From April 2023 to July 2023, I was at Young Animators Club doing animations for use in a film named The Pigeon Theory, as part of an exhibition named Big Folkestone Doodle. Written, animated, narrated and scored by the other young animators and myself and edited by Lydia Hibbert, the film is about the pigeons’ takeover of the world and has interviews with different people in Folkestone giving their thoughts and theories about them based on their actions. It was made using Adobe After Effects, Character Animator, Premiere Pro, Google Maps and Procreate. I made a pigeon puppet for a stop motion scene in which a flock of pigeons (the other young animators’ pigeons) fight over breadcrumbs and have a party, and did three hand-drawn animations: one of a squirrel running and jumping across some Folkestone buildings’ walls and windows to reach an acorn (named Squirrel Climber made using markers, a plastic sheet and a photograph), another of a pie on a window sill growing legs and standing up, and one of a rotoscoped pigeon looking back before turning into a seagull and flying towards the screen, eating the camera. All three animations were photographed in Procreate, which I also used to do an animated advertisement for the exhibition itself.
My marker-drawn squirrel animation.
My three-frame boil window animation.
Turnaround of my pigeon puppet.
My rotoscoped pigeon turns around to see if anyone is watching him…
…before turning into an attacking seagull and flying towards the screen!
My animated advertisement for the exhibition.
On 22 July 2023, the exhibition opened at 4pm, and I attended it at 3:30pm. There I watched the film and saw my animations, though the one with the squirrel did not play due to the interview featuring it being shortened before the squirrel could move. The film was later uploaded to YouTube under the name The Pigeon Problem. My pigeon is seen at 3:45, and my animations are at 6:07, 9:17 and 10:42.
The film’s YouTube upload.
Advertisement for the exhibition.
Advertisement for the exhibition.
My projected animated advertisement for the exhibition.
The Earth.
The pigeons’ invasion causes the Earth to blow up.
The film’s title card.
A pigeon walks across the grass in the middle of a park, enveloped in a fiery-red aura.
My pigeon puppet joins the pigeon party, looking for breadcrumbs.
A terrified person hides from the pigeons’ takeover inside a post box.
My transforming pigeon stands atop a drainpipe.
A pigeon watches hijinks occurring in a building’s windows.
Two red-eyed pigeons walk around before talking about their love for food.
My marker-drawn squirrel runs and jumps across buildings to reach his acorn, while a woman expresses her love for pigeons and hails them.
My inverted three-frame boil window animation.
A ‘fat pigeon’ pecks away at the ground before another pigeon gobbles him up.
Seeing the Titanic, a pigeon prepares to use his telekinesis powers to sink the ship.
Three monstrous pigeons stand against a dark, brown, stormy background, their mouths and sharp teeth drooling with saliva.
A pigeon transforms into a mushroom bottle before falling over and exploding.
A pigeon stands and looks at the camera, confused about the film ending and the pigeons’ invasion being cut short.
I am passionate about cartoons, drawing, films, books, video games, theme parks and my family. I hope to share some insight into some of my passion with you. Next year, I will be studying Creative Digital Media in the near future, and I hope to share my journey with you as well.
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