Post-Pitch: New Ideas

I've been mulling over my ideas for the animation and after everything that was said at the pitch I think I have an better idea of where I'm heading for the final animation.

Target Audience:
I've decided to widen the audience range in which my animation was originally designed for. I wanted to aim the animation for an A level target audience to begin with but now I'm leaning towards aiming it at teenagers in the age range of 14-18 years. There are a couple of reasons for this choice, but the foremost is that at this age, teenagers are becoming more aware of the world around them and the changes happening within their own bodies. They would be learning about drugs, sex, alcohol and infections from school (and other places) and as such I thought it would be appropriate to aim for this age range.  

Style:
As my animation is being re-aimmed at 14-18 year olds I though it might be a good idea to change the style. Originally I had planned to make it solely for educational purposes for A level students for the purpose of a better understanding of what they were being taught. Now however my animation has to reach a larger audience of teenagers who will have no grasp on A level concepts.

I've been thinking of a way in which to solve this problem, so I strolled down memory lane to pick up on what lesson I was taught about infections like HIV. The two most dominant were science (Biology) and PSHE (Personal Social and Health Education). Thinking of PSHE reminded me of all the drug, alcohol and sex education videos we were put through watching and I'm now being drawn towards the idea of stylising my animation in a similar way. This way it would retain its educational merits and not have to go to the lengths of explaining and conveying some of the more complex concepts of HIV infection.

I also want to consider how the HIV gets into the bloodstream and have that as a rough starting point for the animation. I get the feeling that starting the scene with something sexually or pregnancy based could be received negatively, which leaves me with the needles! (Cringe)

In terms of the artistic style I want to withdraw the idea of an aquatic world in favour of something a little more reality based. As Peter said at the pitch HIV doesn't swim in the blood it is carried along with everything else. This means NO more bioluminescent fish themed viruses and cells! :D

Peter said at the brief that HIV was a foreign entity - effectively an alien - to the human body and I really want to play with that. As such I've been thinking of theming the animation with an 'Organic Vs. Inorganic' idea; man against machine sort of thing. I would keep the normal body cells to be organic looking so fluid, curved and natural shapes whilst the virus could be sharper and unnatural in form.

To Summarise:
Target audience - 14-18 year olds (still at school)
Style                  - Awareness education (similar to Sex Ed videos)
Art style             - Organic Vs. Inorganic