Matthieu Neal

BA New Media with Animation Minor

DESIGNER STATEMENT: Ever since I was a child, my life has revolved around cartoons and gaming. Seeing these different styles from these artforms has given me inspiration to create my own drawings and two-dimensional animations. I incorporate elements of comedy and hidden meanings into my animations. 

There, There is a 2D animation with a character who sees a disturbing figure in his sleep. He wakes feeling devastated after experiencing this event. A sentient and friendly video game console then appears in his presence to cheer him up. The main character feels comforted enough to fall back to sleep, repeating the process of the story.

There, There demonstrates how anxiety from worry can influence a person negatively. The unknown worry of my character is seen through his nightmare, representing how stress can make one feel uneasy. The character’s stress is relieved through gaming which is an activity that relieves my worries. I use my struggle of anxiety to express how it could feel through a fictional character. The loop of my animation exemplifies the never ending cycle of relieving your stress only to find it back in your doorstep. I hope my work can remind the audience that taking breaks and finding an escape from reality is necessary to prevent such worries from happening.