Possible Ending Locations: Adventure Playground

Another possible end location would be a soft play or adventure park. These parks have a personal meaning to me as I would say they epitomised my youth. Many of my fond memories of my youth revolve around such play parks and I feel that this is most likely the case for many individuals. What I also remembered was that adults, or larger children were prevented from entering the parks, for reasons of safety to protect the smaller children playing. This was a useful insight as it is exactly this sudden barring that slams the inner child fantasies in the face of the subject within my project, therefore I felt research into possible play park locations around Brighton is a necessity. One issue I feel I will face is whether such business's will allow me to film in their parks, especially if young children are around, therefore, if I decided to use such a location I would have to ensure I contacted them to explain who I am and the reasons for my project to see if they would allow such filming in their establishment.

FunPlex-

Brighton's Premier Indoor Play & Party Venue

Possible Ending Locations: The Pier

As the idea of the ending was taking shape, I felt the next logical step was to go out and find/visit possible locations within Brighton. This would help to give me a visual idea of the space and shape/style of the age/height restriction signs and also give me a definitive ending point to plan my journey route towards.

The obvious place to start was the famous Brighton Pier, which was renowned for its playful and child like entertainment. The Pier has everything from arcades, rides, hook a ducks etc therefore I feel it would be an interesting contrast for the formerly dressed adult to find themselves in. Below are a series of images of particular rides etc that caught my eye and the height restrictions required to enter such areas/ rides.

Possible Endings

The ending of my project is arguably the most important aspect, as it will combine and finalise all of the themes that have run throughout the project and consequently leave the audience with a deciding sense of understanding and appreciation for what I have attempted to portray throughout the project. 


My idea for the ending is still slightly ambiguous, as I am yet to decide which way to sway in terms of what I want the final moment to express. My idea is based around the height/age restrictions that you see in ball and adventure parks and before entering on rides at Brighton Pier etc. One of the underlining themes throughout the project is the notion of the inner child in how the fantasies that come out of show windows and advertisements play on the nostalgia and immaturity of adults . From my own personal journeys throughout Brighton, I also feel that when alone, travelling through space, your mind begins to wander and the simple, slightly immature childish thoughts that run through ones mind can cause boring, every day journeys to become entertaining and satisfactory.  I have the theme and idea of location in mind, however, I needed to pick apart the finer details to work out how I can really form a satisfying ending, that accumulates all of these themes,  as otherwise the ending risks being abrupt or deflationary.

One possible ending, is that when approaching the height restriction, the subject is barred for being too little which provide a slight twist to the project, as the sub conscious thoughts and analytical observations/ comments throughout seem to come from a mature, adults mind rather than a small child's, which would lead the audience on to reflect about the power and imagination of young children and their judgemental skills. Just because many young children can not communicate their thoughts, it doesn't mean they do not have the capacity to think them. 

Alternatively, the idea I feel that would be more successful and have a greater impact would be that the subject approaches the age/height restriction of the arcade, adventure park etc, and his heights surpasses the restriction by a long distance. This would be shown via the camera being positioned high up (6 ft +) and panning down at an angle towards the restriction and clearly dwarfing it. This panning down would also reveal that the subject is dressed in a suit, to suggest he is a business man , however, regardless of his job, attire and height he continues to charge into the adventure/ball park etc without hesitation. This would effectively convey the notion of the inner child that runs throughout the project and highlight how it holds the irresistible power within adults to contain their sense of nostalgia and childish immaturity. 

Gangnam Style

Whilst casually watching television, procrastinating if I am being completely honest, the utterly annoying and repetitive PSY Gangnam music video came on. Now usually my instant reaction is to turn over, but for some reason I decided to watch it fully and bear the pain in my ears just to see what all the fuss was about. Although I still wasn't convinced, I noticed that the video carries similar themes to the notion of the inner child within my project, and even includes the male subject dancing and playing in children's play parks and riding carrousels whilst dressed in a suit. It was interesting to view the contrast of formal, adult attire in a child like environment that I had previously pictured in my head, and I feel it carries a successful and powerful meaning that would definitely work well in the ending of my project.

