Master of Art & Design Project of Anatol Bogun

Working Title

Borderland: A study to visualise the blurred frontier between reality and illusion

Proposed Area of Research/Creative Work (Synopsis)

This project explores the borderland between reality and illusion and considers how this might be communicated in an animated short film. The proposed work would draw upon delusional perception and hallucination in relation to depictions of reality. Taking into account elements of art, design, film and literature the project would seek to expand the parameters of animation both narratively and audiovisually through creative synthesis, so that the subjective world of a protagonist and his shifts between self belief and self doubt, sanity and insanity are actualised in a unique but coherent way.

Ratio of Practise to Theory

This project is mainly practice based with a ratio of about 70% practice to 30% theory. The strong practice focus is due to the intensity of work required to create an animated short film in high quality of a duration between 10 to 15 minutes.

The two papers in the first year will support this project. For 118111 Research Practice I will produce a short essay discussing the research methods and critical issues underpinning my project. Further I will create an ongoing online journal with multimedia and textual content in the form of a time line with studio processes, research methods, notes, experiments, etc. to document the entire 'making of' process of the project from start to finish over all four semesters. Semester one will include theoretical research into the area of the borderland between reality and illusion and its visual representation; this will be accompanied by practical experiments. This could be in the form of still pictures and moving images using varying media types and will build the creative basis for semester two. By the end of semester one the main story line for the animation should be completed.

In 118112 Research Contexts and Methods creative practice and experiments with an increasing focus on film making and animation will continue. Some results of audiovisual experiments should be taken into consideration to be incorporated into the final animation or should function as a conceptual basis. Character design and finding the overall visual style of the animation and the use of media or mixed media types will be of great importance. Visual mock-ups and stills demonstrate the appearance and mood of the film. I will further investigate timing and montage and how these can support the story and help to communicate the borderland between reality and illusion as it is experienced by the protagonist. In this semester I will produce a booklet with research results illustrated with relevant images of existing art, design, films, concepts, etc. and results of practical work that I created during the first year. Towards the end of year one I will deliver a seminar on the work in progress. By the end of year one the complete story should be locked, supported by a simple story board and an animatic.

The main body of the project will be the actual animation and the application of the results of research practice, contexts and methods of the first year. Most of the final year with the Thesis paper 119003 will be dedicated to creating the animation. Visually challenging scenes in the production and post-production process will require special attention and further experiments. The final animation will be accompanied by the exegesis on the methodology, research and design of the project.

Purpose for the Research

My background is traditionally more focused on logical features and analysis of work and environment. To my understanding this is partly my personality and is also shaped by my German background which, confirming all stereotypes, is generally a very analytic and rational society. However, since I have been involved with animation and particularly story and character development I have discovered a part of myself that was entirely new to me, with a lot of creative processes that come or seem to come directly out of my unconscious. This, and also my involvement in Buddhist practice and philosophy over the last five years have had a strong influence on me that has largely reshaped my personality.

This project is aimed at discovering and demonstrating the abundance of the unconscious and the preconscious as a rich source for creative expression. The conscious mind then evaluates results of the unconscious to create rich and qualitative art. The merging of the preconscious and the conscious mind is thus utilised to create the narrative and is equally reflected in the story itself.

Rationale and Significance

Through my research, I would like to create further awareness of the fertile synthesis of the conscious and unconscious mind in general which I regard as a very important part of any creative process. With the rapid development of easy-to-use tools, particularly computer software, I sense a shifting focus away from the artistic expression towards a pure task and skill driven creation process that lacks creativity and significance. I would like to raise awareness of our unconscious as the most important creative device that should be embraced rather than rationalised - a statement that needs to be proven in the course of the research project.

The visualisation of imaginations of the mind blended with, and in juxtaposition to, the depicted reality is not an uncommon element in film and other creative arts. I am interested in investigating different approaches, how these affect an audience and how much the emotional involvement of the audience depends on the commonly used language of film at the time and on the cultural background. The approach of today's mainstream Hollywood cinema will be distinct clearly from European independent filmmaking, Sergei Eisenstein's montage techniques, contemporary Japanese cinema etc.. While it may be difficult to 'measure' the emotional involvement of an audience in an objective way I intend to give an overview pointing out underlying commonalities and differences. The results will support my storytelling and filmmaking, but not to a degree that research results dictate the outcome of the proposed animation. Rather than merging the results into a 'formula' this project aims to create new and innovative yet coherent ways to visualise the frontier between reality and illusion.

A further area of interest lies in the translation of the visual representation of the borderland between reality and illusion from older forms of media and the traditional arts to more recent media, and particularly to film. Part of the research will endeavour to identify limitations and opportunities that such a translation provides.

