Artefact 08

Artefact08 from Adam Weaver on Vimeo.


This is the final Artefact of the PGC. In this i have tied all of the separate elements together in one narrative to show how they can work. This is particularly relevant for the abstract manifestations of confusion. The artefacts where i have used animals as the foundation for creating gesture do not show confusion according to the feedback. However, within this storytelling context they work. This is important because it provides something internal for the audience to understand and can act as another form of information where a character lacks a face, and therefore becomes harder to read though process.

So in this storytelling context we have:

Non-abstract gestural character performance;

Abstract non-character performance (no personality);

Abstract character performance (with personality);

There are both linear and cyclical narrative forms manifested in different elements;

The rhythm is dictated through different techniques - video reference, audio and through my own interpretation; 

As highlighted in a previous post (here) we have music (sound) guiding action, Co-ordinated Action and Sound, and Music guiding Action.

Duck Reference

For the next animal i am going to try and communicate a Duck through a sphere. I have found these references:



Real ducks moving step by step. Take note of the subtle weight drop on the down which allows the rear to twist left and right with more emphasis.



Donald Duck also does this movement when he moves, this is most notable through the presence of the tail. Notice at the beginning when he is moving left to right between the signs, his feet rotate around the ball of the rear as if he was in water, they moving like mechanical rudders. I'm not quite sure if this can be interpreted into a single sphere but i will give it a go. 



Please see from 4.21 for about 5 seconds! I know, not much, but look how the ducks move. There is a real emphasis on the squash a stretch (only mute, but in comparison) which is more probable for how it will be best to conceive this gesture. 

Key poses and Video Reference

Here are the key poses for the take. I have also produced a system for planning a scene so an animator can plan the action and thought processes of a character. I will post this later.

Here is my video reference...



I will start to do the blocking pass over the coming days/weekend and hopefully have it complete early next week.

Starting to define 'confusion'

Confusion.

Confusion n. The act or result of confusing; a confused state.

Confuse 1. To bring into disorder, to mix up. 2. To throw mind or feelings of (a person) into disorder; to destroy the composure of. 3. To mix up in the mind, to fail to distinguish between. 4. To make unclear.

(Dictionary 2001)

Confused adj. 1 Puzzled, perplexed, baffled, mystified, bewildered. Opposite: Enlightened. 2 disordered, disorderly, muddled, mixed up, in disarray. Opposite: orderly.

Confusion n. 1 bewilderment, perplexity, puzzlement, mystification, uncertainty, opposite: understanding. 2 misperception, misunderstanding, mix up, muddle, mistake, opposite: clarity. 3 disorder, chaos, rumoil, upheaval, commotion, opposite: order. 4 embarrassment, awkwardness, disorientation, uncertainty, self-consciousness, opposite: confidence.

(Thesaurus 2002)

Lazarus labelled both confusion and bewilderment as functional mental confusion. He says ‘…they are bound to have emotional correlates and consequences without being emotions [themselves].’ (Lazarus 1991 Pg.83) This corresponds with the dictionary definition that the state of confusion is a result of cognitive processes, and suggests confusions relationship with emotion is that of a catalyst. Function mental confusion must derive from thinking. This is an important element of creating a convincing character performance.

There are other neurological conditions that recognise confusion as a symptom. Senility, dementia and delirium are such examples. Zarit & Zarit citing Lipowski (2011 Pg.72) lists other meanings, at least medically, to the word confusion:

·      -Disorientation

·      -Inability to think clearly or coherently

·      -Poor contact with reality

·     - Reduced awareness of environment

Regarding delirium, Zarit & Zarit (2011 Pg.71) describes its onset as ‘… [A] person who has been functioning adequately suddenly develops global impairment in intellectual functioning.’ They goes onto say (2011 Pg.73) ‘Thinking is often characterised by a dreamlike quality with some merging of dream content with reality.’ It’s important to remember that confusion is a symptom of delirium and not the cause. There are other symptoms that could be the driving force or instigator of confusion. Other symptoms include delusions, hallucinations and illusions. As delirium is a driving force for confusion, and confusion being a state rather than an emotion, an animator might be inclined to borrow actions from other symptoms of delirium to portray confusion, such as a series of gestures that make no readable, literal or chronological sense (dream content with reality for instance). I would suggest there is a risk of miss-communicating the action (thus narrative) to the audience. Particularly when the other meanings listed above would appear to have more substance. If we look at the types of delirium it is possible to start to build possible characteristics to apply to performance.

