Under the camera

At the start of the module we began by looking at under the camera animation techniques.

Caroline Leaf

Caroline Leaf, Canadian Animator, is best known for her method of animating under the camera, using ‘straight ahead animation’ method – an on-going process of drawing, shooting and re-drawing the image. This is really interesting because animations made in this way often differ greatly from animations made using the pose-to-pose method, making for some interesting timing and motion.

She has used sand and a lightbox underneath, creating strong silhouettes and subtle movement, oil paint (removing lines/shapers and re- painting them) – in her later work she has used 70mm film stock to scratch into. Her work celebrates the special language of animation in terms of being able to shape shift – to move from one idea or memory to another, unlike the harsh cut of the live action film, animation can represent the way we experience memories and think fluidly, therefore making animation the art of the subconscious.

The Owl Who Married a Goose 1974:

The Street 1976:

Two Sisters 1990:

http://www.carolineleaf.com/work_biography.php

For our first task we were asked to experiment with animating to a sound clip using either charcoal or tea on paper under a camera. In our group we decided to use charcoal on paper for our animation test. We looked online for sound clips to use and found the sound of a matchstick lighting. We rotated the paper in order to create the movement of the matchstick and simple added and smudged the charcoal for the flame and burning. Some frames had to be repeated in order to sync with the audio.