In my animation, we see three archetypes in the form of a butterfly, a red hand and shadows.  The butterfly is meant to represent desire and longing.  I almost wanted to lay the scene quite literally how it was done in the play Nosferatu where the creature “says that he has always waited for a sunset and now he dreams of a sunrise.  This is his forbidden fruit, this is what he cannot have…It turns out people always miss what thy can’t have.”  These are the words of Grzegorz Jarzyna, writer and director of BAM’s Nosferatu.  In this “scene”, the butterfly is Nosferatu longing for the sun that is centered at the middle of the photo.  An interesting story about the butterfly is that it is a symbol of life after death which also played into my decision to use it to represent Nosferatu’s longing.

The butterfly is trying to escape, but the red hand acts a a suppressor that attempts to stop the butterfly on its path toward the sun.  It is the archetype of not belonging. The picture in the background is that of a Coney Island sunset which I selected because of its wonderful representation of shadows in the quite literal sense as there is nice contrast between light and dark.  I liked this to use because amidst the butterfly’s longing and desire and the hand attempting to suppress it, there is a sense of unknowing and confusion with the shadows looming in the background always present.

COLLAGE:

In “Act I” of the animation, what we see is an almost dance-like sequence between the hand and the butterfly, with the hand rotating itself around the butterfly as to “swat” it away.  There is a struggle for power in a sense.  The hand seems to be fading away and the butterfly makes progress toward its target.  The hand alters and even removes the sun at points in the animation as to deceive the butterfly. However, by the midway point of the animation, we are essentially back where we started, but we see the addition of a brighter, colorful background that plays in the butterfly’s favor.  Things become murkier again until we see the appearance of a second butterfly that assists the first in achieving its goal.  At the conclusion of Act II after many trials and tribulations, both butterflies roams free once they have been freed from the oppressive hand that has faded into obscurity.  The last frame shows a green flash that leaves behind only the blacked out sun.

ANIMATION :