BA Interactive Media - Advanced 3D Animation Techniques 'Through Children's Eyes: The Holocaust Paintings from Terezin' ANDREW FRENCH

THE PROJECT BREIF An animated short film has been commissioned for screening at the opening of the exhibition entitled: 'Through Children's Eyes: The Holocaust Paintings from Terezin‘ The exhibition will display children's drawings and paintings from Terezin, and the animation should in some way deal with the story of Terezin. In exactly what way this is achieved is up to the film maker. The film should be no more than 5 minutes in length.

A BREIF HISTORY OF TEREZIN Terezin from an ariel viewInside Terezin

The fortress Terezín (Theresienstadt) was ordered to be built by Joseph II of Habsburgh, and was named after his mother, Empress Maria Theresa, in 1780 as a form of protection against the invading Prussian troops, how ironic that it ended up being used as a place to inflict such terrible hurt on so many. Map of Terezin fortressMemorial at Terezin

SOME RESEARCH

Fig i. Helga with her parents and grandmother. Credit: Permission of Helga Weiss Fig ii. “Standing in the Queue in Front of the Kitchen” Photo: Helga Weiss. © Wallstein Verlag, Germany, All rights reserved. Fig iii. Counting Legs (1945/6) ‘... we were allowed to stay on our bunks; they just counted our legs – perhaps they felt a little bit sorry since we froze all night...’ Credit: Helga Weiss. © Wallstein Verlag, Germany, Fig i. Fig ii. Fig iii.

THE STORY My proposed animation will tell a story based on Helga’s Diary. Excerpts of the diary will be narrated over the top of the animation accompanied by some piano music. I have chosen ABOVE THE CLOUDS by Brian Crutchfield or MY ELEGANT REDMPTION by Tim McMorris (Audio Jungle). The entire animation will be created using 3DS max and some video editing software, maybe iMovie or Premier Pro

SCENE 1 Bright vibrant colours, Helga and her friend play SCENE 2 Parents listening to radio, talk of transportation and change

SCENE 3 Helga and friend are playing, comparing their ‘JUDE’ stars SCENE 4 Colours are still there but less vibrant

SCENE 5 Hundreds of Jews waiting to be moved to Terezin SCENE 6 Everyone is moved inside Terezin

SCENE 7 The men and women are separated SCENE 8 Helga is upset to be separated from her dad but at least she still has her mum… colour is less vibrant still

SCENE 9 Helga draws a picture and smuggles it to her dad. (the picture is a little more vibrant than the rest of the scene) SCENE 10 He returns a message telling her to ‘Draw what she sees’ (the pictures are very vibrant) Scene slides to reveal Helga creating more drawings

SCENE 11 Day to day ‘life’ continues, Helga on her bunk with friends, surrounded by dirt and vermin SCENE 12 News comes that the men are to be taken to build a new home for the Jewish community. (all colour has now gone)

SCENE 13 Helga and her mother watch as the father leaves – no narration SCENE 14 …fade to black

I am ending my Terezin diary here. Only the memories remain. I'm opening a new notebook, I'll start to fill its empty pages tomorrow. Will I see this next one through to the end as well?

Emotion can be portrayed by movement, for example – sadness and disappointment

I plan on using vibrant, bold colours at the start of the animation that slowly pale through out the entire animation as the situation worsens until eventually the entire animation is in grey scale.

Thank You For Your Time I will now answer any questions?

BA Interactive Media - Advanced 3D Animation Techniques 'Through Children's Eyes: The Holocaust Paintings from Terezin' ANDREW FRENCH