1 minute read
Alexander Claxton
Global Context - Personal and Cultural Expression
Goal - To create an animation depicting the history of LGBTQ representation on Western television
The Animation
Watch the animation on YouTube here!
Introduction
This project began because of my interests in animation, LGBTQ rights and popular culture. I think it’s important for people to recognize how far we have to go, so this animation is a way of communicating that idea.
Watch the animation
The Process
The project began with a research phase, where I researched some of the most prominent examples of LGBTQ moments in television history and branched out from there.
By the end of my research, I had come up with 17 shows, but eventually scrapped one of them (Friends) as I felt it wasn’t monumental enough to include.
I began scripting and animating, using a mobile app called FlipaClip. I then drew the faces using reference images and simply tracing over their features. However, I often changed parts of the face or body to achieve a different pose, or I adjusted the colors to match the shading. I would often draw each person in phases. For example: • Basic outline • Smaller outlines including facial features • Filling areas with color • Adding details like shading and depth
Once I was done with the animation itself, I did a voiceover, using that to get the timing right between frames, a credits roll, and then edited them all together.
