This story is my story. I’ve had a lot of time to reflect upon my life these passed few years, and I’ve recently come to a depressing realization. I came to Canada, from the United States to escape my life there. I know this part, and I was happy to leave my old life. However, I didn’t expect one my issues back home would bring so much baggage with me to Canada. I tried to forget about it and move on with my life. I thought that I had gotten over it. My father died when I was about 13 years old. I never talked about this with my friends back home. I don’t discuss this with my new friends here. And through the 3 and a half years that I’ve been with my former partner, I’ve talked about my father twice with him. This is an issue that is still eating away at my insides and I know it’s quietly killing me. I’ve got to get it out of me. Out of my system. This film, Insert Credit, summarizes the more monumental moments of my short lifetime. I’ve decided to theme the story of my life to look like a video game. The knowledge that “David likes video games” is easy to deduce and is something visible on the surface of who I am. So I want to combine this theme with something so deeply personal to me as to cushion the blow of just how emotionally damaging this story is to me to work with. I think this will help me get through this without hurting myself too much. I also want it to look like a cartoon or a game at first, and take people by surprise by having it actually be about something personal. To disarm the viewer somewhat. The film will be done with pixilated sprites, akin to video games of previous generations. It will purposely look like ‘retro’ technology. Health bars of each player in my life will be displayed at the bottom, and players will come and go accordingly in the story.
The kind of research that I thought about doing were to look into more old video games of a certain era, to look into the works of other pixel artists, and to look up technical limitations of the era as well. I want the animation to look genuine, so I need to do a lot of research into the kind of games that I want to emulate. The 80's era of games had a much simpler, different look than the 90's era. I want a more modern interpretation of the sprite art aesthetic. A pixel artist that I look up to is Paul Robertson. His characters have so much personality and the art and animation looks so smooth. His website and community blog 'Mecha Fetus' features much of his work, and I will be perusing it constantly, trying to get a feel for his work process.
The online community 'Pixel Joint' is another huge source of information and inspiration for my film as well. There are many established pixel artists as well as several up and comers that look for tutorials and beginning tips. Many tips that I'd need as well, and since everyone in the community seems so open and friendly, I look forward to talking amongst them.
My dad's death has had an effect on me that cuts deeper than I care to admit. Only upon reflection do I see how I've let this eat away at me, and even then, I tend to remove the thoughts from my mind shortly after.
This film will either be extremely therapeutic, or my emotional downfall this semester.
Either way, I'm ready to take the chance. Finally.
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