Conor Duke
Roots is a short-film project focused on a fictional city and two children caught up in the ancient practices and rituals held therein. The Original short-film was too long for the time restraints held within the course, therefore the film presented here is a completed version of the opening sequence of the short-film.
In the world of urban development and community planning today, communication is
paramount. Whether it’s communication with developers, policy-makers, or the wider
community that urban-development projects intend to improve; lackluster or uninspiring
communication strategies can be a deathblow to a project. Current visual communication
prioritizes technical audiences, (developers, agencies, investors) instead of prioritizing public
engagement. A method shift towards illustration and animation enables a type of
communication that inspires creativity in the local population and creates goodwill through
positive mental connections to other non-developer work, such as beloved movies or
tv-shows. There is a vast array of public facing work done in the world today that relies
purely on either good will or data-sheets to curry positive public sentiment, and much bad
car-centric and anti-human urbanism that spreads un-abated because of the indifference and
lacking-interest of the public. There is a vast un-tapped well of creative practices and talent
that can be used to better these practices and create a tighter knot into the communities
served.
Born in Nashville, Tennessee and raised in Portland, Oregon. I started illustrating back in Middle School, but didn't actually start taking it seriously until my Junior year of High School. Back then I thought I would go into Law or History, or maybe Urban Planning, but a stint at an animation course at the Pacific Northwest College of Art changed my trajectory. I became fascinated with telling stories and creating worlds through the medium of animation. After a quick year at the University of Oregon, I applied and got accepted to IADT in Ireland and began a new journey away from my home country. I have improved greatly from my beginnings here in my artistic practice, and more importantly I have made many friends that will last a lifetime.
