Exquisite Corpse

We started with the a drawing exercise exquisite corpse to create surrealist intuitive drawings. it really drove home the point for me to not to be precious too with my drawing as i limited me from taking risks and exploring other options. I found myself rubbing out and putting down new lines which was wasting time and made my sections to feel stiff.

Masks

We were given a craft knife , cutting matt and cardboard to create a face. The goal was to explore characteristics of the materials to form facial features. Try to resist forcing any preconceived ideas on the material. I ended up playing with volume from bending the cardboard to multiple layers different layer of cardboard. I also decided to play with texture of thing like the hair of the mustache and eyebrow. The first sculptor would create really cool shadows with the light.

‘Stems’ Ainsley Henderson & Poppy Ackroyd

This short film by Ainsley Henderson and poppy really inspired be not think of stop motion as restrictive. it gave me i new perspective of what it could look like and feel like especially when my earlier contact with stop motion as only been Wallace and Gromit, Coraline an some Tim burton films like the Nightmare before Christmas. the creative use use of sound and materials were really distinct to me.

All the materials used were mundane trash that I have probably seen walking the streets – found objects. The variety of processed use to create these characters due to the wide range of materials was awe inspiring my personal favorite was the the cotton. I follow this Tiktoker Cotten_toy _st who makes cotton sculptors almost like the Sylvanian family toys or ‘Fantastic Mr.Fox.’

Cotten_toy _st

I love the starting shot showing us all of the materials that was going to be used even giving use a chance to think and wonder what could possibly be made. It goes on to be shot in almost a documentary style of camera work. This really gave the viewer a sense of how much time it took and of scale was we watch the hands breathe live into these creatures. The creatures becomes more complete the voice becomes a radio in the background the music they create swells. I was really intrigued by being table to visually see all the different textures from the organic leaves and cotton to the electronic wires and light bulbs. We saw life being sewn into them until they start to flicker out and the music they create dies.

I adore this animation. I want to my character to feel as real as that and to evoked a reaction or feeling out of the audience. I feel like a lot of animation is similar to being actor you are simply not using your own body but a puppet in stead. i would also love to try use of materials like that especially the cotton. it remaindered me of old soft toys. Camera work is something i have been trying to take more of a notice of so i would like to ty some interesting angles later on.

Stop motion is often over looked as a form of animation especially with the rise of CGI technology. but as the the speaker says i think there is something inherently charming and sad about stop-motion animation. these character that we get to design and make of brought to live for a shot film only to be left on as a sculptor. I think the scene that depict this perfectly is when the one of the creators shakes is friend whose light have already on out.

Response 1

Puppet Making I wish I put more time into the thought in to the process of making the puppet as we only did on short sketch of how we thought the rabbit would look like- even the decision to make a rabbit was an impulsive one. There was an issue with collaboration as i pitched this rabbit idea and nobody brought any other ideas to the table, it felt like i was pulling the group along with my idea maybe I should have spent more time prompting me team members for opinions. making of joints were complicated to we were in favor if just avoiding the problem by making separate body parts. In retrospect we should have looked at different types of joint to make and used the stick to guide the puppet rather the sticks being the only mode of control. My group and I spent 2 hours making this puppet. I think i was a little to eager and fixated on the cotton. You could have probable still read the shape as a rabbit or a bunny but i really wanted it to feel soft. The cotton came with it additional risks of fire and inhaling. think i should have weighed the cost to benefit better. We also had scaling issues with the legs compared to the body. and when it came time to shoot they were way to big to be used even though they were complete.

Puppet manipulation The movement of the Rabbit (Jerry) is also very jerky as we weren’t patient with with the movement or properly applying the ‘squash & stretch’ and ‘anticipation’ rules. During the shooting i think we were trying to mimic real life behavior rather than exaggerating it and telegraphing its movement to the viewer. I am trying to create art not mimic real life bring to absorbed in making it feel real was limiting us. If were to do this again i would probably use felt instead and/or only us card board but also coordinate with the other members of my team better.

Puppet Manipulation in Bunraku Theatre

This is an example of  Japanese BUNRAKU puppet theater where 3 performers manipulate a puppet, accompanied by a storyteller and a musician.

I was stunned by the intricacies of the puppet, specifically the way it moves. It reminds me more of a marionette controlled by strings rather than the rods used. It really felt like a group performance of multiple people coming together to portray a single person. The main actor- (Omozukai) controls the head and the right hand. They are the only actor that you can see the face of as you control the puppet. The human proportions were interesting as the head was drastically smaller than you would think but on my first run through it was one of the later things i noted down. The puppet head is made of carved wood, even though you couldn’t see it in this video it can be fitted with moving eyes, mouth and eyebrows.

Watching this play sifted my perspective to be more of a team player and that instead of thinking of my puppet as a static object to push feeling through it was also a partner in the performance. It made me realize i waste really focusing on materiality as much as a should have been. If Jerry didn’t have the facilities to move like that, what was it telling me it wanted? How did it want to move? Instead of focusing on a single shot and getting it perfect I shifted to how the sequence looked as a whole as well as learning to take a step back let someone else lead and support them instead kind of like the invisible puppeteers in all black controlled the body and the legs.

Puppet manipulation – Response 2

I was working with another group as they were a person short. It was interesting to seeing their dynamic and how they allocated jobs. For this walk cycle Gab and I both directed but on of my other major jobs was controlling the feet. The experiment really helped me understand weight and balance as well as exaggerating it to an almost comical state. I was also interested by their puppet and how they made it. Unlike our puppet they had working hinges for the wings and legs and body. their sticks are used guide the puppet rather than the only mode of control.

This was our very first test as you can see it is significantly more jittery but i love the fact that the wing can open up and see the individual feathers.

Response 3

Puppet manipulation 2

Back with our rabbit jerry we decide to attempt a jump instead of just one of use directing two people were co-directing and then the other two people in the group controlled the rabbit. to improve this i would have arced the rabbit down towards the end so it doesn’t look like its levitating as much. on the other hand we worked significantly better as a team as well as the movement of the rabbit being significantly better. this time we got to in include the the legs which is the most mobile part of our puppet.

Displacement Animation

This artwork is made Kasia Kijek and Przemek Adamski for to Shugo Tokumaru’s music video. The main animation technique used was displacement animation. the bright colors kind of remind me of pop art. The also played with leaving the previous displacement to behind so me can see all these geometric shapes. The musicality of this was also superb.

I was really mesmerized by the scale of the animation I think like all of the cut out must have been small and fiddley to control. I really love the the camera’s slow pull back as the cut out slowly moves forward as well as the side shots to see all the different iterations . The bright simple colors add a lot matching the feel of the music.

The literal translations Katachi is shape which can mean so many different things but i think it really fitting we start with an array of the typical shapes you would expect like a circle, or a square but could also allude to the shape of the song. Sound can really add a lot to a visual story telling be that by just by queueing us into something happening on the screen.

I really like his art work because of the connection it has to sound. I have done a lot of music performance in my life and I feel like having good musicality can add a lot to a show. It some think I always notice my tv shows. Having to chance to make my own sound or working with a composer would be so fun.

Displacement animation – Test