For my final I wanted to create an animation of my experience with dissociative amnesia to raise awareness for the cause. I researched amnesia and learned how dissociative amnesia manifests compared to other types of amnesia. I also researched how other artists have conveyed hard emotions or abstract topics in the past. Learning more about the condition helped me to properly illustrate what I experience/experienced with Dissociative amnesia. With all this research, I was able to animate an abstract surreal short that truly conveys my experience.
I researched how other artists have conveyed abstract feelings in the past. I knew I wanted my animation to have a surreal feeling to it. I was super inspired by epilepsy by David Beauchard and his depictions of his brother’s epilepsy.
I tried my best to storyboard out my animation which was a bit challenging because my ideas were pretty abstract. I tried to storyboard the general story arch more so than each individual shots. I wanted to get straight to editing.
I have never animated using Procreate before so I knew there would be a learning curve. I can definitely see an improvement of my animation as my video progresses. I found ways to work the program that made animating quicker and a bit easier.
I found out that there aren’t many peer reviewed articles on this specific topic. The top journal that kept appearing was anti-dissociative amnesia. The psychologist argued that there isn’t a need for a separate title of dissociative amnesia, and that the patient is just choosing to ignore their trauma. It was frustrating to see literature that is anti-dissociative amnesia, especially since doubt is a huge aspect of dissociative amnesia. Another journal I read argued against the anti-dissociative amnesia. The argument was that of course the patient is choosing to ignore their trauma, it is the fact that it is happening subconsciously that is important.
I haven’t edited an animation in a few years so I was a bit worried if I remembered how to use premier. Like a bicycle, I was able to jump right back into editing and putting my animation together. I animated all my shots on my ipad using procreate, and then transferred them to my desktop to edit them in premier.
Sound is always equally exciting and anxiety provoking for me. I know how important sound is for an animation. I wanted the sound to bring my abstract animations to life. When choosing sound, I tried to interpret what the movement would sound like if it made an actual sound. I used freesound.org and edited it all together in premier.
