This session will revisit the established practice of experimental animation identifying potential for research with practical experiment looking at pertinent works and key artists.
Experimental Animation
Definition:
Why look at experimental work?
- The limitless potentials of developing visual and film language fuelled by technological advancement has and continues to motivate independent and ground-breaking work.
- Personal Vision through independent film and animation remain central to the development of the medium.
Elements to consider in Analysing and Implementing Formal Experimental Animation
- Categorisation; Genre & Sub-genre what is the works background / setting, mood / tone, theme or topic? How does it comment? Does it fit or is it unique?
- Form and Function; interpreting meaning and relating it to the format, or presentational mode (What are the artist objectives, limitations and?)
- Process; The techniques, materials and technologies applied within the work and the relationships between message and medium, (Does process, technique or tool become the message?)
- Formal Elements; Use of space, composition, Light & colour, movement, rhythm, timing, pacing, transition and audio relationships.( does he work investigate these or other formal elements?)
Conceptual Abstraction
This term relates to the abstraction and juxtaposition of narrative structures or storytelling tools, traditional cannons, and communicative vehicles.
These approaches question and build film language, challenge perception and exploit semiotics metaphor and symbolism.
Interpreting Abstraction
There is an integral link between conceptual application and technological advancement in the innovation of film and in particular, animation, raising complex and challenging questions on;
- Categorisation; Genre & Sub-genre what is the works background / setting, mood / tone, theme or topic?
- Form and Function; interpreting meaning and relating it to the format, or presentational mode:
- Process; The techniques, materials and technologies applied within the work and the relationships between message and medium, (Does process, technique or tool become the message?)
- Formal Elements; Use of space/composition, Light & colour, movement, rhythm, timing, pacing, transition and audio relationships.
Non-Dialogued film
From Hollywood’s silent films to Surrealism, from children’s narrative to Expressionism, working without the key element of dialogue in developing the narrative or the theme, challenges the communicator to convey information through gesture and performance, filmic language, special effects and alternative audio components.
In class, I watched many different types of experimental short films, which gave me a deeper understanding of abstract and experimental animation.