Rotoscoping

So I found an example of rotoscoping that was pretty simple, but striking nonetheless.

I especially liked when Julian described what it was like to be a tree.

Caroline Leaf's Two Sisters

So on this day we looked at Caroline Leaf's animation Two Sisters,  which was a pretty and strange story about the eponymous characters who seem to live alone on an island. However, their peaceful day is interrupted by the sudden arrival of a stranger, and that interruption enriches both their lives.

 The use of light and dark in this animation were fantastic, adding a dreamlike quality to the work when perspectives shifted (which happened often). The use of color was minimal, serving mainly as an accent to the shifting shadows that composed the figures and setting. Since the entire animation was scratched into IMAX film, it was probably a practical choice on the artist's part to use the existing darkness of the film. The moods she can create with this technique are intense.

 Although Viola Gé is disfigured, she seems to be less afraid of the world than her sister Marie. Marie tries very hard to prevent Viola from going out into the sun and seems obsessed with locking the doors, keeping her keys close at hand.

 The story ends happily, with Viola convincing Marie to keep the door open. Yet Marie remains vigilant, sitting in front of the open door with her keys in hand.

Stop Motion Animation

This music video is made using cut-out pictures of people and objects, the camera is moving progressively backward away from the advancing cut outs. Pretty rad!

Len Lye's Colour Box

So I read a little bit about Len Lye and his sculptural and animation work. His film Colour Box is pretty much bright colors and pretty dancing music synced up. The diversity of the color application is important in this film, because some of it seems to run across the screen. For an artist in the 1930s this is impressive stuff. I wish I could've found a better quality version of the film for these screen shots. I enjoyed the way he shuffled the images all around and they didn't just flow in one direction.