RESEARCH MODULE : PRACTICAL WORK
- Serrell Tafari
- Oct 16
- 12 min read
Updated: Nov 15
17.10.25
1ST STORY DRAFT : ROOTS TO FATE
- transcript waffle:
Roots to Fate. So, the story of what I'm doing is about showing how we are all, as people, parts of nature and each other. And how we are all interconnected. And the sort of idea I'm going for is basically just showcasing, from over time, the lives of indigenous peoples, the oldest continuous peoples, communities in the world. Showcasing them from our earliest human origins to ancient civilisations, to colonial era , to modern day, now that we have climate crisis and erasure, which already hints at the potential future that we may go down upon if we continue to abide by these oppressive systems which is distroying the planet. And so I want it to be like a short anime pilot episode, so there's an aspect of fantasy to it, just reimagining these cultures and societies in one short clip, telling that story. And I have the idea of having these sort of elemental stewards as parts of the natural landscape that reflect their respective region and culture. So, one example, I want to showcase indigenous marsh culture from its Sumerian times to now. And the sort of elemental steward for that is a sort of Mesopotamian inspired spirit, who is also a part of the natural landscape. And it will just show the story of how she is abundant and thriving, and then due to colonialism and capitalism and all this destruction, she slowly becomes sick and polluted and is in pain and becomes at risk of death. And she's there as a sort of representation of the indigenous spirit to conserve and protect nature, to steward over nature. And again, the whole narrative behind it goes down to the fact that 80% of global biodiversity is protected by indigenous people. And yet, they only make up 5% of today's population. So, sort of just like telling that story of why they protect so much, how do they protect so much, why do they only make up 5% of the population today when they used to be the majority, basically understanding our human roots, how we are connected, how our struggles are all connected through ancient migrations to modern systems of destruction. And now, also hinting at the kinds of futures we'd go down upon, the different speculative realities. And this will all be told through a semi-fantasy lens. There will be an element of surrealism to this. Another thing I have, like a vision, is basically showing the earth and basically a plant starting from Africa, the homeland of humanity, cradle of humanity. And then it's just like roots growing out of it, growing out of it, in the migrational patterns of people. And then flowers blossoming where humans began to settle and develop until today's world. But then, as it spins around, it's slowly like the flowers become dying or they just died blood red. And lights of cities begin to appear. But then, the future, you don't know what it will have in store. Either those lights will continue to light the earth or they will die out with the rest of humanity, alongside with the flowers. Basically showing the birth but also the death of humanity and the natural world alongside with it. That's one short clip, like a five second clip of this episode that I'd want to show, maybe the end, and it's all going to be narrated.
INITIAL STORYBOARD & PLOT
I found these nice professional templates from : https://folio.procreate.com/showcase
Act I – Roots
The scene begins with Earth, and with us
A seed bursts from the soils of Africa and blooms - into the first people - veins of glowing roots branching outward like ancient migratory paths of our nomadic ancestors, flourishing into more flowers ( indigenous communities).
As the earth spins, space blinks and opens an eye of a child- one of the first children of our species inspired by the Khoisan tribe. in her eyes, the reflection of that same plant. she nurtures it and awakens a spirit.
The elemental spirits awaken: embodiments of rivers, forests, deserts, mountains - each tied to their indigenous people and lands. They embody humanities relationship with earth.
Visual tone: warm, luminous, ethereal, fertile.
Act II – Present
As civilizations rise, spirits adapt and thrive — Sumerian marshes, Andean highlands, Polynesian seas - the age of the Holocene
Slowly, colonization begins. Trade routes morph into scars across the earth. The spirits weaken and hurt; their colors dull.
The Mesopotamian marsh spirit becomes a central motif — her waters turn black, her breath ragged, her body cracked like dried clay. she morns loss.
The Holocene is dead, and the Anthropocene is born.
Voiceover reflects on how humanity forgot its roots.
Visual tone: contrasts — beauty and sickness, harmony and violence intertwined.
Act III – Fate
The camera pulls back again — the glowing roots from earlier now dimming as red flowers wilt, replaced by networks of electric light.
The narration questions: “Are these lights our flame… or our funeral pyre?”
Moment of stillness — a single seed falls to the ground, glowing faintly.
The film ends with the fate of the earth in our hands
Tone: bittersweet, reflective, open-ended.
Thematic Spine
Interconnectedness: All life and culture share the same roots.
Stewardship vs. Domination: Indigenous cosmologies see the Earth as kin, not commodity.
