Minor Project: Editing techniques

After my tutorial with Phil about the flow of my animation, it has been suggested to consider discontinuity as an editing technique.
 I have researched into discontinuity and found it relevant to what I want my animation to communicate.

Discontinuity is an editing technique pioneered by Soviet filmmakers of the 1920's, including Sergei Eisenstein. The style of editing is done through a series of jump cuts, unrelated cut shots and dislocations or exaggeration of time/space. These functions lead to a more complex yet engaging experience.

           


I have also looked at the French new wave, a movement during the late 1950's/60's. It is considered as one of the most influential movement in cinema.
It was characterized by a large use of close-ups, freeze-frame shots, fragmentation, discontinuous and long takes techniques.


                              
                             

This will help me put my animatic together (which I am working on) and communicate this disorienting, magical and dream-like experience.

Minor project: Slow-motion idea

While thinking of ways to express the mood/emotions of the market experience, I have thought of considering Slow-motion. It will be some sort of metaphorical way to a literal recreation of the past experience.
The effect of slow motion on our minds is really interesting, as it is impressive and more memorable. This is due to the way people react to events, as they perceive events occurring in slow motion and accompanied by a feeling of awareness and vividness.
 It is known that in the mechanism of perception, the brain perceives longer time due to concentrated information.
I believe this will be a very helpful technique to incorporate into my work, as the animation is about rich memories and experiences, to put the viewer into lifelike experience.
I will be experimenting with this when working on the animatic.

            

           

Minor Project: Animation Idea + Style Influence

After my tutorial with Phil, it has been suggested that a different approach to the project was necessary in order to successfully communicate the message.

The animation will be more focused on my own experience and portraying that exotic, magical feeling in the market rather than an adaptation of the "Last Storytellers: Tales from the heart of Morocco" however it will still be inspired by it and will include voiceover using extracts from the book.

This will be done through slow motion cuts*, from character to another. Some of them will be looking at the camera, others will be doing what they normally do (snake charmers, herbs sellers, storytellers…) 

* This will be clearer as I am working on the animatic.

To start I will gather as much information as possible from family and from personal experience about the market (colour, senses, noises, feelings…) which I will respond to through drawing and painting.

As for the visual style, I am aiming for a painterly style, dynamic, exaggerated and expressionistic gestures which I believe will really emphasise the importance of each pose and action in the shots.

Below are some initial influence images to get me started:

Cubism

An early 20th Century movement that aims at analysing an object, fragmenting it and reassembling it in an abstract form. The object is depicted from multiple viewpoints, thus expanding the subject's context. Some of its characteristics:

- Simplification of objects into geometrical components

- Overlapping planes

- Distortion of the figures

Expressionism

A modernist movement which originated in Germany, 20th Century.

It was developed before WW1 and is sometimes suggestive of fear and anxiety.

Its characteristics include:

- Colour is used as an emotional device rather than a reflection

- Dynamic and distorted forms to evoke a sense of fluidity and movement

- Exaggerated face features

Fauvism

It began around 1900 and focused on the use of painterly, strong colours and wild brush work to evoke excitement. It is also considered as a form of Expressionism. Main characteristics:

- Simplified drawing with dark outline around some elements.

- Bold brushwork

- Use of bright and unnatural colours.


Traditional African masks

Through further research, I have found out that the traditional african masks played a huge role in influencing movements such as Cubism, Fauvism and Expressionism. It would be a great idea to incorporate that in the style, focusing on the exaggerated features and head shapes.

Minor Project: Research

Richard Hamilton is a broadcast journalist for the BBC. He has traveled to Morocco in 2006 to complete an assignment for the BBC which soon turned into a fascination and obsession. 

His book "The last storytellers: Tales from the heart of Morocco' emphasises the importance of storytelling throughout mankind's history in terms of conveying ideas, morals and a way of entertainment and escapism. Gestures and expressions are just as important in order to capture people's imagination.

Storytelling in Morocco is believed to have appeared well before the Arab invasion. It was a necessity in the Berbers daily life and a religious ritual which was used to inform other tribes of the different other regions.

Before being founded by the Almoravid, Marrakech was an oasis in the desert, in which travellers from around the maghreb used to stop for water, shelter and exchange stories making it a very important crossroad which soon became a market in the name of Jemaa el Fna. 

