Update 5

The visuals are finished now, they just need to be colour graded. I met with the external assessor on Monday and he suggested maybe looping parts of it to help with the sound design. Although I appreciate his suggestion I think that this would not be something that I would consider at this stage. I can see that this might make it easier to accompany traditional types of music but I think that it would not only change the aesthetic but also infringe on the improvised technique.

The project

This project has been rather unusual for me in relation to the processes that I have employed. Just before I began this I had been under the impression that everything in life would be much improved if I was only able to organise myself an plan a little better. At the start (during the self-negotiated project) I had tried to reign myself in by drawing up timetables and plans of what I thought should happen in order for me to achieve what I had set out to do.

I have found that my creative work doesn't like to be organised or planned, unlike academic work which benefits from a little foresight. Getting the balance right was tricky at first but once I let go of the project and allowed it too simply exist and grow I found that I wanted to spend time documenting it. After I had finished the 4 'Ego' animations I had reached a creative 'point of no return' and I wasn't really able to document things as I went along. When in a creative/practical work-flow I find it hard to keep up with recording my thoughts. Most of the time was spent animating, editing, thinking about my work and floating through the other parts of my life that require attention like earning money and trying to keep on top of the chaos that is my home.

Method

I started with the centre (Ego) panel and 'performed' 4 animations, I felt happy enough with the fourth animation to use it as a basis for the right (Shadow) panel. After watching some video triptychs I had decided that it would be interesting for some of the things that occurred in one panel to carry over into the next one so that the viewers eye is taken from one panel to the next instead of focussing on the centre. I measured and marked the points where 'events' needed to spread into the next panel, and made a note of where (in time) they would need to coincide.


The fruit (Persona), the tree (Ego) and it's roots (Shadow).

Aside from coordinating some of the movement and events the rest of the animation was decided as I went along. I repeated the process with the left (Persona) panel. I performed the shadow animation about 3 times and the persona twice so it's probably fair to say that I got better as I went along.

The shadow panel is filmed closer than the Persona. This was a visual device that I used to denote the depth of concious involvement. I suppose the reasoning behind this was that the Shadow is more of an internal part of the psyche and as such we are closer to it in some ways, as it is buried deep inside. The persona is more superficial, I feel more detached from that part of the psyche for some reason. Logically it probably should have been the other way around, I would have thought that most people would feel (psychologically) further away from their Shadow. I have a feeling that my thinking was that as the Shadow is internal and the Persona largely external that we are in a way much closer to what is on the inside.


The figure representing me mostly appears in the Ego panel and is born from the parent 'tree'.

The middle (Ego) panel is mostly concerned with depicting events, negative feelings and emotions are in the Shadow panel and outward projections in the Persona. The shock of the father figure leaving the Ego panel leads to the figure (made of broken glass) leaving the persona. In a sense I let my persona slip when I left home, I no longer had to wear such a mask just to fit in like I did at school. I had to keep myself in check as I was living with a new family but I spent the majority of my time with my friends, and a great deal of the time I was not exactly compos mentis. When in an altered state, be it through alcohol, drugs or psychological issues the persona can be almost totally disregarded.


The shock of the father figure leaving the Ego panel leads to the figure 'leaving' the persona.

Interaction between panels

After the figure leaves the persona a single 'blob' forms. I use bubbles in this panel as it felt like the right substance as it has an almost literal interpretation in this piece. This panel bleeds and bubbles intermittently until the second 'blob' from the Ego panel invades the persona, at this point the panel clears somewhat as the detergent is introduced.


My figure retreats into the roots on the Ego panel and this is mirrored by the roots on the Shadow panel being filled with a dark red colour.

People who have watched it have seemed a little taken back when events spill from one panel to the next, like it somehow breaks a rule or they weren't expecting it. I am happy with the way that this works, although the panels are separate animations the integrated movement somehow brings them together. I can see that if I had filmed it as one animation and then split it into three panels it wouldn't have worked in the same way.


My figure moves off into the Shadow panel and cries with it's back to the Ego.


My figure re-enters the Ego as the lighter colours begin to emerge in the Persona.


Another 'blob' starts to evolve in the Ego and my character pokes at it as the persona and Shadow become lighter.

Figurative elements

I initially imagined that I might produce something that was purely abstract but after some audience research I decided to include a figurative element so that the viewers would find it easier to identify with and engage with the animation. It was fairly easy to produce a figure or character that represented myself, I suppose that it would be logical that I would be more comfortable with creating an animated version of myself. One of my friends has frequently pointed out that Elizabeth moves like me. The way I work is to act through the medium of animation and this is probably more apparent in my work with Elizabeth than it was during this project. Still it was easier to create a representation of myself than it was to try and depict Duncan in some way.

When I performed my first Ego panel I struggled to introduce my partner's character without it looking contrived or too sentimental. I stand by my decision to include him as I feel that he has been an enormous part of my development and we have been together for so long that we function together as a unit.


'I' discover another figure in the Ego as the dark red drips through the Shadow. Another 'blob' appears in the Persona as I am no longer single.


The two 'blob's in the Persona panel merge slightly as their contents spill together, while the two characters in the Ego combine totally to form a new 'blob'. The Shadow becomes much lighter and not so dense.

Towards the end of the animation the panels look quite similar as the detergent disperses the oil and pigment. In my mind it is a union of differing aspects of the psyche, an evolution or an epiphany of sorts. It has a lot to do with learning to deal with negativity, coming to terms with the self and functioning within a relationship. It's not the end of a story, but the start of a new chapter. In this sense the final movement of liquids in the left (Persona) panel, when they move from the left towards the right of the panel is a lot like a page turning. It's movement is quite different in direction to the rest of the moving liquids in the animation and I think it brings on the end quite nicely.