This thesis presents an analysis and documentation of the process of creating an animated biography where the filmmaker has a personal relationship to the film’s subject.
As a contextual foundation for making the film, three existing animated biographies in which their filmmaker has a personal relationship with their film’s subject are analyzed. These works are examined for their use of animation and graphic techniques in strengthening the storytelling aspect of the film. Also examined is how the relationship and tension between the filmmaker and each film’s subjects influenced their design processes. Following each film analysis is a summary of their relationship to the author’s filmmaking process for this projects film Alone in the 475th.
A methodology for creating the animated biography is then detailed and includes how the visual design of the animated film is developed to express the discovery of found artifacts and to support the filmmaker’s story intent. Each of the six sections in the film are detailed to demonstrate how journal entries written by the film’s subject, Sam Cerra, are matched with the visual design choices of the filmmaker.
The thesis document concludes with a summary of the filmmaking process, next steps for the filmmaker and a short discussion of the current state of the animated biography and the context of Alone in the 475th within that film category.