Interesting Links

Well I looked in my Internet history and here is what I found

www.bitesizedeals.co.uk
this is where I bought my graphic tablet. It was really cheap! Haven’t used is since though

.http://www.newgrounds.com
slightly better that youtube for animations, it is filled with all kinds of ammeter animations.

http://www.framestore-cfc.com
This studio have done so many things it’s sickening! There animations are amazing and they have done the special effects for films like ‘quantum of soils’ and’ the dark night’

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=62127115730&ref=ts
the link to our class’s joint animation project, you may need a facebook account to view it though

http://www.imdb.com
Good for looking up actors, films and general information in the film and television world, plus its more accurate then wikipedia

http: www.onlineghibli.com
Studio Ghibli: arguably my favourite animation studio. Have a look and see what you think. I don’t really use there website that often but it cant hurt to have it up here.

www.bermudashorts.com
I did some work experience here and loved it. This is where I picked up most my ‘after effects’ and ‘Maya’ knowhow

www.amazon.com
good for buying lots of things I buy a ridiculous amount of DVD’s from here but you can buy all kinds of things

www.youtube.com
Really useful for looking up all kinds of things, tutorials, videos, animations and more, there’s lots of good stuff but lots of rubbish to, you have to know what your are looking for or you may get lost.

www.google.com
worlds best search engine find anything you want on the Internet!

The Animator’s survival kit
by Richard Williams.

The Animator’s survival kit is a book written by Richard Williams.
Richard Williams is for the most part responsible for the revitalization of animation in the 1970s. He was a director of many animated films including ‘Who framed Roger Rabbit’
Williams had the Disney animator Art Babbitt working in his studio, alongside Warner brothers’ Ken Harris. This meant he was able to use theory from both of these cartoon studio heavyweights. He also helped in the training of the subsequent generation of animators in London. The importance of this is that at the time animation was not taught anywhere, as it was not considered an art form. In this respect Richard Williams was the first Animation Teacher.

In the prolog Williams explains that he, even after winning an Academy Award and having a professional studio still had to re learn lots of animation techniques from Harris and Babbitt. The book is essentially a publication of this knowledge.

The book puts a lot of emphasis on the fact that animation is an art form, and that good animation has nothing to do with the medium it is portrayed in. there is a heavy focus on the way characters move, rather then the quality in which they are drawn.
The main bulk of the book is walk cycles each with there own emphasis on different movements, some imply difference in weight, essential for an animator, others gives difference in speeds. There are also suggestions for timings to be applied for different types of motions
I see this book as one of the best for Technical theory in animation. it explains itself well, and has a large variety of actions. It has really helped me build confidence in my abilities, I can now animate better and quicker then I could previously. I don’t believe there is a substitute for actually doing animation, but Richard Williams’ animator’s survival kit is the next best thing

The Encyclopaedia of animation techniques
By Richard Taylor

The Encyclopaedia of animation techniques has a chapter on ‘comic’ and animations whose soul purpose is to induce laughter from their audience. The chapter is full of different examples of animations of various styles.
Although it has very little in depth analysis into the individual aspects of each example, it contains images to serve as technical examples and it has been primarily useful as a point to conduct further research into the various different examples it presents.
It shows some of the different ways that animation use humour, whether it be through the over exaggerated character design as seen in animations such as the 1994 animation ‘sleepy guy’ that used a oversized head to help emphasize its facial features. Or cartoons like Warner bros famous ‘loony toons’ that use a hyper unrealistic approach, in which the world reacts in a humorously silly way.
I have also seen that animations can use the same techniques as live action film in which to get its points across, there are a number of animations that use techniques such as parody or adult humour to give a humorous outcome. On the other side of things animations have the advantage of having there own amative styles to make jokes with, a good example of this would be ‘South Park’ that uses a combination of adult humour and comically bad animation, this has been hugely successful in its reception. Another example is ‘Aaagh Animation’ that uses a combination of its strange stop motion animation and the pure bizarreness of the world it portrays
Overall The Encyclopaedia of Animation Techniques is not the most useful book I have come across. But this small section has been essential for my essay.

