Documentary / Non-Fiction Assignment Initial Research

For part of our second year at University, we will go through the process of researching, planning, and creating a Documentary / Non-Fiction animation piece. In order to achieve this goal, I will be researching various subjects and topics which could be useful towards choosing a final concept. This will require an adequate amount of time and dedication in order to make this piece a successful one. Whilst we aren’t required to fully complete an entire video, it is strongly advised that we get at least an adequate amount done. I am sincerely looking forward to starting this project properly, when the next semester rolls around.

At present, I am intending to do something animal based, or perhaps an interview piece. These ideas were inspired by animation television shows such as “Creature Comforts” (Aardman) and “The Ricky Gervais Show”.

The format in which creature comforts is made is utterly fantastic. I will do a follow up post which shows in depth research into the process by which the series is made, its creators, and its humble beginnings. I just love how the artists create the designs for the characters, purely through listening to the pre-recorded clips of the interviewees. I might make an attempt at something similar, purely for practice purposes with lip syncing.

Likewise, I will make a blog post with information and research about “The Ricky Gervais Show”, which came from humble internet beginnings, and has turned into a massively popular venture. This style of non-scripted opinion-based talk show is not only amusing to listen to, but also gives us an clever take on how people perceive different aspects of life and interact with each other. I am a big fan of the show – but personally don’t much care for the actor / comedian Ricky Gervais. As is the case with many people, I watch it for the commentary by Karl Pilkington.

I have been looking a little bit into propaganda animations from Communism, and Democracy, to the Disney films of World War II, which emphasised their point in a very biased manner. As well as the infamous “Der Fuehrer’s Face” (1942) cartoon, in which we see Donald Duck as a German Soldier, there are the much darker, heavier pieces which also portrayed Nazism. “Education for Death” (1943) was a Walt Disney produced film, which was based on a non-fiction book of the same name. Because it was under government contract, it was made to show a very biased, albeit offensive, depiction of the Germans. The film is rarely shown on public broadcast because of this, but is available for viewing on the “Walt Disney Treasures: On the Front Lines” DVD released in 2004.

I will do several animation tests which correspond with any ideas I come up with for a subject – most of which will most likely consist of pencil tests and animatics. Of course, there will be plenty of sketchbook notes and doodles which will come along with the research of the subjects and for the initial animations.

I’m looking forward to learning some new information whilst taking part in this assignment. At the suggestion of our tutors, we should look into a subject which we don’t know much about. Not only will we be expanding our knowledge, but we will also benefit from looking at new alternatives of research. We will most likely stay much more interested in a new subject, rather than regurgitating the same information over and over again. Getting bored is a definite inhibitor to the creative process, and we don’t want that now, do we?

A fascinating variation on informative non-fiction animation, is the style of the videos by “RSA Animate”. The format for these videos are a literal translation of the phrase “illustrating thr point”. They take recorded lectures by different figures in politics and education, and through the power of hand-drawn animation and “After Effects”, create videos which display the speakers point. Best of all, whilst keeping the interest of the viewer through stylised imagery, intelligible subjects are discussed, and something is therefore learned. My favorite video from this series, is probably “RSA Animate – Changing Education Paradigms”, because it has a mild humor to it, and touches upon important outlooks on children and how they thrive and fail within certain learning environments.

Recently, the French art school Gobelins has released a small series of videos on Youtube which touch upon subjects such as faith, corruption, slavery, illiteracy, life and death. They are all featured in the “Dessins Pour La Paix / Cartooning For Peace” series, which is available to watch on the official Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/gobelins. One from the series which particularly captured my interest, was “Our Father” (2012) because of the sinister undertone in contrast to its light-hearted visual style.

“Matches” (2012) is a cinematic portrayal of the feuding between Irish citizens in Belfast during the 1970s. One thing in particular about the animations produced by this School of Art, is that for the most part, proper dialogue is not used. This makes the animations universally understandable, and so can be enjoyed by people from a multitude of different countries.

“The Line” (2012) shows an abstract representation of the ongoing conflict between Unionists and Republicans. Depicting the two warring sides as bizarre creature-like beings is obviously a nod towards the almost animalistic nature of the violence which occured at the time in which it was most rampant.

One animation which I have come across recently, which really stood out and got me thinking, was “Is It Love?” (2011). This is an awareness film created by Royal College of Art graduate Em Cooper. It is created using a technique of using oil paint on glass. The film was commissioned by ADVA and Devon County Council (See the webpage here: http://www.devon.gov.uk/domestic_violence).

The testimonies heard in the film were real life accounts of violence suffered by local women. The strongly expressive paint strokes and stylised characters within the animation really bring home the awfulness of the subject that the film is about. Visual style is something I will have to take into account when I decide on a topic.

