Plot When the Queen dies she makes her husband King promise to remarry only to one who surpasses her in looks, after searching far and wide the King is convinced their daughter is the only one he can marry. The Princess was willing but her fairy godmother insists it is taboo so the Princess asks for 3 impossible dresses made to her as a condition. When the King presents her with the dresses she asks for the skin of the kingdoms magic donkey and then runs away in the night to live a poor life in the forest. There a Prince happens to spy her and throws a tantrum until he can conduct a test to find his bride: by marrying the maiden who can fit a delicately small ring, fit only for a Princess.
Donkey Skin was shot on 35 mm film, in mono sound, in colour.
The film utilizes animation film techniques in order to portray a fantastical world. Including live actors performing the roles of statues; castle denizens themselves (and their animals) being the colour of the royalty they belong to; slow motion, reverse motion, stop/start motion, double exposures, and dresses made of reflective fabric so images could be projected unto it.
I came across the tale of Donkey Skin through the tale of "Color Master" by Aimee Bender, printed in the collection of stories "My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me". The story centers around dye-creators who the King from Donkey Skin asked to make the impossible dresses: the colour of the moon, the sun, and the sky. When reading the story about colours and the fantastical dresses they created I wanted to make an animation myself, one that conveyed the impossible imagery of the these dresses that were the reflection of nature itself. It was from this I discovererf the French film created in 1974 and I was beyond curious to see how they would weave these dresses of wonder. What techniques would they use?
I believe finding the basics is important in anything that you do. The animation techniques used in this film, Donky Skin, are simplistic but cunningly beautiful in the context of this fantastical world. The film depicts animation without drawing, with rich and outrageous colour schemes that unite kingdoms and animals alike, outrageous dresses and outfits that by the end of the film seem normal despite how large they are on the figures, and layering effectswhich must have seemed simply fantastical when this film came out.
Source: Motion Graphic Design : Applied History and Aesthetics
By Jon Krasner
Chapter 6: Images, live action, and type : design
considerations
This chapter walked us through the visual
properties (form, value & colour, texture & pattern), image
consideration, live action consideration (filmic form, filmic properties,
integrating live-action), and typograpghic considerations (typographic form
& motion, expression through typeface). This chapter studies a wide range
of mediums, and would be most beneficial to those planning on creating a title
sequence as it deals with type, tone, focus, and many story-board-like
examples. On this blog, I try to share as many examples from the textbook as I
can, unfortunately I can always locate the material and will substitute my own
findings.
VISUAL PROPERTIES
Form
oGeometric Form
oNatural Form
oAbstract Form
Rhythmus 23 (1923) by Hans Richter
Mothlight (1963) by Stan Brakhage
3D
Form Programs:
Cinema 4D
LightWave
Maya
Motion
Blur Studio ID: Venice
Value and Colour
“Studies have indicated that most human beings
make a subconscious assessment about what they see within 90 seconds of initial
viewing, and that their evaluation is based on colour alone.” P 171
The components of Colour:
oHue
the colour itself
oSaturation (chroma)
the hue’s purity or intensity or lack thereof
oValue (tone or brightness)
lightness or darkness of the colour by adding white or black
o
Emotional, gender, and cultural association:
Men are attracted to dark and saturated
colours.
Woman are attracted to cool colours and softer tints.
MOJO (Male Oriented Entertainment Network)
Dark rich and deep colours for upscale male audeince
Decent Days And Nights
The Futureheads
Florescent colours to express vintage rock
When choosing colour know your audience,
gender, culture, time-period, etc
Thaumatrope
A small paper disc attached with two strings that when pulled in opposing
directions spun quickly and gave the illusion of merging the images (popular in
Europe in the 1820s).
In order to view the designs below you must click on one:
Rabbit and the Moon by Nicole Wilk 2012
Mild Mannered Hero by Nicole Wilk 2012
Girl & Corset by Nicole Wilk 2012
Thaumatrope and the Persistence of Vision:
Animation is based off the concept of persistence of vision, that is, that the mind holds an image longer than it is actually there (think closing ones eyes after looking at a light bulb). As a thaumatrope is the repetition of 2 images constantly alternating our mind begins to blend the two images into one when seen in rapid succession.
