• Can you now complete the following activities in your own section. You can add text, images and URL links to the Padlet.

Find an animation that could inspire you in this project and make the following comments – 

• What the work is, when it was done and by who

• Why you have chosen the example and what relevance might it have to your project

Activity 2: Background Research for a specific project or idea

Can you define what you think animation is. (you can use illustrative examples to help)

Activity 3: Background Research for a specific project or idea

Find an example of the use of an object in art and make the following comments – 

• What the work is, when it was done and by who

• Why you have chosen the example and what relevance might it have to your project

Activity 4: Background Research for a specific project or idea

Find an example of anthropomorphism in film and or animation and make the following comments – 

• What the work is, when it was done and by who

• Why you have chosen the example and what relevance might it have to your project

Activity 5: Finding Inspiration for an idea

Find a range of images that you think might provide inspiration for this project.  Can you collage these onto a single page.   This can be done digitally and uploaded to the Padlet.  

Pink elephants on parade is often regarded as a scene that serves no purpose in the plot. Perhaps it was made to show off the power of animation, perhaps the crew needed to just fill the run time. Many argue that the scene despite being a marvel, is just filler and there’s nothing more to it. It’s weird for the sake of being weird. The surrealistic style and trippy looking elephants always fascinated me as a kid yet the cold black eyes of the elephants and aggressive attributes scared me. I’d like to capture the same eery, yet fun and trippy feel in my project. 

The episode this is from came out on 20 September 2019 & the 3D artists for this one were Joshua Cortopassi, Don Kim, Wyatt Lavasseur, & Eric Whited.

In the Film, the main character, Coraline Jones moves into a new house and finds it difficult to live her new life while she is neglected by her parents. She meets the landlady’s grandson, “Wybie” and a stray black cat in the area. That night she discovers a parallel universe behind a mysterious door in her new house where she meets her “other mother” and “other father”. 

I chose this film because I found it interesting that all the characters in the parallel universe are portrayed as button eyed rag dolls which show their idealised version of themselves. The Other mother and Other father is much more accommodating than her real parents and Coraline finds the “Other world” much more fun than her real world. She gets more attention from parents, is cooked food she actually likes and her toy box is full of toys that can move and fly by themselves. She also meets the stray black cat who has the ability to talk and reveals the personality of the cat in more depth. All of these changes make the dull things from the real world come to life and give the other world more character.

This is relevant to my project because Dawson chooses ordinary simple objects, such as leaves and flowers in his artwork to create fascinating sculptures. He repeats the objects in his sculptures; finding ways to utilize single objects. This is effective as it demonstrates that you don’t need a lot of material to create interesting artwork, which I can learn when creating ideas and animation. 

The film is about a prince who gets cursed by a witch turning him into a frightening beast. Several years later, in a nearby village Belle’s father is kidnapped by the Beast.. Belle enters his castle and with the help of the enchanted servants she is able to help the Beast break free from the curse and they host a celebration in the castle.

I’ve chosen Beauty and the Beast 1991 because it features a variety of anthropomorphized objects such as: wardrobes. tables, cutlery, clock  and much more. It is relevant to my project as the brief is to make inanimate objects move. This film does a fantastic job at bringing mundane objects to life, some of them don’t need any facial expressions to bring them to life. For example, The Beast’s footstool is animated to act like a dog and is achieved through behaviors of which a dog would do like: wag its tail and greet people. ‘Be our guest’ song showcases the directors impressive knowledge on how to animate kitchen cutlery, chairs and plates to have personalities.

This film provides me with concepts on how to animate lifeless objects through motion and actions to make them believable.

The story follows the character Mr Fox, who partakes in hunting sprees at local farms (his targets being chickens , geese,ducks, and turkeys). Consequently, his hunting antics result in him, his family and wildlife friends, being hunted down by three particular farmers - who each have specialty farms, one being in the cider business. In order to escape the wrath of these farmers, the animals eventually have to settle into sewers as their new homes - following a wonderful raid of the farmers’ joint grocery store.

For this stop motion film, the character puppets were first constructed out of plasticine clay, which allowed the artists to create hyper detailed and realistic features for each character. Wes Anderson was very passionate about creating this stop motion, and the hand-made aspect gave it a warm, wholesome feeling. As to be expected with the stop motion process, this film took a long time to make. In fact, production commenced in 2004, and was released in 2009. The attention to detail - with 126 different handmade sets and over 4,000 props - did pull off, and ‘Fantastic Mr Fox’ became a cult classic.

I have chosen this film as inspiration for my project because of the attention to detail a used and patience demonstrated through its creation.

What I like about this piece is how it uses a simple and plain object like an eggshell to create such a real looking final piece. Being able to create something that’s quite different than the original item is something I’d like to do with different objects while also making it clear on what is being made or animated

This style is very inspiring to me, it teaches that something that may look unappealing to some can actually be a beautiful and thought-provoking piece of art. Vincent’s art always has a deeper meaning and effectively portrays more macabre messages and pairs it with an art style to match. This is something I would love to try and replicate within my own project.

