I wanted to make a film that reflected on my previous 3 years of studying and living in Leeds. I also wanted to create something that was relevant to the current western political climate the UK and America are dealing with, as well as acting on my social responsibility by applying my opinions to my artistic expression. I’m openly a left-wing creative and I’m passionate about protecting the arts as an industry and as a culture, Brexit and currently ring-wing politics threatens the freedom of expression - especially in the arts and even more so in society. Currently stereotypes based on prejudices against religion, sexual orientation, race and nationality, gender and age are becoming more prominent I personally feel than in the last 3 years I’ve been classed as a ‘student’. So I wanted to create a film that takes the idea of having your feet on the ground and feeling welcome, feeling at home and being able to do what ever you want to do despite any prejudices that exist against you and visualise it in a way that wasn’t straight up political.
The main character Benjamin represents a minority who faces prejudices against him based on his identity. Some are negative towards him because he is a fox, some are positive because he is a fox; but both rely on their ideas of him as an individual because of his identity. I wanted to make it clear in the film that pedestaling someone based on a stereotype of their identity, is the same as excluding them in my own opinion. Because that person will be alienated, purely because of their identity even if those alienating them see it as a positive or as a negative. Benjamin also represents my own anxieties about the UK, I was relying on being able to travel and work freely across Europe as a freelance creative but the threat of Brexit has completely cut that off for me personally. Despite all of this not being entirely open in the film, I hope the description of the film will support my intended message behind his film - ‘’All foxes scream, but some might want to sing softly. Be Loud. Be soft. Be whoever you want to be and feel right at home’’.
Working on the project I focused on adapting my drawing style in order to achieve a more visually satisfying simplicity to my characters. Previously my characters had been bulky, I’m a sucker for drawing realistic clothing or no clothing at all. But with these characters I focused on making them as simple and as streamlined as possible, in order to keep the the intended visual style I was after. I also focused on colours in this project a whole lot more, taking a lot of inspiration from multiple films and artists I’d been introduced to other the last three years of my study. All together this project was my longest animation and it’s digital, something I thought I’d never be doing when I first began working in animation. Something new I experienced in this project was working with a sound designer to create sound effects and working with a musician to create an original sound track. Both were a huge learning curve as the language between us both was difficult to understand. I find it much easier to draw to explain and I’m quite poor when it comes to trying to explain what I want. I had also never been a client before to someone, so ‘ordering’ someone around took a bit of getting used to - especially when I was conscious I didn’t want to waste their time, on what was eventually free labor. The original soundtrack we developed is something I’m hugely proud of as it’s own stand along art, the artist behind it proudly posting it online with my consent as their own work - of course, keeping it connected to the film project. Working independently largely on my own without my class has been a struggle, as I’m no longer surrounded by visual artists anymore but people who do jazz in the week and play board games on weekends. But the support I’ve had from other creatives, despite not coming from graphic art roots has been hugely beneficial to not only the project but my own health and mind space.
‘A Fox Wants To Play Guitar’ has reached a level of pride with me that I haven’t felt in a very long time. After making so many cut backs to the script, the animation and failing to work and losing a month of time because of that; I’ve created something that I can happily say I’m proud of. It was bliss working on something straight from my own head, on my own but still being able to work with others with sound design, music and voice acting. Looking back at the project, I would of hugely appreciated hiring a colour artist, just to help me colour the animation as that was the most stressful part of the animating process. The only thing I’m not too happy about is how much I had to cut from the film, certain shots and moments that didn’t add anything to the plot but I personally was attached to. I would of also liked to of gone back and detailed certain backgrounds a little bit more. But over all; I’m hugely proud of myself and this film, as well as the political and social message it holds to me personally and hopefully others.
I’m going to be submitting the film into 3 festivals, in order to promote myself as a creative in the field and my own work. These festivals are Manchester Animation Festival, BFX and Animex International Film Fest which all happen before the end of the year. I plan to re-record certain bits of dialogue and develop a better credit sequence before then. I’m planning on continuing to work on the film for another week, after this deadline. I’ve loved this project.
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