I have recently been spending time working on more key skills such as lip syncing, as well as ‘turning’ a character whilst walking. Whilst I feel slightly more confident in lip syncing, and have learnt to rely more on a smaller range of shapes so as not to emphasize every syllable, I still feel that I can improve jaw movement in 2d animated characters. I am spending more time with 3D software in order to familiarise myself with maya and blender. I find Maya more intuitive having used it for slightly longer, although will likely spend more time using blender going forward as it is free to use after graduation. Going forward, I am enthusiastic to learn to lipsync an animated character in maya, and also to learn how to move 4 legged characters in 3D.
Learning to be a better animator
Having recently watched my peers’ excellent LIAF animations, I have been keen to spend more time working on volumes and timings in animation. I’ve been watching various walk-throughs on how different animators use pose-to-pose vs straight-ahead. Generally I’ve been using straight ahead animation techniques, but realise that this only works for more loose animations, and am enthusiastic to spend more time practising using key frames in animations. I have now landed on a clear idea for my final film, and am spending time trying to learn character movements whilst trying to improve my animation skills.
Coronavirus and Community.
Recently I have been thinking about the impact that coronavirus has had on different ideas of community in the UK and around the world. Some communities have ‘banded together’, with individuals helping the elderly and vulnerable around them. Many of those individuals though, might also have about 700 rolls of toilet paper still stashed away in their garage from the first few weeks of lockdown and the infamous ‘panic buying’ stage! For some, people have found value on neighbours; others have found that their community online is what matters the most. For my Nan, for example, her pensioner’s dance group is a lost community in this time of crisis.
In the future, I would be really interested to make an animated documentary or documentary series on community, it’s different forms and how it can impact people’s lives in a time of crisis.
Who should make what art and when?
The date is the second of June, and currently, there are marches all over the globe in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement in the USA. A friend recently suggested that creativity can help to spread messages in situations like this… Why don’t I (and other animators) work to make films that help movements like Black Lives Matter? Whilst I think that creative output can absolutely help to make messages clearer, to satirise a certain white supremacist in the White House, and ensure that the right voices are heard, I have come to the conclusion that caution and sensitivity is needed when representing non-white voices. I myself would not presume to be able to accurately represent to issues of anyone who hasn’t lived with the benefits of my white privilege. I am interested in producing animated documentary films in the future, and will ensure that in the the future, when approaching a new project or character, I will consider whose voice should be represented, how, and when.
Isolation Week ?
Like what I imagine is the majority of the world’s population, I have spent numerous weeks in isolation. This has had some creative benefits… I’m taking courses on how to draw light sources and human anatomy. I’ve made some paintings for friends, and played lots of music. The downside centres largely around finding motivation to learn some new skills (as it turns out learning software online is outrageously dull, and very hard to stick with!). I have however been thinking a lot about my final film. As it stands, I’m learning towards an animated documentary. One idea might be to focus on community in the time of an unprecedented pandemic. I’ve been thinking a lot about the value of community, and how it varies between areas, age groups, and cultures. For instance, my Nan, particularly after losing my Grandad to pneumonia last year, has found immeasurable value in her dancing group. The group’s members are all over 70, and meet up in a town hall up on Lee Moor in Devon at least once a week. This community has not only disbanded during this crisis, but given the circumstances, has lost many of its members to coronavirus. I would be interested to interview my Nan and some of her friends about their experiences during Covid-19, and perhaps produce an animated documentary about their community. If anything, the thick Devon accent would sound lovely against an animated backdrop!
Opera and Animation
Recently, I saw the ENO’s production of Madame Butterfly. The staging was exceptional, with use of lighting behind the stage to provide breathtaking silhouettes.
The silhouetted style reminded me of Lotte Reiniger’s paper cut animations, and really highlighted the visual significance of achieving a clear silhouette in animated storytelling. It would be interesting to try to recreate the ‘cut-out’ silhouette style imagery in 2D, which can arguably achieve smoother movement.