 

The effective use of symbolism and general excellent storytelling is something I’m very inspired by and would love to use in my own work. 

Destino is a Disney short film released in 2003 but was started in 1946. It was created/ released by Dominique Monfery, Salvador Dali, John Hench and Donald W.Enst. 

I picked this short due to the flowy movement in the animation. This short as impacted me since 

I first watched it as it was the first thing I saw that didn't have much of a plot , yet still captures the viewer in the abstract world. I will be using this in my project to remind myself the importance of movement in animation. I also really enjoy the girl “Dahlia” turning into an object towards the end of the film. (the bell and the flower.) Without dialogue the story of the film is told through the movement of the characters, be it the dancing or the changes in the background.

What is animation?

Animation is the illusion of movement given to an object or drawing, Although there are many different types of animation they all have the same principles. Start in one position and slowly end up in another. With 2D animation you start with one drawing and end with hundred, traditional or not its the same for 2D animation. With 3D animation you have a 3D object that you slowly move like a puppet, a lot like stop motion animation. One photo becomes hundreds. 

Animation has been around for years and years as its a unique way of expressing yourself, 

To me animation is a bottomless hole of creativity. People today are still finding new ways to animate and express themselves through movement. Animation is not for everyone as its time consuming and can take skill in certain areas, such as cgi and claymation, But everyone can enjoy animation, as there's most likely something for everyone. 

Object in art 

Common objects are turned into art everyday by artists. As art can be anything with enough thought behind it. For example white field by Gunther Uecker in 1964. Uecker was a german artist who enjoyed studying light and optics. He would make abstract art with these in mind. This piece was made with nails and a hammer. Using the nails Uecker creates the illusion of motion and tension,Uecker’s work can link back to his interests in Buddhism and Taoism.

I feel like this piece would be useful for my project as I can think up many ways this could be used in an animation setting, like a moving background or maze. I like the  idea of having a pattern made from many small things such as the nails used in Uecher’s piece. I really like the idea behind the piece itself, showing how any little thing can be used to create something big with a large impact. 

What is Anthropomorphism ?

Anthropomorphism is the term for an inanimate object or animal with human characteristics such as emotions or movement. 

An example of anthropomorphism would be “The cat in the hat'' .This includes the books,cartoons and the live action movie featuring Mike Myers.The cat in the hat was first introduced in 1957 by Theodor Geisel under the pen name of the known and loved Dr. Seuss.  The cat in the hat is a great example of anthropomorphism as it’s been around for many years. An example of anthropomorphism  being used in the film : “He should not be here, " said the fish in the pot. " He should not be here when your mother is not.”

― Dr. Seuss, The Cat in the Hat From the start of the film. 

I like the use of anthropomorphism on objects and will use it in my project. With the help of anthropomorphism I will be able to stretch the limits of an inanimate object and pull as much emotion as i can from it.

“9” is a 2009 science fiction (and I’d argue horror) film that was directed by Shane acker, written by Pamela pettier, and produced by Tim burton, jim lemley ,Dana Ginsburg, and Timur Bekmambetov. The film is known for being very dark and for it’s disturbing imagery and character designs. 

I chose this piece of animation as it has been very influential to me since a young age, i think the story is well thought out and very creative, and isn’t afraid to step into darker territory. The only characters in it (aside the scientist) are all ragdolls, in other words, inanimate objects. This is relevant to my project as we will be experimenting with inanimate objects, and I think 9 is a very good example of this. 

https://www.youtube.com/c/DeadSound/featured
Most popular video​

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVLrBJYGxk4&t=7s
The making of Redone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IglTe1s-LX0

I also really enjoy the style changes in the show, they are used in many different ways throughout each series from showing characters backstories to inner monologues and thoughts to hallucinations, the changes in realism and style is emphasized because a lot of the characters are anthropomorphic and the use of pictures of realistic versions of them really enhance the uneasy feeling of the scenes in which they are used. 

I find a lot of inspiration from the show in the way they used textures and mixed media, it added extra visual interest into a rather simple style and the use of anthropomorphism inspires me to experiment more with my own styles and characters. 
Above I created a quick mood board to show my favourite examples of the different textures and styles used in the show.

I love the idea of using the scenery around me to create something more, it’s a very fun and imaginative process I’d love to incorporate into my own work. 

I love the diversity in the character designs, from big to small they all clearly have a distinctive style to them that is very aesthetically pleasing.

The humanization of animals, particularly in CGI animation is something that can come off as creepy if not executed well, but Zootopia does it seamlessly.

These elements of effective character design and humanization are something that I’d love to try and replicate in my own project.