Andrew Schultz
Master of Arts by Research (Animation & Interactive Media)

Research Project:

Presentation:
Master of New Media Lecture Series, July 1999
The title of my research project is "Alternative Methods in Model Animation". It seeks to consider whether the discoveries and achievements of some other art forms (for e.g. sculpture, painting, photography and architecture) can be relevant to animation.

My purpose in doing this, is firstly to explore different ways of presenting the human body in animation and secondly, to explore different ways of composing animation sequences - that is, both short passages and complete finished works.

The research project therefore can be seen in 2 parts, coming under the following headings;

• The Structure of the Body
• The Structure of the Image

I will now describe in more detail each of these two propositions.

PART 1: THE STRUCTURE OF THE BODY

It could be said that the body can be approached from 2 extremes.

Either as an objective/classical form such as that presented in Greek sculpture or alternatively, as simply a process; a combination of pulses, cycles, circulations contained in one encompassing parabola - ie Walt Whitmans "Body Electric"

I wish to study these two extremes and the middle ground that lies between them.

This can be broken down into 5 steps;

Firstly - presenting the body from the classical point of view, as sculptural and anatomically complete and correct.

Then, seeing this classical form dissected so as to emphasise the structure of bone, muscle, tendon and skin - again, as in classical anatomical science (as in the engravings of Versalius and so on).

Secondly I would consider comparative anatomy - ie the relationship between human anatomy and that of other mammals and vertebrates. As everyone knows, the structure of all vertebrates is based on a common plan or module that is varied according to the special nature of each species. Hence I wish to compare, for eg. the structure of the human arm to the forelimb of animals such as cats and dogs. Other anatomical structures, such as the skull and the vertebrae will also be investigated in a similar way. This approach should be seen as a means of understanding human anatomy better.

Thirdly I wish to consider the bodily structure of insects - their density of design, and extreme combination of form and function.

This would also involve a very general study of the sensory aspects of insects, which will be discussed in more detail in part two; the Structure of the Image.

Fourthly moving away from the formal images of the human (and animal) body - it can be seen in terms more purely of structure and function - ie from an architectural point of view.

The various ways that architects and engineers have devised of carrying load (i.e. columns, arches and buttresses) and organising structure via design hierarchies (symmetry, modules, proportion) can be usefully compared to the mechanical systems of the body.

Some architectural styles seem particularly prone to a reading of this kind, for instance, there is the steel and glass architecture of the l9th century of glass houses, railway concourses, plant conservations; the most famous example being Paxton's 'Crystal Palace' in London of 1851. This supposedly bankrupt style has experienced a significant rebirth in the work of contemporary architects, with a kind of futuristic refocus. The Hong Kong Shanghai Bank in Hong Kong by Norman Foster and the Lloyds Building in London by Richard Rogers are examples of this style, with dynamic metal structures covered by a taut glass skin.

An opposing but equally useful starting point is that of the concrete, sculptural buildings of twentieth century modernism; most especially the expressionist architecture of Erich Mendelson and the airport terminals in Washington and New York by Eero Saarinen.

Finally there is the tensile architecture of Kenzo Tange, as exemplified in his Tokyo Olympic stadium of 1964.

Comparisons between the human body and architecture are as old as history itself and span many cultures. The superimposition of the plan on the body and the allocation of human proportions to buildings has been extensively thought about, and such ideas may be relevant to animation.

The axis and spatial lay out of architectural design may also contain useful ideas about how to fit together sequences of animation. This will be discussed further in Part 2; Structure of the Image.

Finally. the body can be considered to be pure flow, ie in Dr Jonathon Miller's phrase; 'more fountain than sculpture'. This point of view sees the external form of the body as mere artefact or footnote to the myriad internal systems.

I wish to research this idea via the study of the various systems of visualisation used by medical technology as for example the Xray and the CAT scan.

PART 2: THE STRUCTURE OF THE IMAGE

The second part of my project consists of researching ways of structuring the image in animation. This can be divided in 2 steps;

l) Analysing the frame by frame nature of animation.
2) Analysing the various ways of composing sequences and completed works in animation.

These two steps can be understood as follows:

Firstly, The German expressionist Franz Marc urged artists to see the world from the point of view of the animal; of the dog, the deer and the antelope in order to represent their reality. But for animation, it may be more relevant to look through the compound eye of the insect; the explore a vision that is colour shifted, pulsed, faceted and aligned to the sun. This approach is also related to the colour and optical theories developed by the Impressionist and Post Impressionist painters who stressed above all else the division of the colour spectrum into pure tones which are not mixed on the palette - but in the eye. I seek to research whether this optical mixing may apply equally well to animation, on this occasion considering each shot as a separate division rather than each brush stroke. In other words the persistence of vision of cinema theory would be exchanged for the interruption of vision, the discontinuity of vision, as the 'broken' image would be required to be mixed in the eye rather than seemlessly on the screen.

Clearly, this is an idea developed in painting most fully by the futurists, but it is still current in art - as contemporary Aboriginal painting makes clear.

If the individual shot was manipulated in the sense I have explained it would provide openings for the exploration of various rhythmic and percussive effects simultaneous with the presentation of characters and action as in normal animation. Futurist and impressionist painting had a similar aim; to represent the usual subjects (people, portraits, landscapes, cities) with a new and more sophisticated (or at least more exploratory) technique.

Secondly I wish to research the ways of organising animation sequences and complete works through various thematic and conceptual motifs.

The axis of the architectural plan, as I indicated earlier, may be a useful way of unifying an animated sequence.

Or the organising concept may simply be brevity itself (for eg 3 seconds, or 5 seconds or 10 seconds for a complete work).

Such organising ideas are comparable to the art and craft of poetry which is strictly controlled by highly disciplined metrical structures - for eg the Sonnet, the Haiku, the Italian tercet and the heroic couplet. All allow the greatest diversity of style and meaning within the tightest formal structures.

CONCLUSION

Certainly I am aware that researching superficially over such a broad spectrum is plagued with difficulties. Yet if all of the elements I have referred to above may reside within the tiny scarab, made holy by the Egyptians, possibly they can also reside united in animation.