

“Many of us get a huge amount from our work relationships – whether that’s camaraderie around the job, lunchtime walks, lifelong friendships or just the physical presence of others,” 

“The Good Life Report released earlier this year surveyed 400 self-employed workers and flagged health and wellbeing as being a risk factor for those working for themselves. ”

Courtenay suggests regularly partaking in social events “where you meet other people; have a coffee afterwards and get their phone numbers for other social contacts,”

“Chris recommends that freelancers begin by “recognising that they have mental health, which needs to be as carefully managed and maintained as financial records and data,” he continues, “there might be a regular meet-up you could join, or you could set a couple of face to face coffee catch ups in each working week.” 

“have a routine that “fits in with your pattern of life; once you have a routine, make it work for you.” This is reiterated by Chris who proposes having “set working hours that you plan for the week to come, and a physical space distinct from the rest of your home environment which is a ‘work zone.’”“ 

“Mental health charity Mind lists ways to deal with workplace stress which includes “trying different coping techniques to use as soon as you start to feel pressure building,” “focusing on the here and now can help you to create space to respond in new ways to situations,” and “looking after your physical health.”“

“Axa Business Insurance survey from last year discovered that “self-employed people are less stressed, have a better work-life balance and better mental health than other workers.” This was demonstrated through their findings which detailed that 78% of self-employed people said they were stressed to some degree at work, compared to 90% of workers in full time employment.“

Some tips: 

- “Recognise what causes your stress, anxiety and depression etc...

- Try mindfulness.

- Ask for help - friends, family, fellow freelancers.

- Implement a structure and routine.

- Take regular breaks - you are not a working machine!

- Don’t neglect your personal development – consider further study, training courses and conferences etc….

- Connect with others - join evening or morning classes, find a freelance community.”

(https://freelancerclub.net/resources/blog/post/freelancing-and-mental-health-a-therapists-view)

“Idea generation, which was always my strong point, is harder when you’re brainstorming with yourself. And while I’m much more efficient without regular pauses to chat with colleagues, I definitely feel the lack of office chat is not great for my soul. Plus I have an anxiety towards my work that I didn’t have before, without the transparency of people’s reactions in person.“

The lack of human contact:

“nearly 40% of people feel lonely after going freelance according to a survey (https://www.aldermore.co.uk/about-us/newsroom/2017/03/loneliness-and-lack-of-control-report-highlights-key-stresses-facing-uk-entrepreneurs/) by Aldermore.”

“ lack of human contact can have very real consequences to our health: loneliness (https://www.stylist.co.uk/long-reads/lonely-loneliness-psychology-how-to-make-friends-solo-travel-expat-advice/222923) actually compromises the immune system, it causes insomnia, increases your susceptibility to depression and can actually cause poor digestion and health.”

Ways to combat this: 

“1) Shared work spaces” You can share a work space or office out of the house to socialise more and to change the environment. 

“2) Curate your own network I’ve found it hugely beneficial being part of a closed freelancer’s Facebook group (like The No 1 Freelance Ladies Buddies Agency) where you can share tips and advice, job opportunities and ask questions. The common belief is that the online world causes loneliness and disconnects us from one another but for me, that’s simply not true. I feel really connected to other female freelancers in that group when I post and they respond – or vice versa – and ‘conversations’ begin.””

“ meetup.com, Southwoodsocialhub.co.uk, Riposte Presents events, womenschapter.com and make sure you go along to events such as Stylist Live (which has various talks cover all manner of work issues) and Women of the World Festival at the Southbank Centre (the best place to network and meet inspiring women).” (These are all websites where you can connect and network with other freelancers.)

3) Join the conversation: Go and listen to podcast, read books and sit around where conversations are happening. You don’t have to speak in them for them to help with loneliness. 

The lack of routine and structure: Go to bed and wake up the same time every day to get the best nights rest and don't be tempted by your flexible hours. This can have a knock on effect on your health. There are some apps that can help. 

“Timely (timelyapp.com) – a brilliant time management app which allows you to plan your week in sections of time allocated, and then tracks what you’re actually spending your time doing.”

“ 2) Things 3 – this task management app collates all your to-do lists, random thoughts and projects etc into one place.

3) Quire – this one is great for anyone who gets overwhelmed by super-long to-do lists as it manages the list for you in a really appealing, visual way.

4) Toggl – another one which tracks exactly how much time you’re wasting on everything!

5) Freedom – it’s so tempting to flit from work to online shopping when there’s no one peering at your computer screen but you, but this app keeps you focused by effectively locking you out of those sites for a specific period of time.