The storytelling in the market is called Halka, which means a circle or ring formed by people and at the centre is the performer (Hlayki). The story was then told by old men whose styles differ from deep voice, softly spoken to theatrical and shouty.

However this form of communication and expression is dying out due to the new forms of entertainment such as internet.

This project will be at the same time, personal, in a way to recreate some of the memories through adapting Richard's experience as well as paying tribute to these magical human beings who have, through patience and commitment, succeeded to entertain, discipline and unify humanity in many ways.

Reading the book and further researching allowed me to have a better understanding of context.

The next step would be locating the important passages of the book in order to create a storyboard/animatic.

Adaptation: Infographic- Research

For my idea, the timeline of an action seemed very interesting, in terms of breaking down a very short action (Smile) into smaller actions.
Smile seemed like a very powerful expression to me as it happens very quickly but means a lot.
Its universal trait makes it easy to be shared and recognised. It is a way to communicate joy, love or laughter. It has the power to change people's mood in less than a second.
When researching, it took me a while to find out the process of Smiling as it is a very complex action yet fascinating.

In a recent research scientists concluded “that smiling can be as 

stimulating as receiving up to 16,000 Pounds Sterling in cash.”

- Smiling is an action to transmit information, which can be received, read and interpreted differently by some cultures.

However it is viewed as a friendly sign across most cultures.

The entire event is short, it lasts from two-thirds of a second to four seconds.

It seems to be an easy expression, which is characterized by a rise of the corners of the mouth, lifting of cheeks and crinkle of eyes.

In short, scientists have learned that one of humanity’s simplest expressions is beautifully complex.

It usually starts in one the sensory areas of the brain triggered either by a sound, a feeling or a visual, where the neuronal signals travel to the brainstem. 

This information is processed in the Temporal lobe, a region of the cerebral cortex, which allows communication between the left and right temporal lobe and between the occipital, parietal and frontal lobes of the brain. This helps retention of visual memories, facial recognition, sensory input, language comprehension, new memory storage and emotions.

After this, the information is planned; controlled and executed in the extrapyramidal system, a neural network which is responsible for involuntary reflexes and movements.
 The cranial nerve (Facial nerve) transports a signal towards the central part of the face (smile muscle).
Once the nerve fires, the corners of the mouth (Zygomaticus major) and cheeks are pulled up, and then if the smile is real, a facial nerve activates small muscles around the eye, which causes wrinkling around the eyes (Orbicularis Oculi).

The scientific analysis of the smile goes back to 1860s, when the French anatomist Guillaume Benjamin Amad Duchenne de Boulogne used electrical currents to make facial muscles contract and believe that through studying the muscles underlying facial movement we could gain insight into how the face expresses emotions.

For instance, after the electrical simulation, the recorded expressions show that a true smile is characterised by wrinkling of the muscle around the eyes (Orbicularis Oculi) (B), this means that the mouth and cheeks muscles obey without problem but the eye needs a true feeling to be activated.
Opposed to the true smile, the fake smile is considered as a voluntary action; therefore the signal takes a different route. The Motor cortex is the region responsible for voluntary actions and movements.

Character Design: Research

Concerning our 10week Character project, we were asked to develop three characters (Hero, Villain and Sidekick) based on 2 subjects and a theme. 

My 2 subjects are Fantasy and Pirate and Mystery as a theme.


This combination sounds really exciting to me, however I am trying to find an interesting way of combining them and visualising them. I went to do a quick research about the definitions of each word which then will broaden my vision about it.




Fantasy: Something that contains imagination unrestricted by reality, fiction with a lot of imagination, Supernatural elements or unrealistic events that people believe to be false.
It can be characterized by its style, which is representational and naturalistic rather than abstract.
It is also called visionary art, grotesque art or mannerist art. Moreover it is deeply interactive with fantasy literature.
 




Mystery: Something that is not fully understood, which contains a work of fiction or dealing with obscure and secret.
 



Pirate: Someone who robs at sea without commission from a sovereign nation, or makes use of or reproduces the work of someone else without legal right or authorisation.
The term can be applied to acts committed in the air, land or on a shore.

Mystery-fiction: The terms focuses on supernatural or thriller mystery in which the solution does not have to be logical or even no crime is involved.
 











 
 
 

Film Influence: These films show a good example of my three subjects, however I wanna move away from Pirate in the sea to something less generic.