Initial Storyboard...

It was time to start thinking and experimenting with storyboards for my project. With my project being an observational account of journeys through town, the main part of the storyboard can be left open, filled in with a few different routes that allow me to capture the most weird, unusual and Brighton-esque places, however, every animation must of course have a starting point, and with my project commenting and playing on the idea of the inner child, the end location will work as a conclusion to this notion, so therefore needs to be meticulously thought about.  

My idea at the moment is for the video to end with me walking passed an adventure playground or of the like, double taking and then diverting towards it, standing up against the child's height restriction and clearly surpassing it and then running off into the playground . I feel this would conclude the notion of the inner child and visually portray the power of the shop windows and advertisements that I have passed on my journey to release the inner child that is within us all, whilst also providing a joyful tone to end the animation on, that hopefully brings a sense of joy in the audience and too plays on a sense of nostalgia within them. 

Animating unique brain states

I came across the term 'Pyschorealism' in Samantha Moore's journal 'animating unique brain states' and I felt it relates well to the idea within my project. Samantha defines pyschorealism as a technique allowing the audience to get behind the eyes of the subject, explaining and evoking their unique perspective through sound, visual metaphor and interpretation of material experience and this is exactly what I am seeking to do within my project. I desire to visually represent my spontaneous and complex sub conscious thoughts as I move through public spaces and it is fundamental that the use of pyschorealism is adhered to in my project as the main method of doing so. 

The animation of unique brain states also relates well to Bradshaw's notion of the inner child that I have previously made reference to. From initial observations of shop windows and advertisements in town, I recognised their attempts to not just sell a product but also to sell a fantasy or sense of nostalgia to society. I feel that shops are selling to this notion of nostalgia in a bid to release societies inner child and consequently hit the broadest target audience. A sweet shop for example is seen as more of a 'childrens' store, however, two of the stores shop windows I noticed in town were advertising what I would class as 'retro', 'old school' sweets and I feel this is to play on the sense of inner child and nostalgia in teens and adults , that would consequently to be drawn to the sweet shop even if they were not with a child. 

12 Principles of Animation

The 12 principles of animation:
Squash and stretch
Anticipation
Staging
Straight ahead action and pose to pose
Follow through and overlapping action
Slow in and slow out
Arcs
Secondary action
Timing
Exaggeration
Solid drawing
Appeal

Due to my project being an illustrative art based animation many of the 12 principles of animation were irrelevant to my design process, however, the principles of ‘staging’, ‘timing’ and 'appeal' are three that do relate and need to be considered within my animation. Staging’s purpose is to direct the audience’s attention and make it clear what is of greatest importance and I will attend to this via the use of illustrative art and descriptive words to highlight the telling details of my observation.

Timing is an essential principle for any animation and I will attend to it by ensuring the speed of my animation helps to portray the spontaneity of my inner thoughts, whilst ensuring it is not too fast that the animation becomes incomprehensible.

Appeal is again an essential principle for any animation. Animations are art, they are entertaining, interesting, thought provoking, therefore, if the principle of 'appeal' isn't adhered to then an animation can be none of these things. For my animation to be successful, I want the audience to be drawn into my unique world, and if my animation isn't appealing, this will not happen. 

Turning off Autopilot...

