For this brief, I want to choose an idea that will resonate with young adults who have a deep passion for similar things as me. I feel that in order to translate the idea of being a part of a culture or just understanding one well, I have to do something that speaks to my soul and links to the cultures I am part of so that a community can be represented and we as a group of that specific culture can feel a bit more understood by others. I want this project to glimpse into something meaningful and beautiful and have an important message.

 

First Ideas

 

I began by brainstorming ideas based on the topic of culture, which I find interesting, and that I could do a lot with. I highlighted my favourite parts of each main subject and started thinking about what kind of media products could fit into some of these ideas and how a project surrounding them would shape up to be.

 

 

After considering which ones would fit into my goals for this project and what sorts of angles I would take on each, I narrowed down my options to three main ideas. I chose these because I had quite a few ideas of a final product for each and they were all very visual, so I was already deciding on what production formats I would be using. I knew straight away that it wouldn’t be in written form, such a Zine, which although has illustrations as well, wouldn’t be enough to convey what I would aim for, for any of these ideas.

 

 

My first idea was very personal to me and would consist of all of the cultures which I feel make up my life. The way in which others would relate is the fact that I have travelled from my home country to a different one, and the feeling of being split between different cultures, or a part of multiple. It would very much be about identity and a journey, and I thought that a nice way to reflect that would be through the growth of a plant, or a person travelling on a road. I liked the idea but I also felt that it might be too complex and would take much longer in terms of research. I also wanted to portray more than two different cultures in the journey, and since they are distinctly different anyway, adding more would only make it harder to mesh them together and make something cohesive. I think my ideas would be too scattered, so I didn’t go with this one. As can be seen above, language was my second main idea, and it is again, something I am passionate about and would want to share the importance of. This project would be on how languages separate the world, but also how they connect it, and why we underappreciated the importance of communication. The idea stemmed from a vision I had of 2D characters speaking different shapes or textures, that would float out of their mouth as bubbles and turn into various cultural images or objects, creating a spectacle of patterns and art, much like our world. Whilst this would be a beautiful animation, I wasn’t clear on the idea itself and how it would resonate throughout the project.  Also, languages are something everyone can definitely relate to, since we all speak at least one, but is it truly a culture? Or are different languages, each considered their own, or a part of their own culture? I had other such questions that I wasn’t sure how to answer, and linking ‘languages’, quite a broad area anyway, to the main topic would clearly be a problem, so this wasn’t my chosen idea either.

That leaves us with the third and final idea, which ironically is the smallest in terms of writing. French, and art culture, together, which I later identified as simply ‘French Art Culture’. What I liked about this idea straight away, was the fact that there was one clear culture, the specific part, and one more general culture, the broad part. I like the variety, and I felt that them working together would mean that both a smaller group as well as a very large number of people, would feel represented; those who love French culture, and those who love art. I strongly feel that I am a part of both, and to have the chance to reach out to other young adults who feel similarly would be a great thing, and would help spread an important message as I wanted – feeling inspired and connected to a culture. I also like that there is a clear aesthetic and mood surrounding this idea, so both the creative side can be explored as well as the more technical research side. I also had a rough idea for what an animation based on this topic would consist of, and again, I had a few pieces of imagery swirling around in my head, of a girl being inspired by an art piece in a museum.

Once I made the decision to go forward with this idea, I started sketching the character that I had in my head, and I was mainly trying to figure out what style I would be going with, and how simple the character would look. I don’t consider this concept art, so much as generating ideas, as I was nowhere near done deciding what she would look like. I also wasn’t set on the gender or age, although a girl popped into my mind first.

 

 

 

This is a more finalised version of my idea, which was pitched and read by the teacher. I made sure to be clear and concise and also included some extra details which I decided to add on, such as the production formats and synopsis. I plan to create a 2D animation and focus on that as my main media product, but I also want to have illustrative pieces and a poster or two on the side. I also really like the ‘angle’ section, as it encouraged me to think more about how my idea will be received, and what tone I want to present.

 

 

Delving Deeper

 

Since a lot of specific words were coming to mind as I was brainstorming and thinking about my idea, I created a word cloud to try and capture the essence of my idea in a written format. Word clouds/maps, always help me better understand something and creating them especially, can give more of an insight into the mood/feeling of an idea as more and more words are generating from others, creating links between them. Words like “sparkling”, “swirling” and “clouds” really help me, since they are what I think will be part of the animation.

 

 

These words also helped me gather images that relate to my idea. The first mood board I created was a general one about the topic of the brief, culture. It has things that would first pop into my mind when thinking about the brief; people of different ethnicities, graphic art, modern statues and celebrities as well as relevant phenomenons such as ‘cancel culture’. Culture is incredibly broad and exists around the world as numerous topics, beliefs, passions and more, and I could have gone much further into depth and chosen hundreds of more images, but these were sufficient to outline it as a whole and help ground me if my ideas start straying too far away from it.

