Experimental Animation Proposal

Experimental Animation Proposal 

Introduction

This is a post with my proposal for my experimental animation. This project has been about experimentation and testing and I feel that I have tested a range of methods before deciding on the final method(s). 

Proposal

This is my proposal for the 30 second experimental animation I will be creating. This project requires us to experiment and test different methods and mediums to challenge ourselves as animators. The animation would only be 30 seconds long and could be anything we wanted to be, however it could not have a narrative or be story driven with characters. This is because this is not the point of the exercise, as we had to challenge ourselves to think outside the box with our animations and should not feel limited by characters and narrative. Therefore we were guided towards a more abstract and subconscious route with creating our animations. This does not mean that our animations couldn't contain a narrative, but we were not allowed to be limited or constrained by one. 

With much research, development and the different routes I've taken, I propose to create an animation exploring the motion of animals as abstract lines, shapes and possibly colours. 

I have chosen this because through my research and the different ideas I could have chosen, I believe this animation has the most potential and most relevant to the project. I have recorded my development in another post and you can see the different ideas i had and why I chose not to progress with them and why I have chosen this one. 

Through my ideas I was inspired by motion in living organisms and took it further with research. from there I created mood boards of humans in dance and then animals in motion. I have chosen this because I noticed the fluid and diverse movements different animals had as they moved, and I believe this has potential as an experimental animation. This is because I intend to capture the distinctive movements of different animals in just a few lines or shapes, therefore not being figurative. This would then challenge me to capture the movements of the animals accurately so that it is identifiable by the audience through the movements, not the symbol or image of that animal. 

An example of this could be: rather than showing a video of a lion sprinting, my animation would be  lines and shapes on a page that moved in a way that a lion would sprint. As a single image, the audience would not be able to identity what it is. However we the images are played as a sequence, the audience could identify that these lines are symbolising the movement of a lion. 

I am proposing to create my animation by using paper pencil and charcoal, these individual sheets will then be photographed and put together as an animation. 

I believe this would be an effective way to create my animation because it is the medium I am most comfortable with as well as the most appropriate medium to present his kind of animation. 

Due to the limited time to create this animation, using pen and paper allows me to work at an effective rate to be able to meet the deadline in good time and amend any improvements. I believe this is the most appropriate medium because charcoal has a very organic look on paper which captures organic shapes and form effectively. Therefore using this will be the most effective method to capture the motion of animals with organic and natural movement. Whereas stop motion or pen may be too harsh on the movement or lines may be too strong and would portray the movement or motion as naturally as charcoal. These ideas are further expressed in my life drawing posts, as i felt that charcoal was a very effective way of recording organic lines and movement. 

In conclusion, I will be making a 30 second experimental animation about the diverse motion of animals with charcoal and paper which will be photographed in sequence as my animation.