Practitioner Case Study: Jan Swankmajer

Jan Swankmajer was born in Prague on september the fourth 1934. Over the years he has been recognised for his surreal animations. The Film maker still resides in Prague today.


As a young child Swankmajer was given a toy puppet theatre for Christmas, this later had influences on some of his later work. He studied at the college of applied arts in Prague from 1950 to 1954, and then at the Prague Academy of Performing Arts (department of puppetry) later on. Soon after, he became involved in the "Theatre Of Masks" and then the famous "Black Theatre". But the place where he first encountered film was at the Laterna Magika Puppet Theatre. In 1970 he met his wife, she was a surrealist painter called Eva Svankmajerova. In the same year he met the leading theoretician of the Czech Surrealist Group, he became a member, and is still a member to this day.


1964 saw Swankmajer produce his first film. The film was called The Last Trick. From then onwards, he started moving away from his early work, and started to produce films based around classic surrealism. Many of his movies consisted of a disturbing and aggressive nature. This lead to the communist authorities banning him from making films in 1972, this meant that he was virtually unknown to the western part of the country until the 1980s. The ban was a major blow to his work and even some of his later work was suppressed, but slowly, Swankmajer began to become more well known. He started developing a reputation and trademarks such as: exaggerated sounds, fast motion sequences and strange effects. In 1982 he created the short film "Dimensions of Dialogue", which Terry Gilliam and many other critics consider to be in the top ten for the best animations ever made. Six years later he created another iconic short film called "Alice" which was based around the well known film "Alice in Wonderland". In 1994 he produced "Faust", and in 1998 he released "Conspirators of Pleasure". In 2005 Swankmajer made "Lunacy", a surreal comic horror based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe and the life of Marquis da Sade. 


His most recent work to date is "Surviving Life", which is a Czech comedy film. It uses a mixture of cutout animation and photographs, to tell the story of a married man who lives a double life in his dreams. The budget for the film is 40 million CZK. It will revolve around a play called "Pictures From the Insects' Life" by Karel Capec.  





Today Swankmajer is working on a big project which will be called "Insects". It is due to be released in 2015. The budget for the film is 40 million CZK. It will revolve around a play called "Pictures From the Insects' Life" by Karel Capek.
   

Practitioner Case study: Sumo Science

 Ed Patterson and Will Studd are award winning directors that specialise in animation. Together they are "Sumo Science". Their aim is to create different animation using puppetry, stop motion, live and 2D action. The two directors are currently backed my Aardman Animations, and have directed a range of advertisements for clients such as "Innocent Orange Juice", Weetabix and Nokia.


The pieces of work that they are renowned for were both produced for Nokia. The short film "Dot" holds the world record for the smallest stop motion film ever produced. And "Gulp" holds the record for the largest. "Gulp's" scene dimensions were over 11,000 square feet. And "Dot's" main character (the girl) is 9 millimetres tall.
These short films were shot with the Nokia N8's camera and were a good advertisement for Nokia, showing off the 12 megapixels and how high quality the camera lense was.


After looking at all the other videos by Sumo Science, there were two in particular that stood out to me. The short stop motion film "Plates" is one of their videos that the pair are less recognised for, but it is one of my favourites. I love the way that such a simple animation can have you fixated at the glimpse. The way the plates rotate 360 degrees without moving out of place once is joy to look at, another thing I found fascinating was the way the table cloth placed itself on the table without moving any of the items on the table. The stop motion animation is flawless and it is easy to see that "Sumo Science" are more serious and professional
than their name suggests.

The other piece of work that I admired was the "KP Happy Days" advert that they produced in july 2011. When watching this stop animation, I kept wondering: "How is that possible?" and "Surely that's 3D animation". But after doing some research I stumbled upon their Vimeo account where they stated that everything shot was "live action". My favourite bit is when the rocket takes off and falling crisps have been used to resemble the fire and smoke that the rocket leaves behind.      


                                         
Nokia 'Dot' from Sumo Science on Vimeo.