 6) TeuxDeux – everyone loves a to-do list and this one has a handy function where anything you didn’t get done today automatically rolls over to the next day.“

Constantly comparing your success/failures with others: Be careful to avoid comparing yourself to others. 

“remember our shared space, our unity or else we will continue to feel alone rather than part of a greater whole. Remembering simple everyday pleasures can help with this, the simplicity of cooking, nurturing a growing plant, a walk in the park, writing by hand, creating ways to connect with yourself and others in natural, healing ways.” ”

DON’T WORK FOR FREE YOU FOOLS!

The Spark Initiative

”1) Know your market. What do others in your market charge, and where to you sit in relation to them - i.e. do you have more experience, do you have less, are you an established name in your field, or are you just starting out?”

“2) Try to separate ‘you the person’ from ‘you the service’. It’s not about self worth - it’s about how much your skills are worth to that particular buyer.”

“3) What skills are unique to you? tell people why you are unique and can therefore justify your price.”

“4) Don’t be afraid to walk away from an opportunity if you feel you are being undervalued. People talk! If you get a reputation for being the ‘cheap option’ you’ll damage your own brand and you’ll find it really tough to increase your prices as your business picks up. ”

“5) Use a higher rate. I always go into a negotiation at a higher rate then I expect to agree, as it gives me room to manoeuvre. However, you should always know at what point you are going to walk away, and stick to it. It’s great for self esteem as well.”

Slack, Trello,  are apps that help separate your work life from your down time. 

(https://www.stylist.co.uk/life/careers/mental-health-work-life-balance-freelance-self-employed-flexible-hours-advice-opinion/228685)

(https://www.thecut.com/article/freelancing-mental-health-anxiety-depression.html) Article with anecdotal quotes about peoples mental health when freelancing.  

(https://chelseakenna.tumblr.com/post/160278812709/freelancing-with-chronic-health-problems) Article written by a person with  Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and how they experience freelancing.  I’m able to contact the writer from this website and potentially get an interview or ask written questions. 

(https://www.brionycullin.com/blog/freelancing-and-chronic-illness) This is a blog post where a freelancer talks about having Crones Dieses and how that effects him. He also has a email address that I could potentially try sending questions to. He also has his Skype details on there so maybe I could arrange a skype interview?  It also says that personal messages are welcome through Instagram and twitter. 

(https://fivefigurewriter.com/freelancing-with-chronic-illness/) Here is a lady with Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. She talks about how to work better in freelancing with a chronic illness. 

(https://www.freelancerfaqs.com/freelance-business-chronic-illness/) An article about freelancing tips with chronic illnesses. This person was diagnosed with Chronic Lyme. 

(https://withjack.co.uk/interviews/2017/08/09/building-a-freelance-business-with-a-chronic-illness) A case study about starting up a freelance business with a chronic illness. 

“Katherine has chronic fatigue syndrome and Rachel has hypermobility syndrome.“

(http://katherinecory.com/) I can contact Katherine from her website. Same with Rachel. (https://www.rachilli.com/contact/) 

I’ve contacted Sebastian as well about getting in touch with the Animation freelancers in the ideas factory. Apparently he will be able to pass on some questions to them for me....he only mentioned two or three and I really wanted to be able to ask them more or maybe even interview them so instead I'm going to ask them some preliminary questions to see if they fit my research needs, to see of thy would be willing to talk about any health issues that they have and finally if they would mind either answering more questions of doing an interview over the summer....maybe over Skype or something similar. 

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This is the animated loop based off of the stressed emoji.

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Heart eyes loop based off of the heart eyes emoji. 

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This is the finished loop based off of the dizzy eye emoji. 

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storyboards.

This is based off of the heart emoji mood board. I really loved the Kermit frog posts with all the hearts so I'm going to use that as a theme. 

This is based off of the confused mood board and dizzy eyes. 

And this one was based off of the stressed out emoji mood board. It was heavily inspired by the cats getting eaten by the sharks screaming. Relatable. 

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Mood boards.

(https://www.yourtango.com/2015272700/15-ways-to-say-i-love-you-using-only-emojis)  

This article has examples of people talking through pictures...beware some of them are rude.   

These following images are not mine and were found online on Tumblr and Bing search. 

These are images for the heart emoji face:

This is the mood bard made for the stressed emoji:

And my mood board for being confused and the dizzy eye emoji: 

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Messaging animators.

Only one person replied but I’ll give it a go! It’s a relatable mix of emotions when it comes to animating. 

I decided to ask people to respond with Emojis because it’s a different visual way of communicating compared to written sentences. 

