So far I have decided on 2D animation over 3D due to time scale and my ability but will continue to look into 3D animation on the side. I also have the general plot of my animation (based roughly on the true story that I mentioned before). I have decided to stick with the concentration camp story, I know that I will have to be careful in telling the story meaningfully and avoiding being offensive, but I think I can do it with this story which as I said is more about the emotional aspects of being liberated and the aftermath than the horrific experience of the camp. I have also decided definitely to tell this story using animals rather than humans. I think Disney are a great place to look for how to tell serious/dark narratives for children using animals, particularly where violence/death is concerned. Other notable examples are Animal Farm which I have mentioned a couple of times previously and Watership Down, some of which Richard Adams based on his war experience. Also, Adams said “I do not believe in talking down to children” when discussing the dark/gruesome images of the novel/animation which I think is an important standpoint to take with this kind of topic. Mine is a different kind of serious to these stories, but I think the way I envision telling it will still be appropriate, particularly in “empathetic understanding” that history education ‘develops and employs’ in children (Primary Curriculum – Teaching the Foundation Subjects, 65).

I have not started adapting this yet into my screenplay/storyboard yet but I will do very soon.

I started sketching some (very) basic character designs and exploring different drawing styles, narrowing down how I might like my animation to look – for example the Disney style of drawing would not be appropriate for this I feel as it is too ‘comic’ and ‘soft’. A style closer to that of Watership Down (the 1978 version) or Animal Farm would be more appropriate as it feels a little more serious in it’s ‘harder’ lines, closer realism and darker colour palette.

I have drawn the main characters as cows and a yak (only because of the name Yakov and to add some visual variety) mainly because in real life they were actually treated as ‘cattle’: “the SS herded us into open cattle cars”. I was also considering pigs, horses, other livestock/farm animals for secondary characters but I’m not certain.

For other characters (which I have not started drawing yet), I am looking towards historical and cultural (including pop culture) associations and tropes. For example I was thinking of animals such as wolves and German shepherds for the SS, perhaps bulldogs, horses, foxes, rabbits and so on for Allied troops.

I have also been considering ‘visual style’ a little. For example, I think I would like to use a ‘Yiddish-style’ font, probably for the title.
Maybe something like these: