Title Sequence using Cut-Out Animation!

Recently I revisited a title sequence for an old movie, but was reintroduced to the style of animation used in it. The title sequence for the movie "A Series of Unfortunate Events" uses cut-out animation, this style uses the techniques of stop-motion to produce the animation. The characters, props, and scenic background is flat, and is made by flat material such as paper, cardboard, or stiff fabric. Pictures can also be used to produce the different elements in the animation. 

I always thought this title sequence was so cool, but I didn't realize that all the elements such as characters, props, and background were all made out of cutout. It looks nothing like paper cut outs, and maybe that's why it was so surprising when I checked for what kind of animation it was. 

One of the things I hope we get to learn is cut out animation with the use of stop motion, it looks time consuming but I feel like its worth it. 

South Park in the Beginning

After what I posted last week about Terry Gilliam and his love for cut out animation I was talking to my roommates about what other shows/films have used that technique in the past. My friend mentioned that she thought that South Park did a couple episodes in the beginning in the cut-out style-so I looked into it. It turns out South Park did use Cut-out style animation on their pilot episode.

South Park is a satirical comedy show that began airing on Comedy Central in 1997. It was created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone who used a paper cut-out style animation based on the styles of one of their animation idols Terry Gilliam of Monty Python. A few years before the show was picked up, Trey and Matt created the very first episode of South Park using lots and lots of construction paper and typical stop motion animation techniques. This pilot was 22 minutes long and took a painstaking 3 months to complete. Luckily all that hard work paid off and the pilot got the attention of Comedy Central. In order to increase speed and efficiency of the creation of episodes, South Park began using computer animation techniques for all episodes that were shown on TV. At the beginning of its seasons South Park used scanned images with CorelDRAW and PowerAnimator but as new programs were developed they began using the powerful program Maya and the new program called Motion to create episodes. Today South Park can turn out an episode in about one weeks time!

Below I posted two videos. The first is a clip from the original unaired pilot that used the cut-out technique and the second is a clip from an episode made last year with the shows updated techniques. What differences and similarities do you see? It seems to me like the general look/style is the same, it just looks a little more polished and was less time consuming to make. Oh the power of technology! I think it is interesting to see how shows change and develop their styles as the seasons pass. South Park is now in its 15^th season!

Terry Gilliam

This week while I was thinking about what aspect of animation to explore for my post I found myself thinking back to my British Comedy class that I took last semester in London. In that class we explored a number of different British TV shows and movies so naturally one group that we focused a good amount of time on was Monty Python. I am sure pretty much all of you have seen a Monty Python movie or two at some point but if you do not know who they are, Monty Python is a British comedy group that consists of six main members and is best known for their sketch comedy show Monty Python’s Flying Circus which aired on BBC from 1969 until 1974.

One aspect of the group’s work that caught my eye was the unique style of animation integrated into their shows. This animation was used as the show opener (posted below) and as mini sketches in between the live action ones on the show. The Monty Python member behind these usually quite violent but cleverly funny animations is Terry Gilliam.

Terry Gilliam has worked on numerous features and shorts both live action and animated. He is probably best known for his distinct style of cut out animation. His style has been described by saying: "Gilliams's surreal animations mix his own art, characterized by sot gradients and odd, bulbous shapes, with backgrounds and moving cutouts from antique photographs, mostly from the Victorian Era...". It has also been said that “his work is always hallucinatory in its richness of detail”. His animation style seems to be easily recognizable as a Gilliam creation.

Side Note: The Basics of Cut-out animation: Cut out animation is an old form of animation that predates computer animating programs. It involves arranging different paper shapes, moving them in small steps, and taking a picture at each stage.

Posted below are three videos, which show case Gilliam’s work. The first is a video in which Gilliam himself outlines and shows the techniques that go into creating one of his cut out animations, the second shows some of the openings to Monty Python’s Flying Circus made by Gilliam, and the third is a random example of one of Gilliam’s animations that has a simple yet effective and funny concept (like many of his works).

Watching the first video you can really tell that Gilliam is passionate about what he does! Although it is somewhat long I would definitely recommend watching that video. I didn’t really know anything about how they made cutout animation before and the video is very detailed and informative about that style of animation. He takes you through all of the steps that go into making a cut out animation. He discusses everything from getting the idea, to making the characters and backgrounds and actually shooting it. I really like how he actually demonstrates a few frames of how they shoot it and I especially enjoyed the Christmas card animations that he shows. I think that was a very clever idea! Terry Gilliam is definitely one of the most unique and creative animators that I have learned about so far!