Project Proposal

MA LA, Alice Bouttell 3rd edit

Course MAMIS

Name(s) Alice Bouttell

Unit

Date Part-time

NB For collaborative projects please complete a single Learning Agreement, clearly identifying the names and roles of all external or internal collaborators.

Section 1: Description of Project

What are you proposing to do? Why are you doing it? What do you intend to submit? Give references to methods, research and practices that contextualise your project (including texts, images, artists, designers, etc). For collaborative projects, give details of each person’s role in the project. (max. 500 words) My final masters project will focus on coastal erosion. I’m inspired by the recent storms hitting the North Norfolk coast, the floods around the country and the impact this has on daily life. I have been looking at Happisburgh, a seaside village in Norfolk, the land of which has emerged gradually over time and is rapidly disappearing back into the sea. I intend to explore the many aspects which this event effects: community, politics, history, environmental and sentimental. From this I will make an animation that reflects the subject in an entertaining and thought provoking way. Happisburgh is a fascinating example of natural land erosion. More of it washes into the ocean each year and the government have decided not to take action due to the estimated lack of economic return. It is home to a 500 year old church and a reputable pub, which is the hub of the community. The locals are resolute about staying in despite the increasing loss of distance between sea and land. Happisburgh has made news on several occasions after storms have revealed dinosaur bones in the cliff and some of the world’s earliest footprints in the fossilised clay bed on the beach. It is a part of East Anglia which is very new in terms of history. I feel that Happisburgh is a good example of many areas of the UK facing similar fates, especially after the recent storms and floods. I want to use its rich history to inform a thoughtful animated film. I have been looking at the work of Emma Calder of Pearly Oyster Productions who has been commissioned by the Norwich Castle Museum to create an historical animation about Boudicca as well as an environmental short for MTV. Her work is informative, charming and funny. She uses a mix of 2D illustration, collage and models in her animation which makes it tactile and playful. The film I will make may be used in similar contexts and purpose as Calder’s. As part of my research methodology I am going to visit Happisbugh and talk to the residents about their personal experiences, opinions and reasons for remaining in what seems like a doomed habitat. I want to balance this by talking to professionals in the environment sector and question how and why decisions are made to do with coastal erosion. This will inform the content and context of the film. I will record interviews and vox pops. Sound recordings will be included in the research for this project. Clips of the sounds of waves, stones and seabirds will all build an electro-acoustic soundscape of the environment and play a part in the narrative. Aesthetically I will be looking at the work of the Norwich painters. Artists such as Cotman, Ladbroke, Stark and Bright recorded daily life in rural areas of East Anglia as an alternative to the portraits of dignitaries and royalty, indicating a shift in current concerns at the time. It is their ability to capture the drama and awesome wrath of the weather as it hangs over the ordinary peasants who go about their daily business that I find compelling and want to include in my work. I will use some of the techniques I’ve used in my MA work up till now including rotoscope and more experiential material, which uses objects and matter from the subject site. A sense of the haptic is an important feature.

Section 2: Learning Outcomes

Explain how your intended submission for the unit will demonstrate that you have met EACH Learning Outcome.

Identify and apply concepts and principles associated with your subject to a range of contexts and environments. A film which addresses social, political, environmental and sentimental effects of coastal erosion. It could be used for education, awareness of current issues, museum exhibition.

Employ appropriate methods, processes and materials to produce experimental and finished work relevant to current practice in your area: An online blog of research into relevant practice and contextualisation, showing how I’ve tested technical and aesthetic processes. Making film clips, sound recording clips, photography and drawings after examining and analysing the work of others.

Examine complex problems in your area of study and articulate a range of solutions: Use my blog for reflection on issues and solutions including: organising time and tasks in efficient order of production; decisive action; changes of course if something doesn’t work. Finishing with a critical evaluation which looks at the project and resulting film as a whole.

Evidence your understanding of contemporary practice and the creative industries relevant to your subject: Collecting research into documentary, educational entertainment, museum exhibition, artists and animators whose work is focused in these areas and including them in my blog of research. Contextualising my work and comparing it with the work of others in my evaluation.

Section 4: Resources and Schedule

Provide a plan outlining your project schedule and indicating resource requirements where applicable (this may be attached as a separate sheet). Thursday 6 Mar 14 Independent Study Thursday 13 Mar 14 Deadline for submission of FINAL Masters Proposal 10.30 – 12.30 DS3 Group Critique Thursday 20 Mar 14 10.30 – 12.30 DS3 Group Tutorials with course unit tutor (2 groups) Research trip to Happisburgh with Photographer Erin Patel. Take vox pops and record sounds of the locality Thursday 27 Mar 14 10.30 – 12.30 TR1 Course seminar Thursday 3 Apr 14 09.30 – 12.30/ 13.30-15.00 SG21 Presentation Day (feedback panel) SH/ All MA staff FT students’ Pecha Kuchas. All PT2 to attend. 7 Apr 14 – 27 Apr 14 Easter Break Thursday 1 May 14 10.00 – 12.30 SG31 Individual Tutorials with course unit tutor (30 minutes) Thursday 8 May 14 10.30 – 12.30 DS3 Interim Critique Thursday 15 May 14 10.30 – 17.00 Lecture Theatre PT2 Presentation Day SH/ MA staff PT2 Masters Projects Work in Progress. All PT2 to attend (optional for FT from 12 midday). Thursday 22 May 14 Independent Study Thursday 29 May 14 10.30 – 12.30 DS2 Group Tutorials (2 groups)

