Well Draco is finished. So, now what's next? Well I am considering further study to allow me time to explore some different animation styles, so potentially I could be back at uni next year completing an Hons year. Here's what I am thinking of studying:
As an animator I have an interest not only in the artistic and technical processes involved in animation, but also in the construction of narrative in order to tell a ‘good story.’ In my previous degree I studied the classic canonical literature of western societies and it was through my extensive study of such literature that I recognised a central aspect of the narrative common to all stories regardless of cultural origin.
This pivotal narrative device is the construction of a sense of community in a largely homogenised society and the identification of the outsider. This form of conflict provides the basis of most, if not all, literary texts and I believe is also the case within western animated feature films. The difference between the protagonist and the community can be visual and literal or ideological and psychological, but it is the presence of such difference that creates the all- important conflict paramount to the telling of a ‘good story.’
In my honours year I propose to study the presence of this narrative device as an integral part of story-telling in the visual medium of animation. In particular I will focus upon animated feature films of the Walt Disney Animation Studios and how the outsider is constructed within the narrative and as a visual presence on screen through colour, design and layout. This study will compliment my deliverable which will be a short animated film.
The film will be based upon a script that I wrote for our scriptwriting class (received a distinction grade) and although it will need rigorous revision to be condensed as an animated short, it is a story that encapsulates the concept of community and the evolution of the outsider. The story uniquely traces the change that occurs within both the individual and their environment, in this case the Australian suburbs. A full synopsis of the film proposal will be available at a later date. In contrast to my recent film, Draco, this individual project will be a different style visually and will incorporate different programs (such as Photoshop and TV Paint) in addition to Toon Boom to give the film the personal, authentic aesthetic that will contribute to the successful telling of the story.
