History

Introduction:

My historical topic I have chosen, is the life and legacy of 'John Kent'. Kent was known for being the first black policeman to ever join the British police force. During his time as a police officer; he faced racial prejudice and was crudley nicknamed "Black Kent", due to his different skin colour compared to a large majority of white officers.

To convey the life and legacy of Kent,I have decided to tackle a short animated feature lasting no longer than one minute. This will be a brief narrative retelling of his story from when his father was a slave, until his death and future descendants carried his bloodline onward as farmers.

Ideas:

Brainstorming/Idea generation:

Initial Sketches/Concept Art:

Character Designs:

Colour Theory/Palette:

To match with the time period, and how it was presented through early photography and video footage before the turn of the millennium in the 20th century; I have tried to stick to mostly muted, light and rustic colours.

This would be to save time on colour detail in post refinement/editing, as I would leave the brushes to fill in the gaps for details.

For the later ending portion of the feature, I wanted to juxtapose the old damaged film feeling of the past with the newer technology available to us, to show this; I chose to draw in sharper lines as well as muted colours like the ones shown to the left.

Art Style Experimentation/Techniques:

Brushes Used (Procreate Dreams):

Stylistically, I wanted to pursue something that could be quickly applied, but visually striking in contrast to the background's old, rustic paper texture to fill in the blanks.

Art Style Ideas:

- Black & White Photograph/Monochrome

- Sepia/stained photograph aesthetic

- old damaged film filter added in post

Development:

Writing The Plot/Narritive:

When developing the plot/narrative for the animation, I wanted to stay as close to historical recordings as I possibly could. The theme of this animation was to depict an underdog facing all of the odds stacked against them, and with John being scrutinised for his skin colour, I felt like developing that kind of story was almost certainly straight-forward to adapt into an animated feature.

Notes:

- John Kent's Origin (Family, Birth, growing up, etc.)

- John's struggle and perseverance (Facing prejudice, hatred, how he overcomes it, joining the police force, and serving justice)

- John's equilibrium (makes his biggest arrest yet and proves himself, becomes drunk on the job and let go from the force, settles with odd jobs, etc.)

- The Resolve (John dies, but his memory lives on today, his family discover him, racism is challenged more, contrast from John's time to our time).

Narration:

For added context, I have also decided to add narration to the animated feature. This will be provided by myself, as I have taken part in voice over before. I will try to match the older feel of footage from that time period by filtering the audio through filmora's audio channel editor.

- Audio will be slightly bit-crushed (vintage quality), including narration that matches the old-timey speaking English accent at the time.

- This will also be accompanied by the song 'Meaning (Choral Version)' which sounds closely reminiscent of the 1800s classic music genre; including that of Beethoven, Chopin, Bach, etc.

I will provide full credit to them in the credits afterwards. The reason I chose this song, is because the lyrics reflect the meaning of Kent's life in the modern day, and how he triumphed against the racism of the day, and inspires black officers in todays culture and society.

Recording The Voice Over:

To accompany the animated feature, I have decided to implement voice over narration to explain details and enhance the story. This is intended to not just describe the situation on-screen, but instead add to the visuals playing out.

I also plan to voice act the segment myself, as I have done voice work before for various projects online over the years. The voice in particular I want to read the script with, would be an old-timey, 1880s old English accent that was spoken with during that time. This is to give the impression that despite done with today's technology, I intend to make this project feel like it were made close to the time period.

Developing The Art/Animation Style:

Since animation is a repetitive and repeated process, I have decided to make a simplistic visual style that can be adapted to 2D animation, utilising lineart and heavily applied pencil textures. This is so it falls in line with the time period, and the earliest iterations of painted cel animation from studios such as Fleischer and Disney.

Development Process:

Storyboard:

Final Outcomes/Results:

'Kent's Legacy':

Research:

John's History -

Timeline of John Kent's life -

When researching various outlets for information on Kent's life, I found that he began at the time of slavery's abolition, and lived a life that allowed him to grow up and learn to stand up for what he believed in, hence his eventual employment in the police force. Upon finding these outlets, I created a basic timeline above that recorded his lifespan that fit just within the 19th century, just before the turn of the millennium.

His life overall was a very important time capsule for us in the modern day, as at the time, he was mistreated despite how ahead of his time he was for social rights and being a solid role model of morality.

Time period: (mid - late 1880s) -

Firstly, I found it very important to refresh my memory of what I have seen and learned before about the victorian age, since this was a time period that is long gone to us and can only be seen through history. It was the archaic beginnings of technology and old fashioned mindsets, coming off the tail-end of the slave trade and the end of King William IV's reign.

People (Civilians, Police, Animals, etc.):

In this point in time, the people who lived in the United Kingdom; specifically Cumbria, were mostly living in disparity and poverty, with very little of the townsfolk having access to clean clothing, water, and general quality of life we have now.

During this time, animals roamed the streets daily, disease like cholera would spread, and street violence was at an all time high. This enforced the police to intervene more closely.

Environments (Victorian Britain, Locations, Events, & Daily Life):

To better understand how Great Britain looked at the time, I had decided to investigate and collect visuals that best represented the age of victorian times in England.

John's Resting Place:

John's resting place is located in the Carlisle city cemetery.

Informative Videos:

To better understand the era at the time, I found YouTube videos that explained the customs, style and daily life of the victorian age so that I could best depict it in my animation.

