Self Introduction: Autobiographic

Starting out as flipbooks in the 16th century, then as photographs began to develop in 1826, it wasn't long before animation and film started to take form and make use of this idea that was beginning to evolve and take form. In the same year as the photgraph was beginning it's life, Dr John Ayrton Paris started selling thaumatropes in London. These were followed some years later by the zoetrope in 1834 which was then improved as the proxinoscope in 1877  only to then have the enhanced flipbook known as the mutoscope released in 1894. By this time Marey had developed Chronophotography (1870) and the photograph was slowly beginning to become more and more refined and advanced. Thus in 1879, Muybridge took it and made the zoopraxiscope. After the Lumiere brothers had conceptualised moving image, it wasn't long before George Melies created the first ever animated film, "Le Voyage dans la Lune" (1902).

Now, in the present day, I created my very first animation. Ever. So proud. :')

This animation was made using a canon camera borrowed from the FTU with tripod.

To complete this first brief, I used mementos and keepsakes that I have accumulated over the years. The teddy bear is one of the first gifts I ever received and signifies the childhood era of my life. The order in which the items interact with each other is unintentionally chronological: from child hood, I then entered the phase of life where I was obsessed with dolphins and water life in general. This lead in to my "pirates" phase, fuelled by the feature films "Pirates of the Caribbean" as shown by the spyglass. The guitar pic and the cushion with a photo print of myself and friends where the next stage of my life and all disappeared into an aged bag which I have had since I was seven, portraying that one of the main constants and all encompassing aspects of my life is that of travel and holidays with my family.

In order to make them move, I simply propped them up with my hand out of the frame, although this didn't work perfectly every time. 

I'm pleased with how this turned out, but if I were to change anything it would be to retake those shots that my hand was visible in and to add sound. Perhaps it might be worth inserting a wire structure into the teddy to make it easier to move and stand by itself thus eliminating my hand from the frame.

Drawings in the Sand: Metamorphosis

 

 The sand and salt project was carried out with a top down camera set up, and a tiered glass stand with light reflected up from the bottom via a sheet of paper to bounce the light.

Given the topic of "metamorphosis" I chose to do a simple piece of a caterpillar finding a place to hibernate in a cocoon and change into a butterfly. Of course, it was a rather simple idea but for me, this was the epitome of the given theme. 

The caterpillar and the backgrounds where done in the denser sand, as I have always thought of a butterfly's wings as delicate and thin, the lighter and more translucent salt was used for them which I think created a nice effect.

It is a very short, simple piece, but as I don't think of metamorphosis as something complex, I think that is alright. However, if I was to do this piece again, I would try and make the movements of the caterpillar more smooth; spending a little more time on it and try to make it a more complete piece by giving more personality to the caterpillar and adding in sound. But as I don't have any partiality toward this animation technique, I do not foresee this occurring anytime within the near future.

Taking a Stance on a News Topic: Collage

For this project, I used a similar set up as with the salt and sand project and images that I retrieved from the Internet.

Having been asked to take a stance on a recent news topic, I picked the controversial issue of Greece needing yet another bail out by the IMF, wherein the media representations of the issue showed it to be questionable as to whether it would in fact do them any good. Their state of finance was less than what it should have been having suffered the plague of greedy bankers much most of the world that then caused the Credit Crunch.

Thus, I used a cut out of a top Greek banker. He was to open his mouth and everything on screen would then go black, showing that the greed of the banker was all consuming, but also to reveal the inner gears and cogs of the issue. To do this, I used a mother bird and her baby chic a metaphor: the chic signified Greece and the mother bird, the entities that could offer them a bailout. Of course, the baby chic tweets at the mother bird, and at first the mother bird feeds the baby chic, but when the call for food comes again, it leaves the mother bird a bit confused.

This can be taken either one of two ways: either that the baby bird is rather greedy asking for more, or that it's strange that the mother bird is confused as to why the baby chic is asking for more food. Initially, I intended for it to be the former of the two, however upon further analysis, it seems that the later makes more sense. For Greece to grow economically and get back on its feet it will require a bailout, therefore it is strange that there is so much hesitancy to helping them out. And while the mother bird prepares the food, the problem of greedy bankers can be dealt with rather swiftly.

I like the little birds that I made to represent the situation however, I feel that the meaning is not very clear in this representation, and as such, if I were to make another stab at this brief I would make my stance a little more obvious and easier to understand. This could be achieved by simply adding sound to it; by giving the characters lines that reflect what it is that I'm trying to portray.

Similar pieces that I looked to for inspiration include: Monty Python’s "Flying Circus" title sequences (1969-1974) by Terry Gilliam and Hedgehog in the Fog (1975) by Yuri Norstein.

