Anastasia Shepherd - next iteration of thesis proposal :)

The space for where I write random titles:
PSYCHOBIOGRAPHY
Deaf dreams/Blind dreams
Occursions?/Excursions/occurances
banality security
.... still working on these, ignore them for now.

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, therefore 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, 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 my goal.

I feel that many or all of these restrictions of life 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’d like this project to reflect how life could be different through personal revolutions. With interactivity embedded in the project, I hope to show people a set of new and accessible possibilities for life and inspiration.

The project in its final phase will consist of still shots of video taken in a variety of places, with no actors. It will resemble security camera feed. The viewer will be able to guide the mouse to hot spots that will zoom in to a piece of the scene and then give more hot spots. When explored, these will provide layers of fantastical and anthropomorphic animation and experimental sound. People’s faces will morph, regular objects will transform, and the normality and banality of the scene will be undermined. Then, the hot spots will disappear and reality will be restored. However, small changes will be made every time an animation is explored, and by the end of the project, the “real world” will be overrun with the “imagined.”

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 passivity of the video in the project will be acted upon by the viewer’s interactive choices. The piece will provide a stance that explores how the “imaginary” (unreal images that create new meanings in reality) must be utilized by the individual. The project’s philosophy is built on curiosity and choice, so this medium is ideal. 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.