Thursday 13 Mar 14 Deadline for submission of FINAL Masters Proposal 10.30 – 12.30 DS3 Group Critique SH Course specific Thursday 20 Mar 14 10.30 – 12.30 DS3 Group Tutorials with course unit tutor (2 groups) SH Course specific. See VLE, Research field trip to Happisburgh Thursday 27 Mar 14 10.30 – 12.30 TR1 Course seminar VL tbc (nb T&L day) Course Specific Thursday 3 Apr 14 09.30 – 12.30/ 13.30-15.00 SG21 Presentation Day (feedback panel) SH/ All MA staff FT students’ Pecha Kuchas. All PT2 to attend. 7 Apr 14 – 27 Apr 14 Easter Break Thursday 1 May 14 10.00 – 12.30 SG31 Individual Tutorials with course unit tutor (30 minutes) SH Course specific. See VLE. Thursday 8 May 14 10.30 – 12.30 DS3 Interim Critique SH Course specific Thursday 15 May 14 10.30 – 17.00 Lecture Theatre PT2 Presentation Day SH/ MA staff PT2 Masters Projects Work in Progress. All PT2 to attend (optional for FT from 12 midday). Thursday 22 May 14 Independent Study Thursday 29 May 14 10.30 – 12.30 DS2 Group Tutorials (2 groups) SH Course specific. See VLE

Section 5: Risk Assessment

Outline any potential risks, particularly Health and Safety and/or ethical issues that could affect the project. It is recommended that you seek the advice of your tutor and relevant NUA staff, eg the Health and Safety Officer, before completing this section. Continue on a second page if necessary. Care to be taken in coastal areas near cliff edges etc. Respect conservation regulations and no trespassing. Interviews and confidentiality, making sure that correct permissions are sought and applied. Proper posture when at computer or drawing to prevent RSI or back pain.

Section 5: Tutor’s Comments

Student(s): Alice Bouttell Date:

Course Tutor: Date:

Learning agreement

For this unit I intend to create two short ‘postcard’ films about Norfolk for an exhibition as part of the Hostry Festival called ‘My Norfolk’ using handmade animation styles including rotoscoping, cut out and celluloid collage.

I will look at animators like George dunning for hand drawn animation styles used in, for example ‘Damon the Mower’; I will study Jeff Scher (‘Milk of Amnesia’)for his lively and vibrant rotoscoping over live film footage; I will take inspiration from my grandfather Hamilton Wood’s paintings of Norfolk from throughout the 40’s to the 60’s; I will look at how Stan Brackage (‘Mothlight’) created collage and ink painted celluloid films.

I will base the films on locations which hold significant memories to do with family and time spent in the Norfolk country side throughout my life. Specifically the bit of road between Sea Palling and Waxham where I spent my summers camping with my family and the Acle straight, on the way to Gt Yarmouth. The films will be in part an homage to my Grandfather’s work.

I will take videos and pictures from journeys on these locations. I will also sketch impressions of them, I will collect items and materials which I will then use to make animations. From the videos I will create rotoscoped animations, using a projector, pens and paper, focusing on the sketches of the locations to guide an aesthetic and colour pallette. Using the collected objects and materials I will make a collage onto celluloid film.

I want to make an environmental representation of what Norfolk is to me. Rotoscoping over video will allow me to emphasise light, form and colour while also allowing me to show what I feel through the aesthetic. The timelessness of the locations will come through this piece of film.

In the second piece which will use materials from these locations in the film itself will bring the observer closer to what the land is made of. It will force a uniquely intimate relationship with the components which make up these parts of the countryside.

Finalised Learning Agreement

For this unit I intend to explore the possibilities for narrative in sound. How to record sounds and put them together to tell a story. This includes live recording and planned foley.

At the end of this unit I want to make a sound piece which sets a scene and has characters in a social context. It will be based on a dream I had, set in a cafe where a woman meets a man and as they chat she finds out that he is an alien on holiday in a human body which he has rented. It will be playful, slightly surreal and nonsensical, open to interpretation and overall benevolent.

To make it I will need to consider factors such as how to access a cafe, if there will be enough noise for it to sound busy, how to make my own authentic sound effects using foley, finding an actor and whether to write a script or to improvise one.

I will also include a reference to the research I did at the beginning of this project, nervous tics. I want my piece to feature some form of percussion using the body and to turn it into an action with a purpose.

Characteristics of these themes are non-verbal sounds, sounds created without purposed instruments and rhythmic and non rhythmic percussive action. Everyday examples of these are knuckle tapping with fingers, lifting/releasing fingers on a table, slapping shins when punctuating a sentence or statement, tapping a saucepan with a spatula or door knocking with your fist. What do we communicate through these sounds? Why do we each have our own signiture noises we make and are there universal sounds made by the body we all understand?