ZOE CK MEEDER - 146276463
C O N T E X T U A L I S AT I O N
WHITE PROJECT - SERIES
• Since I got the brief for the white
project days before the “sequel” workshop prompt, I combined the two projects.
• I immediately started my project
blog, studentcontinuestotry.tumblr.com, in an effort to record daily progress.
• The “white” series immediately made me think of black and white
photography, or black and white line drawings.
• The “series” idea inspired me to create storyboards out of my initial pen
sketch ideas, and I attempted a quick pencil test to see how workable it would be to continue to create an animation, but software issues and time constraints became too big of an issue.
• Alternative Idea: Make a video short, instead of an animated short, to save
time. Animate elements later if time allows.
• When I was still aiming to complete an animation, I was looking at
animated shows I knew were produced on a low or “no” budget, quickly, and were largely done by hand for inspiration.
• I produced two short pencil tests, viewable on my project blog, based on
techniques learned through my own research on basic animation. Having never animated anything before, they were experiments to gauge time, software capability, etc.
A good example is Dr. Katz, which was retroscripted and animated on a very low budget, as it was the first Comedy Central animated production. Simply drawn in a notable “squigglevision� style, my first pencil test was done in that way, as a speed test.
• Certain issues with software compatibility etc. as well as having to learn
multiple new software programs for animation, however, limited how far I could go with my initial animation idea.
• This led into the second project, which began development immediately
following the briefing.
PROJECT 2 - DEVELOPMENT
PROJECT 2 INITIAL CONCEPTS
• “Food” Brief - Record a podcast in a cafe using own equipment (Snowball
mic, GoPro Hero 3) then animate “squigglevision” style a clip from the podcast
• Ai Wei Wei Exhibit - Record a live action short inspired by the theme of
surveillance and accompanying feelings (in the style of an earlier short I had done; see screencaps) and
AI WEI WEI EXHIBIT
• On my Instagram (instagram.com/effluviah) I liveblogged the field trip to the A.W.W.
exhibit at the Royal Academy.
• I became fascinated by how many security cameras there were in an exhibit about
excessive surveillance, and took photos of the cameras interrupting the actual pieces (in this case, wallpaper)
FURTHER DEVELOPMENT • Because of time constraints being tightened even more after being sick
over Reading Week, I’ve decided to record the project first as a live action short following storyboards, and if time allows, I will animate elements or the entire thing as was the original plan.
• I was inspired more by the Ai Wei Wei exhibit than by the prompt I had
chosen to follow from the brief, so I postponed development on the “food” brief cafe podcast animation idea after weighing my time scale against both ideas.
• Despite being ill, I shot several clips (to be listed + annotated on my
project blog) to be worked on for the final Project 2 video. It takes a shorter time to produce a live action short, and despite wanting to animate my final, time and some software limitations/difficulties have made it impossible.
• Screencaps (next slide): Taken between Doncaster and York over
Halloween Weekend, for theme section of video: Distance (still WIP)
REFLECTIVE SUMMARY • As I have combined my projects, I feel as though it is one thorough
collective developmental process. My firm base of research, inspiration, and experimentation has served to help narrow my focus on my one ideal outcome, which is something I usually struggle with. I now have a solid idea of what I am doing and where I want to take my work, which despite branching out and trying something completely new with animation, has taken me back down a more familiar route. • However, this allows me to meet the overall schedule, and produce
something I will be able to show. Recording that process/development will continue on my blog, and provide much more content and end material.