the good bit, but more of it

Added an extra scene, a new camera shot, and new characters.

First 43 seconds; The good bit

So I've been working on my animation periodically, while trying to get work done for my other subjects too, but I now feel that I've made enough progress with this to be able to post it on here.

This is still in the rough stages, I intend to add more people to many of the scenes, specifically the ones involving the factory. In the interior scene he will have a girl standing next to him, and also items moving across the conveyor belt. Outside the factory will be other people leaving work as well.

The next stage is obviously to show the world how it really is when the mask is removed, but for now, enjoy

New Factory Scene

This is the 2nd scene, the man walking to work. The cars drive by him and he waves.

Storyboards

It's taken me a while to get around to scanning these in, but here they are:

They are only rough ones at the moment, but they highlight the key scenes and shots I intend to animate.

now he has a shirt!

The House

The house without visor

The house with visor

My leading male character - preliminary picture

Bad Things

Bad things that he could see without the visor on.

Visor?

Possibility of how it could look

Visor/Mask thing.

One of the key aspects of my animation is the visor/mask/thing that the people wear over their eyes in order for them to see the distorted reality.
This came from many influences, the main one obviously being the wall of Plato's Cave, however Dr Who's Cybermen also had some affect on my thought processes.

I need it to be a visor-like contraption which covers their whole eyes, and possibly goes into their ears as well. Ideally, I'd like there to be some form of chain design on it so it links to the prisoners chained in the cave, however that isn't essential.

Some preliminary sketches:

With the Visor/mask in mind, I have also been considering the scene when the main character first sees without his visor/mask, and the contrast between the two worlds.

Pixar's latest short Day & Night has influenced my thoughts on this scene, with the two silhouettes showing the same scene but in a different way.

This is a breif sketch I did which could demonstrate that difference, the top image being a nice sunny park, the bottom one being a messy, dirty park with a cloudy sky and dead trees and bird.

Key Narrative Points

Working on a narrative structure for my animation:

• All is well
• Man has glasses broken
• He sees horrors of world (need specifics)
• Tries to help others (can't? glasses forced back on?)
• Wanders in rain alone, takes shelter in cave and lights a fire
• Meets other?

All very basic, but at least it's an outline

Plato leaves his cave

I have spent the last week reading people's interpretations of Plato's Cave and its relation to mass media. In particular, a few quotes have sprung out at me;

"Photography implies that we know about the world if we accept it as the camera records it. But... strictly speaking, one never understands anything from a photograph" Sontag, (1979) On Photography, 23

"A reading of the cave myth in terms of postmodern mass media could begin with the recognition that the informationn age floods our senses with endless imagery that we cannot avoid... we remain in front of a wall of imagery, which is now the ever shifting face of the billboard, computer screen, television set, mobile phone, bus stop, building hoardings, and so on" Berry, G (2010) 'The Mythical Element of Mass Media and it's relation to Plato's Cave', PLATFORM: Journal of Media and Communication.

These quotes, in particular the one from Berry have led me to devise a concept for my animation.

It will start in a peaceful, picturesque suburban town, following a young man. Everyone in this world wears a visor-like mask over their eyes which distorts their perception of the outside world (in relation to Plato, the visor-mask represents the wall and the images they see through it are the shadow-images). However, for some reason, this man's glasses get damaged and disattatched from his head, enabling him to see the world for how it really is.
He then sees suffering, and reads about the true horrors of the world in the paper etc and becomes depressed. He tries to reach out to the other members of this society, however they shun him, and eventually he becomes a hermit and lives in a cave on his own/finds a tribe of people who have also broken free

This concept is also reminicent of books such as 1984 and Farenheit 451 where there is a single man seeing the world for how it really is and going against the common perception.

Early morning plato development.

So it's nearly 5am and I havn't slept, obviously the best thing to do at this time is to study so Plato theories...

Reading through a Journal Article from Platform: Journal of Media and Communication titled The Mythic Element of Mass Media and Its Relation to Plato's Cave.
I was recommended to do a non-literal interpretation of the allegory, and reading this article has made me begin to think about what I want different aspects of the cave to represent.

The Prisoners: The public/consumers. This can't really be anything else, it needs to be the general public who consume media on a daily basis in order to be immersed in the illusion it provides.

The Cave: Contains the "illusionary" reality, Global Media Village?

Shadows on Walls: Images on TV, Internet, Magazines, Newspapers?

Puppeteers: Media Moguls? Polititians?

Outside the Cave: True reality that the media doesn't depict.


Perhaps the narrative should focus on a man trying to break others free from the illusion? Still all theoretical at this point.
I feel using the TV could be a good contrast to watching shadows on walls as much of the time people sit in front of it as if chained and unquestioningly accept what it tells them.
More to come when I've thought about this more.

Digital idea #2 cont.

murder scene
Originally uploaded by Bass_Chika

An interpretation of Edgar Allen Poe's story The Black Cat.

A man drunkenly murders his feline companion only to be haunted by it's ghost which causes him to do horrific things such as setting his house on fire and murdering his wife.

Scene where he kills the wife while aiming for the ghost cat

Digital Animation Idea #2

Fire House Scene
Originally uploaded by Bass_Chika

An interpretation of Edgar Allen Poe's story The Black Cat.

A man drunkenly murders his feline companion only to be haunted by it's ghost which causes him to do horrific things such as setting his house on fire and murdering his wife.

House on Fire scene

Digital Animation Idea #1

cave
Originally uploaded by Bass_Chika

Currently playing around with two ideas, this is the first.


A take on Plato's Allegory of the Cave, but in a story format focusing on one of the prisoners waking up and realising what is going on around him.