CHARACTERISTICS OF THIS TECHNIQUE |
Although you will be working in silhouette for this project, it should be kept in mind that one of the great advantages of cutout animation is that the puppets can carry very rich graphical treatments on their surface such as texture, decoration, etching effects and shading. (See the production still from 'The Host Monogama' - below, right). Such treatment is not a practical option in most hand-drawn animation as it becomes too expensive to replicate the texture again and again across every drawing.
Cutout animation, of course, does have limitations. Because the cutouts are flat, they must work across or up and down the screen in a flat plane. You simply cannot walk a cutout puppet towards camera in relation to a fixed back ground or make it turn in three dimensions. However it is always possible to design an inventive solution for each and every storytelling scenario. For example, a character can be made to walk over a hill to disappear behind it, then reappear as a smaller cutout figure ascending a more distant hill. These limitations can actually lead to striking stylistic visual solutions.
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It is also erroneous to think that cutouts, because of the loose association of parts, can only produce jerky movement. Take a look at work of Russian animator and master of the cutout technique, Yori Norstein. His segment for the 2003 Japanese film, 'Winter Days' (left) contain smooth lyrical sequences where even the camera appears to rome with organic freedom within the forest. Norstein arranges his cutouts under the camera on multiple layers of glass to give his 'canvas' great depth. Also see Norstein's yet unfinished feature film, 'The Overcoat'. This work has been in the making for the past twenty years and promises to be something special. In the excerpt (left) Norstein provides us with further evidence of the extraordinary power and beauty that animated cutouts can achieve. |
| 'Winter Days' |
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| 'The Overcoat' |
By necessity, the type of animation method you will be using for this project is known as 'straight-ahead animation' which requires an intuitive approach to the choreography of the events. This method does not allow for the editing and progressive refinement of a movement as is the case with hand-drawn or most computer animation techniques. Once having moved a part of your cut-out, it is difficult if not impossible to reestablish its exact position again should you make a mistake in your animation and wish to go back and correct it. You are committed to proceed as you can only animate forward into the future, not back into the past. It is akin to a performance piece on a stage in which one just takes a deep breath and ploughs on regardless. The show must go on.
Later in the semester, you will be able to contrast this approach with a forthcoming exercise using the 'pose-to-pose animation' technique which enables you to plot out, time, rehearse and progressively refine your animation until your are satisfied with the result.
The straight-ahead approach can lead to some wonderful moments of spontaneity and freshness, as well as unexpected and bizarre twists in storylines that can turn on a whim. Enjoy the process. Other animation techniques which by their nature employ this 'straight-ahead' method are puppet animation, pixillation, paint or sand on glass - techniques where constant manipulation of the thing being animated occurs frame by frame.
EXAMPLES OF THIS TECHNIQUE |
'Prince Achmed' by Lotte Reiniger (1925)
A silhouette animation combining the traditions of the paper cut and the shadow puppet by this pioneer of German animation.
'The Little Witch' by Boris Masnik (1984)
A colourful richly textured cut-out animation with simple, sometimes punchy but superbly timed gestures and excellent use of replacement parts.
'The Host Monogoma' by Tim Uebergang, AIM graduate (2000)
The strange mating rituals on strange worlds of even stranger creatures. Screened at the Melbourne International Film Festival 2001.
'COG' by Irina Goundortseva, AIM graduate (2000)
A digitally composited 2D animation made from a collage of photographed metal parts. These elements are used as digital cut-outs subject to similar design limitations as real cut-outs and the flat use of space. COG depicts the story of a unique soul who faces the closed-mindedness of his mechanised society. First Prize in the student category at the Vancouver Special Effects Film Festival 2001.
'The A List' by Janelle Kilner, AIM graduate (2002)
Featuring delightful character designs and graphics. It was created within a computer using a digital cut-out animation technique. Selected for screening at the Melbourne International Film Festival 2003.
EXPONENTS OF THIS TECHNIQUE |
Lotte Reiniger <click here>
Yori Norstein <click here>
Yori Norstein - talks about his films and shows some of his working methods, including his multiplane camera, and his library of cut-out parts: Part I: <click here >, Part II: <click here>
Francine Desbiens - National Film Board of Canada <click here>
This project will be realised by animating directly under the camera. Each student is to design a paper cut-out character or object consisting of at least one articulated part. Try not to be too figurative. Symbolic or stylised characters and abstracted shapes have greater potential for play as the audience has fewer comparative expectations as to how they should move. Your character should be no more than a maximum of 18 cm in height in order to leave sufficient surrounding space for the action. The cut-outs will be 'back-lit' to produce silhouettes. This form of abstraction and the speed and immediacy of the cut-out technique will help you better focus on the aims and objectives of this exercise. You will work in a crew of 3 people to produce a short (15 sec) animated sequence in which each seeks to make their cut-out interact in some way with that of your other partners. Each group will have 2-3 hours to discover something about how to make things move.
You should aim to explore and dramatise the relationship between the characters and the existence of an inanimate third object. This could be part of a set, or an object which can be manipulated by one or three figures - a ball, a heavy box, a trap door, a birthday cake.
