Dreams also have many speculated meanings, with different animals and plants all believed to hold both positive and negative meaning.

Freud believed that 'The interpretation of dreams is the royal road to the unconscious'. He speculated that dreams are a form of 'wish fulfilment', representing desires of the unconscious. He believed that the symbols in dreams proposed what the conscious mind desired.

Surrealists aimed to capture the subconscious mind, resulting in bizarre images. Many used a technique called automatic drawing, where they would draw without thinking and supposedly drawing from the subconscious.

I used an AI text to image generator and used the prompt 'nightmare'. These images definitely have a surreal atmosphere and mimic the idea of the subconscious although this might be because it is a new technology and as it develops it will probably have a more 'polished look'. Because it is made by AI it has an uncanny feeling. The first image depicts what looks like a woman but anatomically it is very off and does not look like something a person would create. You can tell they are made by AI because of these things that just seem 'off' that the AI does not understand.

The GIF here shows the pigs that she sees throughout the film. These pigs turn into strange anthropomorphic creatures with a blend of pig and human characteristics; this is a good example of the uncanny, these pigs go from something that we can all recognise to something that slowly becomes more and more bizarre and unsettling.

"If, as Freud tells us, the purpose of dreams is to fulfil our secret or manifest desires, then surely somewhere deep inside us that most basic of human desires must constantly be being fulfilled: to survive one's own life."

Svankmajer is a surrealist artist whose work I am focusing on in my dissertation. A lot of his own work is inspired by his dreams, and these themes are clear in his films. Alice, 1988 for example is an adaptation of Alice in wonderland. He uses puppet stopmotion animation to depict the different characters from the story. The rabbit for example, is a puppet with huge bulging eyes and teeth. Throughout the film it has sawdust leaking out of a cut in its chest, and it has to eat more throughout the film. He also uses very limited dialogue in the film. This adds to the unsettling nature. Everything is seen through Alice's eyes as she narrates what is happening.

My research for my thesis consisted of looking into what makes surrealist animated horror films unsettling, and through that research, I think I have a clear understanding of what makes them have an uncomfortable reaction. I will use this knowledge when making the dream journal, I will use uncanny imagery to make it scary.

I thought about a story being told through animals, as animals are common symbols in dreams. However many of these meanings could be the opposite depending on the scene the animal is shown in. A wolf in a dream, for example, could mean A wolf in a dream could be 'your subconscious trying to bring your attention to something you haven't explored yet or understood in your waking life.' or it could mean 'The wolf itself may represent assistance from others in overcoming a challenge you're facing in everyday life. The wolf dream is a common symbol for aspects of oneself. This includes connection and having a “pack” of friends to depend on, which can be either joyful or terrible.'.

I will use animals as a metaphor, using wolves and rabbits in the zine. The wolves are the family and the rabbit is a victim of their nature. The narrator realises that her parents have been killing rabbits and are now scared of them, but the parents only tried to provide for them and acted on their instincts.

The journal will consist of dream journal entries with both text and drawings of each dream. The dreams will also be a recurring dream, where the story will be told through and developing through each dream.

This project will explore the concept of dreams and their importance in surrealism. I will use this project to respond to my research done for CTS, expanding and applying what I have learned to create something disturbing using surrealist and psychological theories. For this project, I will delve deeper into dreams and nightmares and the symbolism within them. To achieve this, I must experiment and research ways in which dreams are represented and the theories surrounding them.

A graphic narrative will be used to share my ideas, something that others can relate to and understand. Dreams and the subconscious are universal experiences and I can use my personal experiences as well as others to create a narrative.

The outcome will consist of a horror-inspired graphic narrative, that explores recurring dreams and our unspoken fears and desires.

I think that the story could have been more developed, since it was a dream journal it could have been more descriptive. The text could have also been more developed. Some of the pages do not work compositionally and look too sketchy. Although this could help make it more effective, as my goal was to make an 'authentic' dream journal. Which in reality would be very sketchy and messy.

I scanned the drawings and digitally added the text to test compositionally where the writing should be, I also tried different ways to write.

I attempted to write a story using this technique, just writing the first thing that came to my head as a dream would. This was a good exercise to generate ideas.

A graphic narrative will be used to share my ideas, something that others can relate to and understand. Dreams and the subconscious are universal experiences and can be used as a tool to relate and affect my audience. I can use my personal experiences as well as others to build this narrative.

The outcome I propose will consist of a horror-inspired graphic narrative, that explores recurring dreams and our unspoken fears and desires.