sand animation

Sand Animation

Sand animation is a broad term used to refer to two methods of creating moving pictures / films of sand art; one method is an actual animation technique, while the other focuses more on capturing the act of painting with sand on film. A sand animation performer will often use the aid of an overhead projector or lightbox. They can end in the exact same result, but they're still different and only one counts as real animation. In actual sand animation, each frame is created individually by the animator, then captured on camera, just like in cel animation. The only difference is that instead of using ink and paint on acetate cels, the animator is using sand on a flat surface, usually made of either wood or backlit glass. Animators may use different colored sands to create complex pictures, or may just arrange the sand with their hands to let light, shadow, depth, and density create the picture.

The Sand Artists:

Kseniya Simonova is a sand animator. At first, she finds it's very difficult, because its was sand- not pencils or paints.She experiments with beach but it was too uncomfortable for sand animation and then she tried the river sand, but that did not work. However,her husband began researching better options on the internet and he found out the volcanic sand.The she started practicing drawing with sand in a small dark room in a house they rented. She said it was so difficult that she wanted to give up in three days. It was physically hard because she had to stand for long hours. Simonova trained at nights for three months. To realized the essence of sand animation, with its constant transformations of images, she had to retrain her vision and start seeing objects as they would appear in sand.It is challenging, this is the art form required her standing for long periods of timeand also required her retrain her vision to adapt to the unique medium. 

This is Kseniya Simonova's sand animation work from youtube: 

"Beautiful Morocco" (2013)

"Legends of China"

IIana Yahav is a sand artist or sand animation artist. Her art reflected in performances in front of live audience, in video clips and in advertisements. It is a unique, minimalist art form that few artists worldwide engage in. Ilana created the puppets for a politicial satire program on the lsraeli television named "Chartzufim", based on the UK's notorious "Spitting Image". As a sand artist, Ilana performed all over the world, in front of a diverse range of cultures and backgrounds: from small, local and intimate performances before the King of Spain, the King of Belgium, and others.
Each performance requires lengthy preparations, stasting with the many sketches that she makes in a notebook, and numerous experiments on the sand table itself. Here, the creation generally undergoes extensive changes until the final version is crystallized. In the performances, Ilana uses her hands to create images in sand on a transparent backlit table, while a video camera positioned above her conveys the emerging creation live to a giant screen that displays it to the audience. light and music also form impotant elements of Ilana's creations. in her works, she uses colourful lights that emerge from under a transparent table and a soundtrack adpapted specifically to the message and the sensations being conveyed in the work, and sometimes even composed and produced specially for this purpose.




This is IIana Yahav's works from youtube:

 "Jupiter"

"Love 2008"

In this video; sand, brushes and black card paper are used in this sand animation. The story of this animation is about the penguin finding fish in the ocean and swimming happily. Sand is a unstable object to use for taking frames however it also presents the soft movement which be easily to control and it doesn't left any marks behind. It's difficult to catch every same angles during photographing; although i have used the camera stand to hold on the right position, the ineffable things might change the position, like pushing the stand accidentally during filming the video. Next time i will put more attention on this problem and add more details of the sand drawings.

My thoughts

The news story that I have chosen is happened in New Zealand, Australia. A cargo ship accident in New Zealand resulted in a 350-ton oil spill into the ocean. The spill devastatingly killed thousand of sea birds, including some of the native blue penguins.To help penguins affected by the oil spill, a yarn store asked people to sew knit sweaters for the small animals. 

While sweaters might be an unusual solution, Napier, New Zealand yarn store Sketinz thought that these "penguin jumpers" would keep the birds warm and safe from consuming the toxic oil coating on their feathers until they can be cleaned.   
I want to make an animation about this news story by using the found objects, because it could take less time than hand drawings once the characters and objects has been produced.

Lotte Reiniger’s Silhouette Animation

Lotte Reiniger?s career as an independent filmmaker is among the longest and most singular in film history, spanning some 60 years (1919-79) of actively creating silhouette animation films. Her The Adventures of Prince Achmed is the world?s first feature-length animation film, made when she was in her mid-twenties and winning considerable acclaim.Before there was Disney’s first full-length animated feature, “Snow White” (1937), there was Lotte Reiniger’s “The Adventures of Prince Achmed” (1926). Inspired by Chinese silhouette puppetry, Reiniger was a German animator who specialized in silhouette animation and invented a technique which involved cutting out sheets of lead and cardboard and animating them frame by frame under a camera. One of her famous films was “The Adventures of Prince Achmed.” Based on the stories of 1001 Arabian Nights, it tells the tale of the main character finding the magic lamp and defeating the evil sorcerer. It is the oldest animated feature film that still is surviving today. Check out the videos below about how Lotte Reiniger made her silhouette animation and a clip of “The Adventures of Prince Achmed.”

Lotte Reiniger - Hansel and Gretel 

Cinderella (Aschenputtel) - Lotte Reiniger (1922)

Lotte Reiniger - Papageno - (1935).m4v

found object animation

Found Object Animation

Object animation is a form of stop motion animation that involves the animated movements of any non-drawn objects such as toys, blocks,dolls, etc. which are not fully malleable, such as clay or wax, and not designed to look like a recognizable human or animal character.

