Light and Shadow

The Quay Brothers typically employ a dark, textured, grungy style with a definite dose of surrealism. The aspects of their work which are of particular interest to me in reguard to ideas for my own film are that of cinematography and lighting.

Street Of Crocodiles, perhaps the best known work of the Quay Brothers which demonstrates the techniques which I have examined.

Something I like about their work is the strong use of light and shadow and the relationship between what is seen and what is not. The hard contrast between light and dark forms a foreboding mood in which a sense of mystery is created. Things are not always what they may appear to be and the viewer is left wondering what is around the next corner. This aesthetic is heavily complemented by the cinematographic techniques used in many of their films. Shallow depth of field as well as extreme close-ups allow for focus to be placed directly on the subject of the shot as well as providing ambiguity to the surroundings.

In terms of my own project, these ideas are extremely useful to consider. Stylistically, such an aesthetic would work well with my story as it would undoubtedly complement the darker tones of the plot. There is also a highly practical advantage to this approach in that such techniques can be used to give the illusion of depth and expanse without actually revealing a whole lot of the set. This would be a useful consideration to make in the set design itself as even a small scene could be manipulated into an enormous landscape with the right camera and lighting setups.

Storyline

This is very much a skeletal form of the plot at the moment, the main part to be filled out is the middle section which will be further developed as my project continues. Having a basic outline is important at this point because it will allow for my research to be more concise and allows ideas gained to be directly applied my film itself.


A child lies alone in a hospital bed of a terminal ward. The room is empty, stale and decrepit. All that furnishes what could just as easily be a cell in an asylum is the cold steel bed and a small metallic table. On the table is a withering rose in a clear glass vase. As the last of the living petals fall from the flower, so too does the protagonist fall into death. They find themselves in a foreboding world of surreal wonder which offers a hauntingly cruel comfort from the reality which they have been plagued with. This would be a bitter sweet tale of loneliness, hopelessness, acceptance and eventual salvation when they are revived back into the world to find themselves alive and the rose in full bloom.

The film would be comprised of two basic environments, that of the hospital room and also of the other world which the protagonist experiences. It is very much open to interpretation as to what exactly this world is, perhaps the afterlife, a form of purgatory, a abstract representation, a dream or an elaborate construct of a child's mind.

The hospital room would be a small to medium sized with a grey lino floor and dull concrete walls as well as a small window half covered by blinds. The colours in these real world scenes would be extremely bland with no vibrancy in the palette aside from the rose at the end.

The majority of the animation would take place in the other world where imagery would very much be emotionally charged with a focus on the character and what they are feeling. The landscape of this place would be barren and desolate to maintain a sense of melancholy which would be interspersed by sudden charges of hope and light as well as fear and darkness. The vibe is not so much intended to be scary but rather a disturbing portrayal of the fragility of humanity. There could also be additional characters from figurative depictions of emotion projected into strange creatures to others who have found themselves lost inside this realm.

I'm still largely undecided what would happen in this section – it would be a good opportunity to explore more experimental forms of animation as well.

Boy

Last night I watched Taika Waititi's Boy, a film I'd been meaning to see since it came out last year. Interestingly the film also featured short animated segments of hand drawn sequences interspersed between the rest of the film - a poignant aspect which I could consider in my own work. The idea that different mediums of film making could be applied within the same project is an interesting thought indeed. If I end up using stop motion as my form, it is entirely plausible that certain segments could explore other kinds of animation such paper cut out or hand drawn frames. The way that Boy employs such technique is effective in both that the scribbly style of the drawings create a strong relationship with the child's mind as well as allowing the film maker to execute complex scenes far more simply (such as a car crashing). Such technique could prove to be effective stylistically as well as being of practical use in creating sequences which may be difficult in the stop motion medium alone.

Narrative Structure

As I'm throwing around ideas of possible stories in my head, one of the things which keeps coming up is how to present an engaging narrative in the space of what will only be a film under the five minute mark. In terms of a traditional structure, you can break most stories down into four basic steps:

-Incident
-Conflict (can be multiple points)
-Climax
-Resolution

You can apply this to nearly any Hollywood or traditionally structured film and it will fit like a glove. One thing which I am realising is that the length of a film by no means restricts this model (or any other for that matter). For shorter films each point may not be as filled out or as complicated but can be employed none the less.

The interesting thing about animation is that you can have something compelling without having any clear direction or story. The medium seems to lend itself quite well to experimental approaches where in terms of story, something as simple as the animism of household objects can be completely engaging on its own without the need for a clear narrative. In many ways the technical accomplishment of animation and its aesthetics (stop motion or otherwise) holds value in itself based purely on the nature of its construction.

For my own film I am most drawn to a more traditional narrative; at least in the sense of characters and a conflict or motivation. This stems largely from my own interest to create a story of this kind but by no means does this restrict experimentation in terms of cinematography and plot devices. Regardless of how everything turns out I think it's useful to consider these ideas - even if all preconceptions of narrative were completely subverted, it would be just as important to have a grasp of these conventions as it would be if you were working directly within them.

An Introduction...

Welcome to my new animation blog! This page is being made in relation to the development of my upcoming stop motion animated film which will begin production late next month.

I have always been interested in stop motion and gained a considerable amount of experience in the medium with a project I worked on last year. This time around I hope to achieve even greater results in all aspects from initial developments to the final short.


'Ole The Brave', an animation I worked on in 2010.

The entire process behind the making of this film will be documented on this blog site as part of the project itself, for my own personal recollection and perhaps most significantly, to give others insight into both the concepts as well as the practical techniques behind making a film of this kind.

The next few weeks will be primarily focused on research as well the early stages of development for my own short film. In terms of what will be specifically investigated, I plan to study the fundamental conventions of animation both technical and conceptual as well as any other films or film makers historical or contemporary who may be influential in helping shape my own ideas. I also plan to consider elements related to New Zealand imagery which will be drawn upon to inform my own work. Being from this country myself and creating a film in this environment, it makes sense to examine a local identity as a point of reference in addition to international sources.

The yet to be titled (or designed!) film is scheduled for completion at the end of May this year.

Should be fun :D