Animation current issue

Animated Expressions: Expressive Style in 3D Computer Graphic Narrative Animation

Power, P. — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 04:26:23 PDT

The development of 3D animation systems has been driven primarily by a hyper-realist ethos, and 3D computer graphic (CG) features have broadly complied with this agenda. As a counterpoint to this trend, some researchers, technologists and animation artists have explored the possibility of creating more expressive narrative output from 3D animation environments. This article explores 3D animation aesthetics, technology and culture in this context. Synthesizing research in CG, neuroesthetics, art history, semiotics, psychology and embodied approaches to cognitive science, the nature of naturalistic vis-àvis expressive visual styles is analysed, with particular regard to expressive communication and cues for emotional engagement. Two foundations of naturalistic 3D CG, single-point perspective and photorealistic rendering, are explored in terms of expressive potential, and the conclusion considers the future for an expressive aesthetics in 3D CG animation.

Soft Body Dynamics After 9/11

Warren-Crow, H. — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 04:26:23 PDT

Endowing buildings with the capacity for movement and transformation, animated architecture represents the expansion of animation from cinematic and televisual space to real-space environments. A key example of animation in architecture is Oosterhuis.nl's proposal for a new World Trade Center. In line with similar work by fellow Dutch firm NOX, Oosterhuis.nl's Ground Zero embraces animation through references to mobility, liveliness and metamorphosis. It points to the prominence of animated form in contemporary design practice and the ubiquitous use of animation software in the process of architectural design. At the same time, Ground Zero reveals post-9/11 anxieties surrounding the soft and tender flesh of the object world. The author's analysis of Ground Zero's discursive production of life maps crucial changes in our spatial imagination and the politics of form.

Beowulf: The Digital Monster Movie

Brown, W. — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 04:26:23 PDT

Robert Zemeckis' Beowulf (2007) is the latest film made using motion capture technology, a film that tells the story of a hero's quest to defeat a series of monsters.This article examines not only the thematic role of monstrosity in the film, but also the way in which the film's very construction, through motion capture and CGI, can be understood as monstrous. That is, after Deleuze's Cinema 2: The Time Image (1989[1985]), Beowulf can be understood as typifying a cinema that has seen a shift from montage to montrage, a cinema that shows. Analysing the aesthetics of monstrosity in Beowulf, the author also considers how the film's motion capture synthespian performances can be understood as comic through Henri Bergson's (1912[1900]) theory of laughter, which suggests that humans laugh at mechanized human beings.

What Race Do They Represent and Does Mine Have Anything to Do with It? Perceived Racial Categories of Anime Characters

Lu, A. S. — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 04:26:23 PDT

Is the intended race of anime characters distinguishable because of their facial features or are they too `international' to tell? This study addressed this question empirically by comparing the intended racial categories of static frontal portraits of 341 anime characters randomly selected from anime produced between 1958 and 2005 with the perceptions of 1,046 raters. Results showed that, although the race of more than half of the anime characters was originally designed to be Asian and only a small fraction were intended to be Caucasian, many were perceived as Caucasian by the largely Caucasian raters. Response patterns also indicated `Own Race Projection (ORP)', i.e. perceivers frequently perceived anime characters to be of their own racial group. Implications for anime's international dissemination are discussed.

Borderline Animation

Fleisch, T. — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 04:26:23 PDT

As an artist and filmmaker working in what is notion-ally called `animation', Thorsten Fleisch works at intersections of art, science and technology. His works belong to a genre of Structural—Materialist film as well as being highly self-reflexive investigations into the minute workings of natural phenomena. In this article, Fleisch reveals some of the underlying ideas and concepts of his films as well as the techniques involved in creating them. Fleisch has been making experimental films for more than a decade now; most of them fall under the general rubric of `animation' but their production processes and techniques belie an unusual complexity of source materials, concepts and techniques. These processes are very important to the result as Fleisch tries to find unusual ways to generate images. Fleisch's work is notable for its aesthetic and technically masterful treatment of organic materials (blood, skin, ashes) and scientific phenomena (fractals, crystals, voltage). This richly illustrated article contains many colourful details about the following films: K.I.L.L. — Kinetic Image Laboratory/Lobotomy (1998), Bloodlust (1998), Silver Screen (2000), Skinflick (2002), Gestalt (2003), Friendly Fire (2003), Kosmos (2004) and Energie! (2007).

Review: David Whitley, The Idea of Nature in Disney Animation. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2008. 162 pp. ISBN: 0754660850 (hbk)

Willoquet-Maricondi, P. — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 04:26:23 PDT

Review: Yann Beauvais (ed.), Paul Sharits. Dijon: Les presses du reel, 2008. 200 pp., 112 col. illus. ISBN: 978--2--84066--243--3 28

Windhausen, F. — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 04:26:23 PDT

Review: Peter Hames (ed.), The Cinema of Jan Svankmajer: Dark Alchemy (Directors' Cuts), 2nd edn. London: Wallflower Press, 2008. 224 pp. ISBN: 978--905674--45--9

Ivins-Hulley, L. — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 04:26:23 PDT