OUAN505 - Applied Animation - Pre-Production/Research: Skhizein - Jeremy Clapin

OUAN505 - Looking into Documentary Animation:

The second animation I found was a little bit more sinister. It didn't have the multitude of colours that the previous one did, and instead was completely in sepia, featuring very bland colours to depict a very hard set of circumstances. The protagonist, a middle-aged man, happens to be suffering from a form of depersonalisation and detachment from his surroundings. Skhizein, a French animated short documentary featuring a gentleman dealing with his mental illness (what happens to feel like Schizophrenia, hence the title?), shows how he is exactly 91cm from his body.


Skhizein (short film) from Jeremy Clapin on Vimeo.

Since this condition is so misunderstood by so many, I feel it is very important to correct any negative or judgemental thoughts about such a difficult thing to live with. The character shown is obviously very confused and is shown managing his life by working out everything 91cm from where it should be. He is very proactive and tries ever so hard to get things back to "normal" but is obviously struggling to come to terms with how a 150 tonne meteorite has managed to affect his life in such a monumental way.

The techniques and methods used to make this seem to be hybrid, using possibly 3D and some 2D elements (along with even some stop motion for the meteorite?). The realistic sound effects bring you into the animation and allow you to feel part of his life, an obviously very intimate place. I think it is important for documentary animation to feel realistic despite using animation as the media of choice. You need to really focus on bringing the audience to the subject's level when trying to portray an incident or event as you want to conjure up emotion and empathy to create a reaction which in turn will make it successful.