The study of one man stories for creating the animation short:
Ice man and his iceberg
Introduction
I am trying to create a monomyth with one man character in the form of 2D and stop motion, in order to get more attention from the other countries to concern about the problems my country or some other countries encounter right now. I know that animation is a very effective way to explain things; at the same time, I start the research and compose this thesis.
When the English novel and fictional autobiography Robinson Crusoe was first published in 1719, People were emotionally affected by this character who was castaway on the island. The story addressed on the moral issues of making the humane decision and fighting with the jungle law to survive. It was discussed later that this adventure presented the old British colonist. However, Robinson becomes the central of his new world, and the lost of translation and language here, forced him to use both simple gestures and sounds to communicate with one escaped prisoner from the native tribe near his island.
This lost of translation and the lack of naming thing he found in the alienation, is the most interesting part when I look into the story. Due to the absence and confusion of “naming” my country Taiwan and of being called by the others, I start this story about an Iceberg as a symbol of Taiwan, a wandering island on the ocean, driven by current. More specifically, the target audiences of my animation are the people who are confused about their self-identity, not sure about certain period of the history of the place they live, or are eagerly promoting themselves to the world organization (the matter of sustainability).
As both an animator and a Taiwanese, I decided to make a story by the title “Ice man and his iceberg” as a modern monomyth for integrating ideas of environmental, and political criteria into my piece:
“No man is an Island”, but Taiwan’s diplomatic relation with others takes us back to the ice age. In this project, Ice man with his iceberg can be the perfect way to explain things away when ridicule.
The first part of the thesis, we will mention about the economic and political issues of Taiwan and what is that related to my animation. Secondly, a phenomenon among Taiwanese young artists: The Art of Frustration , pointed out the absence of political art after the 90’s in Taiwan. Why the artist may or may not show any political stance in their work? These discussion of “ to be or not to be “ becomes an importance that I have to think about in this animation piece.
When our society has more complex structures and shapes than centuries ago, the big question that the modern animators and the scriptwriters encounter now, would be how to minimize and keep the simplicity of storytelling and character development. So, in the second part of thesis, we will discuss about several animations: William Kentridge. How does he address the society/nationality, person/group, past/ future, national/world issues? What is the controversy behind the story? How are those having influences on me? This will also lead to the discussion of how do I construct the story of ice man and his ice berg. And for making “ice man and his iceberg”, we need to create a round character that lead the audience through the journey of discovering the relationship of this man and his island. The character will go through three parts of the story: The separating from the main land, searching for the sustainability, and the last, Finding the self-identity and the importance of the island.
I. The motivation of making Ice man and his iceberg
- The frustration of naming Taiwan in the world.
- Phenomenon: Art of Frustration in Taiwan
- “Ice man and his iceberg” : A way to explain thing is by telling story
II. The study of storytelling and character development for this animation
- William Kentridge : South African animator
- Round character development : the ice man
- Short research about the sustainability of an island: background setting for iceberg
Precedents
Conclusion
Who or what should an animator serve? This question always comes out when we try to find our owned voices and speak out through our work. But there are still many people’s voices couldn’t be heard. I believe that neither the piece that claims human’s right nor environmental piece should be treated as alternative. It is not because what the film reflected surprised us. What we are surprised about is that for how long we had never thought in that way.
