[COP3]Practical progress

I was at the stage developing ideas for my practical work. I did not feel good about it because I was hoping to get more reading and writing done before actually planning for the practical. This way the practical could be more suitable and could be given more consideration. Anyway I showed these drawing I did over the weekend to the class, saying that I wanted to make three character designs with the emotions symbols inspired by the flour sack test and produce short clips of animation showing these actions. I am doing this practical because I felt like drawing was the best answer towards achieving anthropomorphism. The feedback I got from Annabeth was that I should not be doing these drawing focus practical, but tackling theoretically instead. It might be good to compare objects that are given significant facial expressions or arms or legs with objects that are honestly presented without giving human features. Create a scenario, and analyse the selection of objects.

Some other people suggest the word simulacra, meaning that something that looks like or represents something else. For example seeing cloud like sheep or seeing faces on a tree truck. If I try to avoid giving human features to the objects, this might be something I could look into. They also suggested me to look at the Toon shoe in Who framed Roger Rabbit. How the shoe shows a lot of personality and look at the way it is designed.

The pixar lamp that I am always recommended.

Charlie Chaplin's performance techniques apply on inanimate character

After the presentation, I was extremely stressed and depressed. Partly because I feel like the work I have done is wasted, partly because of the time we got left. The most importantly, I am disappointed with myself that I do not know how to look at the topic with depth. It feels like I am touching the surface only so I could not reproduce anything fascinating like everyone does. What is in my essay now are talking about how to give a character personality which is something that everyone could easily know by simply flipping animation book. I feel like my dissertation now is lack of a clear direction. It is not anthropomorphism focus.

I could not find anyone to talk to face to face because Annabeth was busy and Mike was not in today. So I talked to my boyfriend Tony who always has good perspective looking at thing. After explaining my situation with him. He pointed out that I might be misunderstanding the word anthropomorphism. I realised that this word is not only talking about the humanising animals or object but also the concept of putting our emotion on them. So far I only focus on the practical side of it and never really look at anthropomorphism in other perspective, that might explain why I could not find any theory that could apply directly on creating humanised characters practically because anthropomorphism is very theoretically based. 

We also talked about the structure and reconsider about the questions again since they are very shallow. Instead of just saying why personality takes a great part in anthropomorphic characters, I think looking at how do they generate empathy with the audience? Considering anthropomorphism could be in many forms in characters: Inanimate Object. Not humanised at all. examples like Wilson the volleyball in Cast away; the House in Up; the red ballon. Why do we think they have a personality even though they are just what they are? Also Why do we like using anthropomorphic characters? are there something special about them that animated actors can not do? What are the limitation of anthropomorphising? At this point, practical analyse is minor factors if my essay is going in this direction. I would like to have a long conversation with Mike or Annabeth tomorrow. The time management is still alright since no big changes are made in the essay so far, the only thing I need to do in hurry is to read more useful resources and texts in order to support my thoughts.

[COP3] Structure of dissertation

I have already finished rationale and starting on the main body. I have a clear idea where to put information just thought it would be actually more organised to write them down so I could refer to when it messes up.

[COP3]Reading reflects on your Practical investigation

I am planning to have two practical works to approach to explain the techniques in creating an anthropomorphised character that invoke empathy. The first practical will be creative drawing practise on an object. Experimenting about 10 pieces of character design on the same object in order to encourage more creative think and considering the anatomy and structure of the object as well. This is an experiment from the text. I noticed that there is not much explanation about creating an anthropomorphised inanimate object except the sac test. What makes a character communicate with audience is their first look. A good, interesting anthropomorphic inanimate object character should be visually appealing but also it must move with its own feature. It is all about the creativity and also try to be innovative also studying from the case study, analysing characters' appearance.

This practical answers the questions: we could only anthropomorphise non-human organisms in the way we live because we can not do otherwise. In animation wise would it prevent animators from exploring capabilities and potential of the animals or objects themselves, by coercive power of the orthodox methods and our stereotyped interpretation?