‘The types of performance have long been recognised (Lipowski, 1990; Ross, Peyser, Shapio, & Folstien, 1991). The first type is characterised by hyperalertness and hyperactivity; patients are restless, agitated and vigilant. In contrast, the second involves hypoalertness and hypoactivity. Patients are quiet and subdued and maybe drowsy. The third pattern involves the fluctuations between the other two types … Patients have difficulty focusing and sustaining or shifting attention.’ (Zarit & Zarit, 2011 Pg.73)

The issues for character performance arise when applying these characteristics to characters that are naturally defined by them (hyperactivity for example). However, with the symptoms physiological reactions being at opposite extremes of considered normal reactionary behaviour speeds, there appears to be an option to suit different character beats.

In science we can see examples of what drives confusion, such as neurological conditions, but in storytelling terms, it is the narrative itself that will drive the confusion. If we look into cognitive behaviours rather than neurosis, such as irrationality in practical cognition, we can see an example of what confusion drives, and gain a deeper understanding of where it is situated in narrative character performance.

Irrationality

‘One way people can behave irrationally is by being broken. If a person suffers a stroke, he may behave irrationally. But this is not the kind of irrationality I am talking about … So when I speak of irrationality in this paper, I am only concerned with those varieties of irrationality that arise in intact cognizers.’ (Pollock 2006 Pg 4)

So confusion can drive irrationality, but irrationality is not confined to confusion. The above quote is important because it suggests that the initial driving force does not have to have a middleman. This exposes a problem in storytelling; if irrational choices in performance arrive from an un-established source we could potentially arrive at the same issue as mentioned above, of miscommunication to the audience. We do not want to risk the loss of believability.

To understand confusion in performance, we have to understand the relationships of conditions and states as actions and reactions to narrative objectives. By touching the surface of relationships in and around confusion we can see an action and reactionary sequence. Delirium (action) can cause (the reaction) confusion and confusion (itself an action) can drive irrationality (also a reaction). If we replace delirium, with say a choice to either go left or right as a road splits (action), and irrationality with a decisive choice (reaction), confusion then, still the central component (action and reaction – the act or result) is thinking. So if a character does not think he cannot be confused. 

Definition (So Far):

Confusion is the process of thinking. Other aspects such as how and why are reliant on the narrative. Exploring whether real-life physiological reactions or narrative subtext will be more efficient in conveying narrative will be fertile ground.

I will be exploring the non-verbal non-expression performance first. 

References

DICTIONARY, 2001. The Oxford Popular English Dictionary. Bath: Parragon.

LAZARUS, R., 1991. Emotion & Adaption. New York: Oxford University.

POLLOCK, J., 2006. Irrationality and Cognition. University of Arizona.

THEASAURUS, 2002. Encarta Essential Thesaurus. London: Bloomsbury.

ZARIT, J. & ZARIT, S., 1991. Mental Disorders in Older Adults: Fundamentals of Assessment and Treatment. 2^nd ed. New York: Gilford Press.

A Lack of thought, communication, interaction and Empathy (Sir Billi)

Just checked out the trailer for the Scottish feature of Sir Billi and my first reaction was that this is one hell of an ugly film. This breaks one of the 12 fundamentals of animation - appeal. Once you get over the initial ugly nature - and this is a typical symptom of low budget productions, you realise this could be seen as thinking the biggest part of the iceberg is above the waterline. 


The approach seems to be a focus on producing a natural performance. It appears the whole production staff have only an understanding of the lead character. The affect of this focus has caused severe problems in this teaser (and I'm dreading the movie). 

Firstly, it is a sensitive memory sequence trying to communicate the fond memories of a loved one, so one has to anticipate the softer weighted movements in performance. However, it is apparent the movements have been timed to pace the music, or at least stretched out after the initial blocking passes, causing the movements to feel as though they are moving in slow motion. 

