Stage 3 Designs – Main Character ‘The Plague doctor’

As mentioned in my previous post Stage 3 – An Average Journey: a short animation on Social Anxiety the central aesthetic theme of the animation is disease and the plague and I wanted to depict the main character as a plague doctor. Taking the phrase ‘Avoiding X like the plague’ I applied this to the central theme of my animation depicting my experience with Social anxiety.

  

The core theme I wanted to depict in my character was the isolation and detachment from my surroundings both environmental and social. I used the idea of a plague doctors attire to help express these themes as they would truss themselves up in protective garb that would be almost air tight, to avoid the ‘Miasma’ that spread the disease before they discovered the real spread of the disease. This meant that Plague doctors would be cut off from there environment and their patients, never making contact.

Using this I designed outfits around the idea of isolating the character while also making it look heavy and restrictive.

The mask was also an important part of the design. Plague doctors would use the mask to not only keep out the ‘miasma’ but also stuff it with things like dried herbs or other odious items to keep out the stench of death and decay. My idea behind the mask was to use it like a sort of disguise and cage of sorts. The idea that it hides my true emotions and facial reactions toward others and hide away from society as to not draw attention to myself. On the other hand it also serves as a way of averting my gaze and avoiding eye contact with other as well as being a metaphor for being trapped inside my own head, by my own head.

After some concepts and design choices I settled on this design;

This was my final choice for the characters design for a few different reasons. First of all it was fully concealed in his attire and protected from his surroundings. Second the clothing looked quite heavy and weighty enforcing that trapped and restricted feeling such as the weighty shackles around the arm and heavy plates on the boots. Third the mask was given an welded and bolted look to it with a sort of caged section on the underside of the nose as well as the eyes being ‘caged’ to avoid the eye contact of others. I made the overall outfit look closer to a plague doctors attire but I added elements to it to personalise it and to bring it closer to my clothing, like the scarf and hood combo in place of the cowl and hat.

Until we converse again stranger.

Stage 3 Influences – Piotr Dumala

One of my influences for animation is the Polish animator Piotr Dumala. I’m particularly inspired by the style in his animations such as my main inspiration Sciany (Walls) an animation created by Dumala.

 

Dumala creates his animations using a unique technique known as destructive animation. This technique creates frames that cannot be replicated that makes the piece itself unique. He achieves this by painting plaster board black and placing it under a camera, he then scratches the frame into the paint before painting it black again.

Dumala stated that his animations have consistency relating to the logic behind dreams and his own mind including his obsessions, dreams and anxieties while also identifying with the character whether they be a literary figure or not. This fits in well with my topic of self reflection and expressing my own anxieties through a visual media. I like the sketchy unsettling style he uses for his pieces as I find they are both emotionally charged and visually striking.

 

Until we converse again stranger.