This week, I completed the second short animation, the tram scene, and began drawing the first one. The image below shows part of the first animation currently in progress.
Work in progress: Drawing the first short animation.
I also shared my current progress with Nik during Thursday’s in-class WIP session. He was generally positive about how the animation was developing, although he mentioned that I may need to pick up the pace slightly to make sure I have enough time to complete the remaining sections. He also described the work as fitting my chosen word, uncanny, while having a slightly surreal quality.
I think these two qualities can work together rather than contradict each other. Some of the imagery in Stranded Fish is clearly surreal: the protagonist vomits a living fish, commuters have fish heads, and the final reflection no longer shows an ordinary human face. However, I do not want the entire world of the animation to become dreamlike or detached from everyday reality. The strange elements are more useful to me when they appear inside places and routines that still feel familiar.
This is something I want to keep in mind as I continue production. Visually, I plan to maintain the current black-and-white line drawing style, which has a slightly satirical or cartoon-like quality. The clear outlines help the tram, classroom and characters remain recognisable even when something impossible appears within them. I think a more saturated palette or softer, less defined forms could push the whole image further towards a surreal or dreamlike world, while I want the surreal elements to remain interruptions within an otherwise ordinary one.
Sound will help me maintain this contrast as well. Rather than using heavily stylised or obviously dreamlike sound throughout, I plan to record ordinary environmental sounds myself and combine them with other specific sound effects. Real tram noise, room ambience, movement and background voices can keep the spaces grounded in everyday experience while the images become increasingly impossible. For me, this contrast may allow the surreal imagery to support the uncanny rather than replace it.
For now, I will continue working on the first animation while keeping an eye on the remaining production schedule.