The second practical would be an animation of the object in the first practical, giving it personality and emotion, possibly a stage as well to test my prediction and the whether the theory applies on objects as well. I want the character to invoke empathy and allow audience to feel and care about it so it is essential to have a story or background to enhance the character.

This would answer the question: how a fully developed character could invoke empathy from the audience?

I wish to discover something new through the practical work and at this stage I think it might be able to answer the question. It is quite relevant. The thing I concerned is that I made the decision of the practical too soon.. I feel like there are still a lot of possible methods to solve my problem. Besides, I hope to find out more through evaluating the texts when writing. However, considering the time, we do not have much time left if I do not start the practical now especially if I want to create an animation. Therefore I think the best thing to do now is to continue writing the dissertation and start the practical. It would not be wrong to test out some anthropomorphic characters anyway so even if there are big changes, I still have some development work I could talk about in the dissertation.

[COP3] Document & Reflect on the ongoing development of the Practical Artefact

I have been practising how to draw the unique movement of objects by considering the 12 animation principle and take the anatomy of the object into account. I noticed that most of the successful object characters move with their body and use parts of it as well. I also tried to draw emotion out of a cup to see if it can show any human qualities without having facial expressions or limbs. I think it is a good practise that I could talk about in my essay because this exercise pushes me to think a lot before I draw it down. I consider about the shape, the squashing and stretching and basically the 12 principle to caricature the mug. However, it is still lack of personality probably because their is no content and staging so i can talk about the importance of story as well. At this point, i need to think about an appropriate object to anthropomorphised with and demonstrate the theory and drawing technique in the first practical work.

[COP3]Triangulation of theories or debate in your area of interest

The topic of my dissertation is Exploring the Technique in Creating Anthropomorphic Characters. The reason to do this topic because anthropomorphic characters have charms. The famous cartoon characters like Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Tom and Jerry all of them are anthropomorphised characters. I have never wondered why are they so successful. What is the key elements behind that make them so special? What is the different between an anthropomorphic character and a normal human character? I would also like to focus a bit on anthropomorphic inanimate objects as well because they are easily being neglected but truly have the potential to become a main role of the story. So far, I read a lot of texts in different area of study, puppetry, theater, scientific evidence etc. Also looked into how famous animation studio accomplish characters by analysing the principle and the theories. For the primary research, I will interview professional animator and puppet artist and carry out relevant practical to solve the question. At this point, I know that personality and the skill in drawing are essential in creating a successful anthropomorphic character also it has to be some how build a connection with audience to generate empathy.

This is basically part of my rationale in the dissertation.

Drawing have been existed since Stone age. From the earliest stage, human captured and record their life and the surrounding through painting in the caves. The drawings tell us that human and animals were both living in the same area and which was our nature to interact with animals since a very early stage. Anthropomorphism means the showing or treating of animals, gods and objects as if they are human in appearance, character, or behaviour (Cambridge Dictionary) The concept of Anthropomorphism has been existing for centuries. Xenophanes, the ancient Greek philosopher attributed this abstract thoughts of animals to how do human came up with the concept of god which is believed to be the closest saying of Anthropomorphism back in ancient time.

''Ethiopians say their gods are flat-nosed and dark,

Thracians that theirs are blue-eyed and red-haired

If oxen and horses and lions had hands

If oxen and horses and lions had hands

and were able to draw with their hands and do the same things as men,

horses would draw the shapes of gods to look like horses

and oxen to look like oxen, and each would make the

gods’ bodies have the same shape as they themselves had.''

There have been a lot of argument between scientists of the tendency of anthropomorphism. From the theory in Aristotle’s The History of Animals (Aristotle, trans 2015) who considered animals have souls which are able to perceive and desire due to the fact that they feel pleasure and pain to Darwin’s The expression of emotions in animals and man(Charles. D, 1872) attested dogs as loyalty, courage and obedience, which address that many human have been trying to authenticate emotions and personalities of animals and claim about interactive communication. Nowadays, from pet to wild, from plants to animals, human being convinced that they have emotions and personalities and which allow us to share our daily life with them. It comes very natural that human associate animals with themselves.'We are animals; we think with animals. What could be more natural?'(Daston and Mitman, 2005) It is inevitable that Human beings apply anthropomorphism in daily life because we genetically like to be connected emotionally with others and empathy is fundamental to human existence. When talking about anthropomorphism, it is not just animals but inanimate objects as well for instance children talk to toys as if they are playing with a friend or aged shoes that you refused to throw away. Ed Hook has a chapter in his book Acting for Animators analysing Personality in Animation. He and many other famous animators all agree that personality is essential for a successful character and had raised a question: ‘Personality may be a key to something, but what is personality? Is it personality if you create a character with a paunch on his belly and one squinty eye?’. It is essential to understand how to address the right personality to specific character and why does personality take a massive part in animal and object character design.