I began to explore the notion of 'autopilot' further, and how in todays society the heavy reliance and use of media technologies has led us to be defined and driven by such technologies and hindered our reliance on human contact, companionship and trust. One of the best examples of autopilot for me is driving, especially my drive home from university to my family home in Kent. The first few times I did the journey, I was assisted by the use and direction of my TomTom that via visual and audio instruction would lead me from my start to end location. Although SatNavs are great pieces of equipment, that have revolutionised the efficiency of driving, they do however, cause the driver (me in this example) to rely on technologies all of the time rather than using the details provided in non technological form. For example, when I drive to and from home, a journey that I do at least 5 times a month, I could not tell you which junctions I come off at on the m23 and m25. Due to my SatNav I recognise the environment and nature that surround the junction, which causes my brain to register that it is time to turn off. I don't think about it, I don't take much notice of junction signs etc as from the routine that my SatNav has given me they are almost useless to me. Combining this with the fact that I have a CD on, which allows me to become lost in my music and allow the journey to go much quicker, I realised that I am in complete autopilot. I subconsciously make the journey home, my brain focused on the music and (cars around me to avoid crashes) road signs are insignificant, junctions unimportant.

I feel this notion of autopilot is hugely rife amongst society. People put their headphones in, or glue their attention to their phone and move through spaces without recognising or taking in anything that goes on around them. The repetitive series of roads that make up a day to day journey become embedded into ones brain and the escapism into a form of media technology allows the individual to wander through public space whilst remaining in their privatised realm. Through my project, I hope to provide the audience with my unique perspective that doesn't fall into autopilot and instead meticulously picks out details whilst moving through urban spaces and highlight to them the weird, wonderful and interesting things you can consume if you open your eyes to the world around you.

Rotoscoping...

"Rotoscoping is an animation technique in which animators trace over footage, frame by frame, for use in live-action and animated films. Originally, recorded live-action film images were projected onto a frosted glass panel and re-drawn by an animator. This projection equipment is called a rotoscope, although this device has been replaced by computers in recent years. In the visual effects industry, the term rotoscoping refers to the technique of manually creating a matte for an element on a live-action plate so it may be composited over another background." Although the illustration technique I wish to use within my project isn't exactly rotoscoping in its correct form, the idea of illustration over live and real movement stems from the technique of rotoscoping, so I felt it was a good point of reference for searching the amount of detail that should be illustrated within my project to ensure I capture a nice equilibrium between too little and too much and have a strong visual aesthetics.

I came across this youtube advertisement for MySaskDeals whilst browsing online and was taken by how powerful and visual appealing the basic use of rotoscoping within the film is. 
It eased my nerves about how I would incorporate rotoscoping or a similar style of rotoscoping with my project. I was impressed with how the 'less is more' in terms of detail still had powerful visual aesthetics and this encouraged me ahead of my project.

Panopticon

The notion of surveillance and observation led me on to refer to the critical work of Michel Foucault who comments on how our surveillance society can be seen as representing the ‘panopticization’ of urban space. With reference to Jeremy Bentham’s panopticon design, Foucault goes on to suggest that society under observation and surveillance are, as in the panopticon, to be seen but to never know when or by whom and this subsequently causes them to “begin to interiorize the gaze and thus exercise surveillance over and against themselves”.

I found this an interesting concept that I can personally strongly relate to. Via the use of social networks, as a society we all exercise surveillance over ourselves in how we portray and depict a selective identity of ourselves and this is also the case with how we carry ourselves in public. The type and brand of clothes we wear, the areas we travel in, the modes of travel we use, choice of hairstyles etc are all selective identity choices that we make with the notion of surveillance and judgement in mind. We make choices on our appearance based on what that will say about our identity to the passer by in society and within my project what I wish to capture and highlight is the unique telling moments when society release their guard on their appearance and reveal glimpses of their true inner self or to capture unusual and unique forms of appearance management. 

