Prodigy Warrior's Dance Combines Stop-Motion Animation and Puppetry
The Prodigy's Warrior's Dance music video, directed by Corin Hardy, features excellent dance animation sequences that combine stop-motion animation, puppetry and live-action:
There's a write-up about the making of this music video on Promo News. And you can also watch the Warrior's Dance on Academy Films:
"Remains of the Day," from Tim Burton's Corpse Bride:
Tetris
Tetris computer game played by real humans in this stop-motion video performance:
Human Skateboard
The "Human Skateboard" TV ad for Sneaux Shoes directed by PES:
Hit & Red
And I wrap-up with Ghislain Poirier's "Hit & Red" music video directed by Thibaut Duverneix. This clip was included in a stop motion group on Vimeo. But it doesn't strike me as a stop-motion animation. But it is a wonderful dance animation - here's a higher-quality version on the director's site:
Philip Worthington's "Shadow Monsters" installation was featured last year at the "Design and the Elastic Mind" exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art in New York City (my post about "Shadow Monsters"):
Pilobolus at the Academy Awards
And I can't leave the world of silhouettes, shadows and puppets without a clip from Pilobolus at the Academy Awards:
In the following video, "Dancing Unconventionally," you can see an excellent example of a traditional zoetrope that features multiple dance styles. There is no audio:
A Modern-Day Version of the Pre-Cinema Era Zoetrope
Ayse Unal of Anima Istanbul and compositor Ilhan Poyraz created an imaginative, modern-day version of the pre-cinema era zoetrope to promote the Instanbul 2009 independent film festival. You can read a brief interview with Ayse Unal on Motionographer about the making of this video, and you can watch the video:
Adding User-Controls to a Zoetrope
In my September post, I wrote about the dance-on-camera work "Zoetrope," (watch movement loops) by dancer and choreographer Chirstinn Whyte and photographer and digital artist Jake Messenger.
In "Zoetropic," the idea of fragmented, sequential images is further explored by Whyte and Messenger through the addition of user controls to the interface:
You can visit the Shiftwork website to learn more about the work of Whyte and Messenger.
Zoetropes in the NYC Subway
Last year artist and filmmaker Bill Brand's 1980 public art work "Masstransiscope" was restored for NYC subways riders in the form of a linear zoetrope. You can see a picture gallery from last year's restoration project. And here's a clip of what subway riders see:
This zoetrope "...can be seen on the Q and B trains from DeKalb Ave. in Brooklyn going into Manhattan toward Canal or Grand St. Look out the window on the right." -- Is it still there? Has anybody seen it?
Sony Builds World's Largest Zoetrope
To promote its Motionflow technology, Sony built the BRAVIA-drome in Venaria, Italy. This large-scale zoetrope measures ten meters across and weighs ten tons.
I invite you to attend my dance and animation program on Wednesday, February 11, 2009 at 7:00 PM.
My screening of animation videos is part of Anna Brady Nuse's monthly Kinetic Cinema program and this event will take place at Chez Bushwick in Brooklyn New York.
The screening of dance and movement animation videos will be just over one hour. Discussion will follow.
- Take L to Morgan Street.
- Take exit toward back of the subway.
- Take left outside subway station on to Bogart Street.
- Take second left onto Boerum Street.
- 304 Boerum is on left side of street before you reach White Street.
Background and Education Guide to My February Dance and Animation Program
In this post, I'd like to provide background and context for my Wednesday, February 11th Kinetic Cinema program. During this event, I will be screening and discussing dance and animation videos. The program starts at 7:00 pm and will take place at Chez Bushwick in Brooklyn, New York. (Location, date/time and ticket information are included at the bottom of this post.)
1) Program Background
2) Animation Styles, Techniques and Technologies
3) Questions to Consider for Animation Screening Program
4) Date, Location and Ticket Details
1) PROGRAM BACKGROUND
Since last summer, I have been studying and researching all forms of animation as they relate to dance and movement. During this time, I've been searching for films and videos that highlight a range of animation techniques and represent different aesthetic approaches and styles.
And my February Kinetic Cinema program builds upon this animation guide. Also, in preparation for next month's event, I have conducted interviews with many of the artists, animators, choreographers, dancers and directors who contributed to the videos that I will be screening.
