For the fifth day of class, it focused on abstract animation. It is also known as Visual Music. One notable animator was Oskar Fischinger, who built the foundation of this. Most of the animations that were produced followed all sorts of musical tracks. A wax-cutting machine would be used to create effects for these different films. Oskar Fischinger would be influenced by the abstract paintings of Wassily Kandinsky.
Not only was he an animator, he was also an engineer. With his knowledge, he created the “Wax Slicing Machine” (1922). This invention would synchronize with a vertical slicer with a movie camera’s shutter. It would produce some work that I could never believe was made at that time. It looked very intricate and the timing for each sound was precise. It’s very incredible. Fischinger would then proceed to experiment with the technique and create various studies. A few of these would be quite popular in theatres.
One of my favorites from him was his experiments. They were really interesting to watch.
Julia Reymundo
ANIM223 - HISTORY OF ANIMATION - FALL 2019 