Moving Image

Behind The Capture

Project Proposal

Estimated Length: 1 - 2 min

Medium: Procreate/iPad/Digital drawings

Inspirations: Chantal Akerman La Chambre; Heikala; Zhifang Shi; Nick Runge

Concept/Elevator Pitch:

The objective is to create a story that delves deeper into the making of a photo; what exactly goes into taking a photo and if what we are seeing is exactly what we are receiving from the photo.

People often say that photos are the most accurate method of documentation and that they're typically a good use of telling what exactly was happening in the moment that the photo was taken due to the fact that one is able to actually stop a moment in time and then have a tangible physical visual representation of that moment.

However, more often than not, most people pose for photos and a lot of what we see is often faked or edited for the pleasure of the viewer instead of trying to portray what was really happening in that moment. That's why a lot of issues come from social media, but that's a whole other conversation to be had.

Sometimes the moment that was captured, does really depict what was happening, but a lot of the time, a photo does a better job of hiding that moment in time's true feelings than exposing the truth. We would like to think that what we see is what was really happening, and sometimes that can and is the case, but a lot of people take a photo multiple times to get the look they want because they want to be seen and portrayed a very specific way.

Therefore, that's what I want to explore. I want to know the story behind the photo and show the readers and viewers what lays behind the photo that they see. I want to be allow the viewer to travel to that exact time the photo was taken and see what the atmosphere was actually like when the photo was taken and to show that sometimes, not everything is what you think it is, and not everything is as it seems.

Storyboard:

The storyboard follows a fairly simple concept. It starts off with a pan of the room, and then pans over to the polaroids that hand on the wall above some pens in cups on a desk. That scene is the base foundation scene that the viewer will keep returning to as they dive into one photo and then the next. Each time you dive into a new photo, you see what really lays behind each photo and then eventually, once you exit the last photo that hands on the wall, then the perspective changes to a view of the main character holding a camera herself and takes a photo of the viewer/audience to in a sense, further involve and include the viewer into the character's world. There will only be three frames per photo because I want to further emphasize the idea that there is missing information in the photos that are presented.

Style Frame:

The style that I'm hoping to use is one with a painterly and "sketchy" feel to it. How some of the colors come out of the outlines is supposed to depict the inaccuracy of photos and the style of that is to further emphasize that point. The lines have an artistry feel to them, that's why they're more of a pencil/crayon like feel. The choppy feel of the animation is supposed to make it feel nostalgic and the viewer should feel this way because of the subtle reference to the way films in the past were choppy and had fewer frames. The watercolor look and feel is to further the feeling of nostalgia and I wanted to make sure that the lighting and shadows were definitely included and very clear to the viewer because this is extremely important in playing into the feeling and idea of nostalgia, being able to bring about that kind of warm feeling of memories and remembering something from one's past.

Animatic:

This animatic doesn't have sound to it yet, but I wanted to put that off for a bit to really make sure the sound fit the animation perfectly.

Rough Cut:

This is my rough cut. The animation is still a little choppy, so I'm going to tweak the amount of frames and the pacing of the overall animation. I also have to add a few more things to the soundtrack, with some ambiatic sounds. But overall, I'm pretty proud of the rough cut.

Final Product:

Final animation with the correct soundtrack and finalized animation