 

 

Next, I focused on my chosen culture(s) and started assembling images that reflected certain aspects of it, the aesthetic, elements I wanted to include, or just things that I found inspirational and gave me more ideas for what to include. The first mood board is a collection of images that give you a general sense of the direction of my project, so there is a lot of art, France, and photos of museums in there. There are generally more painted pieces, but also one or two illustrative ones. I think that paintings come to mind first when thinking of French art, so I want to give a tribute to that, but for the style, I am going for, I also want to include a more graphic style if possible, and combine the two in an interesting way.

 

 

Mood boards personally help me a lot, because the visual aspect allows you to see the atmosphere of something, sometimes a lot easier than with writing. I am always more inspired and understand an idea better when they are relevant images put together. For example, this mood board tells me that I am going for a more calm, sophisticated, but also artistic vibe for the media products, as there aren’t a lot of super bold primary colours and everything has a hazy quality, almost like a dream. There are also quite a few stereotypical things that usually come to mind when thinking about this France, such as the Mona Lisa, a woman with a beret sitting in a café and croissants. I added them to keep in mind that I need to include some conventional French things so that the culture is recognizable, because whilst my character is discovering themselves through art, I want to make it clear that it is French culture which they are inspired and changed by, and people most often recognize it on screen when they see a few key elements such as those. Usually, the fashion, food and famous monuments give it away, and they need to be woven into my products in a way that is both clear but also respectful to the culture.

Some images symbolize specific ideas that I have which I want to include in the animation, such as the angel; I am thinking of adding a winged character that is quite abstract, to represent the art, and to guide the main character to their true selves. I decided this because angels are often associated with heaven/truth/enlightenment, which is what I want the audience to think of as the transformation occurs.

For the next two mood boards, there is a sort of overarching theme, which is the inspiration for the animation. I made these to kindle ideas for the final media product, because it is an abstract idea, to an extent, and I still haven’t fully grasped what kind of things will be seen on screen as the transformation occurs, so anything I saw on Pinterest that I might want to include, or use in some way, I added.

 

 

 

I started looking into concept art and different styles that I could replicate or use since I have to think about the design of the museum, character and the storyline/animation itself and how the style reflects the themes I want to portray. I plan for the start of my animation to be entirely black and white at the start, and is supposed to be basic and boring to reflect the world without art, so the layout and appearance of the museum need to match that. One way I am thinking of doing this is by drawing the inside of the building in a very basic style and perhaps not entirely solid/sharp like the lines are slightly moving so that it is easier to animate, which could show that the world without art, or rather, true appreciation for art, is lacking something, and doesn’t feel quite real.

The second image in the first mood board shows a staircase and an abstract statue, which is a big source of inspiration for me as it is incredibly simple and a little bizarre, but you can clearly see that is a museum or the concept for a museum, and it comes close to how I picture the museum in my animation. I included some character inspiration, colour palettes and psychedelic-like artwork, all of which have given me ideas for my project. For example, I love the simplicity of the little witch at the bus stop, and I want my character to also look cute whilst still being simple in style. I am drawn towards the blues, purples, yellows and pinks, because they remind me of a magical, artistic world, and perhaps adding some black, like the first image in the second mood board will make one of my characters or art pieces more striking. Another image I particularly like is the top right one in the second mood board, which shows a girl with different objects in her hair, as it gave me the impression that they were a part of her life, and also made me want to include something similar in one of the shots in my animation, or perhaps the subject of one of my posters.

 

Synopsis

 

My brief is on the topic of French art (a mix of art culture and French culture) and revolves around the themes of discovering yourself through art (any form of art although I’ve chosen paintings and illustrations) and feeling connected to a culture. My project heavily involves museums and has a colourful, magical, psychedelic French aesthetic which I will showcase through a frame by frame animation with a poster and possibly some illustrations. The animation follows a character who is like everyone else and is set in a museum. They see a piece of art that inspires and changes them, almost opening their eyes, and then the art bleeds out of the painting and surrounds them, filling the screen with colour and imagery related to France. Ultimately, the character finds their true selves and we end the animation with them being fully transformed and full of colour, whereas at the start, they were black and white, like the rest of the surroundings. My aim is to instil the message that art and culture are powerful and important, and without them, the world would be dull and bland and we would lack individuality, which will be reflected through the colour palette, level of detail and character development. I also plan to research French culture in-depth and add symbolic elements that are important to the history into the illustration and possibly the poster too.

 

Feedback

 

“Very good idea. Give some examples of French art to help the reader picture what style of art mean.“

 

“Your idea is clear and conveyed well through this, even with no knowledge of the art culture in France it is easy to understand what you are trying to accomplish. I can’t say I know what you would need to add, the idea is lovely and heartwarming. It does however sound like a lot to do solely using frame by frame, are there any parts that could be done on After Effects to save your time?“

 

I consider my feedback to be positive and constructive and I am glad that based on the summarised version, my idea seems good (I am especially pleased that it is considered heartwarming, thank you!). The advice that I have been given is to include examples of French art, which I was certainly planning to do, and to consider doing parts of the animation in After Effects. I have thought about this, and still do quite often, and I need to finish storyboarding before deciding which parts would be in AE, but I think that it is definitely a good idea, as fbf does take quite long. Overall, I am happy with the feedback, and I will make sure to include/do what is suggested, as I agree with all of it!