Still Scheming

I'm still working out ideas for my senior film. I had many ideas I was tossing about in my head over the winter break. These ideas were to be divided between my Concept Development class and my Experimental Animation class. The funny thing is that the ideas I thought I would work through in Experimental Animation are starting to look better for Concept and vice versa. 

Another thing I did over the break was some research for one idea involving the "creative spirit", as portrayed by a buck. This idea would be an attempt to tackle some of the issues I have involving freedom of expression, fears involving the creative process, what some people use their creativity to do, etc. I want a very soft warm aesthetic for this film. Earth tones, fur textures and other textures from lush forests, etc. I was also looking at Native American (especially Inuit) art work. So who knows, maybe this will be the piece I go with. We shall see. 

Themes and ideas, themes and ideas. They continue to circle my brain and I'm not quite sure what would be the best idea to run with. This Sunday I am to turn in some ideas. One thing we're supposed to think about is technique. My professor knows that I like stop motion a lot but I like 2D as well. So we'll see. 

Concept Development

I began my Concept Development for Animation course a week ago today. We are to track our progress and have a place online available for the public to view our work, so here is mine. Welcome.

Today we received our second assignment which is to begin reverse engineering an idea/story for our senior film. We are to think about what technique of animation we wish to use, what kinds of characters, the aesthetic, etc. We are also to decide what it's "about." This doesn't mean to tell a story in the general sense, but to pick a topic and theme and then come up with story later. In other words we basically have to decide everything except the story, which is odd because sometimes my brain just spews out a story and then I feel compelled to animate it. However, this gives me an opportunity to think about what I want to see and what I want to say before nailing down how I want to say it. 

Tonight I will be reading the assigned chapters from Paul Wells' "Scriptwriting." A book that focuses on the particulars of producing an animated film. I will also think a bit about what I want to say. I would give you a taste now, but I want to have it be a bit of a surprise.