To me the audiovisual medium of film seems the most suitable form to represent a narrative that deals with the proposed area of research. I believe that timing, visuals and sound combined can transmit ideas that can be hard to grasp in other media types. For this project I see animated film as the most suitable carrier because it enables me to create visuals, and particular imagery that depict fantastic or more abstract ideas from the realm of illusion and imagination while staying within a relatively tight budget. I believe that animation allows me to create innovative audiovisual representations within the research area.

Relationship to My Past Work and Future Plans

In 2004 I completed a four year full-time Magister (FH) study in media design, an Austrian degree that is approximately equivalent to an Honours degree. My diploma thesis was A Manual for Story and Character Development with a Guideline for the Realisation as Animation and an accompanying animated short film. I also completed the Bachelor of Arts (Multimedia) programme during a two semester exchange study at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) in 2002/2003.

I have a strong interest in storytelling, character development, animation, audiovisual experimentation and design but also in mythology and spirituality and their influence on the psyche.

Among other things I created three animated spots and a CD-ROM for Amnesty International Austria and was part of a team to produce a 30 minute documentary for the Jewish Museum Hohenems, Austria. This and a wide variety of other multimedia related works can be found in my online portfolio at http://portfolio.nugob.org

I am working full time for the University of Auckland as a web and multimedia designer with a strong focus on educational design and development and blended learning. I also teach web design at Raffles College of Design and Commerce with a high lecturer rating in the student evaluation (4.7 out of 5).

Future plans include to expand my teaching, tutoring and lecturing work in a fully academic tertiary environment in the field of Art and Design with a focus on multimedia design, animation and narratives. A Master of Art and Design and a possible PhD at a later stage will enhance my chance to pursue this career path further. I also intend to continue working on further private and commercial short film projects with a focus on animation. This will switch my main area of expertise from web and multimedia design with a stronger technical focus to a more conceptual and practice oriented creative field. I intend to submit this and future animations and other works to international film festivals.

Possible Outcome for the MA Project

This project may be published as an animated short film that tells a story that relates to and underlines the area of research. The character's state of mind and a possibly increasing world of hallucination and insanity may be expressed by visualising the protagonist's inner thought processes in his/her natural environment which creates a blurred border between the real and the surreal, the borderland between reality and illusion. The progressive development of the mental state may be visualised in an overarching visual shift from the beginning to the end of the animation or an equivalent if the narrative will be non-linear. This shift, and visualisations in general, may include mixed types of media and animation techniques including the possibility of live action sequences. It will be part of the research and experiments to determine the best way to communicate the story. Visuals should be applied to support the story, not for their own sake. It is important to me that the animated film can exist on its own as a work of fiction and does not rely on knowledge of the theoretical research results for the understanding of the audience.

I intend to create an animation in high definition format. Some degree of liaison with others is likely during the course of the project. I particularly envisage that the post production process and sound design may benefit from collaboration with professionals in that field.

The booklet in semester two and the exegesis will be available in printed form. As mentioned further above the complete project over four semesters will be documented on a website in form of a time line.

Organisation and Intended Development of the Research

Year One

Semester one will be dominated by research into the related project areas in elements of art, design, film and literature and in theoretical critiques. This will help to broaden the scope of the project and at the same time to find areas of focus. By the end of the first semester I want to finalise the story to complete the plot. Semester one will be accompanied by creative practice in the form of visual experiments. Ideally this creative practice should produce visuals that reflect the theoretical research but also results that are less influenced by exposure to a theoretical framework. For both story development and experiments it is important to find a good balance between creativity that emerges from the subconscious or preconscious mind and creative processes that are influenced by the research process and thus are more conscious.

Exposure to books, films, art and literature in my research will invariably have a desired influence on the narrative and visual style of the project. I also expect influences and critical challenges from weekly group tutorials and reading groups. This input will be very valuable for the quality of the research and the actual animated short film, provide areas of focus and point out weaknesses. The borderland between reality and illusion may be a very subjective realm, yet a successful story requires to some degree a universal adaptability which I hope will be supported by critique and reflections in group meetings.

Semester two will be more practice oriented with a focus on visual experimentation and finding the visual language of the film. By-products in the form of art and design can be expected and are desirable. Over the course of this semester I will compile a booklet with research results illustrated with relevant images of existing art, design, film, concepts, etc. and results of practical work from the first year. At the latest by the end of year one the story of the short film should be finalised and there should be a clear idea of the visual language. The ongoing online journal will accompany the preparations for the end of year seminar on the work in progress. Please visit http://testarea.nugob.org/dipl-o-matic/ for a mockup of the online journal.

