What I did:
With animation complete and the snagging list worked through, the focus shifted to final post-production, delivery and getting the film out to testers.
Final Amendments
Following the weekly supervisor meeting, only two changes were required to the film itself. The first was a horn sound in the roundabout scene – it had been accidentally lowered in volume when removing an engine sound effect, something my sister spotted during the soft launch. A better and more prominent horn sound was added.
The second was the title slide, which required adding an additional logo. DkIT had supplied a PNG version of this slide, which would have looked pixelated against the other elements. Rather than use that, I downloaded a prospectus PDF from the DkIT website, dropped the relevant pages into Adobe Illustrator and created my own vector files from the artwork.
There were also some suggestions to tighten the edit – specifically, cropping a few frames from wider shots of the house and adding moving clock hands rather than still ones. After consideration, I pushed back on both. Cutting frames would have required going back to Martin to adjust the score, creating a knock-on effect that wasn’t justified by the marginal gain, and given that our house was set on 10 acres, it’s fairly accurate. The clock’s second hand had been deliberately removed early in production to save on render time – a considered decision, not an oversight – and reinstating it at this stage would have meant re-rendering those shots. Both supervisors acknowledged that these were valid reasons and confirmed that they were nitpicking! It’s an important lesson in knowing when to defend your creative and production decisions and when to act on feedback.
Both supervisors confirmed the film was ready for release – a significant milestone.
Export and Delivery
The final film was exported in two formats. For the cinema screening as part of DkIT’s Animation Showcase, the film was exported as Apple ProRes 422 HQ – the industry standard for cinema delivery. The file size (at just under 5GB) is considerably larger than an H.264 MP4, but that’s the requirement, and the quality difference on a big screen justifies it. For online distribution and user testing, an H.264 MP4 was exported – manageable in file size and perfectly suited for YouTube.
Soft Launch
Before contacting the expert proxy testers, the film was soft-launched two days ago to family, friends and peers via WhatsApp and Discord. The response was warm and encouraging – lovely feedback from people who know me and know what this project means. It’s worth acknowledging that this group is inherently biased, so while the feedback was gratifying, it’s the expert responses that will carry the academic weight.
The soft-launch version has picked up 65 views on YouTube so far, which helped confirm that the film was working technically before it went to the official testers.
Expert Testing Begins
Yesterday, the film and questionnaire links were sent to the expert proxy testers – Dr Catrin Hedd Jones at the University of Worcester, Will Dean at Trinity College Dublin, Jane at ADRE Leicestershire, and Fergus and colleagues at the Alzheimer Society of Ireland’s Learning & Development Team. Each email was tailored to the individual or group, acknowledging the existing relationship and the personal significance of the project.
In line with the ethics approval granted by DkIT’s Research Ethics Committee, each tester’s email included a Participant Information Leaflet and an electronically fillable PDF consent form, which participants were asked to complete, sign and return by email. A typed signature was confirmed as acceptable, simplifying the process for participants who may not have access to printing facilities.
The response from Dr Catrin Hedd Jones was almost immediate – and came on her day off. She wrote:
“Congratulations on your animation – I think it’s great and could see how this may be applied in training to increase awareness. I’m sure that you and your family will be very proud of this work.”
She also offered to share the film with her team at the Association for Dementia Studies and with students on the Postgraduate Certificate in Dementia – an incredibly generous offer that could significantly extend the reach of the testing pool.
Survey Responses
At the time of writing, 25 responses have been received. Given that expert testing only began yesterday, this is an encouraging start. There are a couple of outlier responses in the data, but that’s to be expected and is manageable. The questionnaire is anonymous, so it isn’t possible to separate soft-launch responses from expert responses – all responses are valid and treated equally.
The film was also shared on LinkedIn, with a post referencing the earlier research questionnaire shared at the start of the project. Three reposts and several likes so far, with no comments yet, but the reposts in particular suggest the post is reaching beyond the immediate network. A follow-up repost has been made, and a third post with an image is scheduled for this afternoon, with the hope that visual content will drive better engagement. Facebook remains on the to-do list.
What I learned:
Expert engagement can be immediate and generous in ways you don’t anticipate. Catrin’s response on her day off and her offer to share with her wider network are a reminder that people who care about dementia representation genuinely want to support work like this. The soft launch was also a valuable step – it caught the muted-horn issue before the film reached the people whose opinions matter most academically. Having a trusted informal network to sense-check before official release is something I’d recommend to any solo producer. And finally, knowing when to push back on feedback is as important as knowing when to act on it. Creative decisions made early in production have a rationale, and being able to articulate that rationale clearly and calmly is a skill worth developing.
Next:
Collating survey responses ahead of the Beta presentation on 29th April. Facebook post still to go out. Presentation slides to be built. Final thesis writing begins.