User Testing Week 11

Here is some new user testing based on week 11 feedback

What is your degree of program?

·         Bachelor degree on Mechanical Engineering

What do you think the story is about?

·         In my opinion, the story is about a man suffering from depression. As he is walking on an icy surface and every step he takes, it just cracks. This is a metaphor for the struggles in his life and the difficulty upon taking a decision, fearing that it will be a wrong decision. After the cracking, the protagonist ran away, in this case the cracking symbolises the problems and struggles of his life. He was unable to face his problems by running away until he could, which is represented by the water. The water can also being seen as suicide as the man glanced at it and was not able to do it for any longer, shook his head. The facial expression of the man illustrates sadness and loneliness and the body language demonstrates his despair.

Comments on the characters and the environment

·         The main character’s design is simple but effective to transmit the message of the story. The variety of facial expressions are mostly accurate to transmit the message and the feeling of the protagonist. The body language is correctly used to convey the purpose of the video. The environment choice is optimal for the story, as the cold environment shows the feeling of the character and the usage of the cracks on the icy surface to show the struggles and the decisions is a brilliant idea.

Overall timing and pacing of the story

·         The animation is short and its simplicity allows it to effectively transmit meaningful messages to the audience. Every part of the animation is well planned and it has a purpose. The pace of the story is rather fast and powerful so that it grabs the audience’s attention throughout the clip.

Do you feel the message is conveyed clearly?

·         Depending on the audience, it could lead to some misinterpretations as I believe in the end that the video was about OCD however, I interpreted it as about depression because an animated clip, different people have different approaches towards it.

Other comments and feedback

·         Overall the video is very well presented, it raises awareness to a lot of the social problems that the teenagers and undergraduates have nowadays and this messages transmits a powerful message in order to help the people with those problems. 

I am very proud of this feedback as it has managed to hit a lot of the points that I have been aiming for in this project. The message seems to have been conveyed completely, this person having not been told the topic of the animation before viewing it but still picking up on the underlying metaphors. It does seem to be able to work with depression and anxiety as a whole rather than just OCD. Maybe that means that it is adaptable to other anxiety problems and therefore has more global appeal and scope for mental health awareness.