After getting a film degree at university, a lot of people found it strange that I had decided to make an animation. I told them that I just wanted to branch out and try something else. This was half right, but the reason I really wanted to do something aside from film was because I was being let down by people when it came to making films/videos. So I figured that with an animation, I would only have to rely on myself. So I just went with it, and I have honestly really enjoyed it. It was, as I said, a very long road, and it felt like there was no end in sight. But seeing the finished product has made it all worth it.
The characters are loosely based on me and friends, while the events are based on actual things that have happened. It is mainly something for us; there are inside jokes that no one else will get, but this doesn't mean I want to exclude anyone from enjoying the animation.
For the eagle eyed viewers, I have drawn a few locations in Cardiff. One location, a street in Cardiff, took me a couple of hours to draw, but is only visible for about half a second. But, as with the majority of the things I have drawn, they can be used in future episodes.
I have received a huge amount of support during the making of Madagascar Road. Close friends have suggested ideas, improvements and praise, as well as their voices. Others have told me that they're looking forward to seeing it once it's finished. So the support has been fantastic and I'm very grateful for it.
One of the parts I most enjoy is actually coming up with ideas for an episode. I have lots of ideas for episodes and it's tempting to just shove all of them in. But seeing as the episodes will run at between 4-5 minutes, I have to fight that temptation.
There is plenty for me to improve on for next time. Things that may not be very noticeable for viewers, things such as movements, speed of movements and facial expressions. The main thing I plan to improve on though is the sound. I don't have any professional sound equipment (yet) so the recordings have just been done at home. But they are at least audible, and I didn't want to keep correcting things that I wasn't happy with, otherwise the animation would have just kept getting pushed back constantly. At least that way, improvements will be more noticeable each time.
It's been an interesting and fun road, and I am now working on the script for the second episode. I don't have a time frame as of yet, but that will become more clean in the next few months.