Secondly, the women that he so longs for is actually a puppet. Nope, that wasn't a spoiler! She lacks emotional thought or reaction, but not always, and not always in synch. The worst offending shot is the spaghetti shot. At two stages the male lead thinks and reacts to the situation, she on the other hand doesn't. She doesn't blink, her eyes are static, her eyelids contract, but you really have to pay attention to see this - and the action doesn't playout in a recommended speed to convey such a reaction (and especially one she didn't show any signs of thought about doing). This action has to be clear to the audience. They cannot see that she is as committed to him as he is to her. In the shot where they are looking over a crib there gestures communicate their attachment, their bond, and we can see they are thinking. This creates empathy. The last scene, with the titanic impersonation, (which contradicts what they are trying to convey in terms of narrative to the audience) it is clear they have not animated below the waist on her. Even when his big bulging hands grab her there is no influence and it stays completely static - there should be a pull back at the very least (an exchange of weight). When she opens her eyes surprised she doesn't look behind to acknowledge it is her loving partner and everything is safe. She assumes and casually falls back into him. It's the lack of communication between them in almost every shot that is creating the problems.

Thirdly, if we critique the piece from a narrative and cinematic perspective, we can see in the wider context of performance where these issues arise from. I would like you to watch this scene (if you haven't already) from Pixars UP.



First off the co-ordination and interaction between the characters is clear, concise and is meaningful. Sir Billie has taken popular ideas from successful films (lady and the tramp and titanic for example) and tried to use them in a satirical manner. The problem with this is that neither character acknowledges that they are doing it (satire). They act as though they are the first to do it - this makes it unfunny. It kills the humour. What would make it funny, in the lady and tramp scene for example (the spaghetti shot), would be if the spaghetti split half way through, and they acknowledged it. Lets use Up as an example as to explain why this would work. In Up, Carl is accident prone. When they experience an activity together as a couple (to become close in the initial stages), Carl exposes his flaws. Such as his hand print on the mailbox and the cart that floats away. They are both aware that something satirical has happened - if its real to them its real to us. She accepts him despite these accidents. This creates a bond.  The bond is not the humour itself but the acceptance of each others flaws. The acceptance of flaws creates empathy. This is why reflecting a cultural representation of love and repackaging it as satire does not work on it's own. They are not aware they are performing satire, there is no weakness exposed so no empathy can be gained from the audience. In Up the exposed flaws of Carl in a satirical manner allow the transition into a dramatical acceptance of Ellies flaw - she can't have children. That is the empathic and emotional hook that melts the audiences guts and creates a sense of loss that is the central driving force of the narrative - Carls reason for the journey. This does not happen in Sir Billi - we do not care about the reason for Sir Billi's journey because we do not empathise with their relationship. 

It is hard to make a full and conclusive comment without seeing the completed movie in its complete context. However, Up shows you can have satire and drama in the same sequence and make it progress the narrative, as well as creating empathy with the audience.

If this is a direct scene from the film then the blame surely lands at the feet of the director(s). If it was generated for PR purposes (which i doubt they would have the budget for anyway) they need to establish what they are trying to sell. Any film with a skateboarding Grandpa should surely be sold as a fun and engaging film. (if your read the websites synopsis [here], place that against the teaser and you'd think we are talking about separate films!) So if this has been made for PR purposes then the blames lies with them. However, the animated character performances are equally to blame. This film will be counter productive for British animation. Sylvan Chomets' comments regarding the poor quality in British animation certainly seem just at this moment in time if this is what other continents see as our export.

Overall what the movie lacks on every level from director, producer, animator and the action, narrative and characters themselves are thought, communication, interaction and empathy, and i don't shed a tear!

A coversation with Simon Eltz

Having previously posted (available here) about the music video for the song Superfan Unknown by Goodrun. It was created by Simon Eltz and I had asked some brief questions regarding the piece. Here is the resulting conversation...


Firstly, What was the inspiration behind the piece?

The name of the song is "superfan unknown". So I thought I can show a variety of charakters, anyone could be a "superfan" of the band. This worked nicely together with an Idea I had of those Childrenbooks, where you can mix Bodyparts together and make funny characters. I wanted to try something similar but with moving characters. Those were the main Ideas I had in the beginning. Then came also some economic thoughts, the good reusability of the walkcycles, how to fill the minutes in an interesting way, but with not too much effort behind.

