Module Evaluation

This module definitely posed a challenge in balancing both practical and and written work. I went through a few different ideas when deciding on my practical, but in the end decided to do my original idea of a comic, which is more relevant to this project than just character designs since I don't focus too much on archetypes and characters, but rather the character's journey and story. After getting further through my research and exploring the differences between the Hero's and Heroine's journeys, I thought it would be ore relevant to my project to create different scripts or stories, perhaps showing the same story but following the Hero's Journey structure, one following the Heroine' Journey structure and one with both, but I would not have had time to create that many practical projects and by that point I was already too far into my current idea to change it.

Though I do like my idea of a comic, I think that just telling one story is not enough after looking at what I have written in my dissertation. It does show a female character undergo a Hero's Journey, and after receiving feedback from my peers I have heard that nothing seems out of place either - you can not tell that this is a journey only for males to undergo, because it seems completely normal with a female character too. I've realised after analysing a few different animations that the best stories tend to have a mix of both journeys; they may lean more towards one, but elements of both is what make the characters deeper, and the story feel more resolved. None of them seem to follow the structures completely which I am glad to have noticed; I feel like my story writing will be much stronger in the future now that I am aware of these structures and also their downfalls. I can decide if one structure may help me tell a certain story better, and I can see where and how to add other elements if I so choose. This will also make me more aware of possible ideas and opinions people could have of my work if I did choose to write it in a certain way, as both structures receive criticism for parts/or the use of these structures, and I am also more aware of how different audiences have different opinions if this.

I enjoyed drawing my comic, but I am not completely happy with how it turned out. This is in part because of time management; I spent a lot more time researching comic panels and layouts than I should have, as well as Hero's Journey research earlier on. I feel like I have learned more from this than if I had finished the comic, but it would have been nice to actually have it drawn out and finished, even more so if I could have spent more time on the thumbnails and story.

I didn't plan to write so much on the Heroine's Journey or have it feature so much in my essay, which is why I think it spent more time on the essay in the latter part of the project, and partly why I am not happy with my practical piece. If I'd have written the essay much earlier and had it near finished before beginning my practical, the whole project would have turned out very different. Because of this, I would like to get as much research and writing done in the future as I can before starting my practical pieces when I can.