Continuity: Despite erasure, indigenous knowledge endures — it may hold the key to surviving the future.
Choice: The film ends not with prophecy, but with a question — will we nurture the roots, or sever them?
ETHICAL SELF CRITIQUE
The story might risk mythologizing Indigenous cultures if not accurately informed.
23.10.11
2ND DRAFT
Within its origins in animation studios, storyboarding involves multiple drafting stages prior to full animation. I underestimated how drafting to a professional standard served a wider purpose: the sketches determine not only plot, but also characters, designs, colour schemes, background scenery, context and performance direction.
THURSDAY'S DISCUSSIONS
Today is the fifth week, Thursday.
We began with an introduction and a presentation from Yasmin, which I found really insightful. I liked how clearly she explained her purpose, process, and how her creative tech practice developed. Seeing presentations like hers, as Laura mentioned, is genuinely helpful for shaping my own essay and project.
Earlier in the day, I’d emailed Tony for a Blender introduction, but I misunderstood where he was working. Instead, I ended up speaking with Koray, another creative arts technician. That conversation turned out to be really valuable - he studied animation and recommended software like Toon Boom and ZBrush. When I showed him my storyboard, he said it reminded him of Scavengers Reign, which meant a lot because it’s one of my biggest inspirations.
Corey also reminded me that the outcome depends on the work I put in, and I feel more confident that I can create something meaningful without falling into perfectionism. I’m leaning toward 2D animation, but I’d love to integrate 3D elements using my Nomad modelling skills to give the project more depth. While we were talking, I noticed one of the twin artists I follow on Instagram animating in Photoshop nearby. Watching him work was inspiring, and I’m considering reaching out to him for advice or potential collaboration.
Tony's recommended tutorials and videos:
MEETING WITH TONY
TRANSCRIPT CONCLUSION: you want to do something which has nice lighting and such like and those are the things we want to play with okay okay so if you've got your video done tonight just the video i will find a character we'll just see if we can make it move in a way that makes us happy i think i've already got like the character nomad as well cool i have a really old one i can just add the face to it where are you tomorrow i am planning to come into uni into okay i'm not in the building tomorrow okay but on teams i'll be on teams all day i've got a couple of meetings a couple of odd students um i'm expected to see a five second video five second video just performing just you doing exactly in fact i wouldn't even say i wouldn't even say change i would say as you are now take no scarf nothing flapping okay you know what i mean just so that we've got just your form okay is there a way of doing like motion mapping like that kind of stuff but for like 2d frame or is tv just like i'll go and have a look because cascade is doing it in 3d but you have to remember it's only information you can't say you can't turn it to 2d um but um we've got things like after effects we can do you know like i've just done the cascade stuff ipad okay you can actually do that in things like after effects in 2d straight away but i've got to go and look it back up again okay you have to remember we're having this conversation fresh fresh so i'm so the first thing i want from you is a video and then video characters just a video and then we'll start i'm gonna have a look at characters because i've got to look at the whole scene of how we put it together okay it may sound like you're not doing very much right now but we're just getting started and then you need to think about if we get this bit to work nicely and it's relatively quick you can therefore do a whole sort of i don't know minute and a half of what is this you know is it going to sort of stand up hands on hips and look back at what it's created these are the things you'll then need to think about okay but let's do the first bit first just do the first simple motion let's put it on a piece of video then the reason we're doing that is so that we can see if a if it's going to work the way we want it to and b if there's something that's making it not work how we want it to before you start going i'm going to you know get 15 people doing animations all over the place and all that sort of thing we just want to get it started okay okay there's no reason for this not to work relatively quickly you can start to think about any of your backgrounds you can do the photoshop work you already know how to use that's what i'm saying you can do a do me a flat version of how you want your earth to look okay because that won't take you very long will it you know paint it sketch it out paint it and then all we're going to do is wrap it in a ball make it spin and then that can see that can even sit in the background of the first animation you see these you can start to put all these things together okay and as you build your things because you're going to build a tree you're going to ideally have it doing some sort of life cycles then we're going to look at sort of blend that so how are we going to make it so that the tree sort of grows and expands and leaves and all that sort of thing these are things we have to look into okay okay okay and we will learn it all together thank you is that all right yes.
reflection
So I just had a meetup with Tony, and he was super helpful and encouraging. I came in thinking only about Blender, but he reminded me — as he often tells his students — that Blender isn’t the best at everything. There are so many different software options and methods to help you get to where you want to go more easily. He mentioned After Effects, and a few others.
