Storyboard progress.

As I have stated in the final reflection for Project Brief Three, the main ideas I’m interested in exploring throughout Project Brief 4 are ideas linked to materiality, especially the history behind a physical object and the memories that can attach themselves to this object for an individual or a group of persons. 

I’m drawn towards using old media, not only for my personal enjoyment but also to put to the test notions regarding old media that we have discussed throughout the semester, for example increased concentration and ‘flow.’ I would like to do this by creating a hand-drawn animation in the form of a short narrative. I have quite a strong background in drawing and I know how I engrossed I can get in a drawing, and I’d like to see if this holds up with a time consuming and potentially frustrating activity like animating. I’ve done a bit of research and groundwork in setting up the animation, like looking into traditional animation techniques. Videos like this one provided some good insight into the work required to animate. I’ve done a few character designs and tested a few mediums.

I want the animation to run for a decent amount of time in order to be able to tell the story, ideally 1-2 minutes. If I animated at 24 frames per second, I’d never get this done in time, especially seeing as how little experience I have. Therefore, I think I will aim for 3 or 6 frames, resulting in quite a choppy look, but I think this will add to the rough charm of the work. Thus far, I believe my final medium will be charcoal, with maybe a highlight colour. The smudgy nature of charcoal will also help create a dreamy tone to the video.

Character design progress.

The rough outline of the narrative is this:

The character is a man who lives alone in a small house. One day, he goes outside and finds an old clock in the dirt outside his house. He picks it up and remembers that the clock used to hang on his wall, and it reminds him of when he lived with his wife in the house and they were happy. He dusts off the clock and hangs it back on the wall.

The story will be told quite ambiguously, so that it may be interpreted alternatively by the audience. After all, memory is incredibly personal and different for everyone. In the narrative I’m drawing strongly on the notion raised by Philip Gore, who, speaking about an antique clock, said that “if it could talk, it could tell you a lot of tales.” This is where I got the idea of a clock being the catalyst for the character feeling a stronger connection with his memories, and it also stands as a symbol for time, and its passing.

I think that this project will provide a lot of insight into the the principle of patience and time in regard to old media. Hand drawn animation is less efficient and more challenging than digital, but that is precisely why I want to attempt it.