Grief Poem Animation: Brief & Research

Grief Poem Animation

Brief

To create a hand drawn stop motion animation for my poem 'Grief'.

I wrote this poem during my placement when I found out my cousin had died. I wrote a line every day on the tube in order to have a part of my day where I could grieve, whilst I had to hold it together during my placement. The whole point of this process is to heal myself. To express my emotions through my creativity in order to better understand how I'm feeling and be able to connect with my loved ones, friends and family as we have all lost these people together so need to stay connected.

My cousin had blossom flowers tattooed all over her back

Ned had Aloe Vera tattooed on his arm

These are the key visual elements I want to incorporate.

Research

How to help a grieving friend

I thought this animation on how to help a grieving friend really sweet, it's a good example of something with a universal audience which is what I want to achieve as I'd like my cousins kids to see it at some point, which this achieves well as you have the 

"Being heard helps... Acknowledgment can be the best medicine we have...

it makes things better even when they can't be made right." Megan Devine

Bluebird Animation, based on Charles Bukowski's poem

I love the subtlety of movement throughout this animation, his jacket coloured in swirls ripples, the background constantly changes as a combination of different mediums are used creating beautiful contrasts with the muted calming blue tones and parcel paper textures.

I too want my animation to have constant movement, I want winds blowing and blossom flying delicately, creating this sense of time elapsing, stressing the fact the world moves on around you as you grieve, time flies by regardless of what we're going through. This can be a comfort somewhat knowing that there is still a whole world waiting for us when we're ready, but quite a paradox as you question how life can continue. In the poem I focus on these contradictions as it is a natural part of the grieving process which I want to demonstrate visually.

Bluebird Animation, based on Charles Bukowski's poem

In terms of medium, I like this simplistic approach, keeping it all line-work doesn't take away from the poem, the simplicity elevates the poem and leaves you hanging on every word. I love the way this is spoken as well, I'm concerned I speak too quickly, I've read it over and over to my mum and she keep pointing out how fast I speak! I need to hang on every word, pause at the end of each line and take my time with it, it will feel a lot more powerful this way.

The subtle tones in this animated poem are really beautiful, the symbolic use of a toothbrush as a metaphor for a break up is a clever concept. I really liked the fluidity of pink/purple hues lighting up the character/ room details.