Animation Research and Practice - Week 1 - Initial Pitch and Feedback

Over the Summer we were asked to think about 2-3 ideas for what we wanted to do for our final film, or if we wanted to do a portfolio in a specific area like 3D animating.

First Idea - 

My first idea came from my Great Nan. She is originally from Ukraine and was taken to concentration camps during World War 2. I wanted to take some of the stories she had told me and animate them. My Nan has always told her stories about her life and so we have recorded and noted them before, but when thinking about her stories over the summer I struggled with how to animate them and not wanting to ruin them. Also she had never told her stories in an order which I found hard to connect some of her stories to dates and times. My Nan is 92 and wasn't too comfortable coming into the uni to record and I didn't want to push her. 

I feel although this is a really good idea, I don't have enough information and don't want to push my Nan and so I pursue this animation later. 

Second Idea - 

Inspiration :

I have a Pinterest account where I save loads of pictures for inspirations and I started finding photos of women from different cultures and Religions, who looked Beautiful in their own way, not necessarily how we as a modern society see Beauty. 

I wanted to create an animation that showed that EVERYONE! is Beautiful and not just what the magazines and media say is.

Synopsis: 

A machine run by the magazine company is brainwashing women to go through surgery to become all the same. One woman who is conflicted and doesn’t want conform to this idea of ‘perfect’ is going in and out of the brainwashing state and because of this she starts to break the machine. 

I wanted the setting to be a smokey factory where you see the factory is run by the magazines. Here is some pictures of factories I looked at : 

When I talked to Bethany about my idea she then showed my this film and I liked the use of the screen and choosing what to do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsL7W-GHhJA

I was also shown this animation and I liked that it had no sound and the ending that she didn't become thin, but was happy with herself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZYVogCYsdA

Storyboard :

storyboard from Summer Davies-Newton on Vimeo.

Feedback : 

The feedback I got on this idea was that it was a bit generic and that it could be done differently. To look at technology and not just magazines, as technology and the internet have also had a similar affect. Also to look at men not just women, as men are affected just as much as women, but it's not talked about as much.

Third Idea - 

Inspiration -

For this idea I got the inspiration off my parents. They both suffer with depression, but have dealt with it completely different and it came on at different times in their lives.

It affects what they do a lot, but they try not to let it stop them doing everything and are always pushing themselves to go outside their comfort zones.

I wanted to show what they go through and portray it in a way that can relate to other people who suffer with depression or have loved ones that do.

Synopsis - 

A person (male or female) is going through the same routine everyday. They a starting to become very sad and withdrawing from the world around them, including their family, which is shown through the cracks that appear on their body.

Their loved ones begin to notice but at this point it is too late and the person shatters. Their loved ones are their to help pick them up along with professional help and although it cannot be fixed straight away, they are beginning to cope.  

Storyboard - 



Depression storyboard Idea from Summer Davies-Newton on Vimeo.


Style - 

I wanted people to connect with character and how they are feeling and so wanted to keep the style of it very simple and the story very simple.

I like the way these images are simple in colour and not very detailed, I didn't want the style to take away from the emotion.

Feedback - 

The feedback I got was again it was quite a generic story but the idea/ concept behind it was good. Sam suggested actually using my parents and making it into a documentary style animation. This would make my animation more connectable to the audience because it is real life.

My feelings - 

I feel the Pitch went well and I got great feedback from it, I will continue to improve and develop my work and take on the feedback I got. I think I will get my parents to record int he sound booth and see what happens. I also want to see if I can expand on the other Beauty idea for next week.


Class work - 

In class we were introduced to the module and given the brief for the year and discussed what we had to do for the pre-production and for the essay. We were given links and resources that would help us, including where to get free sound from and where we could look for journals and articles that would help us with our essays.

We were also put into study groups (me, Raj and Bethany) so we could help each other in researching our subjects and with our ideas since we are the only three making a film.