Sunday, 1 May 2011


- 2011 (BA) Animation Arts -
- Final Major Project -

Medusa is a stop-frame, pixillation animation using various clay materials and time-lapse techniques. Combining historical fact and fictional myth to create the animation about the Great Goddess known as Medusa and how she was defiled and condemned to be recreated, replaced by a Patriarchal God known as the almighty Zeus.

Synopsis

A Goddess carries the essence of a Matriarchal civilisation, in which she reigns a time before her Ancient symbol of female power & wisdom, became forbidden... before Patriarchy re-wrote and made the concept God.

Treatment

A Goddess, carries the essence of a Matriarchal civilisation within her stomach, all religious rites and beliefs are harboured inside of everything she represents; Cycle of Time, Cycle of Nature “Sovereign Female Wisdom” - I intend to represent through stop-motion the defilement and eradication of the Goddess by a Patriarchal being and ending with the concept God which was re-written within her place.

The overall visual look of the animation will be set within a desert shrine, the only light source from candle flame, which portrays a secluded environment for worship, leaving warm faint glows on various objects. Lighting is very important within my piece, to help convey the motions and feelings of what I am trying to express. At the beginning the lighting would be soft and warm as the scenes are tranquil and slowly paced, as the animation progresses and the scenes become more dynamic the lighting will change to compliment the atmosphere as more aggressive, harsh lighting. Also in various scenes where the mood turns quite dark, the lighting would help express that darkness with more shadows used.

The materials that I will be using will increase the visual outcome of my animated film – having a combination of real human bodies covered with wet clay as well as the constructed models of my characters having the wet clay serve for skin, giving it a unique approach, with animating. Some scenes the wet clay will help tribute certain moods – with the more striking scenes, the clay can have more energetic movements, expressing certain human emotions – the clay appearing to be a life-force all on its own.

I intend to express the narrative of my story with various camera angles and perspective shots. Within the beginning of my animation the female Goddess has control and power, so she will be portrayed as higher up from anything beneath her, the camera will help convey that message as it will also help show through visuals the male form, lower at the beginning, but as they battle the camera perspective will equalize, then resulting into the male figure gaining height as the God comes into power and control. With camera angles the assortment of close-ups and extreme close-ups will be in usage, in some scenes to mystify by revealing certain glimpses and later to invoke unease in the viewer placing them uncomfortably close to the character.

Music and sound effects will be important to the animation as much as the visuals. The pacing and level of the music will help suggest the certain aspects that the visuals will put across, such as the music being calm and delicate at the beginning while again when the more dynamic scenes come into screen the tempo gains volume and speed creating frantic and chaotic rhythm.

The harmonizing between the lighting, framing of shot, materials and the use of sound, are fundamental to the success of expressing my account based on historical evidence of this contentious period.

Potential Posters


(above) First pre-production poster created by myself using my own drawings, with my synopsis included with a quote from my script...

(above) Second pre-production poster created by
myself using my own
drawings, coloured and designed in Adobe Photoshop, synopsis included, with quote...
This is the poster which I decided to use and have printed out to promote my animated film.

Medusa Pre-Production Images


Medusa

Just a few images based around the process of designing and constructing the armature to use for my main character 'Medusa'.


Medusa Head: Using a doll's head to form the beginning of the structure of Medusa, using animation wire to form what was to become her dreadlocks.


Medusa Head: Wrapping hair from a Children's wig around the animation wire using at first PVA Glue, and then switching to Glue Sticks due to needing to speed pre-production up.


Medusa Body: Using anatomical drawings from the book 'Anatomy for Artists' the structural form of Medusa began to take shape, each body part proportioned true to the Human.


Medusa Boobs & Bump: Below we have some images showing her womanly form beginning to take shape and some of the key features for the animation, using plasticine to mould her shape so it can be covered with wet clay.








Script Draft_01

Female Opening Narration:

Sequence 02 Scene 01: I’ve been given many names:


Sequence 02 Scene 02: ...throughout Old Europe, North Africa and Egypt...


Sequence 02 Scene 03: ...within Libya I was known as Anatha [short pause] However...


Sequence 02 Scene 04: ...it was the Greeks who transformed and confined me...


Sequence 02 Scene 05: ...taking aspects of my original source and its symbolism as a...


Sequence 02 Scene 06: ...belief system throughout diverse cultures...


Sequence 02 Scene 07: ...then rewriting them for their own purposes...


Sequence 02 Scene 08: ...and beliefs…

Sequence 03 Scene 01: My name, meaning “sovereign female wisdom”...


Sequence 03 Scene 02: ...is now a name for a Gorgon…

Sequence 03 Scene 03: I represent the female mysteries, all the forces of the Great Goddess:


Sequence 03 Scene 04: ...the cycles of Time...


Sequence 03 Scene 05: ...I am past, present and future...


Sequence 03 Scene 06: ...the cycles of Nature...


Sequence 03 Scene 07: ...I am life, death and rebirth...

Sequence 04 Scene 01: ...The serpent is my totem which represents the cycle...


