ANIMATED NARRATIVES - WEEK 4

Week 4

This week, I worked on the premise, “A red car longs to somersault backwards”. Here is the intention behind my work:

                          THEME

              This work examines the idea of externalizing the inner state of a character. My work this week’s revolves around analyzing what the character feels on the inside through its action.  To respond to this week’s idea of depicting what the character thinks and feels on the inside, I created a car character In Adobe Illustrator who wants to somersault just like humans do.

               MEDIUM

               To explore the theme, I have created an illustration, a mind map, a character design, along with a rough storyboard sketch and a short treatment.  The illustration created in Adobe Illustrator, along with the character design and mind map, help to depict the Idea of how a character, otherwise thought to be a non-living thing feels on the Inside. Also, this theme externalizes and brings out the feelings of the character as if he is human and contains human sentiments.

                         REFERENCES

              My reference to do this work and my inspiration towards this project is the cartoon show, “Bob the builder” created by Keith Chapman. The show initially used stop motion concept but later on shifted to the usage of CGI (Computer Generated Imagery). In the show Bob is a builder and he builds and mends various buildings along with his tools and machines which are otherwise vehicles but can think, talk and function just like humans. In the show, Keith has externalized the internal stated of the character to make the viewer understand what the characters think and feel on the inside.

              IMPACT OF PRACTICE, RESEARCH, FEEDBACK AND REFLECTION

             My thinking towards this project is shaped by the research I have done about the “Bob The Builder” cartoon that I have mentioned. Thorough study of the following tv show helped me realize and contemplate that objects such as vehicles can have feelings too! Feedback by my peers in the class and by my mentors has always given me insights on what I should keep doing, what I should start doing and what I should stop doing. Although I did change my concept a couple times, it was beneficial to me in establishing a deeper understanding of what I wanted to achieve.