Year Two

The research in the second year will be supported by supervision sessions. To get a high quality result a lot of work has to go into the making of the animated short film over the course of this year. Visual research and problem solving can be expected. Collaboration with film, sound, voice actors, actors and post production professionals may play an important part in the production process and requires special attention in the production schedule. By the end of year two the exegesis and final animation will be submitted for the internal and external examination.

Other Relevant Resources or Contexts

The words conscious, subconscious, preconscious clearly are Freudian-Jungian terms and these psychiatrists and psychoanalysts along with others such as Lacan will build a reasonably solid foundation for my research. I was very influenced by the book The Hero With a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell who sees a close relationship between mythology, psychology, and dreams and who describes a universal overarching structure in world mythology (the monomyth) that he explains with Jung's concept of the collective unconscious (Campbell, p. 2). A number of media and resources such as the metafictional graphic novels of Marc-Antoine Matthieu, the art of Hieronymus Bosch, Salvador Dali, Henry Fuseli and others and film examples such as The Science of Sleep, Coraline, A Pure Formality, Pan's Labyrinth, Spirited Away, Stardust Memories and others are fully or partly located in the borderland between reality and illusion. Of particular interest are also ancient spiritual/religious/philosophical writings such as the oriental Buddhist Sutras and Hindu Vedas and Upanishads which, with the help of an extremely visual and fantastic language, seek to "transport the mind and spirit, not up to, but past them [the gods], into the yonder void" (Campbell, p. 180).

Facilities and Equipment Required

To complete this project I will probably require ideally a 64 bit powerful computer for the editing of high definition video with a scanner and at least one external hard drive for backups which I will try to acquire by the start of the course of studies. I will likely use the computer programs Photoshop, After Effects, Final Cut Pro or Premiere, scan software and audio editing software such as Audacity. Other software may be required as the project progresses. I will probably make use of an animation board which I have already purchased. A digital pen tablet may be required at a later stage. As the visual design is still open I don't want to exclude mixed media approaches that may require photographic and video facilities and equipment and a studio space for stop motion or other animation types. Audio recording facilities and devices will become increasingly important during the production process.

References

Bibliography

Scientific

Campbell, J. (1956). The hero with a thousand faces. New York: Meridian Books.

Descartes, R., & Moriarty, M. (2008). Meditations on first philosophy : with selections from the Objections and replies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Descartes, R., & Voss, S. (1989). The passions of the soul. Indianapolis: Hackett Pub. Co.

Egri, L. (1946). The art of dramatic writing; its basis in the creative interpretation of human motives. New York,: Simon and Schuster.

Jung, C. G. (1972). Four archetypes; mother, rebirth, spirit, trickster. London,: Routledge and K. Paul.

Jung, C. G. (1982). Dreams. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

Jung, C. G., & Jaffé, A. (1989). Memories, dreams, reflections (Rev. ed.). New York: Vintage Books.

Lacan, J., & Fink, B. (2006). Ecrits : The first complete edition in English. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.

Lacan, J., Miller, J. A., & Sheridan, A. (1979). The four fundamental concepts of psycho-analysis (Reprinted with an introduction, 1994. ed.). Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books.

Lynch, D. (2007). Catching the big fish : meditation, consciousness, and creativity. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin.

McCloud, S. (1994). Understanding comics : the invisible art (1st HarperPerennial ed.). New York: HarperPerennial.

McCloud, S. (2000). Reinventing comics (1st Perennial ed.). New York: Harpercollins.

McKee, R. (1999). Story : substance, structure, style, and the principles of screenwriting. London: Methuen.

Monaco, J. (2000). How to read a film : movies, media, multimedia : language, history, theory (3rd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.

Vogler, C. (1992). The writer's journey : mythic structure for storytellers and screenwriters. Studio City, CA: M. Wiese Productions.

Williams, R. (2002). The Animator's Survival Kit : A Manual of Methods, Principles and Formulas for Classical, Computer, Games, Stop Motion and Internet Animators. London: Faber and Faber.

Films

Allen, W. (1980). Stardust memories. United States: Rollins-Joffe Productions.

Allen, W. (1997). Deconstructing Harry. United States: Jean Doumanian Productions.

Fellini, F., Rizzoli, A., Flaiano, E., Mastroianni, M., Cardinale, C., Aimée, A., et al. (1993). 8 1/2. London: Connoisseur Video.

Fleming, V., LeRoy, M., Garland, J., Bolger, R., Lahr, B., Haley, J., et al. (1991). The wizard of Oz. Culver City, CA: MGM/UA Home Video : Turner Entertainment Co.