2) ANIMATION STYLES, TECHNIQUES AND TECHNOLOGIES
My February program will feature over fifteen clips from video and film animations, theatrical movie releases, TV commercials, music videos, performances and installations, and student projects. The following types of animation styles, video editing techniques and supporting technologies will be represented and discussed during this screening program (changes may be made to the final program):
- 2D, hand-drawn animation
- 3D animation
- Real-time, interactive performance graphics
- Motion graphics
- Live action and computer graphics (CG)
- Machinima and virtual worlds
- Stop-motion animation
- Cut-out animation (tentative)
- Rotoscoping
- Digital puppetry
- Timesculpture (Toshiba's variation on bullet time from The Matrix)
- Motion capture
- Green screen, and
- Stereoscopic 3D
3) QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER FOR ANIMATION SCREENING PROGRAM
I don't think that a similar animation program has been put together where viewers and audience members can focus directly on how a range of animation techniques, styles and subject matter contribute to different approaches to representing the body in motion, especially within a dance context.
Here are selected questions that I have been considering for my February program. I hope you find these questions helpful as you watch the animations online and at the screening. If there are other topics that you would like addressed, please share your thoughts.
- Comparing Argentine Tango Animations
The first two videos in the program guide feature the Argentine Tango. The first video, "En Tus Brazos," is a 3D animation and the second, "Chandon - After Party," is a combination of live-action video and CG (computer graphics).
How does the representation of the bodies and shapes of the tango dancers compare and differ in each of these animations? How would you contrast the quality of the movement? And what are the narrative approaches used in each animation?
How would you compare and contrast Erica Russell's "Feet of Song" and "Ghostcatching" by Paul Kaiser, Shelley Eshkar and Bill T. Jones?
In "Feet of Song," choreographic ideas are captured from the artist's imagination and observation of African dance forms. In Ghostcatching, the underlying movements are based on the motion-captured improvisations of choreographer Bill T. Jones.
How does the hand-drawn animation techniques of "Feet of Song" contrast with the 3D-based "Ghostcatching? What are the differences in the use of color, shapes, transitions, depth and aesthetic approach?
To take a question from the "Ghostcatching" book (out of print), published in conjunction with the premiere of this video installation at The Cooper Union School of Art in 1999, which animation technique and creative approach best captures the "essence" of the underlying captured or imagined dancers? In other words, if you have seen Bill T. Jones dance in real life, do you know that you are watching Bill T. Jones dance in abstracted form in "Ghostcatching."
And how would you compare the African rhythms of Russell's "Feet of Song" with the spoken phrases of Bill T. Jones. How do these different types of sound tracks influence the rhythmic feel and other qualities of the final animation?
Choreographer Liz Lerman has always asked the question: "Who gets to dance?" Essentially, should dance be the practice of an elite, highly trained small group of professionals or should dance be open to people of all shapes, backgrounds, ages, ethnicities and any other factor you can imagine?
The online corollary to Lerman's question is: What types of dancers are depicted in animations and how do dancers and others choose to represent themselves in animated form?
During my screening program, I will be showing a dance sequence featuring the elderly sisters from "The Triplets of Belleville." (This clip is not available online). To date, I have not encountered another dance animation that depicts, in what in this instance I think is a compelling and charming manner, elderly people dancing.
"The Triplets of Belleville"
Does animation have a tendency to reinforce cultural norms and stereotypes? Or, are there many examples of animations--dance and other types--that ask viewers to re-think their perceptions and inclinations?
While I'm very intrigued by machinima (film-making within virtual worlds and real-time game platforms), how much variation is there in how the human body is represented. Is the default mostly young and beautiful? I'll be screening "CSI: New York Life Virtual Experience" during my program as a fascinating example of dancing in machinima. But I think it is worth asking how often will we see the "Triplets of Belleville" featured in such in-world dance animations?
Multimedia Guide to My February Dance and Animation Screening Program
I'm looking forward to curating the Wednesday, February 11, 2009 Kinetic Cinema program at Chez Bushwick in Brooklyn, New York.
During my program, I will screen a wide variety of dance and animation videos.
In this post, I'm including a video, image and link guide to the videos that will be shown during my February program.
Location, time and ticket details are included at the bottom of this post.
DANCE ANIMATIONS TO BE SCREENED
The following videos will be screened during this dance and animation program (final program subject to change).
