Week 3 - So much can mean seem so little

From what I learnt this week, is that there is no 'rulebook' for animation. It can mean so much - there isn't a 'textbook' example of what animation is. An animation can signify various different meanings - from ideological to philosophical and sociological... it can have a very deep connotation yet visually may be very simple.

My lecturer said that 'both narrative & storytelling links story, narrator (author) and audience'. When I go on to create my assessed animation, I need to research who my target audience is. When that is decided, it needs to cater to their requirements. Is it for children? Then it cannot contain explicit words or adult content. Is it for only those who can speak spanish? Then my target audience will not be the majority of the British public. These sort of things may seem foolish and obvious to note, but they must be carefully considered.

Along with the target audience I will need to research the type of plot that my animation will follow. An animation contain several types of plots depending on the types of animations used. Examples of plot types are... 'energetic, polyphonic, ensemble, daisy chain, repeated action...'.

I have yet to decide between the two briefs for my assessed animation - an animation of a William Blake poem or an animated map of my day. Both of these seem intriguing, and in the following post I will write the final decision and the reason behind it, and in the weeks that follow you will see what target audience(s) I have chosen along with the type of plot(s).

During the seminar, my lecturer made reference to an artist called M.C. Escher. I had never heard of him before but upon some research I instantly recognised his style of art - metamorphosis. His work is truly inspirational - his ability to morph one object into another in a piece of still art is amazing. Also, the way he creates impossible objects is something I am in awe of. To the left are examples of his work.

These are the sort of things that I would like to incorporate into my assessed animation. I believe that metamorphosis could carry so many connotations (according to a specific context) when done correctly. For example - the never-ending stairs by Escher could signify that as human beings, we have made little progress in moving forward with regards war, poverty, famine etc. So much so that we have got ourselves into a vicious circle -  we may solve one problem (walking down the stairs) but we then go and create another (walking up the next set of stairs).

Overall this week's seminar has been very helpful. In the first half I was able to further my experience with Adobe After Effects, and in the second I learnt more about the history of animation which gave me further inspiration for my assessed animation.