Crowded Spaces
Crowded Spaces is an animation based on the feelings caused by social anxiety. I used my own experiences to mold the sequence of events. I wanted to depict the intense feelings of anxiety through an abstracted sequences to show what social situations feel like through this lens. The animation itself is reactive in the sense that the viewer watching is what causes the sequence of events to unfold withe the character being placed in a gallery space like the one it has been showcased in.
Process
The sequence is quite short, but I added some small details that may be missed the first time it is watched. I made the decision to have everything get more abstracted as the animation goes on. The character loses color in her shirt as the setting becomes dark and encloses around her. The outlines of the character also begin to shimmer and intensify as the anxiety starts to weigh.
The shadow figures were particularly hard to finalize as I went through a few variations of their distortion. I also added a sinister smile to the middle figure to emphasize how terrifying a crowd can be.
The eye can be taken as the crowd’s eye or the character’s eye. I didn’t want the eye to be distinguishable as that is up to the viewer.
The portion with the lines and shapes stands as the most abstracted form of anxious feelings. This is the stage where you retreat into the mind in search of safety. However, I added a crack to convey how intense distress feels.
I used sound as a way to enhance my animation. I added a soundtrack to each section that would fit the type of abstraction I was going for. There were also small sound effects like sand and glass that fit with the textures I was working with.
Sound Credit:
Zapsplat.com
