Institute of Art Design + Technology Dún Laoghaire
Ireland’s campus for the Creative Industries

Sean O Boyle 

BA [Hons] Animation

Sean O Boyle is an Irish animator from Muff, County Donegal. From a young age he's had a love of storytelling. Be it my bedtime stories, literary tales of adventure or sharing time with my grandparents watching cartoons, the art of communicating a tale and having it resonate with others has always captivated him Sean is motivated to create 2D animation full of action and physical comedy, being inspired by 2010's web animation, live action directors such as Jacques Tati, Stephen Chow and modern animation from studios such as Studio Meala, The Line, Studio La Cachette, Science Saru and Flying Bark.

Rail Against

Rail Against is a 2 minute short about a boy missing his train. through a slapstick pursuit involving himself, a cat and a rat, he learns that sometimes, when things go wrong, you have to slow down and try again later...the hard way.

Credits as of 17/05/2024:
Direction | Storyboard | Compositing - Sean O Boyle.

Sound Design - Ciaran O Brien, Marcus Whyte.

Animation - Tania Stokes, Sean O Boyle, Aaron Mortel, Alicia Mc Manus, Vasiliki Zafeiri, Daniel Pong, Niamh Mahon, Oisín Heffernan.

Inkpaint - Aaron Mortel, Daniel Pong, Sean O Boyle, Oisín Heffernan, Alicia Mc Manus.

Background Design - Joy Mora, Daniel Murphy.

Background Art - Keelin Kusch, Aislinn Blackwell, Kate Minouge, Daniel Murphy, Joy Mora, Sean O Boyle.

Character Design - Nkem Oguama, Aaron Mortel.



Animations Capacity To Depict Historical Narratives, In Comparison To Oral Storytelling

This thesis is an exploration on how animated film depicts historical narratives. Oral storytelling is brought in as a comparison medium as the author believes both mediums share a quality that enhances their ability to engage an audience in a story set in the past. The thesis discusses four films who’s historical elements range from a fully fictional tale in an historic setting, to biographical films set within the last 50 years. The authors study of these films leads to his assessment on animation and oral storytelling being confirmed. In some ways it is done so through direct demonstration of the films visible design elements, in others a less obvious approach is taken. In one film, the author has to examine the content within the films and extrapolate a connection to oral-storytelling from it’s narrative elements (A subject within the film demonstrating the authors point rather than the film itself), whilst another one draws medium comparison in it’s production rather than final product. Through this method the author finds a greater understanding in why he discovered the connection between animation and oral storytelling but also in how that connection can be utilized in future in ways both beneficial and malicious towards how storytellers and audiences engage with history in film.

(Thesis can be read on request at seanoboylepro@gmail.com)