Faculty of Art

Integrated Media: Digital Painting and Expanded Animation

Sonya Sheina

LockyerLand

In this 3D animation, while exploring the surface of mars, an astronaut stumbles upon the remains of his 2 predecessors, both of which have returned to earth months before. This forces him to venture out into the alien landscape to discover who, or what, had come back in their place - at the end realizing the he himself may be the person who landed on the surface. This story explores surreal horror through the fear of the unknown, as well as our fear of insignificance as both people and species.

“LOCKYERLAND is a single channel, 3D animation that focuses on a fictionalized depiction of Mars. This work aims to explore human identity, both individual and collective, as explored through cosmic horror. The narrative centers around an astronaut, who during his first walk on mars, he discovers the presence of alien architecture and stumbles upon the remains of his two predecessors, both of which have returned to earth months before. In the end, he learns that he himself may be the person who landed on the surface. This story, while narrative, attempts a ‘dream like’, vague and surreal narrative meant to reinforce a sense incomprehensibility. The visuals aim to combine science fiction and fantasy through the clashing of architecture and character. Since a very early age I have been encouraged to explore astronomy as both science and entertainment. I have always found the space fascinating but have struggled to grasp the concept of something that something so incomprehensibly large, entirely unexplored and poorly understood. As a subject, it combines the sense of child-like wonder and possibility with ‘larger than life’ horror. My goal for the visual style of my animation was depict this dichotomy through establishing a sense of otherworldly, ‘beautiful’ architecture in an otherwise horror film. The narrative structure of the animation was largely influenced by works of fiction and themes are attributed to post-modern authors such as David Foster Wallace and Thomas Pynchon and center around an unreliable, “up for interpretation” narrative that leaves the viewer confused yet intrigued. ”