Humour as a Double-Edged sword
By John C Mayer

John C Meyer is a professor at the University of Kansas in America, who has done research into the ’communication theory ’ an idea that looks at the make up of all forms of communication The area that interests me is his research into Humour and how it divides and unifies people.‘
Communication theory is a large topic and there are many books devoted to it, in short it breaks down the codes and conventions of communication and looks at the science behind why it works and what contexts its used in. Meyer’s book has a chapter called: “humour as a double edged sword”. It serves to look at the problem with using humour as a source of communication, because of its tendency’s to be misinterpreted.
I find the scientific approach to humour interesting because I have always seen humour as a more natural thing. But after a look into Meyer’s research, his findings seem to make more sense to me. Just like anything else humour can be investigated from a scientific point of view.
This chapter does not deal with film specifically or even animation. But as humour it is Easley connected with the subject at hand. All the different points that make people laugh are seen in many mediums that use humour and the aspects of communication theory can be picked out in most sources of communication that use humour
This article has been especially helpful in my essay because it breaks down humour into what it sees at its main points. I don’t believe that it is so easy to define humour and that it has far more to do with its delivery then its content, nevertheless this article has been useful for me to give examples of how my theories conflict with its own.

Animation art
by Jerry Beck
Flame Tree Publishing (27 Aug 2004)


Animation art provides a visual encyclopaedia of the history of animation. It includes animations of many different types from 3D special effects crafted by Maya or flash, stop motion done through objects or puppetry and hand drawn work from children’s cartoons to experimental art works in many different mediums. One of the books strongest points is that it is highly visual ,there are plenty of images to keep it visually pleasing, At the same time as being highly informative.

It is organised chronologically starting at the earliest examples of animation and moving chapter by chapter, a decade at a time right up to the present day. Each chapter shows visual examples of the works and provides both a brief history of the producer and cultural context for the animation. For example there is a section on Disney’s cartoons during world-war two, the section includes the difference in Disney’s techniques at the time there role in producing propaganda and examples of German and soviet propaganda. A more modern example would be the books insight into how animation has shaped today’s adult culture with cartoons such as 'The Simpsons' ‘South park’ and 'Beavis and Butthead'
One of the interesting things about the book is that it covers works from all over the planet, there is Hungarian examples that describes the path that their animation was taking at the time of Disney’s formation this is still shown despite the fact that Disney was the focus of the animation world at that point. Because of animations many applications, the book covers animation in advertisements, entertainment and its application within live action film as special effects.
The book showcases work from well-known studios as well as a few less well-known private animators and their contribution to animation as a whole.
The book has been very useful in my work as it provides excellent reference material as well as a source of inspiration of what others have done. An amore detailed look into it has allowed me to broaden my knowledge of animation and what it can be. This is useful for finding new works to use as examples in my essays

Drumroll

Director/ Creator: Steve McQueen

Drumroll is a 22 minute long film by British-born, Amsterdam-based artist Steve McQueen. McQueen is a filmmaker and is seen as one of the leading contemporary video installation artists. He won the Turner Prize in 1999 for his Film ‘Dead pan’. Since, McQueen has been commissioned by the Imperial War Museum to visit Iraq to produce a work in response to the war.
Drumroll is a large room-sized installation consisting of three-projected video screens; each screen shows a different camera angle from within an open-ended barrel, that the artist is pushing along the streets of Manhattan. The three circling views of New York are then displayed on each of the screens.
Drumroll comes from a clear combination of the artist’s interest in performance art, improvisation and sound. The film also shows the artists interest in the tradition of film and Cinema, as the film has a clear sense of experimental work in the mediums of film and video. His minimalist approach seems to Challenge the mainstream, high budget films produced by Hollywood studios. It is as if McQueen is trying to return to an artistic process of movie making; with the control returned to the artistic creator in the same way that we view he fine artist. McQueen described it as a film that in, which “Everything that slipped into frame was permitted,” and that “it was impossible to make a ‘mistake’, everything is allowed."
The Theme of change is apparent throughout with the randomness’s of a day in the heart of New York being the central idea. There is also a strong notion of the real and the premeditated. McQueen uses his cameras to record reality as it comes, un-edited, however at the same time the viewer is experiencing Three viewpoints simultaneously, since this is impossible without mechanical assistance, The camera acts as a strange mix of un-filtered reality and at the same time shows us the impossible. This gives the viewer a strange kind of “third eye”
It is clear that McQueen’s films have more in common with photography than they do with mainstream cinema. Techniques McQueen uses are similar to photographers such as Roy DeCarava or Nan Goldin. However where these Photographers look into psychological issues, McQueen rejects this philosophy. His films contain no details of people. Any human form in the picture is likely to be there due to random chance, and speech is always a part of the soundtrack but normally originated from an external source not meant for the film, such as other people’s conversations. McQueen’s videos are normally described as video installations. They have as much in common with sculpture and performance art as they do to the cinema. Unlike traditional films, McQueen’s narratives show no conflict and therefore no resolution or any other aspect of conventional cinema such as character or passage of time.
In my opinion McQueen’s work is effective due to its elusive nature. It has a strong focus on change but never evolves, acting as a strange state of contained evolution. Beginning and ends converge to the point that the film could continue forever. I think this is one of the strongest aspects of the film, McQueen has found balance between two absolutes, these make it very hard to criticise the peace. Its simplicity is clear while at the same time it is very open to interpretation metaphorically.