Lesson Diary: Limerick Animation 03/11/11

Today we moved on from object stop animation and started with cut out animation. We were told to stay in the same groups that we were in yesterday. The teacher then laid out ten pieces of paper on the table in the centre of the class room. Each piece of paper had a limerick on it. The task we were set was to choose a limerick and then create a paper cut out animation based around it. The group and I had a discussion about who had the best drawing skills, we came to the conclusion that Daniel was the most experienced drawer. So we chose our limerick based around what Daniel wanted to draw. We ended up choosing a limerick about a lady and a lion because Daniel liked the idea of drawing a lion. The teacher then gave us an A3 sheet to draw our storyboard onto. The next stage was to assign tasks to each team member, Dan's job was to draw the lion and the lady, Scott filled out the story board and Holly and I began drawing and colouring the background for the animation. We got down to work. Holly and I started off by searching "jungle backgrounds" in "Google Images", some of the results we got were good but they were very complex images and would have been difficult to draw. So we then searched for "Jungle Background cartoon", and the results we got from this search were far superior to the previous search. We chose a good simple image, and began to draw our background on A3 paper whilst using the image for inspiration. We then started to draw, I started from the left side of the page and Holly started from the right side. Once the basic trees and plants had been drawn, Holly began colouring the drawings. We opted for a strong contrast of light and dark colours, mainly greens and browns.

Once the background was fully drawn and coloured, it was time to cut out the background with a stanley knife. We had decided as a group that it would look good if the tiger could weave in and out of the trees as it came into shot. This meant that any sections of the background that had not been drawn on needed to be cut out. Before cutting, I placed a mat underneath the table so as not to cut into the table. This process took a long time and Holly and I overcame the task by doing the job in shifts, this was the best way to get the job done, taking regular breaks allowed us to cut with maximum efficiency and precision without one of us getting tired and making mistakes. While we were cutting out the background, Scott and Dan were busy creating the other pieces of the animation such as the tiger's stomach and the lady. The stomach and the lady were both made out of coloured card, this saved time because no colouring was needed, they simply needed to pick the colour of card and get cutting. 

Soon, all of the necessary components for the animation had been created, and it was time to film the animation. The animation was going to be made up of still images, so we switched the cam-corder's modes so that it would take still images instead of film footage. To make sure the camera was held steady and did not move during each shot, we were given a special stand that held the camera perfectly still with the lens pointing downwards. Once we had the camera in focus, we began to arrange the cut out components underneath the camera. Once all the relevant components were "in shot", we pressed the shutter release on the camera to take the still images. The camera was wired up to the laptop, this allowed us to see if the shot was up to a high standard before moving onto the next frame. This allowed us to keep quality control. We had no serious problems during this stage, aside some minor difficulties such as: the camera "going to sleep" every so often. 

Soon all of the frames had been shot, and we were able to play back our animation to see how it looked. We were all thrilled to see our animation come to life, and we were all very pleased with the end result. Although I am very pleased with the outcome, I think that the animation could have run more smoothly at the beginning.     

Evaluation
Looking back at the animation I am very pleased with it. There are two bits of the animation that I am extremely happy with. I am particularly happy with the scnene in which the woman is trapped in the tigers stomach, the whole scene moves smoothly and doesn't "jerk" about. Another part of the animation that I thought worked really well was when the tiger winks at the end. I am not too sure why this worked so well, but it looks very smooth and professional.
Even though I am pleased with this final animation, it is hard to ignore some of it's faults. During the beginning scene where the tiger and the woman are riding through the jungle, it is hard not to notice the  "juddering" and overall "roughness" of the scene. I also do not like the way the tiger moves through the trees during this scene, the illusion that the tiger is weaving in and out of the trees has not really worked. This is disappointing considering all the hard work that was put into cutting out the background. I am also slightly disappointed in the short title sequence at the beginning, this could have been much smoother, and it would have looked a lot more effective if the letters had flown in from one side instead of just appearing in the middle.
In conclusion, despite it's faults, I am very happy with this animation. During the last few weeks of creating different animations, I am starting to find that it is difficult not to be pleased with the results. There is something very satisfying about seeing your hard work brought to life.



GROUP 3 LIMERICK CUTOUT ANIMATION FINAL from Long Road Applied Media Diploma on Vimeo.