[COP3] Lecture Triangulation of theories

Methodology is – – A logical, systematic, and structured way of organising a research project and gathering necessary information. – Evidence that you have reflected critically on various research methods and chosen the ones that are most appropriate for your particular research project.

• Literature Review – – Libraries, Journals, Internet • A particular theoretical approach. • Questionnaires – Sample size, Reliability and Validity. • Interviews – Structured or unstructured? Bias? • Sketchbooks / Critical Diaries / Reflective Logs


Critical Analysis

Try to consider different points of view ...where the creator was coming from intellectually; emotionally; philosophically, politically…

Argument What do I want to say? Have I got the evidence to back it up? Could you find more evidence to support your conclusions? Where else do I need to look in order to find more evidence? Am I expressing myself clearly and logically?

Evaluation You need to show the reader that you are evaluating the evidence for its relevance and reliability Evaluation= Looking at and coming to conclusions about the value of your evidence

Critical Analysis of a text Step-by-step
Step one Identify an aspect of your specialist subject that you would like to explore.
Step two Select a writer or theorist and a particular piece of writing about your specialist subject. Step three Make notes that Identify the key points in the writing.
Step four What evidence is used to support or 'prove' the key points'.
Step five Is it convincing? What else needs to be said in order to 'prove' the key points?
Step six Write a response to the piece of writing and comment on: the implications for your work; do you agree/ disagree with what has been said ? Does it help to support your views/ argument? the thoughts you have had as the result of reading this piece; on the evidence used by the writer.

Visual Analysis Step-by-step
The following prompts could be used when analysing a piece of visual work:
 Look at and comment upon the significance of the use of... Line; Colour; Tone; Texture; Form; Composition; etc.
How are these related to the function of, or ‘message’ communicated by, the piece?
How are they related to context; media and materials available ;technology; attitudes prevalent at the time the work was made?
What evidence do you have to support your conclusions?

[COP3] Project Planning and Time Management

I have a timetable sticks on my wall tell me my target of the week and what I should be focusing on. For this week I am finishing 2000 words in the dissertation, need to finish all the blogging and have a start at practical. Since I am doing the lifting tower brief, I need extra time to do some animation for PPP therefore my time management need to be precise in order to have everything on track. So far, the timetable works for me. All my work is organised and with enough time rest and work. I did not have a strict schedule which is flexible so if I did not feel like doing writing on that day, I just switch date. This works for me and for the last three years so I am keeping it with my peace. Possible improvement to my management is that, it might be even better if I write down what I need to do in each day instead of a week. The aim will be a lot clearer but at the same time need to stick with it which I really not fond of.

timetable

My desk right now.

I basically write down a lot of thoughts when I finished reading a text and thinking where and how I could put them in my dissertation. I categorise them into: Methods; theory; practical; opinion. I am going to have different chapters in the dissertation that focus on different topics. I feel much more organised in this way so that I would not forgot my thought and comment after reading also give the essay better structure. I also memo the pages that have the quotes I want so I could refer back easier.  What I should do now is to make sure every chapter has a clear topic and the quotes are not contradicting each other. Make sure the information are all useful and remember reference everything. I made a google document so I could work on my essay wherever I am.

[COP3] Schechner: Performance Theory

Perfromance

This book is talking about performance in theater play. The book is difficult and packed with hard words, I spent a lot of time find out meanings of the words which is time consuming. However, there are some useful information about acting and perfect performance that would be useful when evaluating what makes a good performance for anthropomorphised characters. For examples:

'In out opinion, the conditions essential to the art of acting are the following, and should be made the object of a methodical investigation:

(a)To stimulate a process of self-revelation, going back as far as the subconscious, yet canalizing this stimulus in order to obtain the required reaction.

