Art is perhaps the ultimate form of communication (after all "a picture is worth a thousand words"). Animation is perhaps the ultimate form of art. One animated film may contain practically all art forms in one way or another. You have drawing/painting, sculpture (for 3D), acting/drama, cinematography, music, sound design, fashion, etc., all combined and unified in presentation to communicate whatever it was intended to communicate.
For the Christian, we have a message that we need to communicate--the Gospel. Animation/film is one potent method we can use, and should use, to communicate this message of hope to this lost and dying world.
As an animation student at Savannah College of Art and Design, I am endeavoring to learn the animation trade and figure out how to go about accomplishing the above through animation. That is why, when developing the concept for my senior project, I focused my attentions here, thinking this was my opportunity to figure out how to do this.
For some reason the LORD has kept bringing up King Nebuchadnezzar. My final project for my storyboarding class was Daniel 2-4. Nebuchadnezzar came up in my concept development class, and, although his story is far too epic for a 60-90 second short, my professor fell in love with the character. He reiterated the common thought that the “bad guy” is often the most interesting character because there is typically a depth to the bad guy, perhaps a reason why he is the bad guy. In my project, I am not portraying Nebuchadnezzar as the “bad guy.” Considering that “there are none righteous” and “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God,” which of us, by God’s measure, are better than Nebuchadnezzar?
One thing that was different about Nebuchadnezzar is that he was given absolute sovereignty during his reign. He had the power to do anything he pleased, anyway he pleased to do so. The only one who had power over him is the LORD Himself—the One who gave Nebuchadnezzar his power and the One who had the power to take it away from him. God was not content to let Nebuchadnezzar live out his days without knowing the One who reigns even over him. So, the LORD went about progressively revealing Himself to Nebuchadnezzar, starting with a dream, and ending with Nebuchadnezzar losing everything and going around like an animal, until finally his reason returned to him, and he identified that the LORD is the Almighty. That, in my opinion, is the story that should be told about Nebuchadnezzar.
This short animated film takes place the night Nebuchadnezzar has that first dream. It is my hope that this short will show me what needs to happen for Biblical animation to work well.
