Parasite Pixiliation

        In order to further explore the process behind pixilation, I am going to make my own based on the relationship between a host and parasite. The pixilation needs to be between 600 and 1000 frames long, at a rate of 12 frames per second, which would make the animation between 50 and 72 seconds long. This may not sound much, but looks can be deceiving.

 

        After coming up with a few concepts, including a tired person being consumed by their duvet, I decided to use a mobile phone as a parasite, with earphones and cables as 'tentacles'. Once I had plotted a rough story outline, it was then time to draft a storyboard showing the kind of framing and camera movements I envisaged, in case I needed to do the actig and get someone else to man the camera. Here is the result...

 

 

        There were a few practical problems that needed sorting out in the plot, such as how to firmly secure the phone to a hand and give the cables enough stability to hold their shape to be photographed. 

 

         

        While the fungus in the clip below is dramatic and eerily beautiful, it was not was I was looking for and doesn't really fit in with the use of a mobile phone as a prop.

 

 

        In the initial stages of this project, what sprang to mind for the word parasite was this scene from John Carpenter's 1982 version of The Thing. The grasping whip-like tentacles wrapping around the frantic dogs in particular was what seemed suitable for the wires and cables that could emerge from the body of the phone. 

 



 

        The facehuggers from the Alien films also provide a good reference point for my pixilation, as their super strength constricting tails are quite similar to what interested me in The Thing.