Project Proposal

Following on from the previous post regarding my initial idea, a proposal has been written and submitted for assessment. 

The initial ideas that were suggested in the previous post have evolved somewhat, and they will continuously throughout the development of the project. I am still interested in looking at the dystopic theme of technological dependancy and how that will develop as society develops. The proposal for the animation was as follows:

My animated short is based on the concept that 'By knowing everything, we know nothing'; an issue raised in workshops. The quotation suggests that in an age of online databases of knowledge there is a decrease in the number of people who have an area of expertise, and simply rely on the answer to a question being available online. Combined with the proliferation of smart phone technology, and looking forward to virtual and augmented reality technologies, the concept within the quotation seems set to get worse.

This is combined with a topic raised in another modules lectures (Society, Aesthetics and Digital Media), based on the similar idea of attention economy. This concept will inform the animation based on the idea that digital attention is a capitalist commodity.

The animation I intend to make will depict a dystopian future where this is the case, where people no longer retain knowledge and constantly refer to cloud-based databases with friendly interfaces (akin to Siri), whilst being marketed as data points for capitalist conglomerate corporations. The people in the futuristic animation would be seen going about their business in a slow laborious manner, following the instructions of the artificial intelligences that support them. The aim of the animation is highlight the risk of reliance on technology, and suggest there is a bright future with the inclusion of technology and innovation rather than reliance.

In terms of audience, I considered a suitable audience to be tech literate, as detailed in a further part of my proposal:

The intended audience is those with an interest in technology, and perhaps a cynical perception of society and the way it approaches technology. The current generation of liberally minded and technologically fluent teenagers and young adults are those most intertwined with digital media, and therefore those most likely to interact with this particular piece of media.

By highlighting the potential future through exaggerated circumstances I aim to incite debate and thought around how we approach technology, and the way it is involved in our everyday lives.  

As well as developing this concept I have also considered the skills-based benefit of what I intend to create, looking at the skills and techniques that I will garner from this project.  This was touched on in the proposal.

This project will enhance my Illustrator skills, developing my ability to create and draw art assets to be manipulated in After Effects (AE). I will also further my knowledge and understanding of AE through animating and creating in the program.

Utilising the visuals I will create in Illustrator to animate in After Effects will help me understand what aspects of digital creation are important, for example where to dissect images to be used in AE easily. 

Since the animation will be informed by a cartoon-like style, I will learn the best ways to animate in this fashion with a hands-on approach. 

Also in the proposal was an opening discussion on styles, artists and examples that will inspire my project, however I will touch on this on following posts. It also goes without saying that this idea is a very early one, and will more than likely not be exactly what the final piece resembles.