29th September 2017
After the stop motion induction for this project I changed a few of my ideas in order to fit with what I had available. Instead of having the card roll onto screen I will just have it appear and ‘walk’. I also wanted to include so creative lighting, so I included a door creaking open and light appearing as if a door has opened off screen.
I found this terrifying animation by an Austrian animator and illustrator that uses puppets made out of meat.
From this I discovered more of Matzl’s work, it is a variety of animation, illustration and visual effects. His methods differ but he retains his dark, horror movie-esqe style.
‘Austrian animator Wolfgang Matzl, well-known for his one-minute retelling of Inception with paper cuttings, and for the title sequences to ABC’s of Death 2, recently posted a new delightful short in his well-known style.
Fisher’s Fritz is a fictitious commercial for canned sardines, that will be used in the forthcoming feature Sky Sharks, a film about well, zombies on flying mechanised sharks. The short is entirely created with animated paper cuttings and the odd extra objects, and just exhudes that old-timey camp atmosphere that you also find in David Malki’s Wondermark, or in the various theatre shows by the Tiger Lillies. Never enough of that!’
http://forbiddenplanet.blog/2015/from-our-continental-correspondent-fishers-fritz/
https://io9.gizmodo.com/a-bizarre-stop-motion-short-film-starring-puppets-made-1461251287
http://www.allaboutpapercutting.com/papercuts/animation/new-paper-animation-by-wolfgang/
This video also came up in my research, it is terrifying and I don’t recommend watching it unless you want nightmares. But it gives a good idea of how to make something so unsettling no one actually wants to watch it.
I started to think about a few ideas for the story of my animation, I thought it could start with the hat hiding something, shaking and looking nervous. Then a card is flicked onto screen, still at first face down, then stands up. The card will be queen of hearts, and hat is fearful and tries to get away, but the card catches up. The hat then lifts to reveal an object, but I am still deciding what will be revealed. I had a though of having a tiny, pumping heart hidden underneath (creepy, I know), but i’m still working out how this would work practically. I called a few places but turns out getting a chicken heart isn’t as easy a I thought. The other option would be making one out and working out a way I could make it ‘pump’. My second thought was to have a jam tart, like in alice in wonderland, relating to the queen of hearts. I want to look at a few examples of animators who have used meat and blood (ewwww) to animate with.
Brent Green is an animator, artist and musician. I very quickly fell in love his work, Carlin (2007) actually made me cry. His style is loose, free and unrefined, but has a huge sense of meaning and emotion. He mentions that he used to be ‘obsessive’ about storyboarding, but has since fallen in love with the ‘human error or it’. His animation combines with art, music and poetry to create something that is moving, poignant, and at times quite funny. The jumpy, almost unfinished approach isn’t a way of just being lazy, he makes it so that you can see the process that is being used to make it. For example in ‘Hadacol Christmas’ (2005) you can still see the rubbing out and the masking tape. I personally think this doesn’t detract from the story or beauty of it all, if anything it adds another layer that enhances it.
His style and ability to accept mistakes and use them in art is something I will keep in mind moving forward with this project. I like the raw, creepy tone that he has, something that always seem to come through in my won work.
Sources
Animators Sketch Book 2013 by Laura Heit page 82-83
http://directorsnotes.com/2007/05/05/dn-ep-034-carlin-brent-green/
26th September 2017
Today was out first briefing of the 4 week inanimate object project. I have decided to move forward with stop motion animation, I understand this probably isn’t the easiest method to choose but I am really excited to get started. I have collated some images as initial references for style and the overall look of the animation. I like to create slightly spooky animation, which stop motion seems to naturally lend itself to. With the idea of ‘Magic’ I would like to create the illusion of a kind of Victorian con artist, pretending to be a performer then stealing all the audiences money. A kind of sepia tone, long dark shadows and the feeling of something lurking in the corner.
Image by Brent Green
From Wes Andersons new film ‘Isle of Dogs’
‘Harvey Krumpet’ by Adam Elliot
From ‘Mary and Max’ by Adam Elliot
25th September 2017
Our first lecture of this unit was an introduction to film language and what it means. It is the way a film speaks to the audience in a visual way, and the medium that is used to express it. We began to analyse short clips, breaking them down shot by shot. We discussed the establishing shot, or geography shot, which puts the film in a location and helps give it a sense of context. The exposition is telling the audience what they need to know for the story, this is done best when it is clear and simple, for example in ‘Wallace and Gromit’ we were shown on a calendar that it was Gromit’s birthday. It was shown in an easy, simple way, rather than having to be told it with unnatural dialogue.
We then looked at analysing composition, looking at the different shots and lines used. For example a diagonal line creates an intense, unnatural, dramatic shot. A horizontal straight line creates a feeling of stability and landscape. A vertical line can be used to make a character look small, by drawing the scene upwards. For example this still from Pan’s Labyrinth shows her with two lines drawn up above her like the entrance to a pointed cave. It makes her seem vulnerable.
Another important thing to consider in composition is light, the above image also uses this to its advantage, drawing the eye to the centre, and showing her leaving the light and heading towards the dark, a symbol of fear and the unknown. Other things to consider were eye lines, focus, shapes, colour, movement, angles and contrast.
22nd September 2017
Daniel Greaves- Rockin’ and Rollin’ 2001
Greaves uses snooker balls in this stopmotion animation, there is no dialogue and no facial expression but he manages to get a sense of emotion and character across with simple movement and ‘ball language’. I liked the way he used different camera angles to insinuate different characters, for instance the black ball being shot from below, to make it seem more menacing.
https://www.daniel-greaves.com/rockin-rollin/
Pixar- Luxo Jr 1986
Made by Pixar and directed by John Lasseter, this animation is iconic. Again it doesn’t use dialogue but clearly conveys a sense of character and story. It is made using CG and took about four and half months to make, and it was very impressive in its time.
Tandem Films- Heinz Pasta Pouches Advert 2011
This was also directed by Daniel Greaves and has a similar feel to ‘Rockin and Rollin’, but I actually prefer it, I think it is more fun and exciting to watch, but that is probably down to a higher budget and a shorter run time.
Maddy Caulfield Animation 