Cartoon Saloon is a animation company based in Kilkenny, Ireland. This company has had Academy Award and BAFTA nominations within the past few years for their works The Secret of Kells and The Song of the Sea.
They caught my eye because of their 2D style. They create everything so that there is the illusion of depth with only 2D planes. I also relate with their stories as they focus on Celtic history and mythology.
Their upcoming feature film, The Breadwinner, will take tell a story very different from their previous ones. Based on the book by Deborah Ellis it tells the story of a young girl growing up in Afghanistan in 2001. It is set for release in 2017 and I can't wait to go see it.
Last weekend I attended a special screening of the film Anomalisa followed by a Q&A with the animation supervisor for the film, Dan Driscoll. Written by Charlie Kaufman, the film is an incredible and beatuiful stop motion animation that has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
Anomalisa tells the story of a man who is stuck in a mundane world, only to fall in love with the only person who can bring color back into his life. The narrative reveals the mysterious and dark workings of the characters' worlds around them but the film ends ambiguously, leaving me wondering and with numerous unanswered questions.
While the story itself was unique, the animation was the highlight of the film and Driscoll shared many interesting aspects of the animation process. I was particularly intrigued by the careful attention payed to the movements and mannerism that would be executed for each physical action taken by the animated characters. Driscoll revealed the very slow process of shooting only a few frames per day, which only was possible after months of planning for each various individual scene. This attention to detail was evident in the animation, bringing the figures to life and adding a sense of humanness to the silicone "people" that one would never expect.
Thursday, August 27, 2015
So as I was thinking about what to post for this week's assignment, I came a cross an oscar winning animation short entitled "Rejected". This is a short that is about a series of rejected cartoon ideas, and the best part, it is all done with stick figure drawings! This was especially interesting to me because I have a very limited artistic capability when it comes to drawing. That is a fancy way of saying that I have pretty much no drawing ability. I can basically only draw stick figures. This animated short is pretty hilarious and pretty awesome seeing that it is only done with stick figures. I guess it goes to show that I still might be able to make it in this class. Enjoy!
I wrote a blog a bit ago about pin-screen animation. And, even now, I consider it to be the most remarkable, time-consuming, obsessive animation style in existence. However, I believe that paint-on-glass animation takes a close second. Paint-on-glass animation is a technique for making animated films by manipulating some kind of wet media (usually oil paint due to it’s delayed drying period) on one or more glass sheets. The animator manipulates the paint while recording it frame by frame on a camera located directly above the glass canvas. Like most straight-ahead animation, the paint-on-glass technique cannot be planned with the precision of other styles of animation. Still, straight-ahead animations have character that more forgiving techniques lack. For example, oil paint preserves the gestures and marks that the artist leaves behind. There’s something strangely nostalgic about noticing human error in art. Think about the romance of finding fingernail nicks in claymation!
That said, paint-on-glass animation doesn’t have to look messy. Russian animator Alexander Petrov created one of the most extraordinary examples of this technique in his short film, “The Old Man and the Sea.” Based on Ernest Hemingway’s famous novel, “The Old Man and the Sea,” Petrov created a fluid, moving piece. The 20 minute film is made entirely in pastel oil paintings on glass. Get this— instead of using paintbrushes or other precision tools, Petrov manipulated the paint using only his fingertips. Still, the artist did do a few things to up the quality of the piece. For example, instead of painting on one sheet of glass, the acclaimed animator stacked multiple painted glass sheets one on top of the other in order to create depth. For the shooting of the frames, a special adapted motion-control camera system was built, probably the most precise computerized animation stand ever made. Even with this technology, “The Old Man and the Sea” took over two years to complete— 29,000+ frames painted meticulously: frame by frame. If you asked Petrov if the work was worth it I’m sure he’d respond positively. “The Old Man and the Sea” did win both the Academy Award for Animated Short Film and Grand Prix at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival.
"When I'm doing an animation film, just like painting a picture, I let out my energy and my feelings in the colors. With the animation, I'm searching to express ideas, but I also try to find the harmony of life. This harmony I can find during the filming process with mistakes and successes. Step by step, I try to project the beauty, the force and emotions within the animated image." - Alexander Petrov
Here is the award winning piece as presented by Youtube:
Beautiful right? And boring in content. Just like the book. Just kidding. (I’m not kidding.) Anyway, Petrov received lots and lots of money. Unfortunately, mostly because he’s a professional artist, Petrov ran out. Apparently, In a 2009 interview, Russiananimator and animation directorPetrov stated that he was jobless and using-up the last of his previously earned money.A 2010 article stated that Petrov wants to create an animated feature film with his technique, but cannot start because of lack of funds.