Was the concept of the video your sole creation or did you have input from the band?

I developed the whole concept and asked from time to time the band if its ok.

The characters move to the same beat, except where there are scenes with multiple characters (where there has been a slight offset). Was this a conscious decision?

Yes, I didn't want them to be too much like Robots, to give it a more natural look.

There is no linear narrative structure in the work, what was the decision behind this?

I like music videos as a field for experimenting, where you can leave some rules behind you. Well, this video is not very experimental, but I was working with visual Ideas (including Ideas about different characters etc..), and not with narrative thoughts. I tried to develop something that is fun or interesting to watch, that could catch the interest for this short amount of time. 

Could you tell me more about the character who hit's his stomach?

There is the hand of the Illustrator that draws all the characters, but he hasn't everything under controll and doesnt always achieve what he wants. Also I was searching for different ways of interacting with the Hand, I wanted to do alway something slightly different. So I had the Idea of complete changing the style of the drawing, after three unsucsessfull attempts of the illustrator to make a motivated young female superfan. I wanted to make a complete different style of character, children's drawing like, with a silly attitude. But.. also a real superfan of the Band. Well the belly hitting is just another visual Idea. In german you can say "timbal" (if its the right word in english) for a huge belly, so he just hits the rhythm on his timbal.. look at the attached image to see which instrument I mean :) By the way, hitting the "timbal"- is some kind of german expression, leo.org translates it with "to paint the town red"

Final Thoughts

I am in the process of completing a rationale for the relationship between audio and narrative that is due to be published on this blog at some point this week. It highlights 3 different stages that can be applied to the synchronisation process. This concept of the video is music led (the third stage) and this is an obvious statement to be making because of the nature of product. The idea that this area can be used as an experimental playing field is not a new one - this was central to the philosophy of the silly symphonies (see Animation Aesthetics by Maureen Furniss). This area can also be used in terms of practical practice and for expressing non-linear narrative structures. 

Although there is a lack of linear narrative the piece is broken down through a series of alternative actions that conceive the creation of different characters. This is needed because for 3 minutes of continuous walking would see the audience switch off, and this action forms the narrative structure that is guided by the music. Simon talks about wanting keeping a natural look and avoiding mechanical movement, and for this to work there has to be a reserved use for how much influence the music has over the actions - in other words by avoiding Micky Mousing! 

I'd like to say thanks for Simon Eltz for taking the time to answer the questions and for having patients through the language barrier. 

Group Tutorial: Things I don't like

On Thursday we had to present things we either liked or disliked. I came prepared with two things i didn't like, they were quite specific compared to others, so here they are with a rationale...

In the Corpse Bride intro, as the hand writes there is absolutely no weight or pressure being applied to any of the movements. No pressure or muscle movement from within the hand itself makes it look dead, and causes one to question what is the driving force? The elbow appears to be the top of the chain. The wrist only articulates any movement when easing in and out to the page. On has to assume that as a stop motion that they did not 'animate' the whole of the physiology. 

Animating the whole physiology, even when not in shot, is important. All movements force is driven primarily from the trunk and without consideration can cause performances to look off. This can be seen below in my Viva Voca posted below, and was also established in a workshop i attended last year about Laban movement theory held by Elisza Ribeiro.

However, having never worked with stop-motion i'm not fully aware of the technical capabilities. Although, i am aware to produce a model with such flexible hand movement could have adverse affects regarding control. This would surely make it far-less cost effective, and is the most probable cause. This brings me to the aesthetic of the work. Compare it to Nightmare Before Christmas, it appears CG, whereas NBC is clearly stop-motion. However innovative NBC was, we can feel the textures, this sets context. The Corpse Bride however, at the benefit of technological capability, has an ambiguous context. This ambiguousness causes the conflict in shots such as the writing hand in my opinion (because in CG it is entirely possible to general such movement). 

Further on in the scene, the towns folk all follow the beat of the music, which is accompanied by a tick. This breaks the rules for creating performance but is acceptable as its function is to set the context - a boring, monotonous and repetitive life that the protagonist (not bound by such conditions) needs to escape. We did highlight however the larger characters lacked weight in their walks. 

