In class, Professor Jake showed us the film Crac! by Frederic Back and I thought it was super cool! I love how unique his drawing style was and it reminds me of children’s books. It also reminds me of one of my art styles also.His style is slightly different in each film he has.
He used the techniqe of animating layers on frosted cels. Frosted cels area material usually used by artchitects and they are transparent. It’s like and easy DIY for onion skin.
His film Abracadabra definetly looks like it could have been on the TV channel for PBS kids or Qubo. Super cute.
Not all of Back’s films were childlike but some looked depressing and had no colors added. He also used a realistic style while animating instead of childish characters.
Coldplay is one of my all time favorite bands. Their music is incredible and they really know how to entertain their audience; live in concert and through music videos. they do a lot of stop motion/pixelation music videos that I want to share with you all.
First, my favorite is the music video to their song Strawberry Swing.
This was super cool to me because they literally filmed the entire music video on one chalk board. Yet, in the music video, it looks like h is travelling all across the world. I love when he is fighting against the giant squirrel above the city haha. Such a cool idea and everything goes perfetly with the music.
This is a pixelation music video that uses spray paint on buildings to make a lyric video. the colors are super childlike and fun considering the song is called Every Teardrop is a Waterfall.
I am a big stop motion film fan. I enjoy a lot of movies from Tim Burton especially. For a long time, I thought movies like Coraline, The nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach were directed by Tim Burton but I learned that Henry Selick was the director of them. Like Tim Burton, Selick gives off a creepy vibe while bringing his puppets to life.
James and the Giant Peach was made in 1996 and I am amazed that such fluid stop motion films were made at this time. I know it took a lot of work and must have been very time consuming due to the limited resources they had.
I love how the bugs were animated because they look so human like and it creeped me out as a child because it was too realistic. I remember thinking that the Grasshopper in the film looked like my 4th grade teacher.
Wes Anderson is hands down one of my top 5 film directors. His style is very distinct and his color palettes are so aesthetically pleasing. Acually, everything that he directs is aesthetically pleasing. Even though most of his films are live action, he incorporates animation within. One of his movies that has the most beautiful hotel scene is from his movie “The Grand Budapest Hotel” and it is a MUST see!
He also has done a few stop motion films. Those films are Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) and Isle of Dogs (2018). The style of the puppets used are similar in each film and it makes it recognizable as a Wes Anderson film. Also, both movies have animals as the main subjects! It’s super cool to see these animals come to life. In Fantastic Mr. Fox to be exact, I loved seeing all the foxes animated like humans.
There is something about abstract animation that is just so mesmerizing to the point where I cannot take my eyes off the screen. It’s hard for most people to get into abstract art because there is not an obvious meaning to it. I enjoy abstract art because you can think for yourself and sometimes, you’re not even supposed to think; you’re just supposed to look.
In class, we talked about various artists that did abstract animations and one of my favorite ones was Stan Brackhage. He stood out to me in particular because he studied everyday life and interpreted it into his films. He would use objects that he gathered from outside like plants and even used live bugs! He even played around with manipulating the film. That was super creative to me. He was making films in the 80s and during that time, many people were experimenting but his style was unique.
Below is a film that he made in 1993 called Stellar. Stellar should honestly have an epilepsy warning at the beginning because its a lot of colorful lights and eventually made my head hurt from watching. But before my head started hurting, I was so fascinated by the use of colors. The speed was also really fast and reminded me of a few cut scenes from horror anime openings.
As I mentioned before, Naruto is my favourite Japanese animation ever. I watched it when I was 14, it is the first time that I watched an anime. I fell in love with the story and characters of Naruto right away.
Naruto is a Japanese manga series illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto which published in 1997. It presents the story of Uzumaki Naruto, a teenage ninja dreaming to be the leader of his village, Hokage one day. He has a pretty sad childhood because he grew up without his parent and everyone in his village is avoid him there is a monster insider his body. It is also the reason why he want to be Hokage, he longs for friends and recognition from his people. No matter how many obstacles he had faced, he never gives up. At last, his hard work paid off. At the same time, Naruto’s best friend who is also his opponent, Uchiha Sasuke has a bad childhood memory as well because his beloved older brother killed every people in his family including their parents. He tried so hard to become stronger so he can have his revenge on his older brother. Naruto and Sasuke shared the same sadness, but they picked a different path. Even though Sasuke followed the villain because he is blinded by hatred, Naruto never give up on him.
The story of Naruto is exciting as there are lots of fighting scenes. It also reflects the Japanese culture of Ninja. It is positive because it shows how people work hard on their dreams and never give up. It is touching and heart-melted as it shows how people values their relationships or bonding with each others. It had a huge influence on me when I was a teenager. I think it helps me to be a better person because I learned so many valuable lessons from Naruto. To be honest, some of the story plots of Naruto are just so touching that I used to cry at nights when I was watching. I introduced it to my roommates whose bed was next to me. At night, we just watch Naruto separately (as we were in different episode) but we cried at the same time…I love every single characters in Naruto including the villains. In Naruto, most of the villains had been through their own pain and sorrow which I feel sad for them too.