Object animation is considered a different form of animation distinct from model animation and puppet animation, as these two forms of stop-motion animation usually use recognizable characters as their subjects, rather than just objects like static toy soldiers, or construction toys such as toys, lego brand bricks etc.

Object animation is often combined with other forms of animation, usually for a more realistic effect (e.g., Model Animation or Puppet Animation to add more complex movement or depth to the characters). For example; A toy car can be animated, but is more often animated with a character easily seen driving the car.

The use of animated objects in film has been present since the early days of cinema.

The animators of find object:

Adam Pesapane, akaPES

A first look at the work of Adam Pesapane, akaPES, brings to mind the films of Jan Svankmajer, the 73 years old Czech surrealist whose food- related stop-motion animations can be seen as an influence in the University of Virginia alum's playful and unusual uses of chow for all sorts of anarchic configurations and stories.
"I learned a lot by watching [Svankmajer's] films," said PES in an exclusive interview with Tilzy.TV. "I liked what he was doing with objects, using them as ideas and textures.

The found object animations by PES from youtube:

Western Spaghetti

Fresh Guacamole

Jan Švankmajer

"I never call myself an animated flimmaker because I am interested not in animation techniques or creating a complete illusion, but in bringing life to everyday objects." 

Jan Švankmajer (born 4 September 1934 in Prague) is a Czech surrealist artist. His work spans several media. He is known for his surreal animations and features, which have greatly influenced other artists such as Tim Burton, Terry Gilliam, The Brothers Quay and many others. Švankmajer has gained a reputation over several decades for his distinctive use of stop-motion technique, and his ability to make surreal, nightmarish and yet somehow funny pictures. He is still making films in Prague. Švankmajer’s trademarks include very exaggerated sounds, often creating a very strange effect in all eating scenes. He often uses very sped-up sequences when people walk and interact. His movies often involve inanimate objects coming alive and being brought to life through stop-motion. Food is a favorite subject and medium. Stop-motion features in most of his work, though his feature films also include live action to varying degrees.

The found object animation by Jan Svankmajerr from youtube:

Meat Love

 A Game with Stones 1965

  

I did a found object animation presentation to the class with Kyle and Alex. and here's the workshop powerpoint:

This is the video of the found object animation which has done by a group of three. The materials that we found in the art studio are: a rubber, a plastic thumb, some little piece of clothes, camera and camera stand. Before we started making this video, we paid attention for looking some useful and safe objects which is not like knife, scissors or can opener for health and safety. The story is about a couple and how they fell in love. It's inspired by the PES- the animator of found object animation. For the characters, the only girl in this video wears a pink dress, pink headband and long curly hair. Those details could help people understand which roles they are playing. We did experiments then we took enough amounts of frames for this animation because of the characters have been created, therefore we took the following frames quickly and finished it in a shorty time. I found it's hard during video it, next time i would put more attention on the story line and the angles, using a camera stand is very important as well to keep on the right positions.

How Knitting Sweaters Can Help Save Penguins' Lives

How Knitting Sweaters Can Help Save Penguins' Lives 

OCTOBER 18, 2013 – 2:15 PM – 0 COMMENTS

By ASHLEIGH SCHMITZ 

(Corbis)

Editor’s note: On Oct. 5, 2011, a cargo ship accident in New Zealand resulted in a 350-ton oil spill into the ocean. To help penguins affected by the oil spill, a yarn store asked people to sew knit sweaters for the small animals.

On your mark, get set, knit! That’s the message one New Zealand store gave the Internet in an attempt to help save its nation’s penguins.

The October 5 oil spill in New Zealand, which saw 350 tons of oil poured into the ocean, was called the country’s “most significant environmental maritime disaster” by New Zealand Environment Minister Nick Smith in a press conference. The spill devastatingly killed thousands of sea birds, including some of the native blue penguins.

While sweaters might be an unusual solution, Napier, New Zealand yarn store Skeinz thought that these “penguin jumpers” would keep the birds warm and safe from consuming the toxic oil coating on their feathers until they can be cleaned. Think of them like the plastic cones put on a dog to keep him or her from interfering with a healing injury.

The store posted a request as well as patterns for knitters looking to make the animal world a little safer — and cuter. In the short time they collected sweaters for penguins in need, Skeinz reached its goal and thanked their benevolent donors:

The response has been so overwhelming that we no longer require any more jumpers for the penguins effected but make sure you check out our blog for latest updates on what we are doing with the surplus jumpers & the a way that you can still knit & be contributing to the penguin cause.

Without mentioning how many sweaters they received, Skeinz promised to share their plans for the extras as well as updates on how do-gooders can continue to help the penguins.

http://parade.condenast.com/217117/ashleighschmitz/how-knitting-sweaters-can-help-save-penguins-lives/ 

http://jamieharperstudio.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/penguin-jumper.html