Telling stories

Inspired by a task undertaken during last years Digital Media course, I decided to go out and document a boring event in detail or document time passing through drawings, textures and words. The idea of telling an unexpected story has always interested me, and with the freedom of my journey for my project this notion is very prevalent. I set myself the task of sitting in the library during a cold, wet afternoon and decided to spend a 15minute period focusing on the unusual details that surrounded me that I would usually subconsciously notice but fail to register into my thoughts. Below our my findings:

During the time period, it felt I had lost control of my mind and body. It seemed as if I was unconsciously noticing things and noting them down, without even registering their existence. I was amazed with how quick I became lost in the library and was shocked in how quick the 15 minutes went, considering I expected it to be massively boring and drag on as time usually does whilst in the library. Reviewing my documentations, there was one drawing that caught my eye the most. I had referred to the ceiling lights of the library as spaceships. I looked up at the lights again and couldn't really see it, had I hallucinated the idea of spaceships? Did my mind make up this new identity for the lights as a form of entertainment? Or in reference to Bradshaw, was this my inner child coming to the fore and creating this idea of a living/moving toy within the library. This idea reminded me of one of my favourite films 'Toy Story' which I feel perfectly captures the notion of the inner child, in that everyone at some point of their lives has believed or wanted to believe that their toys are real living objects. 

The success of this task led me to think of how interesting every simple day to day task could be if we opened our eyes and allowed our creative, observational minds run free. As previously stated, I feel my sense of observation is strong, however, after this task, I recognised that I could reach new realms if I allowed my mind to truly be free and get lost in the environment. This would be hard to do during my journey, as with the numerous distractions and noise of outdoor, public space it would be hard to allow my mind to completely shut off, however, this was something I was going to have to experiment with to try and achieve. Possibly the use of headphones to shut me off from the world around me would allow my mind to solely focus of the visual distraction of the public space, so this is what i would do on my next journey. 

The Inner Child

From my investigative journey through town, I found that a lot of what stood out to me in shop windows, advertisements etc was very playful objects/forms of display. This led me on to think about how and why is it that as an adult the objects that stood out to me and caught my attention the most were rather childlike. The pig with wings watering can, the sweet shop, wanting to run up and jump off the end of the sloped piece of wood would all be seen as childlike objects/activities. This encouraged me to examine the idea of the inner child and think about whether society encourages our inner child to prevail by playing on notions of nostalgia ? I started to think about how this could become an underlining theme within my project and could possibly help to create a stronger narrative, as the final destination could aid and appeal to this inner child or it could completely shut it away...

"Inner Child" is a concept formed through popular psychology and analytical psychology. It points to the whole of our childlike aspect; what we learnt and experiences, good and bad, as children before puberty. The inner child denotes a semi-independent entity subordinate to the waking of the sub conscious mind. (This notion of the waking of the sub conscious mind tends well to the spontaneous, sub conscious thoughts that flow through my mind as I walk and interact with society through urban spaces). John Bradshaw famously used "inner child" to point to the unresolved childhood experiences and the lingering dysfunctional effects of childhood dysfunction.

I am keen to explore Bradshaw's notion further as I feel this sense of unresolved childhood experiences is rife among many adults in society. A popular phrase that you hear from all age ranges in society is "oh to be that young again". As you age, you gain responsibilities that restrict the freedom you have as child. From year 6 students sitting their 11+ entry tests into secondary looking down and wishing they were running around on that elusive second break period the kinder garden children got, to final year university students sitting in the library jealous of the young, wild and free reigns of the freshers and up to parents heading into their 20 plus years of work, whilst their children 'live the dream' at University- going out, socialising, attending university for less hours in a week that their usual working day. I feel this nostalgia and dream of being young again is prevalent across society and from my observations in town I feel the shops/advertisers in society play on this in order to capture the attention of the passer by and draw in their custom.

Big Brother is watching you...

George Orwell's 1984 was a forerunner for the idea of the 'Big Brother theory', focusing on the idea that in our society someone, somewhere, through one of the million computers is always watching you. The notion of surveillance/observation is key to my project, as my footage will present the audience with a first person account of my voyeuristic journey as I observe, survey and comment on the people and area around me. Orwell covers the topic of surveillance fantastically in his dystopian fictional society in which everyones movement is monitored and controlled by the 'Big Brother' and I feel that my project allows me to become a moving surveyor of society, their behaviours and the spaces they interact with.