(b)To be able to articulate this process, discipline it, and convert it into signs. In concrete terms, this means to construct a score whose notes are tiny elements of contact, reactions to the stimuli of the outside world: what we call "give and take".

(c)To eliminate from the creative process the resistances and obstacles caused by one's own organism, both physical and psychical (the two forming a whole).

p.201

These statements can be used in my dissertation, suggesting professional opinion on perfect performance out of actors, in this case character. Considering other media would also make my essay more diverse and convincing when reading. I think what the text lacks is a clear demonstration which could be a bit confusing therefore it might be good if I can pull out some examples to explain it and compare their theory with Ed Hook's acting theory in his book Acting for animators.

Objects

Talking about objects used in theater, 'Sometimes, as in theater and children's play, they are decisive in creating the symbolic reality. The 'other-worldiness' of play, sports, games, theater, and ritual is enhanced by the extreme disparity between the value of the objects outside the activity when compared to their values as foci of the activity. 'p.11

Decisive= have to power to decide

Disparity=lack of similarity or equality

plural of focus=foci

Vito

[COP3] Anthropomorphism, Anecdotes, and Animals

This book is about the scientific and biological approaches towards understanding anthropomorphism in animal. It is very 'science' and discuss facts on anthropomorphism. From reading Daston and Mitman, I understand that anthropomorphism is not a positive term in science due to the object point of view and lack of evidence. However, same as Daston and Mitman's book, there are a lot of useful information on how people actually apply anthropomorphism outside animation and how did that come from. I think understanding the reason behind is key and I can learn how do people interpret animal's mind and gestures, try to see if this theory apply on object as well.

'What is best meant by anthropomorphism, then is what is traditionally meant: not the attribution of likeness, but its overestimation.' (Mitchell, R.W., Thompson, N.S. and Miles, L.H. (eds.),1996) I do not like the word overestimation because it is very negative. Maybe is is the truth that scientists do not like anthropomorphism however at it is also inevitable.

Specifically, I want to talk about a section in the book where they used photographs of Tim Flach, analysing the reason behind why we anthropomorphised animals. He shows senses and emotion of animals in his photos such as strong eye contact, pressure, body language. Reflecting on the way how audience look at these photos and what are the elements that make them feel connected. I am especially thrilled by the Bat photographs.

I started wondering why I see human qualities in them? Is that the standing pose? Is that the facial expression or is that the body language? Although the photos are just simply turned around, there is magic within that make me stare for ages. This would be a good example to put into the dissertation and evaluate the factors contribute to anthropomorphism. I think I would use Ed Hook's theory: The most important body language is not eye contact and talk about the photos and how it affect my opinion on anthropomorphism in animal. It is very useful source to my practical as well. Considering that the bats look like they are caricatured by the way Flach shoots, being creative is also a key element when creating anthropomorphised characters. It might be a good opportunities testing unusual objects with a different perspective and try to discover the human qualities without adding any to them. This encourage creativities in the characters, less cliche and lifeless.

[COP3] First personal tutorial 10/10

Mike was not at school so we had an online chat with him. I talked about how I was a lot lost in research and my direction was not clear enough to keep me going. Mike suggested that I could contact professionals like Ed Hook and think about the practical. Keep reading and research animation principles or theory that could support my possible research topic. I was not sure about my topic at that time because I did not have a question I want to ask and most of my question is answered while researching. It is best to step back a bit and rethink about the project while there are still have time. What I did not like was that the question is not unique and there are already so many answer to my question. For example when I am asking if body language essential for story telling. (a) personally I think it is the key element to it and I already have an answer. (b) There are a lot of information online proofed that. (c) I do not think it is an innovative topic and quickly loose interest doing it. 

