The Faeries - Final Film!

Here is the finished product finally! I think a collaboration with a musician would have been good for this but I'm quite happy with the subtle, random wind chimes and voice over. Maybe music as well would have been too much...
I'm really pleased I took it slow with this animation and let the shots linger and become more cinematic. I'm also very happy with the choice I made to keep the backgrounds and characters separate as there was so much more detail achieved working this way on both elements. I felt like I could draw the characters in my usual illustration style rather than worrying that they were too stylised or detailed, and equally the backgrounds could be more atmospheric. I think in the future, now that I have the hang of the technique and know how to composite the layers, I will take this forward and create environments with separate foregrounds, middle foregrounds and backgrounds to add more depth. I might even step away from the digital compositing and try out Yuri Norstein's glass layers effect.

Things I'm happy with:

* The colour palette - the very, nearly monochrome and inky blues work well to create an atmosphere I think.
* The movement of my characters, in particular the seagull and various insect leg movements. Research paid off here.
* My northern lights - perhaps because it required real thought to come up with the solution, or maybe just because it's pretty and is the only splash of colour in an otherwise muted palette, which gives it more magic.
* I've finally started getting more technical using software like after effects without relying on it too heavily or losing the personality of the animation.
* The general feel of the animation. I think it's the right mix of beauty and melancholy - could maybe have had a dash more creepiness.

Things I could be happier with:

* The sound - I think my recordings could have been sharper which might have left more room for a gentle melody to flow through in the background.
* Some elements of the stop-motion and pixilation didn't seem as smooth as some of the hand-drawn elements, making me wonder if I should have stuck to one style of animating throughout. However, part of me enjoys the clunkiness of the puppetry as it's a bit jarring, so I'm still undecided on what the best decision might have been.
* I wish I'd made my ant sequence longer and creepier. Equally, given more time I might have included more close ups of the various creatures. Just shots of jointed insect legs or pincers etc.
* Having now looked at The Hedgehog in the Fog, I think real water in the lake would have been a brilliant idea.
* I wish the backgrounds had just a little more depth in some shots. Maybe more atmosphere by animating clouds or having movement in the reeds from a light breeze might have improved this.