food…for thought September 28, 2009
Posted by dilutedwater in artworks-digital, coursework, video, writings.Tags: manifesto, poem
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my coursework final!
title: food…for thought
medium: claymation (stopmotion animation)
time: 4:42
do you know what sorts of microbes breed in fast food? there may be totally new strains, cultured and mutated through the tons of preservatives and msg! as well as the potential to make you unhealthy, they may cause food poisoning too! so watch what you eat.
then there’s the case of food for thought. is it possible to poison your thoughts? i think so. though unhealthy obsessions and unwholesome education, one’s only sane recluse (the mind) can be poisoned.
this is true for the above pig, who cares not for its physical and mental health. let’s all mourn for its sudden departure from the fictional world, due to a heart attack from induced shock.
through simple materials such as paper and clay, a story comes alive. the malleable materials are reminiscent of our own lives, as we have control over whatever we do. so make the right choices. don’t get poisoned.
let everyone watch it (: no matter what age you are, i believe you will be able to learn something, whether it’s that my animation skills are extremely poor, or that i have nothing better to do for coursework, or the actual message i’m trying to bring across. i believe that animation has the power to transcend time, and art, too has the ability to outlast it’s maker.
coursework, claymation,
done over a long time,
tells a story,
that is uniquely mine.
fast food, video games,
capturing people’s lives,
leads me to think:
how hard the artist strives
alone, futilely,
working without an end,
to bring you this
artwork to comprehend.
watching, listening,
realising my intent,
through this story –
a story that transcends.
—-
i never want to do animation again. it’s so under-appreciated. and people think it’s easy to do when it’s not. appreciate the 25fps please! i had many troubles doing this video. from the light overheating repeatedly to having to re-do certain scenes. but i think it’s a really enriching experience. if i had to do it again, i wouldn’t. i would rather do something else for coursework.
the poem is by me. as of yet untitled. it’s in the form 5, 6, 4, 6. i think i like it (: it could actually be my manifesto!
documentaries…sort of September 27, 2009
Posted by dilutedwater in inspirations, video.Tags: attenborough, bbc, david, documentaries, goldfish
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when i was still in primary school, i remember i would always make and hour of time to watch arts central’s documentaries at 9. i have no idea why. just to slack probably.
so maybe this post isn’t really about the documentaries, but more so about the presenter. i want to talk about sir david attenborough in this post, who narrated most of the documentaries (since most of them were bbc ones, but oh wells).
most memorable for me was the life series, comprising of Life on Earth (1979), The Living Planet (1984), The Trials of Life (1990), Life in the Freezer (1993), The Private Life of Plants (1995), The Life of Birds (1998), The Life of Mammals (2002), Life in the Undergrowth (2005), Life in Cold Blood (2008). i’ve watched all of these. also, The Blue Planet (2001) and Planet Earth (2006). makes you wonder how many years of my life i’ve spent watching documentaries.
anyway the main point is that he had a really big impact on me, because i would marvel at how he could catch poison dart frogs in the amazon and trug through rocky terrain and such, as well as being an old man. (this is probably due to the immense occurrence of old men in singapore who don’t do anything except sit at the void deck the whole day. maybe with the exception of lky. but that’s an exception.)
it’s also probably due to him that i can tolerate accented english. and not goldfish* at the speaker.
it amazes me how much appreciation for nature can be compressed and contained in a single man, enough to make him continue on his work till he’s what? 80 plus? this zest and passion for something is something i think i should start looking for, because i am currently lacking a purpose in life (as well as being currently injured, sounds familiar?). it is really inspiring to me how a person can dedicate so many years of his life doing something so beneficial, and touch the lives of many others his documentaries. i know he has instilled a love for nature in me, as well as not to be afraid of any creature.
take for example, the day this week when a blue bee flew into our classroom. (yes, a blue bee.) everyone started shrieking and running/avoiding it. i don’t know why. it’s just a bee. and we’re hundreds of time larger, so it should be the bee fleeing. but anyway i just got up and attempted to wave it away (using my chinese bao zhang bao dao zi liao, no less) to no avail. but it flew out in the end. or the days where big moths fly into my home and i have to use a shoebox to catch it and throw it back out. or the times when big flying ants (an inch long, at least) come in to seek refuge from the rain, i have to grab them by the wings and throw them back out the window.
telling these things to others would most probably make them cringe, because they probably cannot see the beauty and complexity in these creatures’ lives. or they are probably conceited little things and think they’re at the top of the evolution line. anyway i think his all-encompassing love towards nature have let me see things from their point of view (like in life in the undergrowth).
although i don’t really see how this inspires my art, i do know that it inspires a huge part of me. and since the art that i do is mine, it naturally follows that my art is inspired. (ignore me. i’m just trying to come up with relevant things.) it probably affects my taste in what i think are ‘adorable’ living things (crocs, cacti, camels, centipedes, the such), which makes me (i think) a quirky person, hence i also strive to be quirky and unorthodox in my art. like when i put display pictures of strange celery-like penicillium and alligators and porcupines.
it is more of the spirit, rather than the actions, of sir david attenborough that inspires me.
BOOM-DE-YADDA (:
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*goldfish. refers to a species of fish, the Carassius auratus, commonly kept as freshwater aquarium fishes. i have recently been using this word to refer to the action of staring blankly and dim-wittedly at someone or something, resembling the way Carassius auratus stares vacantly at objects.
videos September 15, 2009
Posted by dilutedwater in coursework, inspirations, video.Tags: video
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from the book “Secrets of Oscar-winning Animation” by Olivier Cotte, with a foreword by Peter Lord. which is on long term loan to the aesthetics department.
there are 13 films.