Lesson Diary: istopmotion coin exersize 02/11/11 - 03/11/11

During today's lesson, we got into groups of four to do some more stop motion animation. Unlike the bouncy ball task from last week, this exersize did not include paper, instead we were using real life objects. Each table in the class had a different set of objects on it. When we got to our table we found a box full of pennies on it. We were then told that we could animate our objects in any way we wanted. So we linked up the video camera to the laptop, opened up "istopmotion" and got to work. The group and I immediately began to bounce ideas off each other. We decided that we wanted the box to fall over so the pennies were scattered all over the table, the coins would then arrange themselves and get back into the box. Just before we began, our teacher handed us some bluetac. We then assigned ourselves roles, Holly was the laptop operator and Scott, Dan and I were the "animators". As the animators our job was to move the objects around step by step whilst Holly took photos of each frame. The first stage was to show the lid of the box unhinging itself and falling onto the table. The lid was secured with four clips, so we undid each clip and took a still image every time one was removed. For the box to fall over we somehow needed to take a picture of it while tilted. This is where the bluetac came in handy. By securing a large bit of bluetac underneath the box, it gave the impression that the box was tipping over by itself. It then came to moving the coins. By moving the coins step by step, (inch by inch) we managed to create the illusion that theey were moving around the box and organizing themselves. We replayed what we had done so far and the team and I were pleased with the outcome. We then proceeded to make the coins get back in the box. The next stage was the most difficult to "pull off". We had to give the impression that the box was getting back up or righting itself. This was more difficult than we had expected. We tried securing bluetac to the bottom of the box again, this worked up to a point where the bluetac could no longer support the weight of the box. We overcame this problem by skipping a few movements, which created a jump cut. The final stage was to place the lid back on the box. This was not a complex procedure. By using the bluetac to secure the edge of the lid to the box, it gave the overall impression that the lid was climbing back on top of the box. After taking stills of the clips re hinging themselves, we were finished.

The task for today was to produce a sound track for our coin istopmotion animation. We had to produce and record the sounds in relation to what was happening in the video. We took the laptop and the box of coins into a quiet classroom. We then opened up the Final Cut editing software, clicked on "tools" and opened up "voice over". This tool allowed us to record straight onto the timeline through the laptops built in microphone. The first thing to record was the lid clips unhinging, then the lid falling onto the table, then the box tipping over. I then needed to record me dragging a coin across the surface of the table, I did this to resemble the sound of the last coin making it's way into the box at the end of the animation. The last sound to record was me dropping the box (full of coins) onto the surface, this was to resemble the box righting itself. Once all the sound had been recorded it was then my job to edit the sound clips and sync them up with the visuals of the animation. I edited the sound clips in order of appearance. The most complex bit of editing was the lid unhinging itself, when recording this sound we only unhinged one clip of the box lid. This meant that I had duplicate the clip (by pressing Cmd V, Cmd C) three times and then match up each clip with visuals. As the movements of this part of the animation were fast and drastic, I had to look at the clip's wavelengths to try and match them up to the visuals as accurately possible.
Once the whole video was completed, we uploaded it to the video sharing website (Vimeo).

Bouncy Ball Exercise

   The bouncy ball exercise was my and the rest of the class's introduction to animation. I was handed a sheet that showed all the stages of the bouncy ball's movement from start to finish. I was then given a yellow flick book. My first task was to draw the ground/floor for my ball to bounce on. We were allowed to use a ruler for this but I chose to draw the line freehand to make the whole thing look more "hand drawn". The first line had to be traced from the sheet we had been given showing the ball's movement. As the pages of the flick book were fairly transparent, I was then able to trace this line from one page of the book to another. For this technique to work I had to start from the back page instead of the front. The next stage was to draw the ball on each page. I had to trace each frame from the movement sheet to make sure that the balls movement would not look too erratic. I was able to work from the front of the flick book this time. Once all of the ball's movement had been drawn in, I flicked through the book to see if the movement was smooth. I was happy with the outcome, so I got hold of a pen and drew over all the pencil marks I had previously made so the lines would stand out more. I was then told to try and make my animation stand out in some way, so I drew a cloud moving across the sky. The flick book animation was now complete, but I wanted to turn it into a "stop animation". This is where you take still images of each frame of the flick book and play them back in quick succession. I used a program called iStopMotion to do this. I turned my laptop on and opened up iStopMotion, I saved and opened up a new project, I selected 12 frames per second for the speed of playback (this is the maximum amount of frames the human eye can pick up). I then got a video camera and set it to still image mode, I connected the camera to the laptop via a USB cable. When connected, iStopMotion "recognized" the camera. To switch to the video camera from the standard camera built into the laptop, I went to the drop down menu in the top right corner of the iStopMotion interface and chose the video camera. Using a tripod I tilted the camera down at the surface of the table, I then secured the book to the table surface using blue tac (in full view of the camera). I was now ready to capture each frame of the book. This next process involved turning each page of the flickbook and taking still images by pressing the "space bar" on the keyboard. Instead of doing this all by myself, I teamed up with a fellow class mate. We agreed to help each other. One person would turn each page of the book and the other would press the space bar. This was a much more efficient way of completing the task. Once all the frames had been captured, I watched the animation by pressing the play button. I was pleased with the outcome. I exported the animation in a format that was suitable for the Final Cut editing software, and then imported it into Final Cut. I dragged the file onto the timeline. I saw that the length of the sequence was 3 seconds long. For people to be able to watch my animation properly, I decided to repeat the animation five times. I did this by copying the original clip (Cmnd C) and pasting (Cmnd V) the new clip next to it. I now had a sequence that was 15 seconds long. But it was not yet complete. To finish it off I created a soundtrack using Garageband and imported it into Final Cut and added it to the video. The last thing I had to do was upload the video to Vimeo.