Illustration Practice

After viewing images and videos of illustration and researching into a few blogs I decided that digging out my 'graphic tablet' would be the next best step for me, as it would enhance the quality of my final pieces and give me more creative freedom when coming to illustration. I still haven't decided if I want to draw directly on the computer or draw freehand and scan the drawings into the computer, however, I felt it would be good to practice both and compare results to see which was best. I almost desperately needed to dust the cob webs of tablet and get use to using it again.

The following images are a few practice illustrations, drawn with my graphic tablet to get myself comfortable and back into the habit of using it. They are certainly not the best drawings I have created, however, they highlight the idea of the style of rough, free hand style drawing that I feel best illustrates the idea of spontaneous and quick fire thoughts. 

Focusing my Idea...

I began to start focusing my idea down to the idea of observation and the spontaneous thoughts that would ignite in my head whilst I am in public spaces. I feel that my observational skills are a lot more acute that others. I seem to have been blessed with an eye for detail and combining this with my enjoyment for observing and watching the world go round me, I tend to notice very odd and peculiar objects, shop names, advertisements, behaviours around me that people I am with will take a while to notice or not even notice at all.

I decided that what better way to use this skill by doing something productive and creating a project of a journey through town, illustrated with my internal spontaneous thoughts. The work of Jonathan Hodgson, as previously stated, helped provide a visual inspiration that matched my idea and after the successful journey through town with a still camera, I set myself a to do list of capturing a similar journey in video form and also capturing an audio recording of me saying aloud my spontaneous thoughts as I moved through the urban space.

Journey Through Town

I set myself the task of creating a journey through town and documenting my observations of telling details through photography and film. I wanted to replicate the work of Jonathan Hodgson and Sally Waterman, two practitioners whose work on observation and distraction inspired me. On the first half of my journey, from my car to the hairdressers I focused on still imagery, capturing any objects/signs/people/behaviours that caught my eye. On the journey from the hairdressers, back to the car, I decided to try and replicate the work of Hodgson and film myself walking along the road, whilst trying to capture my observations on camera.

Once I got home and uploaded my images/footage I decided to go through my observations and comment on how, where and what style of animation I could add to the footage and make any notes on areas of improvement and what i could do differently to ensure a more successful shoot next time.

This sign caught my eye, as I found the inclusion of a weight lifting man a rather interesting choice of art in the advertising of a chocolate shop. In terms of animation I feel there is a possibility to bring the man to life and have him working out with the dumb bell and possibly point you in the direction of the shop with his spare arm.

The amount of empty, abandoned shops within Brighton slightly surprised me and I feel the dingy, gloomy-ness of this window works as a metaphor towards the gradual decline in high street stores. I would comment on the isolated and eerie feel of the shop to draw attention to this problem that goes unnoticed by many on a daily basis. 

This image is one of my favourites from the day. It is not often that you see a traditional book store which pleased me, especially after seeing the numerous shut down and empty high street shops. There is a lot that could be done on a animation side to this image. Books could pop up and move around, running on top of each other, jumping around in a fight for attention from passers by. Text (the title or author of the books) could bounce around, fall to the floor, expand and increase in size, again as a way of fighting for the attention of the potential customer passing by.

I have always found this an amusing name for a shop, I suppose that's the child in me, so I felt it deserved a snap. I feel this image has a lot of promise in terms of animation. The building could be illustrated and turned into a 'fat face'. The bottom two windows could personify eyes, whilst the top window could personify a mouth.  

This shop window decoration interested me as I feel it is a creative and playful way to showcase objects that are not traditionally that interesting, i.e coffee mugs. I feel you could also be playful with the animation. The subject could momentarily pause and stare at the cups/mugs moving up and down like puppets on a string.

This shop window caught my eye as I felt the manikins looked remarkably realistic in their stance. To enhance this idea it would be interesting to animate the manikins to come alive, interact with one another, swap positions, pieces of clothing or wave/ talk to the subject.