This was not however the worst example i could find. Roll on DFS, and their Arthur Christmas endorsed ad.

There are many fundamentals wrong with this characters performance it's difficult to decide where to start. Firstly, in gestural terms, his trunk and legs are not synchronised with the hands and head. In animated performance, it is never advisable to separate a bodies movement into two actions that do not influence each other. A coherent performance will be difficult to produce for 8 seconds of animation, due to lack of thinking time, but it clearly does not work having both separate parts running constantly, with no structural narrative purpose. The second aspect that doesn't work is the expressions. They neither have storytelling purpose nor any emotional value. The character is dead behind the eyes. A reason for this might be a poor designed character that was suitable for the limited emotional value they provided for the original feature film. (One thinks to Studio AKAs lead in Lost and Found, but they had more time for better timing and spacing, and relied on gesture over expression, and aided by an narrater. Remember the design principle, Form follows Function?)

I can hear you say well the dialogue doesn't offer much so how do we convey an engaging performance with a limited character?

This can be difficult, but the answer is simple: planning.

They had not established 2 things: Storytelling poses and the major/minor emphasis points. What it appears they did do was produce a walk cycle that would composite with the length of the distance to the door in 8 seconds and bake gestures on top. I have no conclusive evidence of this, but based on experience this is my prediction. [I am in the process of finding out who produced the ad to find this information out, i have contacted VTR North and Ink Films who worked together to produce the 2011 ads]

This draws me back to my comments regarding Corspe Bride above. All movement starts from the trunk. We have two performances in the DFS advert between the physiology causing a conflict. The problem essentially starts where they have used the walk cycle as the storytelling pose - this is okay - but it doesn't deviate. It's mechanical. The upper body doesn't move on the major emphasis points. This is a must to work with the excited tone in the voice, and ad purpose to the dialogue.

Major emphasis points = whole body

Minor emphasis points = arms + head

The storytelling poses tend to be most appropriate for Major emphasis points - a significant moment. The minor emphasis points are ideal for the transitional period.

This brings us back to the face. It makes it difficult to comment again because i have not seen the rig set up. In the discussion we agreed that the poor emotional expressions could be down to a poor rig. To really find out the answer we would need to find out if they used a character that was produced for the film. In the clip below, watch from about 1.15 in, the performance provided here shows what can be achieved if a rig from the film was used. This also raises the question of if it is from the film, what was its role in the film? was it a primary/secondary or background character? 

Once i have a response from my initial enquiry i shall be asking these questions (if applicable). The above clip is important because it expresses storytelling significance, and uses major and minor emphasis points as well as using expression. The character appears to be thinking, something that is clearly missing from the DFS advertisement. 

Check out the link below for more examples of how the character (if from the film and fully rigged) can move in terms of physiology. This is surely evidence enough to place blame at a poorly planned scene. 

http://youtu.be/g3JI0ZcONkU

http://youtu.be/dYgM6WpjCy8

When i have a response i shall update on another post.

Journeys & Destination Response

For the presentation i said -

"I obtained images from each individual and mixed them together to form a collective narrative based on experience. I then composed them on an abstract journey to create a unique metaphorical representation of non-collective experiences creating new ones together".

I have added emphasis on the last word as i will be returning to this point later. Firstly, Frank Abbott's comments stripped down said our presentation lacked cohesiveness and it felt like 3 or 4 presentations instead of one, and although i agree, i'd like to make the case that all of our personalities were evident, and while it may of not been as glossed over and as for the audience as other groups, i maintain that we were able to not only share each of our own insight with each other, we were able to present it with everyone. Where they asked for more of the video i presented at the end, it was actually a suitable metaphor for the way we had interpreted the brief. 

Our group presentation contained a rap/dance, slide shows and a video (in that order). We settled on the theme of difference. The first to show was Rita, who had decided to present a performance based on her initial experience of western/Nottingham culture. By writing her own words to a Fergie song (i'd never heard before) certainly was a loud - but entertaining - start to our presentation. The rest of the group then presented via the traditional presentation format - pictures on a slide show and spoken word. A little dull in my opinion, but being respectful (and not fully grasping what i was trying to achieve with my initial idea that i carried on as a summation aspect) I accepted that this was how they wanted to express themselves - on a creative course i'd expected they'd attempt to be more adventurous. The themes ranged from Art, Design, Architecture and Fashion, and comparing western and chinese versions. Que the video i had made.

