THE SWEENEY

This amazing peice of moving image was by the great Will Sweeney I've been a fan for a long time but not as active as i'd like!

FUTURE FILM FESTIVAL

missed it! AMAZING TRAILER

THE CLANGERS

BACK TO BASICS

I have been researching elements of Mise-En-Scène in order to understand and make better choices. I do not want to create something that is too dark but then in animation B i do want an element of darkness. I have looked at this book by John Gibbs and selected parts of case studies in order to help myself with different elements of Mise-En-Scene. I've done a lot work around this in the past but it's nice just to refresh my memory so I can get clearer ideas of specifics in my head rather than just going off and picking up a camera not necessarily thinking about what i'm doing...



This is an early and famous example of a piece of film which demonstrates concepts of Mise En Scene successfully and clearly to it's audiences. It's a horror film from the 1920 directed by Robert Wiene.

The demonstration of Mise En Scene is just as important in Animation. Here's an example of an animation from a similar era, which i feel encompasses a good sense of Mise En Scene...


From around 4 minutes in there's some really nice closeups of the characters and scenes of a forest or jungle. Although it's black & white and can't project colour at all, it still uses other areas of Mise En Scene to evoke empathy with the characters and a sense of their surroundings. I particularly like around 6:20 where Betty Boop dances next to the waves with the sunset in the background. It's framed really nicely and doesn't have to have much movement in the background as she takes up most of the shot with her dancing

"Is anybody lookin'!?" Awww, amazing.

STAY AWAY FROM THAT TRAPDOOR

...'Cause there's somethin' down there!

What was down the trapdoor? I can't remember. Amazing animation but it only ever last about 5 minutes. This is a whole episode!!! It's actually pretty amazing for 5 minutes long! Its such a good little story. I like the mixture between illustration & 3d stop frame in the intro. The voices too, is Burke from Dorset? haha

HANNAH-BARBARA

Hannah-Barbara Cartoons, Inc, are responsible for a lot of my old favourite cartoons from childhood, and potentially my mums too! From 1957 they've produced the Flintstones, Tom & Jerry, Scoobie Doo, Josie & The Pussycats and the Jetsons.





LOVE IT! These are what has been a big inspiration for my Illustration brief for the mental illness charity.

HIS NAME IS TRISTAN

And he is alive.
This is a Tiger animation created by my friend Sarah Hurst. She made this tiger model from scratch. I've met him and he's really really GRRRRRRREAT!

Tristan the Tiger from Sarah Hurst on Vimeo.

Far too good and hard to do since the tiger in my animation is about a couple of seconds long... it would be daft going to the trouble of making a move-able puppet for such a small spotlight!

PSYCHEDELIC PACAKDERMS

This is probably one of my favorite things to watch EVER. OOoooh how i'd love to make something like this.

I think it might be a bit scary for kids though, am i right? am i righ?!

Love this tooo. Brings back lots of memories. Not as good as Dumbo though!

FANTASMAGORIE: Émile Cohl

Émile Cohl created Fantasmagorie in 1908.

"To make this film, Cohl placed each drawing on an illuminated glass plate and then traced the next drawing-with variations-on top of it until he had some 700 drawings. In 1908, chalkboard caricaturists were common vaudeville attractions and the characters in the film look as though they've been drawn on a chalkboard, but it's an illusion. By filming black lines on paper and then printing in negative Cohl makes his animations appear to be chalk drawings. "

LAUGH-O-GRAMS

RAY PATIN

"This collection of art and photos all came from the Ray Patin Studios. They produced hundreds of amazing black and white TV commericals all through the 50's and early 60's.
"Check it out here or here!

Love the sketchy style of story boarding and even final results. Maybe this is what i'll do with Animation A?

VALÉE: DEUX

Globo Logos from Julien Vallée on Vimeo.

LUKE, HE'S THE BEST!

"Cut out bits of paper, fragmneted drawings and other elements are used to create work that celebrates the unseen and find magic in the everyday" - Luke Best





Here are two frames from two separate idents Luke produced for MTV. They're brilliant. So short but sweet(as a nut). Check him out...

I AM NOT AMUSED.

I've been trying to research if there's anyone out there who might be doing a similar thing to what i'm doing, At School. It seems as though there are lots of schools getting involved with students doing animation but I can't find anyone doing exactly what I'm doing. Here's one example of some of the results I've been getting. A lot of animation specifically for schools is clipart based or just a lot of not very innovative, simple graphics. Boring. A lot of artists who have a kidsy approach to illustration these days are for an older audience, like Ian Stevenson, Luke Best for example, Dennis Tyfus they've got that 'shit but good'. they do it really well but it's just not for kids. I don't mean 'shit' really when i say 'shit but good' but i dunno how to describe their style. I guess naive is a good word and when it's done well it's really really brilliant but if its not it's just shit. I know someone will know what i'm talking about but i'm probably just sounding mean and stupid! I'm not being mean. I am really stupid though.

DIMITIRI STANKOWICS

This is by DIMITIRI STANKOWICS. Amazing. I can't get enough. Really reminiscent of 60's style Disney animation that I'm reeeal fond of.

Mr & Mr's Magpie

This is a lovely little cartoon from the 1950's. It's a Terry Toon Production. I really like it but the voice over for the Magpie who's selling them a their 'lovely home' is a bit half hearted! Much better than what I could do. It makes me think about possibly using voice-overs in animation (as I will definitely be doing an animation brief.) something to think about anyyway.

CONSTRUCTIVE LINKAGE!

Thanks Kate for this flippin' brilliant link... Couldn't be more appropriate really!

POPUP

It occurred to me that popup books are an incredible form of animation!


HAUNTED HOUSE from lisa o'hara on Vimeo.
Jan Pienkowski's haunted house popup book.


ABC3D from lisa o'hara on Vimeo.
This is Marion Bataille's ABC3D popup typography book

The Small Mole & The Green Star

This is a German animation from the 1957, the year of Sputnik 2's launch. No significance at all to the story of Laika but the same era... One of the cutest things I've ever seen.

TV ON MY SIDE

The lost world of communism was on tonight,

'Documentary series on the fall of the Iron Curtain and its legacy. 1989 marked the collapse of communism in Eastern and Central Europe and an end to a way of life for millions of people. Having lived through extraordinary times, they tell their stories of life behind the Iron Curtain, looking beyond the headlines of spies and surveillance, secret police and political repression, to reveal a rich tapestry of experience.
Firstly, a look at the 'socialist paradise' of communist East Germany.'

Although the focus was on East Germany, there was a lot of relevance to my research. There were stories told by people who had been victims of Stalin, there was some horrific realities and it really hit home to what it must have been like.

Thank God for critical studies as I wouldn't be able to relate back to Marxism and be aware of Lenin's contributions to Marxist Theory (Leninism) Also to link Panopticism with the concept of surveillance.

The best thing about it was my discovery of Sandmännchen or Sandman. It was amazing. Good old stop motion animation with models & handmade characters. Really incredible and inspiring.







IGNORE THE END's OF EACH ONE!!!!!! You can see what i mean by this if you dare watch past the Sandmannchen video's, it just turns into completely awful animation. awful.

Goodbye Lenin was on tonight too...