Independent Study and Thesis!!

It's hard to believe that this quarter I have to propose my Senior Thesis Film! Taking my first "Senior" class this quarter (Senior Project Seminar), it's allowing me to begin to really hone in on what I want to accomplish and do with my film.

Up until about a few weeks ago I had no ideas of what I wanted to do; no story idea, no clue of where I would even start. I had heard so many people say well I've known for a while what I want to do (which right there, makes it hard to work with anyone). However after talking with one of my favorite history professors about doing an animation for him on the subject of Frederick Douglass, it all became clear...why not do an animation about the topic I love just as much as animation-history!

I'm in the beginning stages of research, not only for my Independent Study on Douglass but also for my thesis. I'm really trying to focus on making an educational animation geared toward elementary/middle school kids in the topic of history; I'm still not sure what subject yet (Revolution, Civil War, etc.) Being the kid that has always LOVED history, I want to make my film something that kids will find interesting but also teach them something in a topic that most have the attitude of:"why do we have to learn about history? it's done and over with, let's move on".

With going back to Douglass, I'm trying to figure out how "cartoony" or realistic I would like to make him. And when finding pictures like this:


and this...



it kind of makes it difficult because he definitely has distinct features...which is something I'm trying to overcome...

It's so interesting that when I had a meeting with my history Professor on Thursday, I couldn't believe how similar a speech could be to an animation. Studying Douglass' "5th of July" Speech, he has so many changes in his tone, body language, and feelings that he is expressing. I began to really think about how in animation it is so important to have your character show growth and have an evident change in things like their emotions, and body language; which is something with Douglass in particular I really want to focus on...

I'm starting to think that I'm really going to be happy in what I've chosen to do... :)
...more thesis updates soon as I continue to research...