I took this photo as I found it interesting how the mind automatically pictures an object when they read it in word form. As soon as I saw this sign I instantly pictured a roaring tiger in my mind and I felt this would be a playful animation to include to enhance the idea of the unconscious mind speaking.

This is just a clever way of advertising that the shop is to let. Rather than just using the traditional, visually unappealing, boring 'to let' sign, this shop has been more creative in its advertising, which will consequently a lot more attention from passers by. In terms of animation, the umbrella could rise and carry the bag up and out of the top of the window. Or alternatively the subject could grab the umbrella as he walks passed and use it if it was raining or shake off the water drops and pack it away in his pocket in case it rains at some point within his/her journey.

This image caught my attention as it is a direct similarity to a shot from Hodgson's work of a member of society protecting a car parking space. Similar to Hodgson I would comment on the notion of the protection/marking of territory and hallowed ground.

Again, this shop window reminded me dramatically of the shop window in Hodgson's work. I feel the amount of movement depicted in the still shots could be extremely fun to play with in terms of animation. Balls could bounce along the window pain, onto the floor and kicked away by the subject or one of the racing dogs/horses could run across the shop window, chasing the subject as he walks passed.

Cute watering cans that plays on the childhood myth the pigs can't fly. It would be a fun, playful, childish animation to bring the pigs to life and have them flying around or attempting to fly.

I found this quite an odd name for a florist. The juxtaposition between the danger and evil that is associated with 'guns' to the delicacy of the flowers is something I would like to play on. Tying in with the nostalgia of childhood, I feel I could include illustration, imitation clown guns that shoot flowers rather than bullets.

This advert already includes illustration, which would make it an easy image to animate. The hand could start moving, watch ticking louder and louder to suggest the subject is in a rush or the money could start falling out of the shop window onto the floor of the street in front of the subjects feet.

Candy shops again aid the nostalgia of childhood. Everyone has that inner child in them that's mind gets attracted by the brightness and playfulness of toy/sweet shops. The swirling candy lollies could start spinning , causing the subject to become slightly hallucinated/capture by the sweets momentarily. This would enhance and play on the notion of the inner child within everyone.

Journey Home

‘Journey Home’ is another interesting way of visually portraying a day to day journey that otherwise seems the norm and dreary for the subject. Journey Home is "a visual diary of a series of ritualistic journeys made over a five month period between London Waterloo station and Ryde Pier Head on the Isle of Wight, drawing upon Waterman’s experience of living in both urban and rural environments and the tension between how these two cross cultures is explored and represented by the transitional time and space of her monthly journey home to visit her family.

Whilst the destinations and paths of each journey are similar, each one is a unique, individual experience. Although a sense of routine is omnipresent - with recurring images linking all the journeys together - different exterior elements are constantly changing; the weather, the people around her, her mood, the things she notices out of the carriage window, the book she is reading and the clothes she is wearing. As time passes and the seasons change, the passing scenery beyond the window seems to disappear as autumn approaches. When this occurs the images begin to focus more upon the interior of the train carriage itself, her fellow passengers, the ghostly reflections in the window and the fleeting illuminated station platforms".

This project by Waterman also ties in with the notion of the conscious and sub-conscious mind. When we religiously make the same journey our mind tends to switch off as we become comfortable within the environment we are travelling in. However, by doing so the observations we make become blurred, almost non-existent as our minds feel that we do not need to be aware of the now so familiar surroundings. This is often the case for most individuals within their day to day tasks/journeys and I feel this is why a lot of my friends do not notice things that go on around them. I want to examine and play on my skill that my mind seems to be aware a lot more of the time and does not seem to fall into this state of sub conscious viewing. Therefore, I have set myself the task of recording via photos, sketches, notes my journey walking through town, walking through the university campus and the car journey from home to university. I will then gather, analyse and compare my findings and see if I have a basis to form a project or whether a more vigorous, detailed documentation is needed.

