Camera work

I recently purchased a Canon EOS 6D with 50mm Nikon lens for stop motion work…I had forgotten what fun it is shooting with a beautiful lens. I’ll post some images later.
I read a CR write-up on music videos directed by Oscar Hudson, and am really digging the way he pushes his methods in each video.
With this video, shot from 300mm using an Ultra Long Range Military Grade Thermal Surveillance Camera – Hudson credited Young Fathers with sending the idea for thermal images, referencing Richard Mosse’s work. Mosse’s exhibition at the Barbican Curve included stills and a film, all shot from a distance using advanced thermographic weapon systems and border surveillance imaging technology.

“You have to remember it’s a military tool, it’s not designed for telling stories,” Mosse explained to CR at the launch of Incoming at the Barbican. “It’s designed for detecting the enemy. So the fact that it has an extraordinary tonality … [it’s] an alienation effect almost, to push the viewer into an unfamiliar place, where they can see what happens to be quite a familiar subject in a new and perhaps refreshed way.”
Changing the look to something not quite human (is the viewer the one not quite human, or the subject).
From this video which explores a very small camera moving forward through shrinking environments, much like a stopmotion setup, to this one in which the camera pivots around on a swinging ark like a big ferris wheel, adding to the disturbing feeling of the video, Hudson is always pushing his methods in new ways.

FIFA World CUp 2018 trailer: embroidered animation

Nicos Livesey directed this animation, having experience with embroidered animation from this music video.
They wanted to link to Russia’s design history without defaulting to the typical Communist design sense, so decided to use tapestry…and were dedicated to keeping the animation real. Each second of animation is 12 and 1/2 embroidered frames.

From Creative Review’s writeup “The resulting film sees some of football’s most memorable moments reenacted in a way that we’ve never seen before. More than 227,000 metres of thread were used to create over 600 unique frames of tapestry, that if laid end-to-end would measure over 1,200 metres in length. For those who might be itching to see it for real, the idea will also be realised in a seven metre-long tapestry that will be put on public display, with moments from this year’s competition added to the tapestry after the tournament’s completion, creating a historical record of the 2018 World Cup.”

Drawn to Sound

Since last fall, I’ve been laying the groundwork with some colleagues for an artist collective(? I’m not sure that’s the right term) for animation collaborations. A talented Portland band, Micromassé, recently released an amazing new album…a 40 minute suite of music (played together) composed around the theme of positivity in the face of adversity. It’s a great album – each song has a different feel to it, yet they all go together. I was asked to create a music video for one of the tracks, and I reached out to Bomb Diggity Arts, another amazing local group which provides a range of experiences for adults with intellectual and often physical disabilities. A group of their artists, and one of their directors, animated some sequences which I intermixed with my own animations. This is what we came up with:

The Arrow Song

the o.g.

GMUNK, 19 years in the making

GMUNK is one of the baddest – always sharing knowledge and pushing things forward. From the early days of Flash to current groundbreaking projects, he’s always a force for the good. This Motionographer article is a good read – also, do check out his recently updated website. I relate to his words about the personal website…a refresh to my own is long overdue.  Part of that delay is the changing nature of how viewers want to process information in a streamlined way, which sometimes negates the experience one wants to create in the website, and how to balance between both.

Animated Visual Essays

I’ve followed the New York Times’ Modern Love series for years, the column and podcasts- made even better in 2013 (I think) when they introduced the animated videos. Stylistically varied and always visually striking – illustrating the feeling behind it through the animations – they are all worth watching. I have some favorites I should write about another time.

Anyway…The New York Times has introduced a new series about Conception.
Motionographer has a great write-up and interviews with directors from the new series.
They also mentioned the CNN Colorscope series which I hadn’t seen (I can’t seem to keep up with all the good stuff though I try, I try!) … I just watched a few of them (pink: Giant Ant, blue: Moth, lots of other greats) and they are worth the time.

Animated documentaries: ACLU Smart Justice

“…and if you judge a fish by it’s ability to climb a tree, you’ll be disappointed every time. I think Einstein said that” – screenshot and quote from Johnny’s Home.
Watch these three short films about Smart Justice from the ACLU by ACME filmworks: executive producer Ron Diamond (curator/producer of Animation Show of Shows), directed by Elyse Kelly. Each film has a different animation director and animation team, allowing a range of different styles while maintaining a loose cohesion as a series. This country’s justice system has long needed reform, certainly one piece of skewed judgements where the punishments/sentencing do not fit the crime.
2D animation is such a powerful way to give perspective to a documentary; each line carries the weight of its words, and can make a topic that is difficult to watch into something more manageable.

Ancient thaumatrope

Science News posted an article about unusual archaeological findings – smaller objects they now believe were children’s toys. This reconstruction of a spinning disk from about 14,000 to 21,000 years ago in Western Europe shows an animal in different positions on each side. As the disk is twirled on a string, the creature appears to move.

Re-emerged in the 1800s as the thaumatrope.
But – 14,000 years ago! How much knowledge those ancient tribes must have had, how much was lost we may never know.
I think the thaumatrope is a great way to start thinking about frame by frame movement in animation, and even my youngest animation students enjoy making these.