This stop motion animation film was part of my Falmouth University MA Illustration final major project exploring aspects of autoethnography by thinking through making and making through knowing.

Film One is the opening film in a trilogy of stop motion animation films on the theme of Places We Go To Escape Fear, which developed into the “Overcoming” Trilogy.
Each film is set to a specific song (all copyright/licensing permissions obtained), intended to add narrative value. FIlm One follows one character through childhood (as she escapes warring parents through her headphones and projects her hope for freedom into her dream). It focuses on a sequence which exemplifies the child’s solitary yet self-resourceful existence and how her method of escape ultimately empowers her to live through her current difficult circumstances. The subsequent films in the trilogy would then follow the same character through adulthood and older age.

As an emerging stop motion animator, I decided to make my practice about emotional spotlighting through the tactilism that stop motion animation affords. My USP is that I won’t use any CGI or post-production digital amendments/enhancements, greenscreening or tidy-ups in my stop motion work – it is all live in-camera action and this led to some creative resourcefulness for what turned out to be “organic” special effects filmed. I wanted to challenge myself to offer an antidote to heavily computer-led stop motion animation work, so I really enjoyed developing sequences with light, coloured acetate and alternating frames as methods for special effects.

The result should hopefully be one which carries the viewer by their emotional response to the film, and “unsee” any imperfections because my aim is to make moving things by making things move.

Animator, artist and illustrator based in Surrey, United Kingdom. Carcazan is a recent graduate of the Aardman Academy (SM1) and has just completed a Masters (MA) in Illustration from Falmouth University in December 2022.
Previously focused on campaign-based illustration and 2D animation, Carcazan started developing her stop motion animation practice since July 2021 as part of MA project work.