I really recommend everyone to watch Naruto if you haven’t watch it. It is the No.1 anime in my heart for all time.❤️❤️(I watched the 700 episodes for 5 time plus the manga series🙈🙈)
I learned a lot about different featured artists and different techniques to animation that I didn’t really think much about before this class. I enjoyed all the films we watched and learned about in class, even the weird and disturbing ones. Each one showed me the different concepts and themes that different artists can create. There was a stretch of animation development that we covered in this course. From watching a lot of stop motion to ending the quarter with advances such as computer animation. Of course, I think I most enjoyed the playful silly animations over the ones about eating people or of bugs. The course became even more engaging with the group projects to create our own stop motion. It really gave me the hindsight of how tedious and time consuming stop motion really is.
Overall, I want to thank Professor Jake, for showing us so many different animations, stretching from various mediums. Hopefully I can take what I’ve learned in this class and can apply it to future animations I may partake in.
The slides weren’t in dropbox so my info of digital animation is based off of memory. We had talked a lot about the advances of animation from traditional art to computer animated art, the use of technology to create the new wave of animation. I remember the professor showing us snippets of pixar and disney short films, especially Luxo Jr.(1986) because it is such an iconic short film of the pixar studios, it being part of their logo. I also remember listening about Toy Story(1995), and about the director, John Lasseter who first introduced computer animated films.
I recently wrote a math research paper about the relation between geometry and animation. I used Pixar studios as a prime source and example. Ed Catmull, who I believe we mentioned in class, created the Catmull’s Clark Algorithm that allowed modelers and animators to create curves on 3D surfaces, that is now applied as the basis of animation today. Not only was he the previous Pixar Studio’s President, but he was also a retired computer scientist, hence the algorithm that changed the playing field. The video that was hosted by Tony DeRose, a senior scientist at Pixar Studios, explains how this algorithm was applied to character models such as Geri from Geri’s Game (1997).
Sheila M. Sophian. Watching her film was very hard and heavy to the heart. The documentary was very raw and real, touching upon the issues of the justice system in the U.S. It’s hard to hear the hardships and evils that happens in a system that is suppose to bring evil to light. Sophian exposes the truth and I suppose it’s just really hard to watch and listen to. A corrupt justice and social system that brings in the wrong people during the wrong time. I had just finish watching all the seasons to Brooklyn Nine-Nine, which talks about the good the police do to society. So, watching a playful fun sitcom about the justice system to watching a heavy hard-hitting documentary of the injustice of the justice system, is such a big contrast.
Glove puppetry is a type of opera using
cloth puppets that originated during the 17th century in Quanzhou or Zhangzhou
of China’s Fujian province. It had since established itself contemporarily as a
popular art form in Taiwan.
The puppet’s head uses wood carved into the shape of a hollow human head, but aside from the head, palms, and feet, which are made of wood, the puppet’s torso and limbs consist entirely of cloth costumes. At the time of the performance, a gloved hand enters the puppet’s costume and makes it perform. In previous years the puppets used in this type of performance strongly resembled “cloth sacks,” hence the name, which literally means “cloth bag opera.”
PILI Puppet Drama is one of the masterpieces of Glove puppetry. Its performing technique is different from traditional glove puppetry. It strengthens the effect of sound and light blasting, uses computer special effects, enlarges and refines puppets, improves the way of puppet operation, etc. The eye part of the puppet evolved from the early brush eye to the glass eye; the hair part evolved from the traditional plastic wig to the real hair; in terms of size and modeling, the puppet size increased, the modeling handsome beautification and simulation. The hands evolved from wooden hands with the thumb separated from the other four fingers and the fingers only bent and unable to move to plastic hands that can be grasped freely by five fingers; the feet changed from traditional cloth legs that cannot be bent to movable feet that can be kicked or kneeled after the joint is installed. In recent years, the baby making technology of “BJD” system has been introduced into thunderbolt puppet show, which is the so-called “movable joint humanoid” high simulation technology.
Puppet animation is developed from object animation. Instead of using objects, it uses puppets. Puppet animation is a kind of development to stop motion animation, not to introduce puppets in different frames, but because puppets have human qualities, so directors can move puppets more freely and show different actions more easily It works by taking pictures and moving puppets in different frames.
The Hand is a 1965 Czechoslovak stop motion
puppet animation film directed by Jiří Trnka. The plot is about when a craftsman in the
industry of making flowerpots devotes himself to his work, he is forced to make
a statue for a huge hand. The craftsman refuses to obey the orders and drives
the hand out of the door. However, this hand cannot be driven away. It is
everywhere. In addition to the doors and windows, it can also convey the orders
by telephone, television and newspaper. In the end, the artisan gave in, but he
had to be strictly controlled to work in a huge cage, and once he stepped into
the cage, he could not get out.
The fate of craftsmen and various suggestive performances of the hand. The conflict between power and individual is sharp and oppressive in the narrow space. Although the scene and puppet expression are not rich, the puppet’s action performance is excellent. Whether it’s the quick broom or the flustered little movements. In the same way, the performance of the hand is also indispensable. The slightly delicate movements and the conversion of black and white gloves make the negative role full of vitality.
The mastery of lens, lighting and splicing
control in many roles reflects the director’s superb skill level.
ANIM223 - HISTORY OF ANIMATION - FALL 2019 