education

ANIMATION SCREENINGS

Film Screening

Proving that the possibilities of animation are limited only by the imagination, this showcase of new short animations will inspire students whose imagination knows no bounds.

Before you go
When we think of animation, we think of films like Fantasia and Bullwinkle (shown below both being shown at the festival). But there are many types of animation that can tell a story in very different ways.

In film, 24 pictures, or frames, make up one second of screen time. That means there are 24 movements per second to create and record. Animators must photograph each of these 24 movements.

Read the descriptions of the main animation techniques below. Can you spot which animations in the screening have been made using one or more of these techniques?

Cel animation
Images drawn or painted onto cel paper, then filmed. The separate drawings look like they are moving when they are projected at high speed. Many classic Disney films made this way.

Pixilation
An inanimate object (a coin, a plate, etc) made to look like it is moving by filming the object frame by frame, moving the object slightly each time before it is recorded.

Model animation (sometimes called Claymation)
A three-dimensional model is made from clay, or more simply, plasticine. It is then filmed using stop motion, or stop frame animation, where the models are moved slightly between each frame. When projected, the object looks like it is moving.

Computer animation
Objects and people are created (or rendered) and animated on the computer screen.

Some animations, like John Henry, are very colourful with a storyline that's easy to follow. Others, like Wurfels Stern or Little Dark Poet, are much darker and more unusual. Which ones do you prefer, and why?

Why do you think animators choose one technique over another? Look at Wurfels Stern Ð how would it have looked if it had been drawn in the style of John Henry? In your opinion, would it have been as successful if it had been?

Experiment with how different an object can look depending on how it is drawn by sketching your own face. Draw it several times. The first time simply outline the shape of your face, nose, eyes and hairline with a felt-tip pen. Then draw your face again on a different piece of paper with a pencil, and shade it this time so that it looks 3-dimensional. Finally, draw your face and shade it using every colour you think appropriate Ð be as abstract and imaginative as you like. You will now have three versions of your face. How does each version differ from the others? How does each one make you look? Now mix your drawings up with the drawings from the rest of the class and get your classmates to try and find the three versions of your face.

You will see that the way an object is drawn reflects how we view that object. Similarly, sound affects how we see an animation, whether it is music, dialogue, or atmospheric sound effects. What types of sound did you hear in the animations? List the most memorable sounds. Why did you remember them?

[For more information on beginning your own animation visit the worksheet on The Tale of the Rat the Wrote and book a place on the animation workshop and screening]