500 Word Rational

Over the past 2 terms I have been working on my interpretation of the dojo scene from the Matrix. I decided on this script over the others for two reasons; The Matrix is one of my favourite films and because I really wanted to improve my animating skills and knew this project would definitely challenge me.
I decided to change the scene by setting it in an old gloomy American saloon. I also decided on a comic book effect as it worked successfully in my first project and I already knew of numerous artists to draw influence from.
If there is one thing the first project taught me, it was that planning is the most crucial part of the process. I thought to myself that as long as I keep up with all the work and spread the work load evenly over the time we were given than the outcome will be exactly as I planned. However there is one thing I did not plan for; random problems that are unforeseeable. These problems would then go unnoticed to me until it was far too late. For example, my Morpheus character could not move much and talk at the same time otherwise he would transform into a cluster of polygons and vertices (you will notice that whenever he talks, he is hardly moving at all). There was no explanation for why it did this, but if I realised before I started animating I could have fixed it and saved myself a lot of work. Looking back, I now know that I should have thoroughly tested everything aspect of my project as soon as I finish it.
I also realised that because I was painting my textures and then importing them to an 'Ink and Paint' material, my dark and gloomy bar became not so dark. This killed any atmosphere I tried to put into the room, so I decided to change the set to make the textures seem less contrasting. Although this was an improvement, I was still dissatisfied with the final set.
Looking back at the outcome of the project, I am disappointed with the animation. It looks nothing like how I wanted it to and I don't think it portrays how much work went into it. However, I am pleased with my improved skills and how much knowledge I have gained. In a way, I am glad this project became much more difficult than I expected. Most problems that occurred I either now know how to fix or know what not to do next time around. I am especially pleased with how much my animation has improved. It's amazing how long winded I made the animating process on 'Of Bots and Bananas'.
Looking forward, I want to work over the summer to improve my texturing, character modelling, skinning, using more interesting and PLANNING. And when I say planning, i mean everything to the tiniest detail, so noting suprises me when it come to render time. Now I know what I have to do to be at the level I want for the third year. Oh, and I need to spend much more time on collecting and adding sound. The sound on this project does it no favours at all.