Sequence 04 Scene 02: ...its connection to the fertile earth, symbolising immortality as it sheds its skin, being reborn…


Sequence 04 Scene 03: ...I carry the essence of a matriarchal civilisation...


Sequence 04 Scene 04: ...in which I reign, before the time when my ancient symbol of female power...


Sequence 04 Scene 05: ...and wisdom became unacceptable…

Sequence 05 Scene 01: I am Medusa


Sequence 05 Scene 02: ...and this is my...


Sequence 06 Scene 01: [long pause] ....defilement.


Script Draft_02

Female Opening Narration: This narration will be spoken within the first few sequences of the animation, I've cut quite a lot of dialogue out of the script.. mainly wanting not to drag on and keep it sharp and to keep my audiences attention, as it is spoken alongside the visuals.

Time has given me many names...

Throughout Old Europe, North Africa and Egypt...

I am Past, Present and Future.
I am Life, Death and Rebirth.

I carry the essence of civilisation...

I am Medusa...

...and this is my

...defilement...

Script Draft_03

Female Ending Narration:

Sequence 08 Scene 02: ...The attack upon Matriarchal clans destroyed the power of the clan world itself and with it, its religion...


Sequence 08 Scene 03: ...the history of the times is penetrated through and through with the clash of patriarchy and matriarchy as the old religious...


Sequence 09 Scene 01: ...dynasties were broken...


Sequence 09 Scene 02: ...swept away and re-established...


Sequence 09 Scene 04: ...The Matriarchal world was brought to...

Sequence 10 Scene 01: ...an end by a number of murderous assaults upon the heart of that world...

Sequence 10 Scene 02: ...the Great Goddess herself.

Script Draft_04

Male Ending Narration: Instead of having historical facts spoken about what happened, to sum up my ending - I've decided to have the Male character have a narration, in direct link to what was spoken in Scrip_Draft 02 (by the Female) but his version, to show the re-written, re-established way of life and power...


I am law, Order and Punishment.
I am Power, Triumph, Glory.

I am Zeus...

...and this is my legacy...

The Serpent Pre-Production Images


The Serpent


Just a few images based around the process of designing and constructing the armature to use for Medusa's totem.




Moveable armature: Buying a wooden toy construction of a serpent, which is perfect for real-life serpent like movements.





Coiling: Armature is able to bend and move due to its design, having the separate wooden structure spaced apart with thin cotton fabric in-between the gaps to adjust and coil like a snake.


Patterns: Because the serpent is to be covered in clay for the visual look of the animation, the patterns of the serpent wouldn't be shown, so it didn't matter what design I had bought.

The size of the serpent is perfect for what is intended for animating with.

Storyboard Sequence 01 - 03
















Storyboard Sequence 03 - 06











Storyboard Sequence 06 - 07













Storyboard Sequence 08 - 10





Animatic


An Animatic created with the stills of my storyboard, it has no sound, or music but it helped me gain a knowledge of what pace of time each scene would be.

Clay_Torso_Test_Stills




Wet_Clay_Animating_Test

Female torso animated test using the material wet clay, using a D70, paper set and desk lamp lighting. Not the best quality lighting or set-up but it was more on the lines if I animating could be possible...


Animating_Hand_Test - 20th April 2011


Working with Leon Cauchois (BA Graduate) with animating with wet clay - taking scenes from my storyboard and experimenting with techniques, using the possibilities of the how to do and outcome of the visual look.

We began with taking Sequence 06 Scene 02, male hand forms and extends towards the Goddess. We managed to create a dark atmosphere around the hand and focusing the lighting (Dado 1.50 pack) only on the clay covered hand. Applying the Clay was successful though fiddly, the heat from the body did increase the drying process and I had to keep the hand moist with water quite frequently.

Animating the hand was difficult without istopmotion - it was completely captured on the D90 - the hand in mid-air without support made it raise and sink out of frame - so it was decided to find some means of rigging, to discreetly support any body parts in need of the extra labour support when it came to filming.

Problems encountered were mainly the issue's without rigging and istopmotion. Apart from those few things, it was a successful test in animating, and it help us gain extra perspective on how animating the wet clay could go about, pacing, outlook etc

Animating_Serpent_Test - 21st April 2011


Sequence 04 Scene 01/02 animating the serpent wrapped in wet clay, practicing serpent movements.

Having only myself to work with I found this test extremely complicated and difficult. Taking the frames on the D90 without istopmotion added to the general difficulty of the experiment. Animating the serpent was tedious and frustrating as I didn't have a clue on how to approach this scene, the added annoyance was the clay not completely remaining on the armature itself and when I would move the serpent it all slip off...

I tried dampen the surface so it would move smoother with its serpent constructed armature, however it failed, what I realised after the experiment was that I could of built a surface entirely of clay so it would engrave through, like sand and to get a better understanding on the movements of a serpent to watch Youtube videos on snake/serpent movements and the anatomy, like I studied for my human characters.

Another issue I would have to address is lighting with this scene as it came across as quite dark.

Also I would like to approach this scene again but with a more experimental mind for the camera angles to be ECU (Extreme Close-Ups).