6/24/20

     I've been at this film for at least 6 months. It started as question, what really intrigues me about animation? I decided that it was the ability of animation to break all the rules of film-making. The magic that happens when a characters face explodes into the epitome of exasperation a la Tex Avery or the  fleshy wizardry of Bill Plympton's, "Your Face" leave me wide eyed.  One essential element that flows through these examples, and many more like them, is the ability to morph characters and elements as one pleases.  Instead of flesh and blood, animation deals with line and color, giving it a freedom not found in many other film mediums.  I don't think it's too cavalier to say animation is the only medium where this is possible.

   When starting an animated film, an appropriate question to ask yourself is: why animation?  The answer for me is it's flexibility.  There are no constraints, imagination and creativity rule.  My thesis film is an exploration of metamorphosis, some call it "Animorph".  The ability of a character (I use this term loosely) to change into something completely different.  The transformation tells its own visual story, a story that isn't possible through  a conventional narrative.  It's a gut punch, an eye popping abstraction, a powerful tool to evoke a feeling and relate a concept.

     This blog is a reflection on the process of creating my thesis film, the pitfalls and successes.  The "story" is inspired by my experience living in dense urban environments.  Being exposed daily to the worst and the best of society, cramped in tiny, roach infested apartments.  Of course for me, it was part of the journey, for others though, it's the destination.  This is the plight of my character, living in a tiny basement apartment, snuggled between the toilet and the wall.  It's a tiny peek into his life, waking up to another miserable day.  Sad? Nah, just a day in the life.  Really he is vessel to play with the medium, experiment and have fun.

     To catch everyone up I'll share some concept designs and a rough cut of what I have thus far.

This is the buildings super, our protagonist?

Here are some other character concepts on the drawing room floor:

Here are some environment designs:

And finally, a rough cut for where i'm at currently: https://vimeo.com/431940647  password:super

Where to go from here?  This is where the fun, or the total frustration starts, probably a bit of both! From here he goes into his transformation, here's some boards for it. This is just the base, I will elaborate on it