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- Volume 7, Issue 1, 2018
Animation Practice, Process & Production - Volume 7, Issue 1, 2018
Volume 7, Issue 1, 2018
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Drawn to 360°: How can the aesthetics and qualities of traditional 2D animation storytelling add to the immersive VR projection paradigm?
By Millie YoungThe discussion will explore the aesthetic of hand drawn animation and the qualities this brings to the animation story through the analysis of selected practitioners in the field who bring drawn qualities that (could) crossover into 360°. Through the analysis the discussion will demonstrate the convergence of narrative structures and strategies from conventional animation and film narrative theory that are commonly present, applied or adapted within the emerging film syntax and grammar for VR. The article will go on to discuss how these theories and strategies might aid approaches to creative practitioners to enhance the possibilities for immersive storytelling by utilizing the hand drawn aesthetic in storytelling for the VR/360° world. First, to open the discussion, there is a question of the immersion experience and aesthetics present in the emerging media for 360° and VR and aspects of the whole immersive experience that are opening up for artists and audiences.
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Emersive storytelling: An exploration of animation and the fourth wall as a tool for critical thinking
By Eva WijersThe term ‘emersive storytelling’ explores the positive effects of breaking the fourth wall and the special role of animation in doing so. The word ‘emersive’ is coined by the author of this article in order to discuss a method of storytelling in which the fictionality of the medium is acknowledged, derived from the verb ‘to emerge’: to come forth into view from concealment or obscurity. While immersive storytelling strives to totally engage the viewer, emersive storytelling acknowledges its own fiction and, thus, the inherent so-called ‘fourth wall’ (the fictional wall between the medium and the audience). This creates two effects: Brecht’s distancing effect and, conversely, what the author calls a ‘closeness effect’. Brecht’s distancing effect addresses the conscious intellectual connection the audience makes with the medium when the fourth wall is broken. Contrastingly, and complimentarily, as the author argues, the closeness effect describes the empathy an audience feels for characters even if the suspension of disbelief is broken. Emersive storytelling demands active participation from the viewer and triggers critical thinking both about the message of the story and about the medium itself. Animation is a self-reflective medium and its ability to reveal its own unreality and use this as a storytelling tool makes it well-suited for emersive storytelling. Several short case studies within this article will support this idea. In the last section, the article briefly looks into the future; with ever-more realistic-looking virtual reality and the rise of artificial intelligence, it might seem as though the fourth wall is disappearing. However, emersive storytelling can create ther distance required for critical reflection and help us reason with our relationship to these technologies. The paradox of the fourth wall is not one to be solved by immersing the viewer further and further, but one to be embraced and put to use emersively.
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The possibility of documentation through animation: A comparative study of the animated short Pica-Don and other artworks addressing social/historical issues
By Makiko NagaoIn previous studies on animated documentary, discussions have mainly focused on the capacity of animation to supplement or enhance recorded audio-visuals. Thus, while animation is highly regarded for its ability to broaden and enrich documentary expression, it appears to be placed in the secondary or subsidiary position to recorded audio-visuals. Taking a different viewpoint, this article explores the potential of animation to operate by itself as a representational medium, through a comparative study of the animated short Pica-Don (Kinoshita, 1978) and four artworks of other genres, all of which refer to real social/historical events. Pica-Don attempts to present a general description of the event of 6 August 1945 using animation, music and sound effects, based on thorough investigation of historical documents as well as the drawings, writings and testimonies of survivors. As the film refrains from using language, it is not endowed with specific detail. Instead, the event of that day are condensed intensively, causing the viewer to feel as though they are going through a simulated experience. This article explores how documentation is made possible in animation, and considers the potential capabilities that are unique to animation in this regard. It argues that subjective animation may be considered another form of documentation through presenting a general description of a social/historical event.
