Point of View
Task: Create a 30 second short film that deals with and speaks to an issue or subject that you feel strongly about.
I decided early on in this project that I wanted to do stop motion. I absolutely love the likes of Jan Svankmajer and brothers Quay; and fortunately I a whole bunch of weird bits and pieces including china dolls, which reminded me of the work they do. However I still had no idea what the subject matter of my short film would be. I started to just experiment and refresh my stop motion skills. I started to put pieces together to create creepy characters and then used the stop motion app to create a short experiment. So far I definitely ant to include a dark humor theme, however I’m not yet sure how to incorporate something I feel strongly about.
After experimenting with stop motion my next step is to think about the actual subject matter of my animation. It has to be about something I feel strongly about; my point of view. So I started to mind map.
I like the idea of money and greed and I have some tissue notes that i could potentially use, maybe burn. Referring to the experiment from before, I liked how my character took of their face at the end, as if removing a mask revealing their true identity. This could all link into equality and justice by juxtaposing them and highlighting how unfair the world is instead. I am slightly worried about having such a big topic as much focus as originally I wanted to make my film about something small but dark.
After some further experimenting I have finally come up with a solid idea for my short film. Based around money and greed, I wanted to show how money and capitalism can do more harm than good. In todays society, there is such a high expectation to become ‘successful’ and that is usually interpreted as becoming rich. With the materials I have around me I have shown this through a mannequin character who is pretending to be a doll to hurt people. I thought this was a good representation as mannequins are fake people and also relate to money as they are used to sell consumeristic items. This mannequin then ‘helps’ a sad doll by giving them money which makes them go crazy and crack. I wanted this to symbolize how money actually changed people for the worse and isn’t always as good as it seems. In the end the mannequin takes of their ‘mask’ and is revealed to be the devil- I though they could also represent society and corporations in some way.
First draft of film for screening:
I decided have my film in black and white to keep to the creepy and dark subject matter. However in my screening version the image still feels very sunny. Thus for my final piece I will need to darken the overall image. I used coloured 2D animation over the top to elevate certain emotions and messages throughout the piece. I think this gives the idea of a fakeness to the reality, which mirrors the fakeness of money and the mannequin character. Obviously there is a lack of sound, which I simply hadn’t had time to add yet so that will make a big impact on the overall outcome.
Final Piece:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CXKBdflg10N/
Evaluation:
I believe I took a different approach to this project than how I usually would. Rather than brainstorming ideas and stressing myself out because I couldn’t come up with anything, I started by experimenting with the material I had around me. I decided immediately that I wanted to do stop motion as I had these dolls and mannequins that I had wanted to use in a project for a while. When I think stop motion, I think Jan Svankmajer and Brothers Quay, thus that led me down a darker, creepier rout, which fit the material I was using well. Although I am happy with the outcome, I think my short film lacks the professional aesthetic I had envisioned at the end of the project. I spent a lot of time on the first time, getting the perfect angle and reshooting until I was satisfied. This energy burnt out by the time I got to the other scenes, and I think this effected the overall look. After receiving footage from peers, I changed the writing at the end to help connote my meaning better. By merging the word good into greed, I think it helps to symbolize the insincerity of money and corporations. Finally I think the use of sound builds the sense of worry. The music was taken from the ’Mirror Mask’ soundtrack, however all the sound effects I created myself and edited in Premiere pro.