Telling lies

Released: 2001
Director: Simon Ellis

Telling Lies is a 4-minute film directed by Simon Ellis. It is about a man waking up and having a series of phone calls. As he talks his words are displayed, centre screen, in a subtitle style. The subtitles narrate what he is thinking and so the discrepancies between what he says and what he’s thinks can be seen on screen. His lies are therefore being displayed for the audience to see.
The film centres on the theme of lies and goes about this through its portrayal of a conversation on the phone with the lies exposed for the audience. The film is mostly humorous and slightly thought provoking because of its rooting in a real everyday event that the audience can associate with.
Background remains blank throughout, however the emotions of the characters are portrayed through voice acting and the constantly changing colour and style of the typography. The black backdrop behind the text serves to keep the audience fixed on the conversation of the characters, it is for this same reason there is also no soundtrack. The pace of the film is set high with one event following directly after the previous. This keeps the attention of the audience on the plot rather then letting it wander.
Telling lies is not the cleverest constructed short film, but nether does it set out to be. Its simplicity means it is appealing to a large audience range. The combination of speech and visual text however leaves little room for interpretation; there are two set threads of narrative, voice, text and no more. The plot despite being simple doesn't really matter. The true value lies between the use of words and speech. The films Fast, quick pace serves to cover over the fact that the film has many weaknesses. The animation is pretty basic and the words move so fast at times that it can be hard to track them. Overall Telling lies is a basic and slightly unoriginal short, at the same time it successfully entertains and that is enough.

The Nightmare Before Christmas

Released: 1994
Director: Henry Selick
Writers: Tim Burton/Michael McDowell

The Nightmare before Christmas was an early project of Tim Burtons that was revisited by him after he had found success in Hollywood. It was released in 1994 and was nominated for 4 Oscars.
The Nightmare before Christmas is the story of Jack Skellington ‘ The Pumpkin King’ of Halloween town, he becomes bored of his job and decides its time for a change. with the help of the inhabitants of Halloween town he kidnaps Santa who he refers to as ‘Sandy claws’ and goes about creating the scariest Christmas possible. On realising his mistake jack must rescue Santa from the evil ‘Oogie Boogie ’ and correct his mistakes in order to save Christmas.
The film is composed of a strange mixture of themes and techniques, it is set in a horror themed environment with the characters strongly fitting the horror stereotype. The soundtrack is that of a musical with outbreaks of song being a regular occurrence. The plot although basic makes good use of suspense and to top it all off there is countless aspect of comedy throughout. The combination of horror in what is essentially a children’s production gives the film an edge that does not treat the child audience as being stupid, while at the same time makes the film watchable by an adult audience.
Although Tim Burton doesn’t direct the nightmare before Christmas he was the producer, and his style is clear throughout the movie. The stop motion animation style that the film is done in is typical of Burton, the over exaggerated movements and a strange idea of space that at times mirrors 2d animation. The character design was done in a great amount of detail, all the characters from jack Skellington to the Jazz playing zombies have both a creepy dark side as well as a comic effect, for instance the character of Dr. Finkelstine has many connotations’ of being an evil scientist, such as his arched posture and lab coat, but he will also open his head to literally scratch his brain for comic effect. The same level of detail goes into all the props and sets of the film. The cast consists of mostly unknown voice actors, who do an amazing job and all give their characters life. This strange artistic combination of so many styles and themes can be seen as too weird or stylish, but it has earned the film the following of a cult audience Over the years and is still seen as one of burtons finest creations.
As an animator I have never been a fan of stop frame animation but despite my biest view I have come to respect the nightmare before Christmas. its crazy twist of horror and comedy with a captivating soundtrack makes it appeal to Children and adults alike. Plus the pain staking detail put into every aspect of the film shows through so clearly that you have to marvel at it.