For referencial material, I am basing my animation mainly off of old-fashioned animated adverts of the past. Those that utilise monochromatic colour schemes and shades to great effect, and are hand drawn traditionally.

BBC's Inside Out Episode -

The Documentary on 'John Kent' by Lenny Henry (BBC One's Inside Out):

An episode on the BBC documentary series called 'Inside Out' was developed on John Kent.

This episode delved into his early life, and was informative on where his family is today in contrast to the victorian era.

John's Present-Day Family Interview-

In 2008 Cumbrian farmer, Ian Bulman, had discovered that John Kent was actually his distant ancestor. In an interview with local news reporters for an open university assignment; he discussed his history and influence and how much of a pleasant discovery it was to find out that Britain's very first black police officer was related him.

Inspiration:

Art Nouveau

For environmental style in the backgrounds of this animation; I have decided to implement the style of 'art nouveau', as it was the most prevalent art style in the victorian age when Kent's story was set in.

My aim is to be as authentic to the time period as possible, so this would include all of it's rustic brick and mortar structures and unique shapes.

'Silent Film' Genre:

Similarly to art nouveau, I also want the feeling of the frame rate and visual finish to replicate that of an older silent film, as a little before the the turn of the millennium; film was beginning to take off.

The inspiration from silent film that this animation will take, will be the monochromatic, muted colour scheme, As well as the damaged film flickering and skips.

Old Photography:

To further keep the victorian time period aesthetic, I have decided to also draw influence from old, slightly damaged, torn, and faded photography as it debuted at the very end of the 1880s.

I plan to implement this in post editing with a filter and frame skipping, this way I can keep a convincing visual flair.

Classic/Traditional Animation:

To stay true to the time period in terms of art and animation style; I have chosen to adopt a very primitive time period of animation, which was the closest that I could get to the late 1800s. This would include early age Disney, Fleischer, and Barré Studios to name a few.

My aim with this animation is to match the scratchiness and nearly incomplete movement of the classic, golden age of animation. As I feel this style would suit when John Kent was alive, and the environments he lived in.

Software & Tools Used:

The idea for the art style I had in mind, was to replicate the painterly, and intense nature of the victorian age that Kent lived through. It was a grizzly environment that was plagued with violence, disease, poverty, and narrow-minded thinking towards racial minorities in a largely white environment.

Procreate Dreams:

My softwares of choice, was the popular Apple software: Procreate, and Procreate Dreams.

With the help of procreate's brush library, and in great timing too; as the brush library had been updated to feature brand new, hard brush stroked textures that I found very helpful with this task.

The animation features a framerate of 15 frames per second, which is commonly found in heavily story-based animated media. Examples of these are Japanese anime, action cartoons/films, and independently made animation online. The last one being where most of my experience and background in teaching myself animation comes from.

Audacity:

Recording the audio/narration for the animation would be down in a free, audio editing software called Audacity. Here I can do my voice performance as the narrator, and edit down any mistakes, silences, and add enhancements such as filters, volume range, etc.

Wondershare Filmora/iMovie:

In the editing process, I decided to go with the lesser known, but just as resilient software; Wondershare Filmora. The editing application is very similar to that of iMovie and Sony Vegas, but offers it's own filter packages that I plan to use for this animation.

However, I would later use iMovie afterwards to implement sound effects and camera movement to further enhance the animation quality in post editing.

Reference Photos for animation:

In the animation industry, it's not uncommon to take poses and pictures of objects for certain shots and movements. At points during the process; I required some reference images (Mostly hands).

Audio:

Narration:

Background Music:

To accompany the voice over, I had also decided to implement music from the 'Ragtime' genre. I chose this particular genre for the reason that it is also rooted in black culture, which seemed fitting to accompany John Kent's story.

The song I ended up choosing was 'Maple Leaf Rag' by Scott Joplin.

Sound Effects/Foley:

Sound Effects Used:

- Old FIlm Projector

Sources:

- https://www.blackhistorymonth.org.uk/article/section/bhm-firsts/john-kent-britains-first-black-policeman/

- https://www.btphg.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/John-Kent-Lydias-article-120421.pdf

- https://cumbriaguide.co.uk/carlisles-john-kent-was-uks-first-black-policeman/

- https://blackwallst.media/britains-first-black-police-officer/

- https://edm.parliament.uk/early-day-motion/62329/britains-first-black-police-officer-john-kent

- https://lakelandarts.org.uk/items/john-kent/

- https://www.philippagregory.com/news/bbc-appearance

- https://www.londonmuseum.org.uk/collections/london-stories/metropolitan-police-from-1829-to-today/

- https://www.mayfairgallery.com/blog/19th-century-european-painting-styles-movements/

- https://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/23342145.looking-way-back-early-1900s-carlisle/#gallery8

- https://www.loc.gov/collections/american-sheet-music-1870-to-1885/articles-and-essays/greatest-hits-1870-85-variety-music-cavalcade/

- https://britishonlinearchives.com/collections/67/volumes/451/slave-trade-1641-1838?filters%5Bquery%5D=&filters%5BclassName%5D=document

-https://www.bbc.co.uk/cumbria/content/articles/2007/02/23/slavery_cumbria_whitefarmer_2007_feature.shtml#:~:text=Help%20playing%20audio/video,his%20wife%20at%20the%20top