I would read this as being in love with the idea you have -> finding it challenging ->getting confused with what you’re trying to do, and so on. 

I’ll try and use this example in my work. 

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Looking back at our lecture.

I will be making an industry report if I can get interviews with people 

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Researching research methods

The main methods of research: 

“Ontology. How you, the researcher, view the world and the assumptions that you make about the nature of the world and of reality.

Epistemology. The assumptions that you make about the best way of investigating the world and about reality.

Methodology. The way that you group together your research techniques to make a coherent picture.

Methods and techniques. What you actually do in order to collect your data and carry out your investigations.”

I think the kind of research I’ll be doing will be relativism since I will be asking people about their personal truths and how their lives as freelancers are. 

“Social constructionists believe that reality does not exist by itself. Instead, it is constructed and given meaning by people. Their focus is therefore on feelings, beliefs and thoughts, and how people communicate these. Social constructionism fits better with a relativist ontology.“

“ Relativists, on the other hand, tend to take a social constructionist view. They start with questions. They use case studies and surveys to gather both words (views) and numbers, which they use to triangulate and compare. From these, they generate theories “

“ Social constructionist approaches tend to draw on qualitative sources of data. “

“Qualitative data is about the nature of the thing investigated, and tends to be words rather than numbers.“

“Primary data is gathered by the researcher themselves. Because it is collected for the purposes of the study, it is intrinsically interesting, although the researcher will also need to make some comment on it when publishing it.”

“Secondary data is published by someone else, usually a public body or company, although it may also consist of archive material such as historical records. A researcher using such data needs to generate new and original insights into it.“

(https://www.skillsyouneed.com/learn/research-methods-intro.html)

Approaching Research Five Questions:

Whatever approach you choose for your research, you need to consider five questions:

Will you verify or falsify a theory? You cannot conclusively prove any theory; the best that you can do is find nothing that disproves it. It is, therefore, easier to formulate a theory that you can try to disprove because you only need one ‘wrong’ answer to do so.

 (I doubt I will be doing either. The point of my research is to try and prepare myself for the freelance life of starting up my own creative practice with lasting illnesses through peoples experience.)

What is the unit of analysis? For example, country, company or individual.

(It’ll be individual as I intend to talk with individuals one on one.)

Are you relying on universal theory or local knowledge? In other words, will your results be generalisable, and produce universally applicable results, or are there local factors that will affect your results?

(It will be very individual and highly specific to the one person. )

Will theory or data come first? Should you read the literature first, and then develop your theory, or will you gather your data and develop your theory from that? Recently, opinion seems to have swung towards this being an iterative process. 

(I think technically speaking data will come first. From what I collect from the individuals I will try to take this into account when preparing my own freelancing career.)

Will your study be cross-sectional or longitudinal? Are you looking at one point in time or changes over time?

(This could be applicable to both as peoples illnesses/ disabilities will still be affecting them in the present but some questions I ask may only be applicable in the past.)

Case studies

“These take either one or several examples, and study it or them in detail, then draw out the more general lessons for wider application. Researchers may try to take a more rigorous approach to demonstrate validity, and ensure that logic is applied to any comparisons, or focus on creating a detailed picture. Although a case study cannot prove a theory, it can be used to disprove one if the data from the organisation do not fit the theory.

Useful when you want to find out about one organisation, when one organisation is considered to be an exemplar, or to compare a few organisations and identify the key differences in approach.

Less useful for drawing generalised lessons that can be applied to any other organisation, although there may be some.”

(This seems like something that I will probably end up doing as i’ll be asking questios and maybe intervewing individuals about their freelancing experiances.)

(https://www.skillsyouneed.com/learn/designing-research.html)

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Qualitative Research

“Qualitative research is any which does not involve numbers or numerical data.

It often involves words or language, but may also use pictures or photographs and observations.”

“Qualitative analysis results in rich data that gives an in-depth picture and it is particularly useful for exploring how and why things have happened.”  

“However, there are some pitfalls to qualitative research, such as: If respondents do not see a value for them in the research, they may provide inaccurate or false information. They may also say what they think the researcher wishes to hear. Qualitative researchers, therefore, need to take the time to build relationships with their research subjects and always be aware of this potential.”

 “Although ethics are an issue for any type of research, there may be particular difficulties with qualitative research because the researcher may be a party to confidential information. It is important always to bear in mind that you must do no harm to your research subjects.”