THE PROCESS:
Materials:
Rice Paper (decent transparency)
Lightbox (though I have a compact one I like to use a large glass table with a lamp)
Referance images (helps the process go quicker, you may also trace or rotoscope)
Something to consistently draw a decent sized circle with (I used a jar lid)
Scissors (or exacto blade)
Colouring tools (I used Pantone Markers)
Sealant (I used nail polish with varying shades of nude colouring)
String (I used elatic bands)
Cardboard (or stiff paper)
Before I began I researched thaumatrope's that others have created in order to conceptualize my own designs. The rabbit jumping over the moon is a thaumatrope cliche so I altered the concept. As I was already using nail polish as a sealant I made the moon out of two shades of silver polish and then removed circles to give it depth.
I wanted to make my thaumatrope's seem as if they were created in the 1800's so I tea-stained my rice paper prior to beginning and used a tinted (sepia feeling) sealant to protect my finished work. I chose art styles that are aged and have a nostalgic feeling of what you'd see on aged and yellowed paper.
Though not an issue for the rabbit, lining up clothes to an invisible figure takes accuracy. I had issues with my Superman design as he refused to line up, resulting in him losing half his body by the finished work.
My future thaumatrope's will be an extension to the superhero series, a blooming tree, and two silhouettes kissing. What images can you think of?
Cake Countdown
by Nicole Wilk & Roshanth Nadesapillai
Countdown stop motion projects are a guseful way to realize how much information is within a second of filming. For this project we used a birthday cake as numbers and counting already contain an association with the imagery.
After viewing the work of William Kentridge (seen at the end of this post) who used the subtleties of erasing and drawing with charcoal to create animation I was compelled to try a similar process myself. As this was an experimental piece I picked a fish swimming in a jar because the remnants of the charcoal left over from the previous stages of the animation would be accounted for in the swirling of the water.
1st Sketch
1/3 through animation
3/3 through animation
The charcoal stop-frame technique utilizes an image alteration process. The artboard is one that has been drawn completely with aspects that change within. My art practice used 22 frames to complete the animation cycle ie. the fish completing a lap of swimming. Initially I wished to draw 2 fish but decided it would be advantageous if I created another fish in the editing process. As this is an experimental piece I played with editing options within Premiere, overlapping, inversion, and frame rate.
22 frames total in the animation
PROCESS:
I used a half sized piece of artistic paper (graphite and charcoal friendly) and taped it to a flat surface so that a) I could erase without worrying about scrunching the paper, and b) so that the paper would not shift during the photo process. I attached a basic point and shoot camera to a tripod in natural light, careful to place the tripod so that it was not in danger of accidentally being knocked. Then I drew the bowl and the fish. I would erase the charcoal fish as I progressed, and take a photo in between. As Kendridge says in the video below, the taking of the photo is a physical process that refreshes your mind to the present image before you, it is a necessary process.
This self-portrait stretches 21 frames (3 shy of a second in film/animation) into a 20 second animation. The motion is repeated and manipulated using frame transitions to fade in and out of itself at set times. What could have been a fatal flaw with the shifting of the camera has been utilized to work with the beat, which utilizes a quickened tempo to offset the jerkiness of the animation itself which follows the intent of this project: to create myself as a manipulated doll.
The 21 frames in the Self Portrait
Prior to the animation techniques the images were loaded into Photoshop and framed to size, colour corrected, aligned, and manipulated with action sequences. The colour correction was necessary as the images themselves were shot in a room which had less than ideal lighting.
Unedited Photo From the Animated Self Portrait
As this is a self-portrait I wished the piece to be a reflection despite using it for experimentation purposes. As it should be properly assumed, everything that happens in the video was by design. The room is the MultiMedia Lab at my University and is therefore my second-home. Despite the poor lighting I am a graduate of the Graphic Arts and relied on my Photoshop abilities to not only adjust the lighting but to create a more fantastical and surreal environment which is a reflection of the general theme of my works. The audio was recorded by myself in a sound studio and reflects my love for the violin. I kept the faults of this piece in (the moving of the camera) as I believe that strength and weakness are the same, it's merely how one is viewed, in this thought process I made deliberate manipulation of the camera movement in the editing process.
I believe any self-portrait that you watch or consume that is immediately understandable is a failed portrait and cannot possibly be a reflection of their self, rather what they want you to see.
