Regarding sound

The animation process has been a long and difficult one! My animation is finally at a point where I am happy with it. In terms of sound, it has evolved from my original idea. When I first began thinking about sound I knew that it had to be soft and easy to listen to. My symbol is based on the words earthy and romantic, and that definitely shy away from using a sound that was too loud. However, when browsing sounds i had found some "mystery" sounds that I really liked. I combined these with a pretty guitar riff that my boyfriend had created, using audacity. The sounds synced to the animation because of the movement of the heart. I linked the "mystery sounds" with my "creature" taking deep breaths, building tension, and then jumping. However, after getting feedback from the class I realized that there was still too big of sound difference between the sound effects and the guitar. The sound was "bigger" than my animation. In order to fix this i decided I needed new sounds. I did some research (aka - listening to my ipod) and an Iron and Wine song caught my attention. I tried to use this song in my animation but it just did not sync up properly. After a little more research, I found another song by them that I actually preferred. The new song loaned itself better, and I like how it doesn't just fit the romantic and earthy words, but it also fits with quirky.
As the animation "evolves" (it bursts from an egg, develops appendages, breathes, and then flies away) the music accents these motions. I used audacity to crop the sound how I needed, and created a fade out to emphasize the logo as it flies away. I think that the sound suits my animation now and they work together, where as before, they were fighting.

I really like the way my animation has turned into a little creature. The elements are so abstract that its nice to see that they can work together to form something. The quirky symbols can be seen as eyes, while the earthy symbol can be seen as legs. The romantic heart is the life force behind the logo and is what propels it to breath and then fly. It becomes free and follows its own path, which can be seen as another representation of me. The interactivity is nice as well. The last version of the animation had the logo just being there. I was stuck for a long time about how to add length to my animation. But by adding the hatching in the beginning which is triggered by the button, you see how it develops and can recognize the individual parts as well.