Gilliam, T., Milchan, A., Stoppard, T., McKeown, C., Pratt, R., Kamen, M., et al. (1992). Brazil. Universal City, Calif.: MCA Home Video.

Gondry, M., Bermann, G., Bompoint, J.-L., Bernard, J.-M., García, G., Gainsbourg, C., et al. (2007). The science of sleep. Burbank, CA: Warner Home Video.

Jeunet, J.-P., Vanderschelden, I. (2001). Amélie : Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

Jeunet, J.-P., Caro, M., Ossard, C., Szuster, D., Perlman, R., & Emilfork, D. (1995). La cité des enfants perdus (The city of lost children). France: Lumière.

Jonze, S., Malkovich, J., Diaz, C., Cusack, J., Stipe, M., Keener, C., et al. (2000). Being John Malkovich. Australia: Columbia TriStar Home Video Australia.

Kelly, R., Andrews, M., Swayze, P., Barrymore, D., Ross, K., McDonnell, M., et al. (2001). Donnie Darko. Australia: Madman Entertainment.

Kubrick, S., Dullea, K., Lockwood, G., Clarke, A. C., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer., & Warner Home Video (Firm). (2001). 2001 A space odyssey. Stanley Kubrick collection. United States: Warner Home Video.

Kurosawa, A., Terao, A., Baisho, M., Ryu, C. u., Scorsese, M., & Warner Brothers. (2002). Yume (Akira Kurosawa's Dreams). Tokyo: Warner Home Video.

Linklater, R., West, P., Pallotta, T., Smith, J., & Walker-McBay, A. (2001). Waking life. United States: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.

Lynch, D., Caruso, F., MacLachlan, K., Rossellini, I., & De Laurentiis Entertainment Group. (1986). Blue velvet. United States: DeLaurentiis Entertainment Group : CBS Fox Video [distributor].

Lynch, D., Sweeney, M., Dern, L., Irons, J., Theroux, J., Absurda (Firm), Studio Canal., et al. (2007). Inland Empire. Burbank, CA: Rhino Entertainment (distributor).

Lynch, D. (1997). Lost highway. New York: Polygram Video.

Miyazaki, H., Suzuki, T., Hiiragi, R., Irino, M., Natsuki, M., Hisaishi, J. o., et al. (2001). Sen to Chihiro no kami kakushi (Spirited away). Australia: Madman Entertainment.

Mulloy, P., & British Film Institute. (2002). Extreme animation. London: British Film Institute.

Proyas, A., Mason, A., Dobbs, L., Goyer, D. S., Sewell, R., Sutherland, K., et al. (1998). Dark city. New Line platinum series. United States: New Line Home Video.

Pálfi, G., Zsófia, R., Csaba, C., Gergö, T., Bischoff, M., Pohárnok, G., et al. (2007). Taxidermia. London: Tartan Video.

Selick, H., Gaiman, N. (2009). Coraline. Universal City, Calif.: Universal Studios Home Entertainment.

Švankmajer, J., Zilková, V., Hartl, J., Kretschimerová, J., Nový, P., Adamcová, K., et al. (2004). Little Otik Otesánek. London: Film Four Video : Cinema Club.

Sweeney, M., Sarde, A., Lynch, D., Theroux, J., Watts, N., Harring, L. E., et al. (2002). Mulholland Dr. Universal City, Calif.: Universal.

Tornatore, G., Depardieu, G., & Polanski, R. (1993). Une pure formalite (A pure formality). Quebec: CFP Video.

Toro, G. d., Augustín, Á., Cuarón, A., Navarro, B., Torresblanco, F., Navarro, G., et al. (2007). Pan's labyrinth. U. K.: Optimum Home Entertainment.

Ward, V., Matheson, R., Bass, R. (1998). What dreams may come. New York: Polygram Film Entertainment.

Widrich, V. (2001), Copy shop. Austria: Virgil Widrich Filmproduktion.

Literature/Graphic Novel

Carroll, L. (1928). Alice in wonderland and Through the looking glass. London: Collins.

Dostoyevsky, F. (1991). Crime and punishment (New ed.): Penguin Books.

Matthieu, M.-A.: L'Origine (The Origin), France: Delcourt, 1990

Matthieu, M.-A.: L'a Qu... (The F...), France: Delcourt, 1991

Watson, B., & Kumarajiva. (1993). The Lotus Sutra. New York: Columbia University Press.

Art/Design

The artwork of Hieronymus Bosch, Salvador Dali, Henry Fuseli and others.