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Hysteria: An autoethnographic reflection on making an animated documentary film from archive material
More LessThis paper investigates the process of collection, interpretation and modification in the making of an experimental animated documentary film. In 2001, I made a two-minute film, Hysteria, as a first year project on the master’s animation course at the Royal College of Art. Given as a starting point the word ‘bedlam’, I researched the history of mental healthcare and discovered documentation of medical practices in the late 1800s of clitoridectomy and genital massage as a ‘cure’ for the condition of hysteria. Making the film was a singular, insular journey – a stream-of-consciousness voyage of discovery: uncovering and collating material and then interpreting it through visual experimentation. Key to my process was use of a sketchbook that became a space for montage: juxtaposing material from contemporary sources against archive documents and incorporating research material into my visual experiments. Using autoethnographic writing, I return to the state of mind that produced this film – asking how and why it came to exist - and through audio reflection I re-read the sketchbook to analyse the processes of drawing, annotating and editing which produced it. In doing so, I attempt to understand the intuitive process of interpretation, and to draw out insights which can inform my future practice.
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Infusing local culture in Singaporean animation: Developing a framework of cultural specifics from a study of contemporary cinema in Singapore
More LessNotwithstanding a materializing Singapore cinema, research attention has not been paid to how animated cultural products can make an impact on the construction of a local identity. This can be considered detrimental to the cultural promotion of a local but heterogeneous mediascape. This practice-based research attempts to outline a practical framework of cultural specifics capable of producing an animated film that is identifiably ‘Singaporean’ to a global audience. Resistance against the Marcusian One-Dimensional Man theory, the premise of Kenneth Paul Tan’s Cinema and Television in Singapore in 2008, will be the basis of this research to understand the emergence of contemporary Singaporean films. Alfian bin Sa’at’s definition of the ‘heartlander’, a recurring and highly relatable element in Singaporean cinema largely due to the geographical statistic of the population percentage living in Singaporean public housing (referred to as HDB), provides the social semiotics needed by the research to understand Singapore culture. Films such as Ilo Ilo by Anthony Chen and Sandcastle by Boo Junfeng will be analysed according to five indicators – setting, characters, mise en scène, language and premise – as they manifest Singaporean traits in their attempts to integrate local culture. The same indicators are used to analyse films such as ‘Tatsumi’ by Eric Khoo so as to locate cultural deficiency within these local animated features. ‘Flats’ by Ervin Han and similar animated shorts are subsequently examined as examples of attempts at infusing local culture into an animated production. The practical result of the research is presented as a production journal of an animated short explicating the socio-political aspects of local identity.
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Not (A) Part: Handmade animation, materialism and eco-aesthetic cinema
By Vicky SmithNot (A) Part is an animated film that draws attention to the decline of flying insects by working with cinematic magnification of the 16mm frame to literal enlargement of their fatalities. Influenced by Stan Brakhage’s Mothlight (1963), avant-garde and experimental film theory inform a reading of the formal, poetic and material aspects of the project. Twentieth-century materialist perspectives on the handling of film as reference to labour are brought into contemporary currency to argue that evident methods of physical contact in recent moving image practice establish ecological positions. By emphasizing contact, situated practice, self-inscription and the present tense of making Not (A) Part aligns with eco-aesthetic cinema whilst also allying with broader post-humanist discourse. The article discusses how differing animation methods bring various qualities of movement to small inanimate objects; how a distinct genre of insect animation is established; how, through the interdisciplinary collaborative process, the project, initially rooted in avant-garde film, developed into eco-aesthetic cinema; and finally how the above operations of contact cinema led to new knowledge in the field of film/animation practice.
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How universities can better engage with the animation/VFX sector in Scotland
More LessThis research explores how universities can better engage with the animation/VFX industry in Scotland, by examining what skills current industry requires of graduates, and how institutes can better collaborate with working studios. Given the unknown impact that Brexit may have on the animation/VFX sector both nationally and further afield, now more than ever should the education sector re-evaluate how to bridge the gap for graduates moving on from education to being a productive member of the industry. Animation studios were invited to share their opinions and thoughts on the current state of the animation/VFX sector in Scotland, and to discuss how industry could make better use of universities. Industry wants to collaborate with education, to inspire and encourage talent development for the animation/VFX sector in Scotland. Both the education and animation/VFX sectors have their own unique methodologies and approaches for working and communicating with one another, which at times can be counterproductive. Education must change its relationship with industry, in favour of a more symbiotic relationship, by inviting industry to play a more active role in course design and structure, as a means for institutes to keep the contents of their courses relevant and be able to respond to the current skills requirement of industry.
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