Animation
I feel that I can sit back and say that I am proud of the style that I have developed for this particular piece. I think that the materials that I have employed work very well together, the relationship between the different mediums can be manipulated to cause some visually interesting effects. It does seem quite different to anything that I have done before so my hope is that it stands out from the other forms of animation that are commonly used.
I have been trying to put my work into context by looking at what else is out there. I have been able to find very little in the way of animated triptychs other than the research that I have already included in this blog. I think that one of the issues I have with looking at other animations is that my current work has more in common with painting than it does with animation. I am coming to accept that I am an artist who happens to animate, not an animator. When people think of animation they think about story-boards, dopesheets, characters, scripts and for the most part it is something that many people still see as a medium that is aimed at children. I'm not sure I should ever produce work that is aimed at children.
The process of trial and error used for this project has worked better than any amount of planning ever has done. When I have made my stop-motion animations with Elizabeth I felt that the 'Murderer' animation (which was the least planned) actually worked better than most of my other animations. I had such a small time-frame that I had no option but to perform the animation as I went along. This is similar to the way that I approached the triptych. I had an idea of what I wanted to do:
- I wanted the medium to be beautiful in some way.
- I wanted to produce something that is lighter or more hopeful than most of my other animations have been.
- The animation needed to be autobiographical in some way.
- I wanted to express emotion effectively.
- I wanted to use glass on a lightbox and work 2 dimensionally.
- I needed to have a psychological basis for the theory.
- The animation would be in triptych format.
I think that I have achieved everything that I set out to achieve for the visual proportion of this project. I may not have stuck to the theory as strictly as I imagined I would but I'm not sure that I needed to. I'm glad that I did have that theoretical basis as otherwise I might have floundered in a sea of infinite possibilities, as it stood I found suitable theory, read and researched and then took what I knew into the room when I animated. Would anyone be able to tell that I had been looking at Carl Jung? Probably not. Not unless I somehow include a Jung reference in the title of my work, which may happen yet as I am still undecided on a title.
Sound design
The sound aspect of this project is quite complex. I quickly found that it might be difficult to make a mainstream form of music that would fit the brief. As the animation itself is quite experimental I felt that the sound should also reflect that quality, so after a few 'wrong turns' I finally found a type of musician that could take on the challenge and would have an appreciation of the nature of the triptych.
I find it regrettable that I didn't try to source musicians until I had finished the triptych. It's not that I have felt particularly pushed for time but the time in between finishing the visuals and sourcing the musicians worried me a bit. I did start to feel like this was the point at which it could all fall apart. Luckily my networking paid off and I have had the pleasure of meeting some musicians who are tuned in to what I am doing. It's been helpful to make these associations as I am looking not only at my current project but also thinking about what I might do when I have finished the MA. The people I met at Mopomoso have introduced me to a different approach to music and one that I feel suits my own creative style.
In a way I have ended up with more than I could have hoped for. Instead of finding one musician that was able to help, I found quite a few who were willing to just go off with the brief and create their own musical interpretation inspired by the animation. This has meant that my main role in the sound production was that of coordinator rather than someone who has originated the sound themselves. I knew from the start that I would need to recruit people who could play instruments better than I can, but I had imagined that I might have been able to be present during recordings or been able to give the musicians a lot more direction than I have.
Given the nature of this project I am happy with my decision to collaborate more freely than I had initially planned. Having spoken to the musicians I have been assured that they understand what the project entails, and having seen the type of music that they are involved it I am quite happy to let them do what they need to do without too much interference from me.
My main function in relation to the sound has been:
- To establish (through careful research) what kind musical genre might lend itself well to this type of project.
- To make contact with and source people from within that genre.
- To liaise with the musicians and make sure they have a good understanding of the nature of the project.
- To document the process as it evolves.
- To work towards an effective collaboration that is mutually beneficial.
Research
Most of my research in relation to the sound design was done online as this was the quickest and easiest way of accessing the range of media (inc. audio and video) that was needed for me to be able to get an idea any aural aesthetic. I had regular tutorials with Tom Simmons once I was ready to engage in the sound aspect of the triptych and I found this quite helpful. I would typically make some notes on any suggestions that Tom gave me and use that as a basis, for example, he mentioned the London Improvisers Orchestra (LIO) which led me to come across the Mopomoso site and subsequently make contact with John Russell. There were a great deal of avenues that I didn't explore as I tend to go with what feels right to me.
Contact
At first I tried to source local musicians. I asked around to see if I could find anyone who was suitable. I made a blog post that called for musicians so I had some way of distributing the brief among interested parties. Suzie suggested a local cellist but she didn't reply to my e-mail so I can only assume that she wasn't interested. I posted something on a local music forum and had a response from a local musician who I met with a couple of times but he drifted away and I started to feel a little bit lost. I went into the Playhouse to ask about exhibition opportunities and showed them my work. They suggested that Phil Archer and Liam Wells might be worth talking to. I e-mailed them both and ended up working with Phil.
I explored other avenues as well as trying to source people locally. I e-mailed as many people from the LIO as I could, finding their e-mails through various web pages. I got in contact with Mike at Ditto TV who said that he had a musician in mind who might be able to help too. After finding the Mopomoso Friends network on Ning and establishing this as a point of contact things moved quite quickly. I put a copy of the finished animation on there to see if anyone was interested, at that point I got a response from John Russell who seemed more than happy to help and he invited me to their night at The Vortex in Hackney which turned out to be the most successful way of contacting people.
Collaboration
It's difficult to say if face-to-face contact has been more effective than remote (online) communication. it has to be said that once I had met some of the Mopomoso musicians in person I definitely felt that we had connected in a way that wouldn't have been possible via e-mail. Although I am very much used to communicating on forums and through messages and e-mails, I think that so much more can be said during a real world meeting and the conversation is less abbreviated.
In the case of the musician from Norwich I have come to assume that it was something about our face-to-face meetings that put him off working with me. Sometimes I can be a little scary to people who are quite shy or quiet as I tend to be brash and excitable sometimes. He seemed enthusiastic at the beginning but it soon became apparent that he had drifted away so I turned more towards the other musicians that I have met.
To meet with someone first and then communicate via e-mails seems to be the best way forwards. Once you have met someone I think that people feel more of a psychological obligation to that person. It's easy to dismiss someone that you have never met before as there is no physical form to identify with so it's easier to distance yourself.
To be continued....
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