The objective of this exercise is to see if you can convey character and emotion through gesture and timing. You will quickly discover that even non-figurative shapes can be vested with personalities through the way you make them move and react to their environment.
The three person crew work together, each operates a character and choreographs the performance and interaction between it and the other characters.
Please incorporate some of the principles of animation as discussed and demonstrated in class - anticipation, squash and stretch (you can replace some parts with others if you require interesting exaggerations and distortions in shape), slow and fast movements, and try to convey a sense of gravity and weight.
The most common mistake for first-time animators is to assume that everything has to be constantly moving. This results in frenetic animation which is too busy to be read by your audience. Ideas become lost in a jumble of movement because events were staged without visual accents or pauses to make each action clear and distinct. In fact stillness is a fundamental base-element of any time-based work. It is the contrast between busier actions against stillness, and all the qualities of movement between those two extremes, that produces texture within your work. It is like a musical composition that calls upon the complete range of tonality and dynamics that an orchestra can provide.
With 3 characters and an object on screen all at once, you will also have to be very careful not to upstage the animation of others in your crew. The attention of your audience needs to be directed around the screen so as to be to pick up important information. Think of a tennis match where our eyes follow the movement of the ball from server to receiver. We simply cannot look at two things simultaneously. Be gracious about sharing the spot light and 'hand ball' the action from your character to that of your colleagues. Your piece will be much stronger for it.
Think of entrances and exits too - remember that your world should extend beyond the frame through which it is seen and you can infer this to be the case. New visual elements arriving on the scene is a classic device used since Shakespearean times to perk up the interest of an audience. You should also consider how you will use sound and the way it might pre-empt the arrival of your character(s).
Although this short exercise is just an initial exploration of movement, it may be helpful to get together with your partners before you commence to discuss various scenarios, personality traits and conflicts. Plan out some of the actions you would like to tackle in advance as this kind of thinking will help to drive various visual events towards some kind of resolution.
To make this piece look like a fully-completed production, you will need to give it a title and credits. If you cannot think of one for the moment, record 3 seconds of plain back-lit background so that it can be added in later once you know what your piece is all about.
It maybe useful to put your characters into a situation in which their personalities are progressively revealed to the audience. Some ideas:
- a confrontation, a stand off, physical engagement
- a tentative first meeting, flirtatious advances, a compulsive infatuation
- an attempt to cheer up a saddened fellow being
- domineering character tests itself against a submissive one
- an entangled dance
- perhaps the characters play a game of possession with the third object
What do your characters do with their object? Play with it? Capture it? Use it to escape?
Each group should know when their story has reached its logical conclusion. Time to roll the credits! No post-production will be allowed on the image.
To gain an understanding of the frame by frame animation process. To discover through play and experimentation, how you can use small packets of time to make things move in different ways. To use and put into practice some of the basic principles of animation. To attempt some characterisation and story-telling. To become familiar with the advantages and disadvantages of the 'straight-ahead' and 'direct under the camera' animation techniques.
Your project sequence is to be captured from a video camera into a computer using the digital animation software called Frame Thief. This software saves a series of images at Digital Video (DV) resolution (720 x 576 pixels) onto the hard drive of the computer. At the same time it makes a low-resolution QuickTime movie of your sequence so that you can gain feedback on the work and monitor its progress. You can play and rewind your movie whenever you like. First, you will need to set up a project within this software so that all its associated images are saved into the same location. At a later date, a high resolution digital movie can be made from the sequence of still images. Ask David for assistance in creating a project folder.
Friday 7 March. Each group should spend no more than about 2-3 hours animating under the camera. Again, no post-production will be allowed on the image. However, later in the semester, we will show you how a soundtrack can be added to your cut-out piece.
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"I don't think
I'm cut out
for this project"
...says dino |
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Although seen by the audience in silhouette, shadow puppets are usually richly painted. This Javanese puppet has fine linework and skin of gold paint. Just as these shadow puppets can carry rich decorative treatments, so can your cutouts. See David's web page about a Balinese shadow play <click here>
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'Prince Achmed' by Lotte Reiniger (1925)
A silent-film silhouette animation combining the traditions of the paper cut and the shadow puppet by this pioneer of German animation. |
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| 'The Heron and the Crane' by Yuri Norstein (1974) (10 minutes). Click on the image above to see this film on YouTube. |
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| 'Hedgehog in the Fog' by Yuri Norstein (1975). Click on the image above to see this film on YouTube. |
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| 'Tale of Tales' (Skazka Skazok) by Yuri Norstein (1978) (29 minutes). Named the "Best Animated Film of All Time" by the Los Angeles (USA) Olympic Arts Festival, the film weaves threads of realism and nostalgia with consummate artistry. At its core are a popular Russian lullaby, Pablo Picasso's minotaur, and images of the lost glories of Alexander Pushkin and the golden age of Russian literature. Click on the image above to see this film on YouTube. |
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| 'Labyrinth' (1962) by Polish animator, Jan Lenica. A cutout animation using photo-collage. A self-consciously Kafka-esque tale of a winged lonely man literally devoured by totalitarian rule. Considered to be one of the finest political animations ever made. |
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