The early enthusiasm i had for this metaphorical representation was not passed on to the group. It may of been due to a language barrier, it may of been too abstract (i later found that they get taught lots of technicality but little creativity in their homeland), or it may be that they just didn't like the idea. Realising no differences can be obtained from a place i had spent three years living, i pushed on with the kaleidoscope idea, and i wish to state now that i didn't stick with it through arrogance. I was inspired by Edmund Whites idea of the Flaneur, a book i had read over the summer. Definition here. The concept is to travel on a journey with no end goal, but to explore aimlessly absorbing through the senses everything around. I felt that reflected the situation we were all in. And although we had a goal (in that of a presentation), i did not see it in that regard, i felt it was more of an outcome than a goal. You could argue the last statement supports Frank Abbott's comments - which would explain why the presentation was not cohesive.  

Together. 

We were a pool of our collected non-shared experiences. We shared a journey in which we each had our own previous experience to reference from. In this, our cognitive processes filtered the information through our personalities. We had Rita, very animated and expressive, Edison, Benice and the others were quiet calm and relfective, and myself, searching for a deeper meaning. The poor structured and un-glossed presentation will certainly be remembered a lot more for those reasons than i wish. I will repeat the last three words of my explanation of the work, new ones together. 

Think about that for a second. Let me ask you, what do you think that means in the context of the presentation? (Not the video alone) 

Frank was looking for a new ONE together. To unify to one single goal and singular outcome. 

We had created new ONES together. We unified at a single moment for multiple outcomes.

Which would you say the video represents more? 

It has to be the latter. It's neither static nor definitive. Much like our journeys. This changes the form of the presentation into a subjective manner. On the journeys of our careers the moment will be as significant as any other in the narrative of our lives. We have all been drawn to the specific point in time due to circumstance, we will manifest this outcome and spread back out into new circumstances. Thats all i have to say about it, for now! You never know what might come back of it in the future. In the mean time, i'll leave you with this, i hope you can see why its relevant.

(Narrative) Structural Design

The following narrative structures have been taken from the book Art in Motion: Animation Aesthetics by Maureen Furniss. Although they imply storytelling forms, they will play a role by informing the evaluation of other works when establishing the role of sound and sonicity. 

Linear Narrative Structures

1. Beginning, Middle and End - Enjoyable because they conform to the ideology of work ethic: moving forward, achieving goals and making progress.

2. Interactive Narrative - (Such as animated games) - Rather than one linear narrative, the participant is offered many.

Non-Linear Narrative Structures

"An artist can utilise an alternate structure for the purposes of disturbing a viewers sense of equilibrium"

3. Cyclical - ...does not reach a conclusion but rather comes back to it's beginning. Such as myths, natural occurrences, life and death and the changing of the season.

4. Episodic - The most common place...is in weekly television series...[they] involve recurring characters and settings, with out without the addition of an on going narrative. 

5. Thematic - ...Creates an experience that can be quite different than that of a linear or cyclical production. Rather than moving forward, or even in a repeated pattern, thematic works tend towards stasis. In that respect, they can be described as meditative or poetic in nature, exploring an experience, emotion or other abstract concept in depth.

Where will my masters sit within my subject?

With my masters degree set to start next week after this last weeks introductory period, i'm taking the time now to establish with the audience of this blog where my research has previously been and where it is going. 

To start, please watch my final presentation from my BA. Although almost 20 minutes in duration, it is a complete summation of the project, meaning it moves through the experiments and the findings, and the overall narrative arc quite quickly. 

During the initial introductory lecture, Frank Abbot asked us to think about where our MA research will sit in context to our subject. He said it should be on the periphery of our subject as opposed to being central. In other words, having been central to our subjects during our BAs, we should be seeking to enter new, less established ground. The below graph visually represents where i intend my research to sit in relation to my subject.

Sitting between animation and character performance, my research concerns itself with the relationship between Timing & Spacing and sound.