Research Proposal

Motion Graphics Proposal
This research project allowed me the freedom to creatively express my thoughts, ideas, and opinions. As I began brainstorming different topic ideas, I thought about which subject’s would/could be transcribed into visually interesting compositions. After exploring a variety of interests, I decided to discover an important element in art, the significance of color, particularly green. After classifying everything I could possibly think of as green, I generated the following list: US currency, nature, camouflage, marijuana, Hulk, traffic lights, aliens, Islamic religion, reptiles, dragons, etc. Finally, during my presentation of these topics to my classmates, I received excellent feedback on how the idea of camouflage and aliens could possible be combined. They broaden my outlook on how these words could be defined, discovered, and discussed. Through the use of classmate suggestions and my own research, I have decided to explore how I can create short animations displaying unfamiliar elements that are concealed when something is perceived as a threat.
At the beginning WWI, camouflage was known but had never been seen, until one night a truck drove by and Picasso and Stein labeled it as being camouflage. Picasso amazedly cried out, “Yes it is we who made it, that is cubism.” From that point on, camouflage acted as an essential weapon of defense for military forces during combat. Camouflage is meant to disguise, conceal, imitate, mislead, hide, and has the ability to act on perceiving something as a threat. Camouflage’s scientific principle is to reduce the contrast between a target and its background, the contrast in size, shape, movement, and color. It is best employed when the subject is motionless and everything appears to be in sync. Depending upon the targets environment, the concealment of some elements is difficult to distinguish due to variations in light and color. Likewise, animals are affected by the same principles mentioned above. Camouflaged animals can be illustrated as dead or alive, therefore they have the ability to convert their fear, into intimidation for their predator. As I observed these photographs, I realized how much of an art form certain animals are, specifically those that occupy water.
Aliens are often illustrated as supernatural beings that are brought to earth from other planets or parts of the universe. Aliens are known as the other, foreign, unfamiliar, not belonging, or sometimes appearing as threat. In today’s society, aliens are often associated with citizens from other countries who illegally immigrate to the United States. As I continued researching, I found another definition for the term alien: strangers in a new environment or outcasts. As to the physical appearance of the idealistic alien, it’s a strange creature with an enormous head and eyes, yet the mouth and nose are rather small. I found it very interesting as to why the alien’s physical features resemble that of a young fetus in a human beings womb. During pregnancy, the baby or fetus has very precise similarities to that of what we perceive aliens as containing. Nevertheless, this extensive research involving these two terms has given me more insight into their many explanations.
In conclusion, both terms have very valuable meanings, which coincide with one another. My expectations are to create animations that might camouflage a strange situation or threat for the protections of a being. If we are given the freedom to create these animations with no specific instruction, I have a few ideas as to how I will choose the content of each piece: Food Chain, Car Scenario, Identity Issues, etc. Often times we as humans camouflage ourselves from different situations in life and the idea of new opportunities being introduced to us seems bizarre. I have always had a love for camouflage and viewed it as a sign of strength, especially being that I was tomboyish as a child. I’m from a town south of Nashville called Columbia, (known as the Mule Capital of the World) so I have always been exposed to southern living, especially hunting and cooking deer, rabbits, and squirrels. My exploration of aliens came from observing the Science Fiction network and Unsolved Mysteries all summer. The research I completed opened my eyes to a larger view of the terminology.