[COP3] Interstellar TARS and CASE charcters analyse

Personality is Key

TARS and CASE are Robots in the film Interstellar directed by Christopher Nolan in 2015. On appearance, they are rectangular blocks made of metal material with monitors that constantly have data flowing. The interesting features of these robots are the functionality and the mechanism behind.

The way to approach this anthropomorphism of an object character is definitely worth studying because the concept and the design of these Robots are thoughtful and making audience believe of their existence. The creators not just emphasise on the creating a 'space-looking' robot but actually consider their backgrounds and give them personalities.

 Director Christopher Nolan said that TARS and CASE are articulated machines instead of robots (Angelo Da Costa. 2015). The differences between is that machines should be a very functional equipment and should not be designed to look like something else, in this case human. They are literally just a big block in order to minimise the outlook design, to reduce size and the blocks are able to depart into smaller blocks so as to accomplish delicate jobs. On the other hand, Nolan did not give them human appearance is probably because it is not necessary to make an equipment human-like, thinking about the actually situation in the space ship, they need machines occupy less space as possible. Secondly,  human mechanism is restricted. Considering of the functionality of TARS and CASE, non-human characteristics are possibly a better choice. When anthropomorphising these metals, they allow postures on different actions resemble to human without actually having human form. For example; walking with two blocks/ walking with two legs; lye down with blocks supported on the back/ we lye on bench; standing with two blocks supporting the weight/ we stand with one foot supporting and one foot resting. However, a machine do not need to rest or lye just for its own sake, the actions are all designed for reasons, neither walking to follow an operator or rolling to excelerate.

 Successful anthropomorphic object characters like them should be well planned. (Ed.hook's book acting theory support?) Their backgrounds and materials need to be suitable with what they are doing inside the movie and how these machines could show them from tiny details. 

E.Hook 'Personality is the key to creating a character ' examples: 

Tars has no body language at this scene but the script gave him strong personality and define its role in the movie which is a humour role almost like a crown. However, other than speech, their would be no extra elements that could show their personality (Although it is artificial overall). Since their personality, intelligence and physicality can be completely unrelated to their function, Nolan thought this is an appropriate way for these machines to perform. It might be reasonable to consider that Nolan wants audience to feel connected with TARS not because of his own personality but to be intrigued by the thought that human being do not just want to work with machine but actually interact with an object with emotions, never mind it is artificial or not. Human nature has huge credit on anthropomorphism and this is a desire of connecting emotionally with others.

When filming, the team did not entirely relied on CGI but also made the puppets to investigate the most suitable movement and different poses for the robots. It shows that their humanised designs need to be studied through and adjusted by human. The improve of technology is not the major contribution towards inanimate objects or anthropomorphic animals, we have to understand that basic knowledge of creating a reliable character. It will be background of the story and the characters, personality and their language in the story. 'No one just going to create a robot just for the hell of it.' said by Nolan (Angelo Da Costa. 2015) which is also why anthropomorphic characters, especially objects that lack of human characteristics , demand extra thoughts and consideration because they cannot speak and it is our job as an animator to help them express themselves. 

Reference:

Angelo Da Costa. 2015. Interstellar Bonus Disc TARS and CASE. [Online]. [Accessed 17 October 2016]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiusl3wKWis

Adam Krause. 2015. Interstellar - TARS Humor Setting. [Online]. [Accessed 17 October 2016]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3PfKf0ndik

Interstellar (2014) Directed by Christopher Nolan [Film]. North America: Paramount Pictures, International: Warner Bros. Pictures

[COP3] Thinking with Animals by Lorraine Daston and Gregg Mitman

Linkage between human and animls:

I found some useful quotes from the book Thinking with Animals by L.Daston and G.Mitman. Start to write something about my point.

'Anthropomorphism' has long been considered a bad word in science.' (Kennedy et al. 1992) It is believed that Anthropomorphism is neither based on the first impression or necessarily nonscientific. Nowadays, from pets to wild life, from plants to toys, human being convinced that they have emotions and personalities and which allow us to share our daily life with them. Although Anthropomorphism is not an appropriate word to use in science, it could also be interpreted as Creativity personally. Xenophanes an ancient Greek philosopher attributed this abstract thoughts of animals to how do human came up with the concept of god which is believed to be the closest saying of Anthropomorphism back in ancient time.

''Ethiopians say the their gods are flat-nosed and dark,
Thracians that theirs are blue-eyed and red-haired
If oxen and horses and lions had hands
and were able to draw with their hands and do the same things as men,
horses would draw the shapes of gods to look like horses
and oxen to look like oxen, and each would make the
gods’ bodies have the same shape as they themselves had.''

H. Diels and W. Kranz (eds.), Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker, pp. 38–58, 1st Edition, Berlin, 1903, B, 16, 15.  

'We are animals; we think with animals. What could be more natural?'(Daston and Mitman, 2005) It is unavoidable that Human being apply Anthropomorphism in daily life because we genetically tend to be connected emotionally with someone or something and empathy is fundamental to human existence. (Hook.E 2003) 'From Aristotle to Darwin down to the present, naturalists have credited bees with monarchies, ants with honesty, and dogs with tender consciences, all on the basis of firsthand observation.'(Daston and Mitman, 2005) In order to think like animal, human beings give animals or objects
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I found Thinking with Animals by Lorraine Daston and Gregg Mitman book very useful. I did not know that there are books about Anthropomorphism and hence I also found other similar books from the library. It has rich content that conclude a lot of information about Anthropomorphism from historical facts to case studies on animals. It is very important to look at how people in the real world investigate Anthropomorphism as a scientific subject and how it is applied in different professional area. The linkage between my dissertation and those information is very important. The book also mention Darwin and Aristotle such vital people through human history, by mentioning so would definitely become strong points to support my thoughts. At the moment I think the theory of them enable me to look at Anthropomorphism on non human characters at a different perspective. Not only focusing on the techniques and practical side of it but also provide some powerful evidence to explain why we anthropomorphise. This would help readers to understand the topic contextually and theoretically.

[COP3]semi-final project proposal

Topic:

The performance of Characters: Comparing anthropomorphic and human character.

Purpose of this questions: 

Anthropomorphic characters exist for a long time. Except the animation making them the main characters like Aristotle cats, Toy's Story, finding nemo etc. There are only very less films that make a non-human character the hero when human characters are around. Theoretically, creating a anthropomorphic character needs more creativities and practises and I want to know the difference between the performance on both types and which one would contribute more to empathy in animation. The limitation and the strength of being an anthropomorphic character and the techniques to create them.

What I want to achieve:

I hope to understand the essence of these two types of characters and discover the techniques and knowledge to conduct to the best performances from anthropomorphic character through practical. Hence challenge the traditional performance and discover more innovative way in non-human character design.

Who are the target audience:

 I aim for new animators like myself. Allow them to create more diverse non-human characters and understand how to approach the best performance of them.

Approaches:

1. I am going to watch a lot of animations that have include both anthropomorphic and human character. Looking at performance and body language at different area for instance dances, puppetry and theatre art.

2.Reading and quoting. Read lots of animation books that explain acting in characters and how to apply these on object characters.

3.Contacting Professionals

Pratical:

1. Experiment on anthropomorphic and human character with similar quality and outlook. Practise different performance according the 12 principle of animation, analysing the drawing techniques and the different when drawing them out on paper or digitally. Evaluate the pros and cons and the major differences in between. This allows me as a practitioner to understand the actual production of both characters and understand the elements that need to take into account in order to accomplish a finalised characters in both categories.

2. According to Hook's principle of Acting. Design a Scenery with script, staging and an event for both characters to perform. Compare both performance within the scene and identify audience's reactions and analyse it. By this point, I hope I could have a clear picture of the differences in performance between anthropomorphic and human character on stage. Partially comprehend which is more able to generate empathy with audience, allow them to feel interested, partially increase the knowledge of creating a successfully anthropomorphic character.

Limitation/Obstacle:

Not enough sample, the practical has not conclude everything I mention in the essay, not enough time, not enough skills, not enough primary resources

I still need to confirm this with Mike. Hope he replies soon!