====
1. neighbours
1952, by norman mclaren. 8:10.
technique used: pixilation.
i find it quite retarded. and slightly charlie chaplin the way they walk. anyway this non-verbal film is quite funny, especially the irony at the end. it’s (from the book) ‘live action film shot frame by frame by frame’.
====
2. frank film
1973, by frank mouris. 8:40.
technique used: cutout and collage, paper.
can’t find it.
====
3. le chateau de sable (the sand castle)
1977, by co hoedeman. 13:12.
technique used: stop motion puppet animation.
quite nice. and though it’s so long, i didn’t feel bored at all, though the introduction was a tad too long, with all the sand. the music’s good too, and ti matches, like the tripodal thing had a waltzing music. i like the snake-ish thing best (: because it’s lazy, like me.
====
4. a legy (the fly)
1980, by ferenc rofusz. 3:08.
technique used: drawing on cel.
i like the perspective, though i’d have imagined a fly to have more of a peripheral vision. the bits i liked were the sunlight glinting. and the crazed fly trying to get out. really reminds me of those poor moths. anyway i like the morbid ending (:
====
5. anna & bella
1984, by norge ring. 7:30.
technique: cel animation.
hmm. don’t really know what to say really. i mean, i don’t have a sister or anything. maybe jenny and chia should watch this. and tell me how they can relate to it. i like the simple and easy-to-understand, non-abstract storyline.
====
6. l’homme qui plantait des arbres (the man who planted trees)
1987, by frederic back. 30:00.
technique used: drawing on frosted cel.
too long. will find it another time and watch. currently rushing out coursework!
====
7. balance
1989, by chrisoph and wolfgang lauenstein. 7:20.
technique used: puppets, stop motion.
quite stupid. they never got around to opening the box. i mean, if it were me i’d just open it first and not fiddle with it. why do good films always have thought-provoking endings?
====
8. manipulation
1991, by daniel greaves. 6:20.
technique used: drawing on paper, cel, pixilation stop-motion.
the only bit i like is when he explodes into fireworks. serious pencil abuse, that. also, the mixing of 3D and 2D is a really cool concept, and reminds me of “flatland: a romance of many dimensions” by edwin abbott (the bit in the story where the square gets ‘flipped’ into the third dimension).
====
9. mona lisa descending a staircase
1991, by joan c. gratz.7:00.
technique used: clay painting.
resembles a really muddled, condensed, intensive sova lesson. and makes you wonder what’s behind people’s faces. anyway i’m reminded of michael jackson’s black or white, where in the mv people’s faces morph into one another. like all the different nationalities (:
====
10. quest
1996, by tyron montgomery. 11:33.
technique used: stop motion.
it’s an endless cycle (: like industralization or something. the utopia/distopia themes. blahblahblah. though i don’t get how it can be exactly the same because the sand guy drips sand all over the place.
reminds me of bleach. when they descend into hueco mundo and the forest of menos.
====
11. the old man and the sea
1999, by alexander petrov. 22:00.
technique used: paint-on-glass animation.
i wanna paint like that! no fair D: did you see the reflections?! fish is so fantastic. gone were the days where deep-sea trawlers did not exist. i suspect the fish is a marlin.
when i die i want to go to a heaven with fishes flying and dolphins prancing too.
====
12. father and daughter
2000, by michael dudok de wit. 8:30.
technique used: traditional animation and computer.
it’s so heartwarming /: and the music’s good too. there’s a different feel for each season, and as the girl grows up there are more ornaments to show complexity. and the silouettes help make it seem nostalgic too. i wonder why tingyi didn’t consider sepia for her coursework.
====
13. harvie krumpet
2003, by melanie coombs. 23:00.
technique used: clay animation.
too long. will find it another time and watch. currently rushing out coursework!
stopmotion clips September 1, 2009
Posted by dilutedwater in coursework, inspirations, prep, video.Tags: video
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okay. this one isn’t really stopmotion. it’s more of live action, which i was considering at the start of the year, but decided against because i didn’t want to waste time ng-ing.
i like the chopping bits.
this is just plaing cool. amazing how black and white can give rise to such powerful images.
i don’t really like this one. and i think the idea is too direct.
this one is just plain dumb. i like the ending though. and the bit where he goes round and round while mixing.
don’t know american history so…but i think it’s full of action. but the sound is a bit overboard. but i think the visuals are strong.
kristen lepore. i really like his videos. because there’s a plot. i think i want a carrot house now. ah the wonders of sugary food.
—-
so after browsing though all these videos, i kinda got the feel of the wonders of stopmotion. and it’s limits as well. actually i find you can do almost anyhting with stopmotion. it’s just that you have to do it very very slowly.
claymation April 5, 2009
Posted by dilutedwater in artworks-3D, artworks-digital, video.Tags: claymation, exhibition, fuyu, global warming, green dot, penguin, snowman, yagyuu
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video in sec 2 claymation workshop:
title: yagyuu and fuyu and global warming
video duration: 1:41
artists: lim jiaying, me, see tingyi, teo chia chia
time: 3 days
this was shown at “the green dot” exhibition.
was quite a learning experiece, from storyboarding to repeatedly taking photos and arranging them. the part i couldn’t stand most was the repetitive task of turning each figure a minute bit, pressing space bar, moving it another minute bit, etcetc.
it’s about global warming and how everything’s melting and etcetc. i really love the ironic ending. are there such things as cfc-free fridges? or solar-powered ones?
i think we used quite a lot a different materials. plasticine, tennis ball, styrofoam, glue(?!), paint, aluminium foil, can’t-remember.
i think the animation could’ve been improved. the smoothness of it. otherwise, i’d say it’s pretty good for a three-day work!
