This is a map I will use for animation. Using a projector, I projected a fullscreen Photoshop 7 onto the set I will use, which includes a door, a cardboard panel and two masks. Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties and the fact that I didn't want to get locked in the studio over the weekend, I only had a few hours to set this all up and complete the map, which is why it is somewhat rough.
What I didn't think of before was using the objects already at the set in my animation. I can definitely incorporate the door, the glass and the frame in my animation, as well as the two masks which I have been focusing on so much. There is a lot of area around the masks as well that I can use. Mainly I want to focus on the masks but I can use the distant area for some subtle effects and to make the projection area blend in more to the surroundings.
These are just some doodles I made to practice facial expression, which is a vital part of my animation. People's heads and faces stretch and contort with every movement and emotion, which may be a hurdle as I have a physical, rigid mask which has to remain stationary which my faces will be projected on to so I might have to break out the binds of the physical world and animate slightly outside of the masks. Hopefully I will be able to keep it subtle enough that the audience only notices the lively facial expressions.
Above is just one of the videos I have been watching recently for ideas on techniques to play with the audience's perception on the physical world using projection.
After some thinking, I have come to realize that the story will have to be quite short, and not just to minimize the animation time, but because people will be walking in and out, looking at everyone's art piece at the show. Even if I make an incredibly interesting and gripping animation, if it's long then people can come in half way and not want to bother to wait until the animation repeats itself.
Another idea I came up with is a visual indicator to show the viewer how far in animation is. Unless I want to create an animation loop with no story which can be watched at any point, which I don't, because I feel animation projection projects always lack a story, and I want to change that. What I thought to do is have the general colour scheme fade slowly from one colour to another and tell the viewer outside what the colours meant and how long the animation is. This way it doesn't impact or distract the viewer from the animation and story while still letting anyone know how long to wait until the animation starts again so they can watch it from the beginning. The colour scheme itself could play an integral part in the story and show the emotion progression.
A theme is something I really need to focus my story around so it remains on point, non-convoluted and easy to follow. After a bit of thought and exploration, I decided on basing the story around loneliness, something I know a lot about, mainly because this project has forced me into a small room for months on end all alone so I can finish it in time, and for a few more reasons which are irrelevant.
The theme needs to be consistently shown throughout the animation, but I want it to not be obvious until the end. I want this so that the end has a greater impact, making you realize how depressing the entire story really is, picking up things which seemed innocent at first glance, but once you think about, have a different meaning with knowledge gained from the ending. This would also encourage the viewer to watch again, which will be a completely different experience now that they know everything which seemed happy on the first watch, was actually indicating the theme of loneliness and maybe depression.
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