Premise: Animation - What am I trying to say?

One of my ideas for premise was to turn an idea I had over the summer for a short film into an animated short. The idea was that an explorer was documenting an isolated location which unbeknownst to the explorer the location would actually be the location of a monsters hunting ground/territory/lair. Inevitably the short would turn into a desperate game of cat and mouse.

Another one of my ideas was to create an animation which highlighted a real-world problem but visually paletted it in a way with was easier to view.

It was suggested to me that the idea for the 'cat and mouse' short could work if it was suspended more from the perspective of a child because a monster would make more sense when opposed with the innocent and young grasp of reality.

Combining these two ideas lead me to think about a real-world problem from the perspective of a child. The idea of domestic violence is something that is a tough subject to talk about and is not widely witnessed due to the nature of it.

I have always been more interested in darker subjects in film, and have always wanted to create something darker, sinister and more horrific for an audience. Not in a way which is controversial but in the sense of the kind of horrors dreamt up from H.P Lovecraft. The ideas that horror derives from internal fear, suspense and the notion of something watching from behind the door or from a darkened corner of the room.

The idea of a nightmare is the idea of real fear or upset turmoil of the mind, my idea arrived at a place where the protagonist was a bipedal childs toy symbolic of a child made from cloth, and knitwear. The environment is of the child's home but warped in a way which displays the destruction of its two parent figures (monsters) the environment is a representation of the situation they are in, and the emotion brimming in the household.

The monsters are born of the nightmare and to fit in line with my idea of what kind of animation I want to do, they are required to be truly horrific. I am aware that suspense is the key to this because the mind will always dream up the most unspeakable horror in place of one that is visualised on screen.

I guess what I really want to say is: Children get caught up in domestic violence and it will leave them changed for the rest of their lives. We don't often hear about it and partially the reason is that children don't know any better and think it is normal so don't have a voice to speak out. What they see their parents do with heavily influence their adult behaviour. Domestic Violence is an abhorrent act which people should not have to go through and I feel it is important to highlight it.

How am I going to say it?: In a world which reflects visually the damage, a child receives when exposed to domestic violence, to me it could logically only be inside a nightmare, filled with the terrors they experience, and earthly possessions like toys as their only source of companionship. I firstly want to show the subject by creating a bond of nurture from the audience to the protagonist,   I want to show the monsters displaying neglect, violence and hatred towards each other and indirectly towards the protagonist. I want to show the protagonist in a place of utter loneliness and unlove. I also want to have a child narrate in place of the protagonist about how they are feeling to really pull emotionally about how the abuse has become so commonplace it is voiced in a way which the abuse is seen through the mind of innocence and is a talked about in a way which totally rationalises it for a child but the audience will be able to decipher a deeper meaning.