Memory Progress #2

September 14th, 2015 

Along the ideas for the Life Gems, I came up with another project that worked better than the original animation idea and the family tree idea. My idea would be a split screen animation showing two sides of memory preserved and stopped in family trees. On the left side would be a girl who would grow from a baby to an old woman. She would get married, have children, become a writer, have grandchildren, and live a good life with a prosperous family tree. On the right side would show countless stories of people whose lives were cut short. Some ideas are a child who dies of malnutrition, a woman who gives birth to a stillborn child, a family who dies from a bombing, and a child who commits suicide. The purpose is to honor all lives despite if their lines carried on or not. It’s also to make aware that not all stories have a happy ending.

I started making a very base mock storyboard for it. I imagine my style for the animation to be a shadow puppet silhouette animation. Each silhouette would be made in Illustrator, moved like puppets in After Effects, and put together into a film through Premiere.

September 18th, 2015

I started on making a much more detailed storyboard for the animation. I wanted to focus on positions so that I could easily move certain parts of the silhouettes I design. The first storyboards were based on only one character (the babies, the little girl, and the malnourished kid), but I needed to think of space after since more characters would be introduced.

I also asked my parents to send me profile pictures of themselves.

September 19th, 2015

I thought that looking into silhouettes and artists like Kara Walker could help me in stylizing the silhouettes a bit more. I also received the profile pictures from my parents. I also looked more into the shapes of each Life Gem a bit more.

September 20th, 2015

I continued working on the storyboard. I might end up scrapping some of it because the figures aren’t coming out the way I want. I’m also having a bit of trouble with certain Life Gem shapes...especially the pear shape...I think I need some more practice. Specifically, Dad wants either a pear faceted gem or a smooth round gem, and I plan to do his first.

September 21st, 2015

Finished a good chunk of the storyboard. I believe the main character’s name will be Bridget Finn...short, sweet, has a nice ring to it. Right now, I have 2 set parts: the malnourished child who dies young and the newlyweds who can’t conceive a child. The next part will be the family who gets caught in a bombing and the actor trying to go for fame and fortune and losing it all. I’d like it to end on a good note with Bridget dying fulfilled in old age having just finished her book.

September 24th, 2015

Tried my attempt at a pear shape Life Gem again using a model to help. It actually came out pretty good though it took a long while.

September 27th, 2015

Worked on making a smooth oval Life Gem this time. Took a few times but it came out very good! After that, I attempted making a faceted oval gem using a copy of the smooth. It took forever but the results came out alright...trying to connect the vertices is very hard I realize, and I still messed up in a few areas. Made a copy with more of a tear shape.

Also, my pear shaped Life Gem seemed a bit off. I really hope it didn’t get corrupted...it took a long time to even figure out that shape.