Planning and concept
For my final film, I wanted to create something that combines elements from all of the different tests that I had done. The idea that I had came up with was to make an animation that depicts anxiety. Because I had gotten feedback to make use of a medium other than animation paper since I had been using it for all of my previous tests, I decided to try creating shadow puppets instead. With this idea, I wanted to do something that also visually depicts a head like my Sound of Silence test. The idea that I came up with was to create a shadow puppet of a head of myself that would open up to reveal a monster or demon that is symbolic of negative thoughts or anxiety and is visually inspired by the Indonesian masks I got inspiration from in my last test.
Initial Test
To create my shadow puppets, I made them out of paper that I drew on and cutout using a craft knife and afterwards I put the cutouts on a light box over a rostrum.
The results of my initial test was very successful as I was able to depict the visual sequence I had planned out and I was successful in working with the shadow puppet method. The feedback I received for this was to continue experimenting with transformations and to try implementing the pattern animations I had done in my previous test.
For the final animation, I decided to add a walking sequence to make the animation longer as well as to have more visuals to play around with. I decided to have the character walking in the beginning and passing by rows of shadows staring at him. As he continues walking, the shadows increase in frequency as they pass by him. This is to depict anxiety and the feeling of being judged or perceived by everyone around you which results in overthinking. To show the shadows passing by, I planned to cut out a row of identical heads that would rush past the person as he was walking which would be a way for me to play around with repeating patterns as I had done in my previous animation.
To further extend the animation, I also added more to the sequence of the character’s head opening by having the character turn his head side to side to depict him struggling with his emotions. I also had him struggling to keep his head closed as the demon face tries to pop out and the demon face trying to keep his head open before he closes it again to show the conflict that he is fighting with his inner turmoil.
Final Film – Maelstrom
I would say the outcome of the film was highly successful as I feel I had done very well in making use of shadow puppets as a medium and properly depicting the story that I wanted to depict. I had gotten very positive feedback on the visuals and the effects it had on the story which I feel adds to the success of my final film.