‘Magic Decisions’ - Identity Animation

 

Link to animation for better quality - https://vimeo.com/481741230

Above is the final animation for my ‘Identity’ project, inspiration from my object the Magic 8 ball. I started with painting a person holding the ball and asking it a question, then shaking it, turning it around to reveal its answer, then the ball falls and it’s shown rolling down the two arms which point to two different directions. This represents how our decisions impact our identity, for example taking us either right or left in our lives. The arms represent ourselves and the ball corresponds to decisions and escapism while it can also mean we take chances and risks in life, because the ball decides the answer, not you, which all adds up to make our own identity. To amplify the escapism aspect I painted strong coloured stripes as the background, my inspiration of the rough vibrant colours came from Lauren Gregory and Jean-Micheal Basquiat. The strips remind me of the circus where magic tricks come from, while some magic tricks involve risks and chances also adding to the meaning of the animation. Taking risks is a form of liberation and freedom of free choice and this was also inspired by Jean-Micheal Basquiat, as his work revolved around social commentary as a tool for expression and for identifying with his experiences in the black community of his time and his decisions for attacking those with wrong power.

I chose the word ‘Probably’ to appear inside the ball to show the fun and humorous side to this, yes I could make it say “yes” but what’s the fun in that, because to me the ball is all fun and games but symbolically can mean many things, and the ball’s answer isn’t what’s important, it’s the person asking the question and making the decisions. To add, I also decided on ‘Probably’ because I want it to reflect the idea of our decisions are our choice and not someone else's, that why the balls response is open minded.

Overall, I really enjoyed the outcome of the short animation. However, the process was quite daunting as it involved wiping all your progress to start another frame and the process couldn’t be undone and very time consuming. Although, all together it is visually unique, because of the textures and shine.