BLU Research

BLU is an Argentinian street graffiti artist who has been recognized for his work since 1999. His fame began due to his spray paint artwork done in the suburbs of Bologna. During his early years the artist was limited to using spray paint, but in 2001 he started using house paint and large rollers which enabled him to create artwork on a much larger scale. He often collaborated with another artist called Ericailcane, both artists work complemented each other, Blu drew his characteristic human figures, where as Ericailcane made his typical animals. Also during these early years Blu started experimenting with (stop motion) animation. In 2004 art galleries began to notice Blu's potential and asked him to come to their collective shows, the artist declined these requests because he preferred to stay unknown to the official art world. In 2005 Blu began to travel to different countries, spreading his horizons. When he got to South America he painted a large wall, the painting showed a human figure made out of bananas. This was significant to the people that lived there because it related back to when many workers went on strike on banana plantations. The painting was immediately dubbed Hombre Banano which means banana man.

The artist then went from place to place visiting locations such as: Brazil, Costa Rica and Peru, making his mark in each country. In 2007 Blu and a group of other artists such as Ericailcane, Banksy and Mark Jenkins, painted on the wall surrounding Bethlehem that separates the West Bank from Israel. The piece of artwork was painted on a watchtower and shows a man attempting to tear down the "open air prison" with his finger.
Today Blu is a celebrated artist and has stunned many people with his artwork. Some of his most stunning work comes in the form of stop motion animation. The artwork in his animations is painted in the same style as his wall murals. Instead of using a blank canvas to paint each frame onto, Blu chooses to paint on walls and pavements. Once he has drawn a single frame, he blanks out the last frame by painting over it in a bland colour, usually white or grey. This is a very time consuming process and when looking at his animations it is possible to see the days go by, by looking at how quickly the light changes colour in the sky. 

Animating And Colour Choices

After settling on the design I was going to use for my animation, I drew the sheet below to sum up which parts of rocket were going to be animated and what colour the different components were going to be.
The first thing I chose to be animated were the wheels. As the wheels have four perfect lines of symmetry, it is possible to create a short loop of two frames. The first frame will show the wheel in its stationary position, in the second frame the wheel will be rotated about 45 degrees. This loop will give the impression that the wheels are moving. The second component I wish to animate is the fire. I have chosen to give this a loop of three frames. I do not want the fire to have a smooth movement like the wheels, instead I have chosen to draw the fire a slightly different size for each frame. This loop will give the fire some "life". The last loop I am creating will be for the eyes. This will be the longest loop and it will be four frames long. The first frame will show the eyes being open, the second and third will show them shut, and the fourth frame will show them open again to complete the loop.

I have thought hard about the colour selection for the rocket and I have come to a conclusion. The main body of the rocket will be white. I chose white because it will save time when drawing each frame of the animation. As I drew the wheels to look like old fashioned cart wheels, I have chosen the colour brown to mimic the colour of wood. The pupils of the eyes will be black and the irises will be yellow. I chose yellow because it is a vibrant and bright colour that will catch the audience's attention. The tip (or nose) of the rocket will be red. After watching some cartoons and feature length animations such as Toy Story I found that the nose colour for rockets is primarily red, this is my reason for choosing this colour. For the fire I have settled on three colours: Red for the outer flame, pink for the middle and yellow for the inner flame.

Character Loop

My initial idea was to use the shape of an eye to create my character in some way. I experimented with drawings for a while and I came up with a "flying eye", this basically looked like an eye with wings. I was pleased with this drawing but I carried on experimenting. I then began to toy around with the idea of using a rocket.  The second drawing I produced was the "rocket on wheels", I received good feedback on this design. It is my favorite design because it contains three elements that can be animated: the wheels, fire and eyes. From then on I started drawing random images, hoping to stumble upon a good idea. During this process I drew a running banana, an iron, the earth and a skier. Animating the skier's arm movement and body posture whilst moving would have been complicated to create. I enjoyed the idea of the earth rotating. But it soon dawned on me that we were set this task to try and create our own graffiti style character, so I decided the animating the earth was not a good idea.

The design that I have decided to animate is the rocket. It is a design that is not too complex but not too basic. The animation elements are simple but because there will be three loop animations, the overall animation will be visually stimulating for the audience.