I will have a look at some more documentary animations which are available, and post any outstanding finds I come across on here in due course. Now, I am going to try and narrow down my options of what I will base my project on, and keep you all informed as I intend to go along.

Watch this space!

The Self-Negotiated Brief – Part Thirteen: Full Colour Costume Test (Brody)

After doing several initial sketches for “Brody’s” main costume, I drew up an image in colour, to see if my original thoughts on the design were any good or not. The image is alright, albeit having very large misjudgements on the proportions (I was drawing the image at an angle, so I apologise for his top half being substantially larger than his tiny, skinny legs, haha!). Seeing as this image was made a s a rough colour reference sheet, the detail in the colouring is only very simple. Having finished this picture, it has helped me to rethink a few ideas, and go on to create a much more cleaned up equivalent image – which will be scanned in at a later date.

Here is the mood board, consisting of the reference images I used to create this piece. I essentially used this just to make sure the way I drew the clothes looked half decent / convincing enough. The images show important individual elements of the outfit, the sources of which are various sites, found through the “Google” search engine.

I’ve included color keys at the top of the page: The left dictating skin and eye colour, and the right dictating costume and jewellery colouring. Due to the quality of the unintetional contrasting and brightness edit that came with the scanning of the image, some colours have become obscured, but trust my choices on those which I have used – overall they make the image look quite vivid in person!

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The Self-Negotiated Brief – Part Twelve: Brody Costume Sketches

I realise that from first impressions, Brody does indeed highly resemble “Gambit” from the “X-Men” series, and for that I do sorely apologize. It is purely coincidental I assure you! It wasn’t until a friend pointed out the similarities the other day, that I actually realised the heavy comparison between the two. Anyway, here are two full body costume sketches of “Brody” – the character which is receiving my main focus for this project for the time being. I am having so much fun developing ths character that I feel as though I am starting to neglect the development of other characters which are just as (if not more) important to the storyline.

I paid much more attention towards the first sketch as opposed to the second one. This was purely because I spent much more time refining the little features such as the hat, facial features, body position and so on. Because this was the first attempt at drawing this character – and this is usually the case when I draw a new design – I was desperate to make it look presentable. The second image was drawn at the suggestion of Craig (who is the “model” for “Brody”) as I asked him for some creative input for this small sketch session. He suggested that the character do a heroic / stereotypical pose just for the fun of it – and it was quite fun in all honesty! I intend to re-draw the second one at some point in the future, as I feel that it could look a lot better in many aspects.

An Afternoon at the “Hull Maritime Museum”

During another glorious day a few weeks ago, Alex (http://mrteaandcreamcrumpets.wordpress.com/) our classmate Callum (http://lastshadow21.wordpress.com/) and myself, went on a trip to another local museum. We saw this as another excellent chance to accumulate ideas for the “Documentary” project for our second year at University. I assumed my role as the snap-happy member of our group, as we made our way around the museum and its exhibits.

Local museums prove to be excellent sources of ready inspiration for this project, and I am really currently enjoying learning some local history. Seeing as Hull was famous for its fishing industry back in the day, it seems like a good option to take for this assignment. It would also give the city some much needed exposure too. I want to look at other places around Hull too, such as the “Street Life Museum” and the wonderful “Ferens Art Gallery” located in the town centre.

Here is a selection of the best examples of the many, many, many photos that I took during the course of the afternoon. Please enjoy!

FISH AND CHIPS!!!

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THE MUSEUM

“Spring Awakening” Tshirt Commission

Referring back to my previous post on “Spring Awakening” (“Spring Awakening” @ Hull Truck Theatre), I was commissioned by the lead actor (and director) of the production, to create a tshirt design for him, which he intended to use in the final performance of the show. I have since been commissioned again by James Ramon-Baker to create several designs for a potential CD cover, for the “Cast Recording” Album which will be released soon.

He had previously asked me to create the tshirt design, but the intention to use it in one of the performances was decided upon after I had actually finished making it. It was created as a one-off use piece (as I did not have any access to decent fabric pens at the time) with Crayola felt-tips purchased at Tesco. He stated that he wanted the title of the production on the tshirt, with a “Chibi-esque” portrait of his character on the front, surrounding red font saying “Blah” multiple times, and the phrase “Totally Fu**ed” scrawled across the back (in reference to one of the songs). James supplied the tshirt for the project, free of charge.

I say “Chibi-esque”, as my stylised form of caricature has roots in the “Japanese Manga” style. The style was originally similar to the generic sort of “Chibi” look, but has since evolved into my own aesthetic over time – for example, the large, empty, white eyes. The design of these stylised portraits has, over recent months, proved very popular with people in the local alternative community, and various people and projects as far as Nottingham and Sheffield. This has made me immensely proud, and I am looking forward to other collaborations and ventures using them in the days and months to come!
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THE FINISHED DESIGN

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FRONT DESIGN

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BACK DESIGN