Passing Through

"Passing Through" by Sally Waterman is a video that traces the artists journey on a bus through West End London. However, Sally then superimposes this with footage shot out of a train window leaving Waterloo station. By doing this Sally creates a fluid, fast paced, chaotic visual that is seen to represent the multiple perspectives of city life. Sally juxtaposes the chaotic environment of central London to the rural, somewhat peaceful environment that is viewed once you escape from the city centre. 

"The incessant movement of the abstract shapes and colours of the rapidly fleeting traffic and pedestrian activity, ends with the unexpected appearance of distorted, passing trees from the over layered train journey that seem somewhat out of place, yet competes for attention against the dominating street scape, creating a kind of dichotomy between these urban and rural environments, revealing the artist’s inner longing for escapism from her ritualistic city commute." 

The portrayal of a dichotomy between urban and rural environments interested me as it is what I observe and often feel whilst living in Brighton. The general perspective of Brighton focuses around the busy tourist town full of flashing lights, the pier, unlimited shopping and being a party capital full of youth and exuberance. However, from the first hand experience of living in Brighton I have learnt that it is actually rather rural. Just fifteen minutes from the sea front is our University campus which is extremely green and surrounded by the vast Sussex downs. Similar to Waterman's work, I feel that this juxtaposition could make for a very interesting and visual account of the differing environments that surround Brighton that often go unrecognised by many. 



Passing Through, 2005 (Clip) from Sally Waterman on Vimeo.

From beginning to end...

To incorporate the idea of observation and distraction I felt the best thing to do was to base my research around the idea of a journey. During a journey from A to B how many objects/signs/distractions/odd behaviours do we notice ? Do they register into our thoughts or do we just merely notice them? The idea of the conscious and sub conscious viewing is something I have always been interested in and I feel this subject would provide a good base for my project.

My research led me to an animation by Jonathan Hodgson found on vimeo. The video animation is footage of the journey from home to work, as seen through the filter of the conscious and sub conscious mind.



Feeling My Way from Jonathan Hodgson on Vimeo.

This piece of work is hugely inspiring for myself as it focuses on very similar aspects of the conscious and sub conscious mind that I am keen to focus on. Being a very observant individual I feel I notice a lot of minute/ telling details whilst in a social environment that a lot of my friends do not and I am keen to look into and experiment with this skill.

Below I have picked out pieces of the video that interested/attracted me or techniques/ideas that I feel could be useful to experiment with and potentially incorporate into my project.

• Video footage of the first persons feet walking along the road. Creates a first person perspective for the viewer.
• Hand drawn, illustrated map of the area the subject is walking. Simply drawn map but adds a creative and opposing visual element to the journey.
• Handwritten words/observations.
• Illustrated shadow as he walks up the stairs. Adds to the visual aesthetics of the video.
• The combination of illustration over the video background provides an interesting visual juxtaposition of the real and animated world. 
• Commenting on the attire/ behaviour/ appearance of people that walk passed. I do this a lot and I like the idea of physically providing the thoughts that are normally contained solely within the mind.
• As he walks passed the betting shop, the illustrated movement of the shop window provides visual entertainment. 
• Use of background noise (foot steps, cars, rustling, animals) keeps the footage interesting and the viewer engaged. Also maintains the notion of the first person perspective and ensures the viewer feels that they are within the footage.
• Insertion of noises to enhance an observation. Rattling bins, telephone ring etc.

Think it. Post it.

Getting my hands dirty

I felt it was time to get going and give myself a direction to go off and experiment and play with over the next week ahead of the week 4 workshop. Although I can not say that I have fully decided upon an idea, I managed to brainstorm glimpses of themes/ideas that gave me enough to go away and experiment on. I wouldn't know how I felt about an idea until I physically got my hands on it, so after consultation with my tutor I decided to go off and document/play with the following;

• Observation-Procrastination-Distraction
• Telling details
• Experience of a journey-noticeable objects
• Collecting objects-Flyers-stickers-leaves-rubbish

I would do this by documenting my observations in the form of photography, note taking and sketching and then combining the results together to see if a form of narrative or possible opportunities for animation could be produced. 

