This document summarizes Tiffany Duneau's process for creating an animated short film about the passage of time in a location. It describes her research on Japanese woodblock printing styles and animation techniques. She recorded details of her location using various media to understand how to depict it. Her initial ideas focused on shadows, weather, and human passage over time. After developing prototypes, she chose to animate weather's effects over time using a watercolor style. She planned the animation thoroughly and evaluated her success at managing time and taking inspiration from other artists.

1. A Place in
Question
Tiffany Duneau

2. Contextual
references
Historical Context - Shin Hanga
This movement was derived
from the more traditional Ukiyo-e
woodblock printing, but was
targeted more towards the
western export market, affecting
the subject matter, but the style
preserved its Japanese feel.
The prints used lighting very
effectively to convey mood and
atmosphere, and in some cases
prints were created using slightly
different colours, which altered
the mood significantly form one
print to another.
‘Fuji from lake Sai’ - Study
‘Snow at
Miyajima’
- Koitsu
Tsuchiya

3. Contextual
references
When analysing artists I looked
at the way their compositions
worked, in order to
incorporate this into my own
work.
In this example, I particularly
liked the use of negative
space in defining the image,
with the details linked to
Japan making up the image
itself, and incorporated this
into my own illustration of my
location.
‘Japan’
- Simon
Prades
Study in
the style
of Simon
Prades

4. Recording
Experiences
I started recording the small
details and textures of my
location using pen and tone,
to capture the finer details.
I then expanded to the whole
location, using a larger variety
of media, including charcoal,
watercolour, a 3D Google
Sketchup model and a digital
painting.
I particularly liked the
watercolour effect in
capturing the effects of
weather in the location as it
echoed the rain and puddles.
Digital
painting
Perspe-
ctive
Texture Watercolour and chalk

5. Materials,
processes and
Technology
Through my initial enquiries I learnt
different ways in which a location
can be depicted, through its shape,
and less evidently, through its
textures and ‘negative space’.
Photography was a good way for
me to gather inspiration, especially
when I was looking into shadows, as I
could capture them instantaneously
before they changed.
I also explored a very constrained
technical drawing of my location, in
line only, which showcased the
perspective of the location.
Using Google Sketchup also allowed
me to explore angles of my location
I would not have been able to
normally, and inspired one of my
prototypes
Photographing
shadows
Google
Sketchup
Silhouettes
Google
Sketchup
model

6. Devising Brief
I chose to create an
animation, as I felt this would
describe my chosen theme –
‘the passage of time’ best,
due to it being a ‘moving’
medium.
As my client, I wanted to
branch away from Esher
college, so chose ‘a local
youth animation competition’,
which I felt provided the
creative freedom I wanted.
Time was a particular concern
for me, as animating takes a
long time, so I chose to limit
the length of my animation to
between 30 to 90 seconds to
avoid being overambitious
with my prototypes.
I also researched into
animation a little, looking at
the works of Makoto Shinkai
and a music video for ‘Bad
apple”, which were
contrasting examples of
animation style.

7. Initial Ideas
To develop ideas, I focused on
the three areas that had
previously caught my interest
in the initial investigations and
combined my previous ideas
into frames that reflected the
animation I had imagined.
I also used my artist research
as a way to generate ideas,
by taking influence from their
styles.
Initial ideas
- Shadows
Initial ideas
-
Weather/Human
Passage

8. Responding
to my brief
On the subject of time, I chose to
explore the effect it had on weather
in a location, the signs of its passing
through shadows, and the traces left
as humans pass through the location
over time.
I developed three prototypes
reflecting each of these routes,
choosing only one for my final
outcome after the interim review.
To refine my ideas, I chose to
combine elements of each path
that I liked to form a ‘master’ idea
that represented that branch for the
interim review, which allowed me to
develop each branch equally
before committing to one for my
final outcome.
Prototype 2
Shadows
Weather
Human passage
Prototype 1
Prototype 3

9. Planning and
Producing
Outcome
For my final outcome I chose
to take the ‘weather and
time’ route, with a watercolour
effect in the animation.
I experimented with recreating
this in Photoshop to ensure
that I would be able to
achieve the style I was going
for, and developed this further
as I created the animation.
Before starting the process, I
planned out the order in
which I would complete each
part of the animation, to make
sure I did not miss parts out.
Development of style

10. Evaluation
Overall I think the project went
well, although I had trouble
keeping up at the beginning, I
caught up by the interim
review and stayed on track
from that point.
I think I managed my time
especially when when
creating my final animation
under a short timescale.
Perhaps in the next project I
could look at other artists in
more detail for inspiration and
to inform my contextual
influences.
Final Animation Cover Images