Crash

Released: 2004
Director: Paul Haggis
Writer: Paul Haggis

Crash centres around a number of characters of different races and social classes all living in Los Angeles and how there lives interact with one another over a period of 36 hours, through a series of crashes shootings and car thefts
The film is about some of the more negative aspects of human interaction, Centring mostly on racial stereotype and discrimination, this is shown through the various characters of different backgrounds and there interactions with one another when forced under extreme circumstances. It not only focuses on racial tension but also looks at the way we treat strangers in general.
Crash relies heavily on stereotype and audience expectation, but often contradicts the predicted outcome. With every new character, a new stereotype is introduced and then contradicted, serving not only to challenge the stereotype but also to reprimand the audience for thinking in such a way. The development of the characters is what keeps the films momentum going, each ones personality is designed so that they are alienated in their own way, this provides a far more dramatic conflict when they collide, because they are forced out of their comfort zones. There is a great deal of suspense needed to engross the viewer, Crash makes good use of time manipulation, especially slow motion, often drawing out an intense situation to make the viewer want a resolution all the more.
Crash is a moving and thought provoking movie, it allows grate psychological insight into its characters that engrosses the audience right from the beginning, to have done this effectively the performance of the actors has to be commended, the characters all have their specific roles to play to further the plot but none of them ever come across as one-dimensional. When simplified the plot gives all the characters a opportunity to break away from the cycle of prejudice, (whether they take it or not) which asks the question “are we all so different?” in places the film becomes a bit ‘preachy’ and often undermines the intelligence of the audience through unnecessarily obvious explanatory shots. But on the whole the film makes its point with effective impact.

Princess Mononoke

Released: 1997
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Writer: Hayao Miyazaki

Princess Mononoke is the tenth film by Japanese animation film studio ‘studio Ghibli’, that following its release in 1997 became japans biggest grossing film of all time.
It is set in feudal Japan, during a time of disorder. The main protagonist ‘Ashitaka’ receives a cursed injury while defending his town from a giant boar. He discovers that the curse will spread and eventually kill him. The plot then revolves around his journey into the lands to the west of his village in search of the god of the forest who can heal his affliction. On his quest the attempts to prevent an approaching war between the creatures of the forest and the people of ‘Irontown’ a small, fortified town that has had to cut back the forest for the wood needed to support themselves.
Princess Mononoke is a fantasy adventures the centres around conflict, everything from heated arguments to pitched battles and plenty of competing interests, including cursed monsters, angry gods, ambitious people, and a selfless hero. But remarkably, there is no villain. Even though it comes across as a simple progressive plot the film carries a powerful moral: it states that man’s tampering with nature brings about as much savagery as it does progression. The fact that the film has no single villain adds to the message that this is a real problem and that the blame cannot be placed on a single individual.
The film is in a two dimensional hand drawn style like most other anime (Japanese animation) but the interesting thing about the picture and indeed all of Ghibli’s work is that it is done using traditional cell based animation techniques. This technique is mostly seen as out of date given the increase in computer animations; this is also reflected in the films cost. When released, Mononoke had cost 2.4 billion Japanese yen, making it the most expensive anime ever made. The film was the first that Ghibli had used computer animation in, and features a total of 5 minutes of computer animated footage throughout the film, and a further 10 minutes used digital paint, a technique which is used throughout all subsequent Studio Ghibli films. Despite this Mononoke goes through grate lengths to blend the two in as subtle fashion In fact the CGI serves as support for the majority of the cell based animated film.
Princess Mononoke is in my opinion one of the best animated movies ever made, it harnesses the beauty of traditional animation while at the same time is still able to use computer advancements to further the story without conflicting with the films hand drawn style. I would recommend anyone even if they are not a fan of anime to look past the style of drawing and see the film for all else that it has to offer. All together I conceder it an amazingly well put together film

Black on Maroon

Black on maroon is one of a series of paintings named the ‘Seagram Murals’ by Mark Rothko, all created to fill the Four Seasons Restaurant in the Seagram Building, New York. The most noticeable thing about the series is there sheer size; Black on Maroon is an impressive 2667mm high and 3812mm wide.
On completion of the Paintings in 1958, Rothko told the publisher of Harpers magazine that he had planned to paint a series that would “ruin the appetite of every son-of-a-bitch who ever eats in that room”. when the restaurant failed to complain he removed the paintings claiming that they needed to be in a place where people could pay attention to them without the distractions of a busy restaurant
The painting is typical of Rothko’s style. It features two seemingly luminous, soft-edged rectangles, Like the rest of the Seagram murals the canvas is extremely saturated with paint. They all now sit in the Tate’s “Rothko room” a room specifically built to house the paintings in the conditions that Rothko wished. In the exhibition his paintings are said to have a ‘meditative feel’ the dark room amplifies the already dark shades of deep dark reds, oranges, maroons, browns, blacks, and greys.
Black on maroon is exactly what it says, ‘Black paint on top of maroon paint ’ it has no artistic style and could have been painted by anyone. The most impressive thing about the painting and indeed the whole series is that it took so long for him to do so very little. The only artworks that this can be compared to is the modern artists of today, that like Rothko try to put some sort of deep meaning into whatever random object they come across.
As for the medative qualities of the peaces, after spending some time in the ‘Rothko room ’ I deduced that it was the room ambience rather then the paintings that had this calming effect and blank canvases would have been far more effective.