Some Ideas Forming

We are at the end of our messy period and now entering full experimental production. These past three weeks has been a great experience trying out different methods in experimental animation.

Here's a little wrapped-up of the three messy animation test period:

Messy 1: Morphing.

I started off with big plans for my animation, aiming to create a full on animation each week, even just a ten second but a finished-looking piece would be acceptable. However, that did not happen. First of all I encountered the frustration in working with my first material, glue. The nature of liquid is that it has no shape and thus to animate it is not an easy one time thing. I underestimate the time consumption the process will take and ended up rushing the animation, resulting in an unfinished work.
Though it has given the experience in working with glue, I must admit this first unsatisfying test intimidates me as I realize that producing a professional quality work while also "play" might not be quite the easy task I thought it would be.
So I went back and start thinking again, scrapping my overtly ambitious goals and revisiting simpler ideas. And that was when I decided to try again and animate papers. The experience might not have given me any novel animating skill as I have worked with papers before but it restored my excitement to keep trying.

Messy 2: Replacement

This week we did some paper cut out animation. This is not an unknown territory to me as I have worked with paper cut out puppets since first university year. Since I did not have to concentrate so much on how to make the material work I was able to focus more on the theme and movement of my animation.
What I've discovered about my work is that I always produce surreal, mystical world. I'm not quite certain that this is a good thing because I can't seem to break from both the aesthetic and content of the weird and the uncomfortable. I feel that I should start producing a more narrative work where there's a beginning, middle and an end. Many discussion with both professors and peers ends with the conclusion that this is my style and that instead of trying to find a story I should focus more on developing a strong piece with visual that strongly impact viewers. I am confident in my style but I think I probably will continue to explore with stories.

Messy 3: Clay

The final piece has actually led me to many explorations. There's an aesthetic that I always find intriguing, it's the combination of live photography or live action and hand created element (illustration and animation). Probably it lies in the surreal vibe the visuals emit, it crosses between the imaginative and the real.
In this test I tried out combining different mediums of animation: 2D Flash animation, realistic texture (photographs) and claymaation.
The result is half way between success and failure. I succeed in combining 2D with realistic element and seeing this test convince me that this is the visual that I will go for in both the upcoming project and my grad film. As for the claymation part, I find that the problem lies in technicality, the camera set up was not right; the footage came out shaky and with light shifts. I must consider more about my working equipment.
What is most fruitful of this assignment is my discovery of this guy:

In this chair:

Once I've seen this little guy moved and talked I've come to really like him. He turned out to be a shy, melancholic character and his displacement from this world charms me. I really want to investigate with this character further. Right now a story is forming.

From all the things that I've tried out, I've discovered that frequently the challenge is not the difficulty in manipulating the chosen but more because my patience did not reach the level that was required.