Animation Practice, Process & Production - Volume 10, Issue 1, 2021

In Max Hattler’s stereoscopic installation Vœrtex two-dimensional abstract animation is turned into immersive images with strong three-dimensional depth. Utilizing a two-screen, semi-Cave Automatic Virtual Environment, Vœrtex creates a unique viewing experience for the viewer, a hybrid space situated halfway between immersion-in-abstraction and the real world of the gallery space, allowing the viewer to be in two spaces simultaneously. This article discusses the technical set-up, production processes and stereoscopic techniques, including binocular colour rivalry and depth displacements employed in Vœrtex. This is followed by a discussion of Vœrtex in relation to the concept of lucidity and an audience study into viewers’ perception of the work. The hybrid set-up of Vœrtex, combining both stereoscopic and interactive visual texts, allows for a sense of creative inspiration and inquiry into the dreaming mind, and participants can actively choose to explore different aspects of their perception by oscillating between two divergent states: an immersive dream sensation and a sense of being anchored in the real world.

Contemporary animation is typically viewed in a digital format which is subject to the mechanics of cinema: a frame-by-frame presentation of a sequence of images (at a constant rate) so that the illusion of continuous motion is experienced by the viewer. In this article I argue that by altering the way we view animation, we could influence the viewer’s experience and understanding of an animated work. The research is a culmination of my Ph.D. by creative practice, which unpacks modes of viewing practice through the creation of an experimental short film and the presentation of an art exhibition that reveal movement for the viewer in a deliberately playful manner. The short film expands on the experimental animation technique known as strata-stencil that uses a multiple layered approach, revealing the consecutive frames of a movement on every frame. Drawing on techniques of nineteenth-century chronophotography, my work focuses on the representation of movement in classic cartoon-style animation and reveals the construction of animation for the viewer through static and animated sequences. My interest lies in the imperceptible moments that are lost in standard viewing practice, forcing the viewer to question their understanding of a movement and the aesthetics involved in seeing more than one frame at a time. I propose that we look at the individual animation frames not in isolation but simultaneously as sequences, so that the notion of seriality informs the viewer’s understanding of animated movement as a distinct aesthetic experience. In doing this, I challenge the viewer to look at animation in a different way and create an innovative viewing experience.

This research provides an initial investigation into strategies for creating reference performances for animation. The term reference performance has various meanings in animation production; in this article, I use it to refer to a recording of a person performing physical and emotional cues, from which performance elements of an animated character may be derived. Beginning with Max Fleischer’s invention of the rotoscope process in 1915, animation studios began to record actors as a means to inject greater believability into the movements and expressions of animated characters. Throughout this article, I reference Pallant’s understanding of ‘believability’ as a ‘[reconciliation of] realism within the animated form’. While various methods exist today to capture reference performances, it remains axiomatic that the utility of the reference is only as good as a performer’s ability to produce the desired performance. While seasoned actors would seem ideally suited to the task, large-scale animation studios frequently require animators to film their own reference performances, even though the animators may have limited (or non-existent) acting experience. By comparison, smaller studios and independent productions may not have the time or ability for each animator to self-produce reference; instead, they may opt for an animation director/supervisor to record reference for every character, to work from clips available through online video sites (e.g. YouTube) or to forgo video reference altogether. This research examines the potential for acting experience to enhance reference performances and specifically explores three different preconditions of experience when producing animation reference: an actor with no animation experience, an animator with no acting experience and an academic with both acting and animation experience. As an additional site of inquiry, this research explores the use of head-mounted cameras in the production of animation reference as a means to more fully and reliably capture the research participants’ expressive range. This research engages with ethnographic and autoethnographic research models to compare the creative choices of each participant and their ability to produce meaningful expressions, gestures and body movements as reference performance for a short, auteur 3D animated film in a predominantly realistic style. From these analyses, the maximal performance utility of each participant is gauged. By extension, this limited data provides an initial suggestion that acting experience is an essential precondition when producing useful reference performances for the type and style of animation explored in this study. Furthermore, this article relates the acting strategies of its participants to the acting theory of Ivana Chubbuck (2004) and the theory of emotional effector patterns as described by Bloch et al. (1987). This research suggests that these practice-informed performance theories may prove useful to animator when producing their own reference, regardless of performance experience.

While the use of virtual reality as a drug-free medical treatment for pain has a history spanning decades, its use as a treatment for depression has a much shorter and less expansive history. Few studies have been published, and most of these have relied upon using existing, commercial games to treat depressed patients. However, commercially available games tend to be designed for a younger audience who are assumed to be in full mental health and often already comfortable and knowledgeable in the expectations of gameplay and with a familiarity or interest in technology. This article describes the creation of two short, experimental prototype virtual reality games designed specifically for the needs of elderly, profoundly depressed patients. The reasoning behind the creation of the prototypes are outlined, together with the difficulties and considerations of this approach, what was learned and how approaches to designing, animating and creating more advanced prototype games might be brought forward into the next stage of research. This article is also presented as an example of how artists, animators and designers can utilize their skills to bring richness and value to new applications and medical treatments through the medium of virtual reality and serious games.