Breaking down the spatial and the temporal dimension of animation to create new forms and narratives.

Summary:

Following the theory, modern art is concerned with examining the concepts of space and time. Space and time in film and animation can be broken and rearranged; thus, they become fluid entities that we can manipulate.

Narratives are bounded to spatial and temporal variables. Thus, by intentionally manipulating the spatial and temporal parameters of animation-making mechanics, we can create conditions under which an animated artwork can be perceived, understood, and acquire meaning.

Implementation:

By using 3D digital reconstructions of pre-cinema, animation optical devices, we aim to experiment with the way narratives are formed under specific conditions and parameters that we control. Such parameters are the camera’s position within the digital structure and the point of view under which the animation unfolds. 3D reconstructions of pre-cinema toys allow us to experiment freely with the camera and the movement of the frames, without the obstacles we would face through an actual, material reconstruction of pre-cinema toys. Additionally, we will use animation sequences, already existed in pre-cinema optical devices and motion research.

Eadweard Muybridge, The Horse in Motion, 1879. Digitized in Autodesk Maya.

What we expect to find:

Preliminary results suggest that depending on the point of view, the spatial and temporal dimensions of animation break down, creating new narrative forms. For example, a point of view that aims at a center of revolving frames, as seen below, breaks down the spatial dimension into several distinct states, each of it representing different rules onto which the temporal dimension evolves, thus creating a different narrative.

Eadweard Muybridge, The Horse in Motion, 1879. Digitized in Autodesk Maya.
Eadweard Muybridge, The Horse in Motion, 1879. Digitized in Autodesk Maya

Published by

labforanimationresearch

Lab for Animation Research (LAR) operates as a research centre for studying the art of animation. Specifically, LAR operates as a lab within the Department of Fine Arts of the Cyprus University of Technology and aims at studying the artistic possibilities of animation. LAR uses a wide range of digital and “traditional” technologies and artistic practices as methods to experiment, study and develop innovative expressive methods for creating animation artworks.

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