In this class we analysed the types of abstract or experimental work used in visual effects and animation.
Abstraction is not related to objects but to express something through colour, forms, light, shadows, movement, sounds, etc.
A formative abstraction is focused on the manipulation of basic visual fundamentals: colour, form, light, space, and texture, along with movements, rhythm, and sound; with the target of experimenting new methods or techniques to reach different results. It is important to look at experimental work as it is full of technical advancements discovered through experimentation. Experimental work is a vast variety of concepts, models, and approaches. In this lesson we saw several video examples of this experimental visual effects that was made directly in the 35mm film stock, exposing it several times, or painting directly on it.
The conceptual abstraction is the abstraction or juxtaposition of narrative structures or story telling tools to provide emotional process. This process can be used in independent films or non-dialogue films that do not have a narrative and show a more metaphoric manner.
There are different forms of interpret abstraction:
- Categorisation – genre and sub-genre, setting, mood, theme.
- Form and function – meaning, format, presentation.
- Process – techniques, material, technologies applied, technique-message relation.
- Formal elements – space, composition, light, colour, movement, rhythm, timing, pacing, transition, audio.
The assignment for this week is to pick a short movie that is considered experimental and to analyse it following the contents outlined in the lecture, so I decided to analyse the short movie ‘Juniper’ directed by Robert Pereña.
This short film is a conceptual abstraction in which the stop motion was made from scrap paper, trash and art supplies mixed with rotoscoping techniques. ‘Juniper’ looks into the effects of the pollution in the environment through several artworks creating with this an expressive and unique style.
This type of stop motion animation is very crowded and, therefore, very expressive as it is a lot happening on each frame (different artwork per frame). The viewer needs to watch the movie several times to fully absorb all the information put into it. The film also evoques the feeling of suffocation that we would feel with the pollution in our environment. The limitation of this animation style would be that it is not suitable for all types of audiences as there was a warning at the beginning of the video that it could trigger seizures to people with epilepsy.
The process followed has a clear relation with the message as they created a stop motion sequence, using scrap paper and all sort of art supplies mixed up to create this ‘polluted’ environment. The use of an unfixed colour palette or shapes transmits the chaos that is happening around and inside the girl’s rotoscoped silhouette. Also, the fact that each frame is a different artwork gives this twitching movement that makes this movie so unique.
At the beginning, the pace is a bit slower as the girls is sat down and starring at the leaf that suddenly becomes a butterfly. The girls face and body features are visible at this stage and the colours are mainly purple and black transmitting a calmer environment. However, when the butterfly enters inside the head of the girl, her features become abstract, and the pace of the film increases as she starts to move along the scenes. The colour palette is indefinite at this point and an explosion of colour and movement is added to the scene. Afterwards, the girl’s silhouette recovers its traits, and the girl raises her feast as a symbol of rebellion against the noisy and polluted city. Lastly, the background clears to white and the girls silhouette starts to stand up and grow like a tree. The music adds tension to the film as it is a dark and low sound playing in the background along with the sounds of the wind and some minimalistic high dissonant sounds.
References
Robbie Pereña, 2019. Juniper – Experimental Short Film (Stop Motion Animation/Rotoscoping) (online). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsRkDJYKOwE [Accessed 01 November 2022]