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.