In Fall of 2004 I will graduate Savannah College of Art and Design with a Masters of Fine Arts in Animation. Part of the requirements of the degree is a thesis with a written and visual component. This site will track my progress through the development process of my thesis and will eventually house the finished film and paper.

Visual Component

The visual component of my thesis is a hyper-accelerated version of the Hero's Journey, in which the main character races through the aspects of the journey to become a hero. The animation will be concerned primarily with character acting and facial animation. The visual style concept is a home-made constructed environment, where backdrops and props are constructed as if the environment the character is interacting in was a stage.

 

Hiro's Journey is currently straddling the modeling/rigging stage and the animation stage.

Written Component

The written component of my thesis is an analysis of Joseph Campbell's concept of the "monomyth" with application to modern short-format animation. Human history and subsequently storytelling in all media has been influenced by the existence of this universal story and my thesis will attempt to show that its influence stretches to the short animation format as well.

Currently the written component of my thesis is in the drafting stage.