He tested me to create a 5-second video of myself acting out my animation. It’s just one scene, and that’s all I needed for the prototype, which I ll use to motion map a 3d model. Before, creating a high standard character on nomad sculpt would take me about a few days to a week, but now I can do it in an hour or two. Right now, I’m basically just playing around with what we’ve got: the performance, the motion, the model, the concept art, and the designs.
Working with all this software is enough for me to get on with it this week. I’m experimenting with what I want my animation to look like and exploring how I can bring it to life creatively.
….
DAVID:
Ashes To Snow
Lauren:
Hieronymus Bosch Garden Of Earthly Delights
ROKOKO
After effects 2D image into 3D https://www.adobe.com/uk/products/aftereffects.html
26.10.11
ANIMATION
" to give life to"
EXTENDED PERFORMANCES
2D FRAME ANIMATION IN PROCREATE
ANIMATICS
MOTION CAPTURE
One of my greatest creative directors, Guillermo del Toro, has a lifelong love for animation. He describes stop-motion in particular as :
“a direct transmission of personality from the animator to the model”
This quote became the new objective for my practical experimentation
source - Vlessing, E. (2023) ‘Guillermo del Toro talks artificial intelligence: “I’m worried about natural stupidity”’, The Hollywood Reporter. [online] Available at: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/guillermo-del-toro-not-worriedartificial-intelligence-1235585785/ [Accessed 20 Oct. 2025].
Cascadueur is a professional software I was recommended which offers high quality motion capture results, but it turned out that exports cost.https://cascadeur.com/
DeepMotion was easier to use, and even though the quality was lower, it still showed what I wanted — the character’s movement coming from my own action.
BUILDING THE ENVIRONMENT IN TWINMOTION
BUILDING THE CHARACTER IN NOMAD SCULPT
RIGGING WITH MIXAMO
BLENDING IN BLENDER
TUTORIALS I WATCHED :
A SUCCESS I GUESS
28.10. 25
N I G H T S C H O O L
IN W O N D E R L A N D
Aside from my main project, I also collaborated briefly with my classmate Izzy on her psychedelic Alice in Wonderland tea party event, which was a really exciting experience. I volunteered as one of the performers, playing the Cheshire Cat, which ended up being my way of celebrating Halloween and dressing up properly for the first time. I really enjoyed acting and making people feel uncomfortable for an hour, and I didn’t expect the outfit to come together as well as it did. I design a poster to support the event and potentially sell for a bit of income which due to time didnt happen, next motnh I might try again. Overall, it was a greatexperience, and working with Izzy again reminded me of what a cool collaborator she is, having worked together throughout the course and on Boomtown. I’m excited to see what she creates next for her project.
T H E S T O R Y
R E F I N E D
I developed my story into three acts, taking subtle influence from Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights, a triptych of paintings depicting the Christian theology of ' Eden, Chaos, and Hell.
Act 1: Roots begins with humanity’s origins from Africa, the development of ancestral wisdom and ancient civilisations, a time when most of humanity thrived with nature.
Act 2: Present examines the transition from the Holocene (Eden) to the Anthropocene (Chaos), highlighting Indigenous resilience in the face of ecological degradation, colonialism, and marginalisation
Act 3: Fate presents humanity’s choice between their fated futures, a path of creation or destruction.
06.11.25
MY END OF MODULE PRESENTATION
13.11.25
MY DISSERTATION
PERSONAL REFLECTION
Looking back, I've done a lot in this module. One thing I would do differently to stop pushing one task (i.e blender) and shift my focus, especially when it’s the principle and the learning, not the perfect output, that matters most. I’ve picked up just over a dozen tools and new pieces of software that I’ll continue using in my practice, and that alone feels like a huge step forward towards creation lab - where I aim to produce a short animated pilot episode showcased alongside a tryptic of illustrations and sculptural characters. Moving ahead, I want to collaborate more, build my network (e.g Sarah al Sarraj, emails, surveys ), and keep refining my ideas, storyboards, and workflow. I'll continue building knowledge on my research topics (i.e ethnographical, technical), and develop more concept artwork as I try making my storyboard sketch into animatics on procreate. I’m also determined to keep learning Blender, this time with the professional guidance of technicians and software specialists at BOM and BCU; starting by meeting Taran and Kelvin Wong. My finalised research proposal is 'Roots to Fate: how can animation empower indigenous cultures and worldviews? ' This research module has set the foundation for my project over the year, and I'm excited to see where it goes.
