It is strong, the blog is!!!

Hey Folks this is a kinda introduction to my project. To start off I am a 2D animation student in the masters course for this year at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design. I graduated last year with my Honours degree :) woohoo haha. 

I have had a loving passion for very exaggerated animation from the Golden Age right up to contemporary. My biggest influences are Tex Avery for breaking boundaries, Robert Clampett who is the most exaggerated animator of his time and John K who can create exaggerated emotions in character and is not afraid to experiment.

I also have a loving passion for DJ music although I can't perform myself I am interested in how everything works and through the years can keep a beat to myself and even place a few good acapellas in the music I am listening to :). I love Daft Punk, Deadmau5, DJ shadow, Grandmaster Flash, Skrillex, dubstep, David Guetta, Calvin Harris and DJ faust but I love to listen to ones I have never heard of before and expand my media.

So now you know my passions here is my theory...what if you could put both of them together and express DJ music visually through an animated character. My brief is:

"how to expand exaggerated 2D animation through the manipulation of DJ music"

I am working with a psycology student who showed me a technique called synaesthesia which is being able to see music by creating a cross between your primary visual cortex and your primary auditory cortex. I will be conducting a few experiments which will help my research for the animation. For example if the DJ scratches the character is forced to move to what the scratch would look like through the research.

So I am hoping to come up with a 2-3 minute piece with music and by using certain techniques like scratching, crossfading, bass, tremor, pitch etc. I'm also looking for a high intense dubstep music for the last minute when my character will turn into a monster and destroy the place.

So the story is, the DJ comes into a warehouse to practice his set for his show...when he turns on his music the little character will come out of the decks and this will represent his music. When the character realises he is a puppet the battle is on to try and fight back with his little gadgets on his arms that are similar to the DJs decks only more limited. Eventually the character realises that he can't control this so he turns the music evil and sinister and morphs into a horrible monster, destroying the place. The DJ then has to reverse the character back in and setting things back to normal but in the result the DJ is pumped up and ready to please his fans at his gig.

so how do i come up with the story you say...well firstly i will need to find a DJ to make a soundtrack for my film, then i will conduct a few experiments using synaesthesia with people and see what the results will be...i will create a storyboard along with the music and the gathered research for the visuals of the film. The shoot the film in live action, use this as a layout and the produce the animation.