Love and Story Telling

C. S Lewis (1936, p.4) “There can be no mistake about the novelty of romantic love”

I decided from this week that it would be more sensible to focus on crafting my drawing ability further and not to work on the film. Instead I will produce lots of drawings which will continue on with the narrative. This will enable me to develop my technique and find my visual style throughout my work. Trying to master making a good animated film is a lot more testing than I thought. It was a hard decision to make, but I feel it is the right one for me. The film started to affect my ability to produce and expand on my chosen topic: Love and Animation as I was more focused on learning how to create the actual film. This decision will affect the way my work will be exhibited in the future.

This will help me explore my work in new directions and encourage me to be more confident about my work and to push it in different ways. Also I can concentrate more on building my storyark for my topic and will have the time to plan and make the narrative more romantic.

This piece of work was created with charcoal on paper. We can see Robert Gold and Lacey sitting on a bench. They are spending the day together at the park. There is a pond with fish in the left top hand corner and flowers all around on the grass. The couple are happy and love being together, they hate being away from each other. The focal point is the two of them sat watching nature all around them. This is the beginning of the story when they are getting to know each other. There is a good contrast between the black medium and the white paper, as the viewer can see all the layers of texture and my use of shadow.

William Kentridge charcoal drawings for Lulu (2014) are done in Indian ink and Charcoal. This medium causes many smudged marks which help create detail and texture within the picture. William Kentridge (2017, p. 129) “The contingent fact of using charcoal, the contingent fact of the imperfection of erasure”. Smudges have a massive impact on my drawings as they help to add atmosphere and character. This is caused by the marks left by the charcoal so every new image has extra marks which make every drawing slightly different.

I have researched these drawings as there are strong links with my own work which also covers relationships. Lulu is also about two people wanting to be together. Kentridge has used the same medium as me. Kentridge work is a short film, but my work tells a story in a more traditional way like a book. There is strong links between Kentridge and my work such as the use of materials and how the narrative depicted a love story. Niklas Luhmann (2010, p. 14) “Love conveys a dual confirmation of meaning.” The main characters in my film are in love and they want to be together. There love means something as they share this strong bond.

The drawing is quite flat and does not have much depth of field.  It is very simple and there isn’t a lot happening in the picture. It is a very naive drawing. This piece of work has taught me I need to think about what’s going to happen in the story as a whole as I had trouble thinking about what image to draw next.

I quite like the image but feel that the flowers and grass have made it look more cartoon like. I should have layered the charcoal more which would have built texture and contrast. This would have given the image a darker, more atmospheric, adult look.

The first image was of the couple coming out of a door of a shop. I wanted to try having them come out of the entrance and walk down the street.

It was quite hard to do and the paper became darker, from the charcoal. So it got really hard to draw the image at times. After while viewing the images, I noticed you could still see what’s happening.  It also took a along time, and I still needed to put more frames in to make it more real. As it was taking up a lot of time, I tried to finish it quicker. Should of spend a bit longer on it.

The second image was of one of the hero’s and the a evil witch using magic. The town people come round to watch. Robert Gold and Lacey just turn up and see what’s happening. I had trouble fitting this drawing in to the photographs again. I need to sort this out as soon. Otherwise it will affect the film.

I also did one of first’s weeks drawings again: Children Coming out of School. As you could not see the children running away very well, as they were out of focus on the image. So I did them today, turned out better. Which I am pleased about.

I am making a list of which scenes to include, so that way I will not forget to have everything in the film. Also make me think further about the story, is it fun and exiting. Last thing I want is to have a boring story.

It can always work as a reminder as to what themes, subjects want to have in the work. Such as love, evil and plain. As when I see the scenes it will remind me that I need to covers these issues.  As they will help to develop the narrative. The story will cover a lot more and will make it more interesting to watch.

Having a list also helps with time keeping, as it allows me to work out how many drawings I need to do each week. So I can plan out them and have a good amount of time to produce them.

I have now decided what names the two main characters will be called. Robert Gold and Lacey French. I need to think about the other important characters in the film. Such as the school teacher and the hero’s and the names of the three evil watches.

Also need to think about how many of the school children are going to be shown and their names. Then I can check to see if anyone has been left out. This shown that I have included wide range of the characters, many are linked in to fairy tales.

I will have small things that link in to the original stories. Such as Red Hiding Hood will have a red coat. Also include links with Grandma’s House which features in the original story.

Today I have been mapping out the town on paper. Showing were each street begins and ends. Also helps me plan were to place each shop, this way I know that there have all appeared on the town map.

Using a map also allows me to see were each building will be on the town plan.

The map also includes the roads the shops are on and which roads lead in to the town centre. It also helps to plan the narrative as when creating a scene I know what to put in that drawing. Such as which characters, shops and buildings and nature likes trees etc.