Much thanks to the artists, animators, directors, choreographers, dancers and producers of the following videos for their help and time. I've interviewed many of the artists whose work will be shown. And I appreciate their taking the time to share their backgrounds, insights and creative process with me.
"EN TUS BRAZOS" (2006) -- 5:20 minutes
A 3D narrative-based animation about a tragic accident that befalls a great Tango dancer of the 1920s. Direction and animation: François-Xavier Goby, Matthieu Landour and Edouard Jouret.
A combination of live action and computer graphics were used in this TV commercial featuring a Tango-dancing wireframe couple constructed from a champagne bottle cap. Produced by advertising agency Dentsu America.
"THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE" (2003) -- 2:36 minute excerpt
In a scene from this Academy Award-nominated animated feature, Madame Souza, while searching for her kidnapped grandson in a big metropolis, engages the Belleville Triplets in a song and dance number. Released in US by Sony Pictures Classics. Courtesy of New Yorker Films.
Inspired by African music and art, UK-based 2D animator and dancer Erica Russell, who grew-up in South Africa, explores rhythms, colors and moving forms.
2D animator Susan Chien, for a life-drawing class at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, created a hand-drawn animation with a stop-motion feel that captures the movements of a human model.
A stop-motion TV commercial created for Sneaux Shoes by director PES. Sneaux fans are encouraged to create and share their own stop-motion skateboarding adventures.
Video artist Morgan Beringer used a variety of rotoscoping styles (tracing over live-action video footage) to capture the unique movement patterns of jugglers and movement artists.
Digital artists Paul Kaiser and Shelley Eshkar composed this 3D animation based on the captured movement and sound phrases of choreographer Bill T. Jones. This art installation premiered at The Cooper Union School of Art.
Toshiba's TV ad builds on the bullet-time technique made famous by The Matrix. 200 HD camcorders captured a series of moving snapshots, which were then composited into a sequence of overlapping loops . Production Company: Hungry Man LTD, director: Mitch Stratten.
"JOINVILLE DANCE FESTIVAL PROMOTION" (2008) -- 30 seconds
3D animated video promotion for dance festival in Brazil. Design and characters inspired by illustrations of dance steps in teaching magazines. Director: Frederico Freire, animators: Frederico Freire and Magno Borgo.
Chicago-based visual designer Nicholas Schrunk produced this video that features the interplay of motion graphics and the breakdancing of Damion "Daylight" Day, recorded with a high-speed video camera.
Oliver Fergusson-Taylor, then pursuing a Masters in Digital Effects at Bournemouth University, created this mixed live-action and computer graphics animation featuring a 3D model constructed of discarded materials and the breakdancing of Exlis Staddon.
"CSI: NY SECOND LIFE VIRTUAL EXPERIENCE" (2007) -- 1:47 minutes
Nightclub dancing scene from CSI: NY. Machinima pioneers ILL Clan produced the in-world animations for CBS where a killer is tracked in the Second Life virtual world.
Animator Kevin Abbott modeled a 3D metallic character that moves to the motion-captured sequence of dancer David Curwen. Created and performed at Western Michigan University (WMU).
Recoil Performance Group's dance installation with real-time, interactive graphics, premiered in Copenhagen as part of Danish Dance Theatre's "Labyrinth." Choreography by Tina Tarpgaard, and visual and interaction design by Ole Kristensen and Jonas Jongejan.
Tel-Aviv-based animator Eric Lerner created this live action/CG animation that features the rhythmic ambulations of the stretchy Mr. Fortune as part of his graduation project at Bezalel Academy in Jerusalem.
Björk's award-winning music video, which was created with puppets, live action video and computer graphics, can be viewed in both 2D and stereoscopic 3D. Directed by Encyclopedia Pictura, produced by Ghost Robot, choreographed by Chris Elam.
For my final project in my Life Drawing class, I thought that I'd do a short animation. This is two, combined animations that I did of a model that we had in class.
Mixing Live Action, Animation and Mocap in the Trash Dance
Oliver Fergusson Taylor created "Trash Dance" (2008) for his masters project at Bournemouth University. Trash Dance combines live action and 3D animation based on motion capture data from a breakdancer. Read his notes right after the video to learn more.
As you watch the following clip, pay particular attention to the light and shadows. I like what he's done:
This is my 9 week Masters Project @ Bournemouth University.
For this piece I combined motion capture and various dynamic techniques in Houdini 9 to create a breakdancer made from discarded items of rubbish.