[COP3]An important turning point of my thoughts

After all these research, I feel like it is shifting away from my original thoughts. I also found that lots of my questions are answered in a different form. How do body language affect storytelling is not a good research topic. It is because body language would not change how the story would be told, what is affect is the performance of the characters. Although body language remains an essential part of a successful character, a good script contribute the most the story. I think storytelling and performance should not be mixed together after evaluating my research. From Charlie Chaplin's film to dances to puppet show, the way the characters(performers) act should be appropriate and suitable for the story. They can improvise but this would not be able to affect the storytelling. Dancers would use different gestures to communicate a story. Although they might change their stance or their torso for a different meaning, the story itself is unchangeable once it is decided.

brainstorm and planning

Therefore I think I would like to base on what I have learnt from my research, to change another topic that could apply these information in it. Since we do not have much time at the planning stage, I started panic because I struggled to find a topic I am interested in and have questions about it. Here are some questions that flew across:

what is contributing more on storytelling?character or background?

How do we put our thoughts in animations?

How do we project our experience and thoughts on characters?

How do an object character feel the world?

Can a character generate empathy without performance?

What is the different on body language when animating an object character and a human character?

How to com up with an unique character?

What makes you character unique?

I tried to stay where I was because I really do not want to waste my time and abundant all the research I have done so far. After that I try to write them in Chinese, my own language, I found this easier to process thoughts and analyse also make sure I understand the topic completely before starting another research again. There are some guide online teach you how to make a good dissertation which I attempted to follow through and came up a semi-project proposal.

COP3 Artist Research From 'The puppet show' Kara Walker

From the book 'The puppet show', it introduces quite a lot of puppet artists and their work. I selected two of them to study because they work is unique in terms of the media and the concept also the use of body language of the characters are worth looking and studying at.

Kara Walker 

Walker includes a lot of messages in her work. The reason why she uses paper cut out is due to her race and how audience would perceived these story from her. Using silhouette would not allow audience to look at the full picture and leave an imagination space but at the same time there are still a lot of information from the characters could be understand from their outline or their costumes. The content of her animation is quite dark and violent, partially it is demonstrating the history, partially she is negotiating the result of it as well. The mixture of the violence and the beautiful and delicate art piece make a big contrast and give audience this complicated feeling.

The use of body language and music is the main source of communicating the story between Walker and the audience. Her work is pristine and she claimed that she would animate it as if a child playing around her toy. I think keeping the body language simple and clean is as essential as having drawing skills in animation. 

-jiggle movement

-allow imagination from audience

-no expressions or emotions seen

-only emphasising on the characters and the movement of them

-show emotion only moves and adjustment of the joints

-the staging and the backgrounds help a lot in the storytelling.

-I think the media she use is very advance, it is a very skilful media to use in order to achieve her thoughts behind all these images, but as an character based animation, I think it is best to get the characters' face available for the audience to see. Also with smooth actions with the 12 principles of animation. like the cut-out animation in Harry Potter and the deathly hollows, it is better to show silhouette in animation in that way. After all, the purpose of fine art and pure animation is different so personally think cut out animation without being processed by computer is not an appropriate media to enhance character performance.

[COP3] DANCING: The pleasure, Power, and Art of Movement

Jonas, G. and Grauer, R. (1998) Dancing: The pleasure, power, and art of movement. New York: Harry N. Abrams in association with Thirteen/WNET.

'To comprehend a dance, we must open ourselves to the culture from which it springs; conversely, as we begin to gain insight into dance, we are on a path to understanding the culture that produced it. Th is the basic premise of Dancing' Rhoda Grauer p. 10

Quote states the importance of understanding the relationship between body and the nature. Dance, or performance of the body should be a reflection to the reality, like how Ed. Hook agrees in his book as well. In oder to achieve the most realistic body language and reactions, we need close observation to our surrounding and use the most appropriate media to present this emotion.Dancers use dance and animator is using characters, as the method to transfer this message to the audience. Although animators would not be able to get the very first respond or interact with audience most of the times, it is very important that the story and the characters show all the information needed within the whole animation which is more difficult and challenging than actors performance on stage.

