Animation & Motion Design
Clare Kenneally
Monsters under the Bed
Monsters under the Bed, tells the story of a child seeing the monster behind a person of trust in her environment. The animation is a piece of poetry the artist wrote from her own childhood experiences. The poem is narrated by a child and is a reference to fairytales, security and safety in childhood. The piece is created using hand-drawn traditional animation. A child’s view of the world is one of the most innocent. This influenced the way in which the artist created this animation.
The aim was to bring in the ideals of childhood and children’s fascination with fairytales, but with a twist, showing that the real-life monsters are usually in disguise. The shadow which follows the person that is the so-called hero, or pillar of society, is unnoticed by all but the child narrator in the animation. Everyone else, preferring to ignore or simply not see the wolf in sheep’s clothing. The piece is a reflection on the artists own experience, but also the problems in our society and, the elevated position of the Catholic church and cases of abuse in Ireland. The emphasis on fairytales and the coping mechanisms a child employs when experiencing a difficult situation is a major influence on how the artist created this animation.