Software used: SideFX Houdini 9, Apple Shake, Final Cut Pro, Adobe Photoshop.
The footage was filmed on a Panasonic SDX-900 DVCPro50 Camcorder.
Credits:
Title: Trashdance (2008) Description: Motion Capture Animation Created by: Oliver Fergusson-Taylor Dancer: Exlis Staddon Music: Lyrics born - I Changed My Mind
Live Action and Animation in Chandon's After Party TV Ad
The Chandon TV commercial to usher in the New Year features a mix of live action and computer graphics. A fun, unexpected spot with wire-frame Argentine tango dancers:
The praxinoscope, invented by Frenchman Charles-Émile Reynaud in 1877, is the successor to the zoetrope animation device (see my post about zoetropes).
The main difference is that instead of having viewing slits on the outside of the drum like the zoetrope, the praxinoscope consisted of a series of small mirrors that reflected the sequential images on the lower inside portion of this rotating system. As a result of using mirrors, more light illuminates the images and the animations can be viewed from many different angles. (Also see Jack and Bevery's Praxinoscopes and this brief history of praxinoscopes).
Pictures of Praxinoscopes
The below images show common themes for praxinoscopes including galloping horses, a girl jump roping and circus characters.
The Hola Mola Mola website provides an excellent look at the construction and use of a praxinoscope connected to a projector. These 19th Century projections were known as Théâtre Optique. The first video above of a girl jumping rope is from this project.
The following video walks you through the process of putting the parts together for the praxinoscope unit and projector:
This video shows the resulting projected image:
Artist Heidi Kumao's "Cinema Machines"
Artist Heidi Kumao explored early projection devices such as zoetropes and praxinoscopes in "Cinema Machines" (1991-1999). On the page for Cinema Machines, you can access detailed descriptions, photos and videos of these installations.
When I entered graduate school as a photographer I was already starting to work with sequential imagery. I was driven by a need to animate physical gestures and behaviors as indicators of psychological states. Simultaneously, I was collecting domestic objects and record players and researching pre-cinema devices and the 19th century creation of spectacle, Emile Reynaud's praxinoscope from the 1880's, in particular. My first kinetic works were homemade-looking zoetropes that projected a sequential loop of 12 images: a child being spoon-fed, a woman's legs curtseying, a woman frantically sweeping. Like a memory that can't be repressed, each animated sequence repeated endlessly and mechanically. In this way, each object seemed to be speaking with its images, a visual and mechanical voice replacing text. Much like the girls' legs I made much later, they were an artificial life form, a stand-in for a real person that I could construct and bring life to. These "cinema machines" (as I called them) allowed me to combine all of my interests (photography, performance, sculptural assemblage and the psychology of everyday life), into one art form. I loved working this way and continued to create cinema machines for several years.
I also encourage readers to learn about Kumao's kinetic sculpture. Here's a clip from "Protest" (2005):
Zoetrope: Creating the Illusion of Movement Through Present Times
The origins of the Zoetrope, a pre-cinematic rotating device that created the illusion of movement, can be traced back to Second Century China. British and American patents were granted for this popular animation toy in the 1860s. (For overviews and pictures of the zoetrope, you can visit here, here and here).
A traditional Zoetrope consists of a drum with an open top. Vertical slits run along the circumference of this device. One or more users look through these slits as the drum rotates to view what appears to be smooth motion generated by the static, sequential drawings or images placed on the lower inside portion of the drum.
Here's a picture of a zoetrope from Wikipedia. The animated effect would be of a circus lion jumping on to the back of a horse:
The following short video (no sound) shows a zoetrope spinning on a record player. The camera zooms in to look through the slits and the illusion of a man running can be seen:
Chirstinn Whyte's "Zoetrope" Dance Film
Dancer and choreographer Chirstinn Whyte filmed the dance for camera work "Zoetrope" in 2004 and it premiered at Dance:Film Scotland in 2007. On this film festival website, Whyte's video is described as "...[exploring] pre-cinematic optical forms and their effect on movement patterning."
You can watch four loops from her "Zoetrope" video. I've included the following screen shot from one of these loops. In these sequences, the viewer is seeing multiple sections of movement happening simultaneously and not as a single, unified whole as one would experience when using a traditional cylindrical zoetrope.
Modern Takes: A Linear Zoetrope
In art and commerce, zoetropes continue to evolve to the present day.