“ It is generally harder for qualitative researchers to remain apart from their work. By the nature of their study, they are involved with people. It is therefore helpful to develop habits of reflecting on your part in the work and how this may affect the research.”  (This last concern should be okay as I’m pretty good at self-reflection in a non-biased way. )

“Although qualitative data is much more general than quantitative, there are still a number of common techniques for gathering it. These include:

Interviews, which may be structured, semi-structured or unstructured;

Focus groups, which involve multiple participants discussing an issue;

‘Postcards’, or small-scale written questionnaires that ask, for example, three or four focused questions of participants but allow them space to write in their own words;

Secondary data, including diaries, written accounts of past events, and company reports; and

Observations, which may be on site, or under ‘laboratory conditions’, for example, where participants are asked to role-play a situation to show what they might do.”

(https://www.skillsyouneed.com/learn/quantitative-and-qualitative.html)

Information on structuring interviews: (https://www.skillsyouneed.com/learn/interviews-for-research.html)

semi-structured interviews :

This format is particularly useful in three cases:

When your interviewees are likely to provide you with interesting data in different areas but you’re not sure exactly who will provide which information;

When you want to be able to discuss emerging findings with your interviewees and test out ideas with them, without being held within a rigid structure; and

When your interviewee is nervous about what you might want to discuss because you can send the outline of questions to them in advance.

Face to face interviews vs. phone calls have there pros and cons. 

Take the time to get to know the interviewee and break the ice. This will help the interview go better. 

Make sure to set up the question without framing it with your personal bias. 

Types of Probe

“The basic probe is repeating the initial question, which reminds the interviewee what you asked. This is useful if they have wandered off the subject.

Explanatory probes are questions like ‘What did you mean by that?’ and ‘What makes you say that?’ and are useful for exploring meaning further.

Focused probes include questions like ‘What sort of…?’

The silent probe is where the interviewer simply remains silent and waits for the interviewee to say more.

Drawing out is useful when the interviewee seems to have stopped mid-sentence or mid-idea. Repeat the last few words that they said with an upward inflexion, like a question, or add ‘Tell me more about that’.

Giving ideas or suggestions would use questions like ‘Have you thought about x?’ or ‘Have you tried…?’”

“Laddering is a very specific interviewing technique which asks ‘Why?’-type questions repeatedly to explore the interviewee’s values and motivations.”

  “ You can also ‘ladder’ in the opposite direction, where you get more specific until you reach examples, by asking questions like ‘Can you give me a specific example of that?’ or ‘When was the last time that you remember something like that happening?’. “

Information on secondary data and observations: (https://www.skillsyouneed.com/learn/observation-and-secondary-data.html)

Content Analysis

“Here, you start with some ideas about hypotheses or themes that might emerge, and look for them in the data that you have collected. You might, for example, use a colour-coding or numbering system to identify text about the different themes, grouping together ideas and gathering evidence about views on each theme.” (I think what I would take from this is the method of grouping relating subjects.)

Grounded Analysis

“This is similar to content analysis, in that it uses similar techniques for coding. However, in grounded analysis, you do not start from a defined point. Instead, you allow the data to ‘speak for itself’, with themes emerging from the discussions and conversations. In practice, this may be much harder to achieve because it requires you to put aside what you have read and simply concentrate on the data.” (This will probably be a method I’ll use more often as I do indeed want to see what the results are and don't have a hypothesis to try and prove/disprove.)

Discourse Analysis

“This approach not only analyses the conversation, but also takes into account the social context in which the conversation occurs, including previous conversations, power relationships and the concept of individual identity. It may also include analysis of written sources, such as emails or letters, and body language to give a rich source of data surrounding the actual words used.” (This could also be a helpful method as I will be talking to people in a very individual context.)

Information on analysing qualitative data: (https://www.skillsyouneed.com/learn/analysing-qualitative-data.html)

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Identifying an area of research.

This was an easy one for me, I knew I wanted to research freelancing since I didn't know what I wanted to do as work after uni but was looking forward to the creative freedom. From there I’ve decided to research how freelancing with illness and disabilities is for individuals and how people cope as this is something I struggle with personally with my work.  

I understand that this is meant to be animated related however the part of freelancing that concerns me is the pre-production. Such as getting yourself situated, keeping up with deadlines, self-promotion, etc. whilst also having to work a part-time job. 

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Changes made for Progression.

Times changes were made so that group progression was possible. 

- Ellora had to do a pre-voice over for the first iteration animatic because Izzy and I were unavailable in week 2 (I think).

- Adapting our group sequence to fit around Lukes work due to him being severely ill through the project in week 3. 

- We had to export the final animation essay without Josie's segment due to circumstances in week 5.