This post is a proposal of my project idea and will be re-organised and categorised into titled sections when formatted for the pitch (for this post, I have grouped everything together)

 

《☆》★《☆》★《☆》★《☆》★《☆》

 

A Dreamlike Depiction of Earth’s Descent

 

As mentioned before, my project is a surrealistic conceptualisation of concerns regarding the health of the environment. It will take the viewer through multiple key issues that are negatively impacting the health of the planet through a fantastical and magical lens, not to make light of the problem, but rather to highlight and explore the deeper meanings behind humanity’s actions and future. The project will also explore philosophical ideas that feed into the main focus, in order to challenge the perspective of the viewer on environmental issues, which is a key part of the movement – notions such as what follows after death, our role as a species on Earth and the power and passing of time will all be delved into using visual and textual elements stylized surrealistically. All of these are important parts of spreading awareness but have been discussed for many years, presented through art, writing, cinema and other forms of media and I wanted a different approach. A Dreamlike Depiction will stand out exactly because of the divergence in style and outlook of these ideas, which will focus on evoking understanding rather than shame. The viewer will perceive how serious and wrong certain actions are by seeing their direct fantastical adaptations, for which reason, I will certainly be involving animation in some way in my final product. I do not plan to limit myself to only this however since the inclusion of surrealism opens a lot of doors and possible opportunities for experimentation. My project will hopefully show an interesting range of media experimentation, such as 3D models and different cinematographical formats, providing an insight into serious topics whilst painting interest and appeal, which would hopefully fuel the project and help spread awareness further.

 

Imagine a world of magic and wonder. A world where merpeople rule the waters, where the forests sparkle like crystal and where mother nature walks hand-in-hand with the sea. Imagine the elves, the animals, the wizards. Now imagine them killing it. Their home is more precious in our eyes, but that is exactly what we are doing to Earth.

 

My inspirations for this project come from multiple different sources, which I will be researching more in-depth in other blog posts, including Subject Research and Production Formats. The initial idea was born from my passion for protecting the environment and anger at how little impact some of the art circulating on the internet seems to have. I have noticed that most people do not react well to the artwork that seems to convey a deeper message, which in some way might attack them, and this is usually some form of surreal environmental art.

 

 

 

More often than not, people tend to steer clear of images such as the ones above, because of the implication that they are doing something wrong, and are the cause of these environmental issues, and the inevitable guilt that creeps in after this. The harsh truth is, we are all responsible, and each human has their own carbon footprint and trail of rubbish from living life, but the method in which some forms of art are bringing this to light is simply not effective. There is nothing coherently wrong or incorrect with the artwork above; they are putting across a clear message, however, it is not receiving the right response and is also negatively impacting surrealism as a style because of the idea that all of it is tacky, hypocritical and shallow. For my project, I want to steer clear of cartoons that could be considered “cringe” and “aggressive” and focus on meaningful, impactful surrealistic art, such as the work below.

 

 

 

 

 

These, and similar art, are all inspiring to me, for artistic and conceptual reasons. I like that they each make a comment on a certain aspect of the dying of our natural world, such as climate change, at varying levels of complexity. The first piece of art could be interpreted in many different ways, whereas the third is very explicit in its comment on the future that we are heading towards. Yes, these most likely will also evoke guilt, depending on the viewer, but it cannot be denied that it is an unavoidable emotion when it comes to the environmental movement. It can inspire action, but I do not want to solely rely on it for my final pieces of work, since it can deter people, which is the opposite of my desired outcome. My belief is that through seeing our actions in a more fantastical setting, a deeper insight will be made into how we have lost sight of the great importance behind different aspects of the environment. I want to amplify and magicalize this importance so that it is accentuated and reasonably studied, rather than created to attack the conscience of the viewer.

More inspirations include natural life photography and some videos that have given me ideas for possible final products:

 

 

 

I think that photography can be just as powerful as an illustration, and whilst I personally do not plan to include it in the project, it would be an interesting production format to consider, and definitely inspires me in terms of how to properly portray the gravity of the situation, or an idea, using nature and our surroundings.

 

 

Source is a music video that was shown to me a while back and piqued my interest greatly. I realised that it is a great source of inspiration for the type of style I would like to create for my project. It may not be as fantastical as I am aiming for, but it certainly has a surrealistic, whimsical design that I can draw from and perhaps create something similar. I am planning to have 2D animation as a final product or a part of one, so this is a great reference for style and surrealist characters or backgrounds.

