Final Evaluation

We collected some Primary Research by taking a trip down to Liverpool’s waterfront, taking photographs of the Albert Dock, the big wheel, the Museum Of Liverpool. Part of the group also walked along to the Tobacco Warehouse and surrounding docks to collect pictures.
For secondary research I re-watched Jason and the Argonauts as part of my Ray Harryhausen research and I also watched both the original Mad Max and The Warriors films as cited by The Sound City representatives. All our artist research was also secondary, done mostly through Google, Wikipedia and YouTube. As a group we did lots of artist research each choosing a different artist to focus upon and write up. In the end Lotte Reiniger most inspired our final piece as we really liked the experimentation we did whilst studying her.

As my group had created some really successful silhouette animations in the Lotte Reiniger style we decided to stick to this technique for our final piece. Our animation involving Zeus and the city skyline was really effective so we decided to swap this for a Liverpool skyline.  The Sound City festival is proud of being located in Liverpool a city full of culture and heritage so it was important to us to reflect this is our video. The Liverpool skyline is recognised worldwide with its mixture of old, traditional buildings and the latest modern additions. It includes easily recognisable silhouettes such as the Liver buildings, Museum of Liverpool and the Albert Dock along with the Tobacco Warehouse, the location of The Sound City festival. We created the building silhouettes with smashed and broken windows to portray the devastation and abandoned state of the world.

We also wanted to include a character, someone an audience could identify with and feel sympathy for a theme shared with the films The Warriors and Mad Max. And a character who could help convey the loneliness and emptiness of an abandoned city. Ottie moves slowly and hesitant with his head often hanging low – he shows his reluctance and fear at being outside and leaving his safe haven – the tobacco warehouse.

I think the rats really help highlight the loneliness of Ottie and the desolation of an abandoned city which has fallen in to ruin, where the animals breed and run unchecked. They also add some movement that I think is really needed here. The city is empty and desolate which we have managed to create however it stills needs to be interesting and eye catching and as our character is slow moving the rats really add some stimulation.

The fire was an element we discovered during our experimental stage and we all agreed that the flash of colour and movement added an extra element to an animation of simple back and white. We decided to add it to our final animation for the same purpose as the rats to add another layer of interest and stimulation.

Inspired by Lotte Reiniger we decided to stick to the black and white of the paper as we felt it most represented our dystopian theme. The only colour comes from the fire which creates an even bigger impact surrounded by only black and white than if it was in a coloured world.

We started by each cutting out silhouettes in black paper of the different buildings we wanted for our skyline, these we drew from some primary research collected by part of the group. Another team member meanwhile created Ottie and cut him out of paper, drawing on black marker lines to add definition when he moved his arms and head. We also managed to create a rig out of a small table with wheels and a meter wooden ruler which we typed together and then taped the camera too. The background paper was taped down into position with the buildings blu tac’d on and we taped a straight line of masking tape along the floor so we could keep our rig running straight.

For the background we experimented with different techniques. For one such technique we all participated by squeezing paint across the white paper in the style of Jackson Pollock and recording it, we then tried this as the background of our animation however we quickly realised that any movement in the background distracted from the desolation and implied loneliness of the character.

Graffiti is a major aspect of the film The Warriors and is often used to exemplify abandoned, run down and desolate areas which is the impression we are trying to give. Because Sound City are so proud of being a part of Liverpool I decided to use one the ‘Do you..’ graffiti that can be found spread around the city, choosing ‘Do You Feel Lonely?’ as it was the most appropriate. I also added some Banksy pieces as they are iconic and easily recognisable.

I am really pleased with the final outcome. I think the black on white is really effective and being monochrome it complements the dystopian theme. The beginning is a little shaky because we hadn’t made our camera rig yet, if we’d had more time it would have been nice to re shoot this section of the film. Our aim was to create a desolate and abandoned scene, however now it is complete I worry we have done this a bit too well and if actually the film is a bit boring. The rats, fire and collapsing ToysRUs (a last minute addition) are the things that save it from being completely boring along with the empathy created by our little character Ottie. I personally would have liked to keep experimenting with backgrounds as I think something more subtle (than the Jackson Pollock experimentation) might have been really effective and added a further layer of interest to the film.