Time Lapse: Light

In order to complete this assignment, I borrowed a canon camera and tripod from the FTU and took to the streets.

Hoping to portray the waking of a sleeping city, I took photos of the sky lighting as the sun came up that morning, then proceeded to take photos of one of the city centre's main shopping streets. However, it was in vain as the photos were over exposed due to an unknown camera setting, and instead I had many photos of feint silhoettes emerging from a white background. Although these images seemed to be deemed useless according to my original intention, I instead adapted my idea to the material which I had; from a waking city concept to that of a city of ever busy people, rushing around in a dreamlike state with implications of them investing their time in the wrong way.

The sound of gentle windchimes with the people rushing themselves around was to enhance the dreamlike sense and further enhance the feeling that the people have been lulled into a false sense of this is what it means to live, constantly racing against time. Time, which was shown as a clock, moving from daylight to dusk.

Despite set backs, I quite like how it turned out however, I would like for my original idea to have panned out better.

Defying Gravity: Pixillation

For this project I borrowed a canon camera and tripod from the FTU and set it up opposite my stage area, wherein I had set up some random items from home.

The brief for this project: "defying gravity" left me feeling a bit baffled as to how to go about levitating things; levitating things without  showing strings or giving away too much about how it was done. But as the shooting went on, my grand scheme of having them all flying around my helper's head was soon proven to be a little too ambitious. Therefore, only the ring leader flew having tied an invisible wire to it's waist.

Considering that the random items (at first) don't move when my helper is looking at them, it is safe to say that the principle that "toys come alive when we aren't watching" as featured in Toy Story is present. Also, when they wish for revenge on a human as with next door neighbour's Sid in the first film, they find it perfectly acceptable to move in there presence, which is also the case here. Other visual references include: Alice (1988) by Jan Svankmayer and Toys (1966)bby Grant Munro.

I am pleased with the overall effect, especially as the music changes with the mood of the room when my helper makes an appearance. Although upon close examination it is not entirely obvious that the items are only moving when they are being watched. In order to promote this idea, I think if I were to do it again, I would have my helper very obviously looking elsewhere when they come to life.

Badger Animation

Finally the last project for this academic year. And as with some of my other projects, there were some technical glitches experienced, namely that for some reason the software crashed successively and I ended up with near complete projects continually being wiped from my hard drive. 

Alas, the computer hiccoughs may have won the battle, but it was I who triumphed in the end, though it was not the greatest victory ever. Anyways. My last project, the badger.

This piece roughly follows the 3-act structure, the opening consisting of two sequences: the testing positive for bovine tuberculosis and the badgers peacefully foraging for bugs in a field.  The peace is disrupted when the dog catches wind of them, drawing the farmer's awareness to their existence. Following this the farmer sets traps for them which the fall prey to upon there return. Unfortunately for the badgers, the farmer was expecting them, and he comes along with his gun, scaring them off and into some of his snares. They manage to escape to their sett, and the farmer can do nothing but retreat.

A short time passes as move into the final act and the badgers are still reassuring themselves in their burrow. But the farmer is back, and this time he's traded in his gun for a slurry tanker. The badgers are buried alive. For those that didn't live to make it back to die in the sett, the farmer takes with him and ditches the carcasses at the side of the road as make believe road kill. 

The music for me really makes this animation work. Without the sounds which I feel fit really well with the piece, the same depth and atmosphere of peace, aprehension etc. would not have been achieved. 

Flow Final Outcome

As this project didn't have any pre-production work behind it, somehow I felt a little detached from it and feel that as a piece it is a bit weak. That could be because I know what's gone into it was a lot less than the previous crime project, although it did at least have some foundation grounded in my research of similar projects.Although, I think that the music really helped add depth and atmosphere.

All the same, I really like how this piece turned out.

As an associational experimental piece, there isn't any real structure present that I can talk about, save for that the opening and ending clock sandwich it all together to form the idea of being a complete piece.

Crime Awareness Animation

After working and a lot of stumbling (there were some technical issues with hardware in that my tablet literally fell apart on me during animating), I finally managed to complete this project. Despite being complete, I had to axe a section that I had previously planned to include in the storyboarding stage. Clearly this is an indication of time issues and speed of working, which for me is generally slow. I anticipate this will improve with time and practise. Also, it is a case of anticipating more from myself than what I can do in the time frame outlined.

Additionally I would like to say that the scenes present need more frames to smooth out the movement, but doing so at the time would only have lead to missing the deadline and affecting the next project. This is further proved by the majority of movement being toward the edges of the frame, rather than taking centre stage. Although, doing so may have sated my perfectionist streak that raises its head from time to time.

Glitches aside, I really enjoyed this project and for the most part I'm both pleased and amused by the overall outcome.