 

 

Recently, I have discovered a lot of animated music videos, including this one by Imagine Dragons, which has a city vs wildlife thematic and dark, jagged, raw animation style, which I find quite interesting. The main inspiration, however, comes from the way in which the lyrics are included in the animation, sometimes a key part of the transitions, or even interacting with parts of the world, like trees and buildings. Doing something like this for A Dreamlike Depiction would be an excellent addition to the final products and project overall since music can carry across a message mightily, resolutely and creatively. I would find a song that is relevant to my message and use 2D animation (not hand-drawn) to merge the lyrics with something visual and surreal, and whilst this isn’t fully decided yet (I still need to do production format research), it is a definite consideration on my list.

 

 

Finally, I have selected an animation from my list of videos called The Flat which is the only piece of media I have found that uses the method in which my project is based; using a genre, story or concept which is not based on reality to hone down on a message which is. The Flat is based on Hindu mythology, the idea that the earth is supported by four elephants standing on the back of a turtle, which it uses to show that it isn’t that simple when it comes to getting rid of our waste. I like that they have chosen one key environmental problem and tackled it using a more creative, magical response. There is a difference in the style because I want my project to be far more magical and less Earth-based, but it is an incredibly prominent inspiration nonetheless because of the technique used for delivering a message – the same technique that I want to use. After watching this, it has confirmed my belief that an idea can be reinforced by showing a different version of it, or of the world since, without a single piece of explanation, the theme of the video is extremely visible and transpicuous.

A Dreamlike Depiction of Earth’s Descent (ADDOED) is a good final ‘big’ project for me because I have chosen to make it about something I am passionate about and that will make a real difference once it is shared with an audience. Even if the best outcome is simply getting someone to think slightly differently about our position in this day and age on Earth, that may have a bigger impact later, or inspire a unique idea or course of action. The project is aimed at climate change deniers, contrarians and anti-environmentalists, as well as anyone who doesn’t understand how precarious our current life is, as a species. Idealists could also fall into the category of my targeted audience since they comprehend the world in a similar manner and would appreciate my exploration and final products on a deeper level. I suppose, on one side, I am sending my message out to the artistic and imaginative people who are of similar opinions as me, and on the other, also to those who oppose my ideas, in order to change their perspective, even a little. In the industry, the dense subjects and themes that I am trying to tackle and include might not be received well by a younger audience. My generation seems to be more drawn to short, easily digestible pieces of media, that are appealing, fun, simple and clear – often seen on social media. Everything is getting faster and shorter, and my detailed surrealist exploration opposes this, thus why it is aimed at the idealists and artists. However, full world-building and digital surrealism are back, currently trending within the animation realm, which is where my project would sit perfectly. More and more artists are traversing the bold, the unique and the chaotic, embracing strange ideas and bizarre visuals, such as Felix Colgrave, who worked on Source. ADDOED will be accepted by the curious and artist community that is currently expanding and will make an impact thanks to the environmental message behind it.

 

 

My skills are best suited to creating computer animation, such as in After Effects, which I would like to include to ensure I have at least one good result by the end of the project, however, I also want to expand my skillset and venture into other mediums and formats. Since this is a major project, I would like to include some 3D, to showcase what I have learned so far and bulk up my model collection, hand-drawn 2D animation, which I want to improve in and would work well with my planned style and possibly some general VFX in a film sequence of some kind, so that I can approach my message from different angles, make the project more interesting, and also include the three main parts of my current college course. Additional skills which will help are my research, artistic and writing skills, all of which are important parts of the project process, especially in production and pre-production. There will be a much greater textual involvement with this project than any before since I want to combine and use as many structures and aspects as possible and showcase my skills and development through more detailed research and blog posts, and a range of final products.

For the reasons above, ADDOED is going to help me greatly in preparation for the next steps in my education. I am planning on continuing with animation, specifically 2D and hand-drawn as much as possible, through a bachelor’s course in university. In order to achieve this, I want to be able to reach a certain standard with my animation skills and be confidently able to animate via the hand-drawn method, which is a level I haven’t yet reached. Through this brief, I will not only improve my artistic and animation skills which are needed for a good portfolio and my personal goals, but I will also improve my technical art competence, capability in managing and completing a project to a standard I am proud of, and hopefully developing a quality of finesse in my research and practical work. My previous projects; the fantasy and culture, gave me my first taste of working to a client brief and I was still learning how to organise myself and follow a main theme or idea. With this current journey, I will gain the ability to create a cohesive and imaginative venture, which feels like one from start to finish, through the early stages of research, to the final scene of my finished products. This will be done by using previous blog posts to learn from my mistakes and push myself into a more relevant level of detail, that will benefit all stages of my design process. I will be able to enter the next stage of my animation career as an astute university student with a fully completed art & animation project under her belt, as assimilation of everything learned relevant to future focuses.

