Blog on Animation Examples

I am fascinated and quite honestly blown away by every video on the blog this week. I really can't choose just one to talk about. My favorites would have to be Lotte Reiniger's The Adventures of Prince Achmed 1926, Josie Mallis's Bendito Machine, and Kristofer Strom's Minilogue/hitchhiker's choice. The fist two are both cut-outs and the simplicity of the dark images allowing the contrast and animation to shine is breathtaking. The two videos, however, couldn't be more different in their subjects. Prince Achmed almost moved me to tears with it's beauty the first time I watched it. In watching her process, it is incredible that Mallis was able to uphold the level of fluidity she achieved. I do, however, feel that the slight halting quality of the animation gives it an edge of fantasy and a tasteful nod to the artistry.

Bendito Machine is so quirky, I'm in love with it. It looks like the inside of a clock and an Aztec civilization got together and made a film. It's so primitive, so si-fi, and yet, so human at the same time. When put side by side, the more modern cut-out piece is fluid in its animation, which is ironic because the figures have a sort of machine quality to them, whereas Achmed is jerky and contrasts with the fluidity of the lines and subjects in the piece. You can tell the artistic directors of Harry Potter Deathly Hallows Part 1 were well aware of these pieces while planning the scene where the legend of the elder wand is revealed. Not only are the primitive-looking figures familiar, the fluid morphing of one silhouette into something else is direct homage to these pieces. The background of that segment in the movie is also bright yellow, like Bendito Machine.

The last piece, Minilogue, was mesmerizing to watch. I personally find that when I step up to a white board with a marker in my hand, the possibilites are so endless that what to draw is a daunting decision to make. this piece proves that anything is possible with a dry erase marker as the viewer is taken through four minutes of stream of consciousness animation. It almost reminds me of automatism and the state of free-association they believed in while making their art. While the images, were, of course, concious decisions, the imagery is elastic and, like liquid, flows from one quirky imaginative skit to the next. These pieces truly inspired me and I'm putting a lot of pressure on myself to rise to the occasion in this project.

Last couple week's photos

Created with flickr slideshow from softsea.

Book and Newspaper--sound project with photos

Analysis of own sound project

When I first received the assignment, I was nervous as to how I was going to portray events that were over 20 years in the past and in a different setting than what is readily available to me. Through some scrounging of old photos and luck with the melting of the snow, I was able to patch together some type of successful visual for the featured story while still maintaining the mystery by not showing a literal reenactment. I think my piece is successful in that it shows the love I have for my parents despite their quirks and the important relationships I have with them. Though they are opposites, they complement each other and provide me with plenty of stories about "the old days".

There are some things that frustrate me, however. My father's narrative fades in and out despite hours of normalization and playing with the sound balance. The tone quality of his voice is also quite schizophrenic and it bothers me. Upon watching the finished product, I realize that some ambient sounds were lost along the way, such as my father's shout of "hey what are you doing!" in the turning point of the story, a detail I didn't catch until just recently. I also would have liked to employ a Ken Burns effect on the old pictures to distinguish them from the modern ones.

All in all, despite the flaws, I am fairly pleased with the final result. I wanted to capture the essence of my small, three-person household and I think I was successful. In the end, that's really what the story's about anyway. I could have chosen any number of my parents' stories and still would have come out with the same message at the end. I still haven't shown this to my father, but I'm hoping he'll see it as a symbol of my understanding and acceptance of his introverted nature.

ok the order of these goes bottom to top. I tried to implement as many of the techniques I learned in the book as possible, but my knowledge of this stuff still feels a little scattered, especially with the layout rules and everything. I made a mock mailer for the Lenni Lenape festival I attend every year.

There Cannot Be a Sea

I wish this picture could be bigger but nothing else will fit. You get the general idea. Anyway, This poem "There Cannot Be a Sea" is by 2oth century Vietnamese poet Lam Thi My Da. It was written during the Vietnam war and translated for American audiences. I love the imagery in this poem and wanted to represent it true to Vietnamese tradition in art. The poem was intended to communicate the beauty of the Vietnamese people and culture and that's what I hope to achieve. I researched traditional Vietnamese art and found that they prefer to work off of dark canvases and that tapestries are a royal luxury and cultural expression. I was going for a rich, antique feel with lots of curves and movement.

word visualization: cobra