Ieva's real text

DRAFT

In my current study, I have recently been interested in expanding my horizons, regarding different animation styles and software. The latest project that I have finished working on is my short animation for the Eye film museum. It is an animation that encapsulates the feeling of rage and anxiety that one experiences before they reach their breaking point and “snap” in anger. In this day and age many seem to be preaching mental health positivity, and embracing that nearly everyone deals with some sort of emotional issues. However, it seems that anger remains a taboo topic, or is viewed as a negative and harmful emotion. This type of outlook may be harmful itself, as rage, when bottled up, tends to turn inward and become uncontrollable, and unpredictable. All the hate and the injustice that you feel inside evolves into self loathing, which may lead to forms of self harm.

During the start of the assignment I had a completely different idea of what I wanted to do. I felt as though, I was not as political or as well versed in literature, compared to my fellow students and wanted to become more like them. The topics that I chose did not feel right and put me in a state of stagnation, in which I was too stressed to start doing anything at all. Every seminar, every group conversation started feeling like torture, a never ending loop of comparison, sadness and disappointment. Each day I felt angrier and angrier, wishing that I could just explode into a million pieces to get rid of the feeling. The feeling became such a big part of me, that I started analysing it. I ended up scrapping my original idea and decided to work on expressing this feeling through animation. The character could do what I could not, it could tear itself apart into non-existence, bounce off every wall, explode, deform, therefore, the reason for doing this project became expressive and somewhat even therapeutic.

I made my animation mainly using clay, a technique I had not yet tried before. Besides seeing some clay animations that inspired me, I felt as though clay was a very expressive material, and reminded me of a stress ball, which you can squeeze, gnaw at and manipulate. I started off by drawing out and creating some characters in my notebook, which I then animated using simple shapes in Photoshop, to set up rough guidelines for each frame. I then made these characters using clay and moving them inch by inch, I took pictures and cut them out in Photoshop, creating a stop motion animation. I then edited this animation further in AfterEffects, making it more stylised and smooth. For the background, I used another animation that I made for a seminar regarding power and violence, as the topic fit my current work and looked visually cohesive. To merge these two animations, I placed them atop one another in iMovie and played with the green screen option. Lastly, for the sound track, I collaborated with a music composer, whom I have collaborated with for my previous projects.

This animation that I have made relates to my previous works in various ways. All my latest projects have come out of some sort of inner struggle