Dance is what we born with. Human rudimentary: the thrust and flexions and twist and turns of self-generated movement. 'The dances you find yourself doing without remembering how you learned them have always been with us.' p.25 If this saying applies on a character, he should be alive with a lot of natural reflex which animators should be considered. It is essential to practise and observe a lot in order to make the character reliable. It might be worth looking at the timing of animation because the drawing skills also contribute to a natural performance of the character so as to let him lives in his most comfortable way.

[COP3]Analysing India traditional dance- Odissi

Dancing is another form of performance that widely includes movements of the whole body to demonstrate beauty of body, beauty of nature or to tell a story. There are various dances in the world which are all performed and created by different culture this is why dance is also very distinguishable between countries and have their own signature due to regional experience.

Odissi, the major India dance, is a compact performance art that has been developed back in 2nd century B.C.when this dance was discovered in Natya Shastra, the ancient Hindu Sanskrit text of performance arts. Dancing is very essential to Indian because this is how they worship and communicate with Hindu's god and the dancing body is also a source of pleasure and vehicle of worship that multiple meaning through movements from representational content: holding flowers, lighting candles, to abstract content: nature of world, good and evil, desire, spirituality and sensuality.

The video above demonstrate the traditional Odissi dance briefly. In the expressive dance sequences, the dancer is synchronised with music using movements of her upper body, hand gestures and facial expressions. The way the dancer elaborates the dance which I would say it is extremely similar to mime because they have share common elements like act with music, expressive movement and playful expression.


BALAKKA: Dancing with Tradition Documentary Promo from DULAM SATYANARAYANA on Vimeo.

In other example like this documentary. Dancer comparatively has given more emotions into the dance that could be told by her attitude and passion of Odissi. This also suggests that even the formula is the same, dancers perform it in different way according to how they experience and perceive the world. ''Really, dance is observation of life. As a dancer, you have to be open to everything happening around you-how does a flower blossom, how do people talk to each other, how do they stand, how do they sit, what are they expressing with the bodies?...''(Jonas, G. and Grauer, R. [1998]) On the other word, expressing message using body needs to study the vicinity, or like how Marc Davis suggests ''feeling for acting'' therefore mime is like dancing and also like how animator processing actions and movements for characters.

from the official website, it explains the meaning of the move in Odissi. There are standing poses indicating different gender: Chowk pose imitate a square, with the elbow bend in 90 degree, is a masculine stance that emphasising on the qually balance; Tribhanga pose shows a lot of bending of the body especially at the neck, torso and the knees, is a feminine stance that emphasising on the curve of female body. It is similar to molding a character and give him the best suitable gesture and body language to amplify his characteristic.

reference: http://ccrtindia.gov.in/odissi.php (10th Oct 2016)

[COP3]Acting for animatos reflection2

It is important that body language could trigger emotion. For example in the end part of Monsters' Inc when Mike said goodbye to Boo and was only giving her hand-shake, Boo replied with a big warm hug. This is more than words can explain and which is actually more powerful than just saying I will miss you. Human love being connected with others especially family and friends. And when they saw similar scene that they have experienced, empathy generate easily.

'The audience's obligation is to suspend its disbelief and play along with you. The audience relates to the characters on screen, but it communicating with the animators instead. The final analysis the transaction between humans communicating with other humans,not humans communicating with drawn image.' When watching an animation is communicating with the animator, it is easier to understand how the emotion or message from the animators penetrates the screen to the audience.

There are a lot of examples around us daily. Comforting other would use quite a lot of body language. Placing your hand over shoulder could allow people to feel the comfort more and also a big hug afterward. It is not just doing for the sake but also show that you are emotionally attached with others and this is why we learn these actions and apply to others or understand the situation later on.

''feeling for acting'' Marc Davis suggests that an acting should be a feeling. It is important to experience the situation before acting out. For example teenagers would not be able to explain the feeling of being old as good as a middle-age adult because they have no experience of it, only have imagination. It would be impossible to ask one of my classmate in Leeds to react when I am talking in Cantonese which I would receive another body language showing confused.

I am going to continue research on dancing in the world. I want to know how they express the emotion in dance to praise the god who they have never met. What kind of move would they do and how could that help showing worship?