 

 

To thoroughly gauge what kind of resources I would need, and what amount of each, I still need to complete research on production formats. However, using my rough plan and current goals for this project, I can make a sensible prediction about what kind of things I will be using, or might use.

 

◦◦,`°.✽✦✽.◦.✽✦✽.°`,◦◦

 

Essentials:

Things that I cannot present my work without, and which I already have or am in possession of, listed purely for thoroughness.

PC & Internet Access – Needed for every stage of the project (I use my laptop for research, drawing, animating etc.)

Drawing Tablet – Needed for concept art and animation (I have a Wacom drawing tablet to enable me to animate at home since I wouldn’t be able to finish my production purely in college)

A Website – Needed to present work (My blog will house all of my work and project evidence and my Youtube channel will also have my final product videos)

 

◦◦,`°.✽✦✽.◦.✽✦✽.°`,◦◦

 

Equipment:

These are things that I believe will be needed for my final products.

Software – Needed for concept art, animation, 3D work, editing etc. (I have the full Adobe suite on my laptop, as well as Maya so that I can work at home and complete my final products to high quality in time)

A Camera & Tripod – Needed for a possible film sequence (I hope to make a short film as one of my products, for which I will use either my phone to film, or borrow equipment from Confetti)

 

◦◦,`°.✽✦✽.◦.✽✦✽.°`,◦◦

 

Other:

Real-life and online locations, people and other random things.

Backup Storage – Needed for contingency in case my files are corrupted or lost (I use Google Drive and a Hardrive to store copies of all my work)

References – Needed to accurately depict characters and environments (I use reference websites for artists, which has all manner of organic life, as well as myself and my family for more specific poses when need be)

Natural Setting – Needed as a possible filming location (I will be using the parks and natural trails in my area if I decided to go ahead with my film sequence)

Study Timer & Music – Needed for productivity and workflow (I use my own study method which I have added to a timer application on my phone which reminds me to take breaks and provides me with my most optimal time routine for working. I have also built a playlist with instrumental music and ambience which allows me to work without distractions and focus better)

 

Soon after receiving the brief, I started creating schedules and planning out when I would be completing each stage in the design process. I knew that this would be a requirement anyway because of the production management post, however, I also feel that it is necessary to outline a timeline of the project at the start, that is best suited to the person or team working on it. It is often optimized for specific deadlines and individual workflow, which is what I was aiming for, aside from also organising myself and feeling confident stepping into each task. To achieve the best standard for each portion of work, and even each specific task, I will be assured that I am working on time and am where I need to be to meet these target dates:

 

– – – Assignment – – –	– – – Deadlines – – –
✧ Project Proposal	➼ 19/11/2021
✧ Pitch	➼ 17/12/2021
✧ Theory & Research	➼ 21/01/2022
✧ Pre-production	➼ 11/02/2022
✧ Production	➼ 01/04/2022
✧ Final Project (everything)	➼ 29/04/2022

 

My three methods of scheduling that have been tried, tested and true, are a Gantt chart, kanban and PowerPoint highlight presentation. These go more into depth about my specific tasks and my overview of the project and will all be included and explained in my Production Management post. The deadlines above are final dates for which I will complete each of the stages, in order to have sufficient time to move on to the next and complete each to consistent quality, however, I also aim to work ahead of schedule and be finished with each aspect earlier than necessary. This is so that I can go back and add more detail if I have time in the end, and focus on fully completing my final products. In my last project, I didn’t leave enough time for the animation and because of this, I was rushing to complete it. I don’t work well under strict time pressure where I am behind where I need to be because the quality of different aspects decreases dramatically, such as the artwork. I am not going to repeat the same mistake this time and will leave an ample duration for all of my work. I will be most relaxed and able to focus on the pre-production and production when I am early, with the bonus opportunity of having extra time at the end to check for any mistakes and update blog posts.

To conclude my proposal, I would like to revert back to and explicate why I am doing this project. A Dreamlike Depiction of Earth’s Descent is the big idea that I want to focus on in a creative way, which is both beneficial and beautiful. There are a number of interests, small passions, inspirations and topics that I could explore (please reference my first mind map) but since this is a major project with an extended production time, I wanted to focus on something immense and important to send to Confetti and the world, and not a lot is as monumental a problem and concept, as climate change and our slow path to demise. It is a blaring, harsh truth which is often ignored because of the heavy weight we would be forced to bear and the idea that we have an abundance of time in which to act freely. However, every action we take has an impact and I will make a broadcast of this notion, through a fantastical, surreal comparison that shows exactly how precious our home is, and how much we take for granted.

 

·̩̩̥͙＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚ Thank you ˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊·̩̩̥͙