The production itself included elements beyond silhouette that can be associated with animation style such as puppetry. Opera has been animated before (E.g. Batchelor’s Ruddigore), but it would be interesting to see what could be achieved when trying to animate opera in a less traditionally ‘cartoonish’ style.
See below for an image of Madame Butterfly’s opening scene from the ENO website.
Disney Animation Studies
I have been looking recently at the art of Disney studios early Pioneering artists, such as Milt Kahl and John Lounsberry. These artists placed a lot of focus in acting elements like held poses for dramatic effect to give the audience time to take in gags. The oval for eyes in early cartoons (credited to Fred Moor, but most likely taken from cartoons like Felix the Cat) allow for facial expression that is both earnest and has a recognisably disarming cartoonish quality. Artists used wonderful extreme poses to get across clear silhouettes (see sketches of Mickey from Fantasia)
In researching how animators approached early Disney films, I as interested to learn that actors acted out the films in live action to provide clear references, affirming the importance of acting as an animator.
I have spent some time studying to art of Milt Kahl; in particular, the facial expressions given to each character. Ideally, some of this stylistic expressionism will enter into my own work the more time I spend studying other artists. (See above for sketch studies)
‘Ganzen Paradiz’
‘Ganzen Paradis!’
I have been giving more thought to possibilities for animated documentary production for my final year film. I was thinking about a radio programme that I heard a number of years ago about a Dutch monk who had dedicated his life to looking after geese – A niche interest! I reckon that a short film about a man’s life with geese would be interesting, and possibly even a little heartwarming! After a bit of digging I managed to find his contact details. As it stands, the goose man is enthusiastic to get involved. Ideally, I would travel out to the Netherlands for reference footage, but given the current circumstances, I am also looking into ways of remotely recording interview audio, and footage of geese to use in my film.
Triplets of Belleville
I recently watched the film The Triplets of Belleville, as I am keen to familiarise myself with the work of Sylvain Chomet. The film was beautifully made, with excellent character designs, and use of colour that reflected French comic art pallets.
The film made excellent use of camera angles, and achieved close-ups that exaggerated the quite extreme facial characteristics of characters (See a sketch below).
The use of little additional characteristics and actions to embellish mostly silent characters was a useful tool to get the audience more invested in the story; for instance Madame De Souza’s whistle, or the dog’s apparent obsession with barking at trains. Similarly, the use of animalisation of characters, such as the explicitly mouse-like engineer, added a layer of comedy to the film. I was impressed by small features, such as regularly and accurately moving pupils in character’s faces; particularly Madame de Souza’s, as they were exaggerated by her large glasses.
I spent some time looking up the production of this film. Mostly, the film was hand-drawn, however many of the drawings were imported into Toon-Boom for additional animation. All vehicles, were 3D animated, whilst background paintings were all imported into photoshop, and given watercolour paper-like texture. It is interesting that even a hand-drawn film uses a range of softwares in order to give the film the desired aesthetic.
Impressed by the designs of characters, and use of different camera angles, I sketched out a few shots from the film. I hope to engage with more of Chomet’s work in order to hopefully take a little influence from his style, and learn a bit more about the impact of staging and camera placement.
Informative graphics animations
Following on from the documentary based animations project, I have recently been watching short clips, either general knowledge or news-based, that rely on short graphic animations to illustrate points being made. These short films are increasingly common in popular media, and are either solely animations, or incorporate live action. For instance, the clip below uses animated graphics to highlight key information about the recycled clothing industry, whilst the interviewer is still the main focus of the film. This approach arguably makes the film more accessible and captivating for a wider audience.
Another popular website that consistently uses animations is BBC Ideas, which uses animations in order to get across often complicated concepts. Whilst simplifying the concepts, the animations also makes the clips more ‘watchable’, and presumably have contributed to the success of the bbc ideas clips. Below is an example of an opinion based clip that’s that’s the aim of informing the audience of some of Freud’s ideas, whilst discussing their application in the modern world.