Proposal - Anastasia

Potential Titles:
Stranger Madness. Anonymism. Effects of the Moon’s Reflections on the Sleeping Patterns of Strangers. (or something science-esque) The Waking Sleep. Burdens. Silence. Ossified Potentials. Bones and Visions. Self-Containment. Simple/Infinity Anonymous Vision. Death’s Half-Brother Sleep. Shackled.
Subterranean... Visualism. Burdens. The waking brain longs to sleep, the sleeping brain to never wake. Thoughts that are not acted upon do not die. Reaching. Amputated Exploration. Arcane gods... Phantasos, Phobetor, Morpheus (sons of Hypnos)

(Gee, I don’t know. These are terrible, they’re like the names of metal bands. I'll work on them.)


Abstract:

I’m interested in creating an interactive art piece that mixes the genres of documentary film, animation, gaming, and expressionistic/symbolic fine arts. I would like to explore the subject of imagined realities in disobedience of social constructs in this piece. I want to visually document situations in which people physically obey societal constructs and the norms of reality, but show through interactive options that the mind is given possibilities without the limits of reality and society. An interactive web-based art piece that combines flash animation with video and traditional animation would be an optimal presentation for this thesis.


Audience:

I would like this piece to reach a more diverse audience than a gallery-style installation video would. By putting it on a website, I hope to make it possible for anyone to look at it and get something out of it. The concept is universal, and I feel that the presentation should allow for universality, as well. The interactive format will help a great deal in accomplishing that goal. Website-based projects democratize art and interactivity allows for a fluid and nonlinear narrative thread.


Methodology:

I am making the argument that the pressures of normality and the constrictions of physical reality are escapable through dreams and fantasies and imagined scenarios. With that in mind, humans have more freedom to impact their own real lives through utilizing their “waking dreams” and learning not to fear them.

By using a creative approach that mimics the decisions to conform or not conform that everyone faces constantly, I hope to show that it is unnecessary to live in your head. To make the impossible real is a worthy goal.

I feel that life is very restricted, and that many or all of these restrictions are self-implemented and can be overcome. Connections to other human beings are feared, shared consciousness is considered impossible, exploration is considered odd, and silliness/whimsicality and imagination are considered childish. I’m personally very tired of these restrictions, and I’d like this project to reflect how things could be different. This project is about personal revolutions, and through the interactivity, I hope to show people a set of new and accessible possibilities for life and inspiration.

Media Presentation and Justification:

Optimally, the thesis will be presented as a website-based piece that includes flash animation, video, and traditional animation. Since the project requires interactivity to give the viewer choices and to let one explore the project on one’s own, it is necessary to have it in this multimedia format. A film would be too passive. The piece argues that the “imaginary” (unreal images that create new meanings in reality) must be explored by the individual. The project’s whole philosophy is built on curiosity and choice, so this medium is perfect. The paths of the project will give the audience choices that have the potential to create a world where reality and fantasy are indistinguishable from one another.