Research Research Research

I spent a day web browsing, searching different types and styles of animation that caught my eye or interested me in the hope of finding a style, theme or concept that would inspire my project.

From previous years of work, I have developed a strong interest in stop motion photography and thoroughly enjoy the fluidity and freedom you can have whilst experimenting with stop motion. Below are a few examples of work that interested me...


Photobooth Diary from Jonathan Hodgson on Vimeo.

Hodgson created this piece of work by compiling together photographs taken once a week for the period of two years in a local Woolworth's photobooth. Although it is such a simple idea, merely the repetition of similar images provides an interesting synergy that captures the attention of the audience well.



This stop motion interested me as it played with the juxtaposition of the newest phone technology (an iphone) and presented it in cardboard form. I find that contrasts to the norm of what we are use to seeing work effectively in capturing the attention of the audience. However, although I found this interesting to watch, I feel as a project it would have no real substance to it.


Although I have a keen interest in stop motion photography, I have come to the conclusion that it is often hard to think of an interesting topic of why you are producing the work. There were many stop motion animations that I enjoyed watching but at the end questioned the point or reason for the video. Although this isn't necessarily a bad thing, I feel I would like my work to act as a metaphor for a problem/issue/subject within society that I have a personal connection to. I feel this would help me become embedded within the project and consequently ensure I put the most in and get the most out of the project.

Capturing Movement

Etienne Jules Marey:

Etienne Jules Marey was a French physiologist (a scientist who studies the functions of the body), who was inspired by Muybridge's work to think of new ways of studying movement through photography. He had the same problem as Muybridge, though - the glass plates used for taking photographs at this point could not be changed quickly, so fast movements could not be captured easily.

Marey came up with two solutions. The first was to take multiple images on the same plate, so that all the movement could be analysed on the same print. This worked well for images with a movement along the plate, but less well for more static images. You can see that here: the man jumping over the chair shows the movement well, but the picture of the fencer is less easy to break 

down into the different movements of the subject.

Marey was the forerunner for capturing movement within photography. He discovered ways in which 

to record several phases of movement within one image.

Chronophotographe:

Marey's chronophotographe gun was created in 1882 and was used to effectively capture movement within one image. The gun had the capabilities to capture 12 consecutive frames per second, with all of the frames being recorded upon one picture. This result of this is shown above in which the movement of the man jumping over the chair seems slow motion.

The visual effect that is created via this use of photography interests me and I feel it is extremely successful in capturing the eye of the viewer. It would be interesting to try and incorporate this technique of movement into an animation as I feel the trail of movement would look slightly ghostly and eerie within an animation rather than on a still print. 

Ideas. Use stop motion photography to capture the movement of...

The journey of a free runner, leaping from building to building/ wall to wall. 

The trail of domino's or a another object consecutively falling over. Possibly chasing a running animated character who is fleeing a scene ? (Slightly Hollywood but could be exciting).

How people react to a physical space- Routine of someone waking up, getting out of bed, making the bed, getting ready, looking in mirror etc. (Would be more interesting if the figure was invisible and you just saw everything in the room moving/ coming to life). Think Toy Story.

A subject in their room/cafe interacting with a range of different media all at the same time. Which media takes priority, how the media objects react to being ignored/given attention. I feel this is an interesting idea, as with todays society a range of different media is constantly being produced/ updated, which causes the user to dump his old equipment and replace with the new, best, coolest product. I feel it could be interesting to personify the objects and give them 'emotions' that differ depending on the attention/ lack of attention they are given or what features they have to show off and highlight in order to gain attention from their user. Toy Story is also a good example of this idea, in how the protagonists toys are personified and react differently to one another depending on the attention they receive from their owner.