In 2001 in Atlanta, SubmediaWorld introduced full-motion subway tunnel ads that are based on a linear zoetrope instead of a circular one as described above. As riders look out the windows of their subway car, they can see commercials that appear to be projected from a single camera source.
Here's a video that shows passengers viewing a Corvette ad in the format of a linear zoetrope:
A popular modern-day variant of the zoetrope is one built in three-dimensions. But instead of using slits or changes in viewing angles to create an animated effect, flickering strobe lights simulate the illusion of motion.
As part of its 20th anniversary celebration in 2006, animation studio Pixar created a 3D zoetrope (7-feet high and with a 12-foot diameter) featuring characters from Toy Story One and Two.
The following video shows the Toy Story zoetrope in action. You won't see the full animated effect until the latter part of the video when the lights are dimmed and the strobe lights are turned on. During the first part of the video, you can see that the adjacent models of a single character represent what would typically be sequential frames of film where the difference in shape and action are very slight:
Thaumatrope, A Spinning Toy from the Victorian Era
A thaumatrope is a Victorian-era toy, the size of a small disk or card, with related pictures on each side. When the disk is spun by strings attached to the sides, the images merge. Common image combinations were a bird and a cage, and a tree and its leaves.
So if you spun the thaumatrope, it would appear that the bird was actually in the cage and that the leaves were on the tree.
London physicist, Dr. John A. Paris, popularized the thaumatrope (which means "turning marvel" or "wonder turner,") in the 1820s.
On the thaumatrope's page for Jack and Beverly's Optical Toys, you can see pictures and animations of spinning thaumatropes. The first example is of the bird and cage:
The second example is of a circus rider on a horse:
Videos of Thaumatropes in Action
In the following video, on one side of a disk a woman is tempted to get every last drop out of her soup bowl and on the other side she makes sure she's successful:
On one side of a thaumatrope is a hat and the other side the head of a man minus the top portion. The spinning creates the animated illusion:
Video Meditations on Thaumatropes
In an animated short, "Thaumatrope, the 2 Sides of Life," by Effie Pappa, the dual sides of this rotating device are used to contrast "two diverse ecological consciences." (Pappa teaches at the Department of Graphic Design, Technological Education Institute of Athens, Greece.):
"Finding Himself In A Thaumatrope"
Jesse LaFlair is a multimedia artist (YouTube profile and MySpace page) who created this "Finding Himself In a Thaumatrope" video. This modern-day take on the two-sided Victorian-era toy interlaces two stop-motion videos of a man who can never quite find his other self:
Phenakistiscope, a Pre-Cinema Device for Dance Animations
Devices for generating dance animations predate the age of cinema. In the 1830s, Belgian physicist Joseph Plateau created a contraption called the phenakistiscope.
A typical phenakistiscope is a plate-sized object consisting of two disks. On the outside of one disk (see following images and video) are consecutive frames of animation. On both disks are slits that separate the frames so the viewer can look through the device.
To see the dancers move, you stand in front of a mirror, rotate the disk and look through the slits to watch the reflection of the dancers.
Here are two images from Wikipedia that show you a design of a phenakistiscope and a simulation of one in action.
The Make blog has a post and video on how to make a Phenakistiscope from scratch. The following video is also helpful for visualizing how this early animation device actually worked (the animation that I link to above on Wikipedia is helpful in terms of showing the animation but it is misleading in how one watched the animation):
As you'll see in the Make post, they created an imaginative electric spinning device using a lollipop stick. In the 19th Century, they would have used a simple manual hand-crank or just spun the disks.
Learn more about the phenakistiscope and view pictures here, here and here.
I wasn't thrilled by the submissions I came across. But here are two of the better ones I found that give you an idea of what types of dance moves you can create with Spore:
And here's a demonstration of the advanced character creation functionality:
If you find high-quality submissions to the Spore contest or create your own, please let me know about them.
Kevin Abbott, project director for the Digital Media center, created this animation for a dance concert last fall:
The animation was created using our Vicon motion capture system. The 3D character modeling and the mocap data editing was done in 3DS Max. Lighting, rendering, texturing and camera work was done in Cinema 4D. Music by Radiohead.
David Curwen, co-director of the Digital Media Center and associate professor in the Department of Dance at Western Michigan University, performed and co-choreographed the above animation.
