• ‘The Whale Story’ by Tess Martin

    This is a story constructed from second-hand accounts of a phenomenal occurrence where a trapped whale seemed to express gratitude to its rescuers. The true account is condensed into the narrative of a single fisherman’s efforts to free the entangled creature.

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    Scenes are painted and repainted on a wall in Seattle’s Cal Anderson Park. Most noticeably this technique restricts motion; carefully composed images are constructed and then adjusted. A second feature is the presence of residual marks, also noticeable in the works of animators such as William Kentridge and Blu.

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    This is where an image is adjusted rather than replaced and attempts are made to mask previous drawing, although this is never fully erased. As a result the filmmaker must embrace, accept or incorporate the traces left behind. Particularly interesting marks are created when water is used, presumably to wash away previous layers of paint, resulting in a dilution and dribbling effect,suggesting an underwater environment.

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    The film is filled with broken illusions; a pixillated actor gestures swimming while mounted on top of a stepladder. Our disbelief is suspended by a mere thread, but half of the charm of this film is the inclusion of such mechanisms. Unlike some more technically complex animations, here we are provided with evidence as to how the scenes were constructed. For example, we are made aware of the filmmaker’s surroundings where the grass and the unpainted wall are visible at the edge of the frame.

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    Tess Martin draws attention to the frame presumably because she felt process was as important as narrative. This is further indicated by the choice to include a link to a making-of time lapse film.

    Some of the Vimeo user comments below the film refer to the sound as distracting. Personally I enjoyed the disrupted patterns of speech. This is an interesting device for editing down what must have been a much longer account. The film was based on the Radiolab Podcast ‘Animal Minds’. It was a public art project commissioned by Sound Transit’s STart program in association with Seattle Experimental Animation Team.

  • ‘Animated Documentary’ – a book by Annabelle Honess Roe

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    The long awaited book on animated documentary by Bella Honess Roe is now available to buy!  We have our copies on order and will post a review in the future.

    You can get a copy in the UK from this site http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?pid=581517 and if you visit Bella’s blog you can get a code for a 50% discount!

    http://bellahonessroe.wordpress.com/

  • ‘Feeling My Way’ by Jonathan Hodgson

    Annabelle Honess Roe recently released the cover image of her new book, ‘Animated Documentary’ (published by Palgrave), on her ‘Animating Documentary’ blog. The image features a still from the film ‘Feeling My Way’ by Jonathan Hodgson. Honness Roe indicates the personal significance of this film when she writes that it ‘…first got me thinking about how animation can function in documentary.’

    Commissioned by Channel 4’s Animate Projects and Arts Council England in 1997, the director, Jonathan Hodgson, combines live action point-of-view shots filmed in 35mm and Digibeta, overlaid with hand painted and drawn animation.

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    Hodgson has been able to observe and deconstruct the thought processes which occur passively when one is engaging with one’s surroundings. This is a phenomenon which takes place when no deliberate attempt is made to think clearly about a particular topic. Personally, I am impressed by the lucidity and universal sense of subjectivity this film evokes. Simina Pitur comments on the film’s Vimeo page ‘At last, I have found a piece of art that accurately translates what I feel 24/7.’

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    Rather than beginning by storyboarding, I wonder whether Hodgson first filmed his journey then tried to deconstruct why his eye was drawn in a certain way, or for what reason he was not actively observing anything. I am fascinated by how he was able to capture what is often an abstract cognitive experience in a believable sequence.

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    While I often expect I am viewing my surroundings with the crisp objectivity of a video image in fact it is more likely my attention is shifting between weighted content, be it appealing or repulsive. I sometimes observe in hindsight that while on auto-pilot my mind had been taken completely from my surroundings. This film tangibly depicts subjectivity with rare effectiveness. Such a feeling of recognition of one’s self in another person’s work is more commonly restricted to less subtle field of observational stand-up comedy!

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    ‘Feeling My Way’ is strangely reminiscent of a scene in James Cameron’s ‘The Terminator’.  In an introductory scene the audience is granted the point of view of the murderous robot in which a combination of audio-visual information is processed by recognition software and cross-referenced with a database. These relatively crude visualisations help the artificially intelligent machine to navigate and decode its surroundings. Google have recently produced ‘Glass’ a voice-command operated headset with a transparent eyeglass frame-mounted screen. This allows you to observe the world augmented by smart device abilities such as satellite navigation and Google search. As this sort of technology develops and becomes more prevalent our technological experiences might become tangibly close to some of the scenes depicted in ‘Feeling My Way’.

  • “Animated documentary …. there’s no such thing!” by Scotti Rothschild

    When writing about a subject such as animated documentary it is a rare treat to come across a film that advocates, exemplifies and examines your field so directly. nst1

    Set to the rhythm of beat poetry, Scotti Rothschild has written and directed a short film studies class, designed to counter an assertion proposed by a stranger. This animated short is dedicated to ‘…THAT live-action filmmaker who said that there was no such thing as animated documentary.’

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    Reference is made to ‘Nanook of the North’, considered to be the first feature length documentary. The director of this 1922 film, Robert J. Flaherty, received criticism for staging several sequences. Despite this the documentary’s influence is internationally and historically recognised.  Rothschild argues the illusions of cinema are present in all on screen representations. It is therefore meaningless to disregard the more obvious methods of representation found in animation when comparing them to the hidden techniques used in live action documentary. In the words of the narrator: ‘Truth isn’t guaranteed by style or expression…. what matters is content and reasoning.’

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    I am a great fan of meta-film making; this is where the processes of production are addressed so disrupting the illusion of cinema. Such work often evokes a sense of circular logic and metaphoric symmetry. In this case we are watching a documentary about methods of making documentaries. In order to hammer home her point, Rothschild states triumphantly before the credits that  ‘You have been watching a documentary’.

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    I was puzzled that the Vimeo title includes the phrase ‘work in progress’ as the film appears finished. My whimsical mind hopes this statement references the growing field of animated documentary, implying that it is a fertile ground for filmic exploration. However it is more likely the video file may soon be updated with a few minor changes.

    This is a student film, produced at the National Film School, Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design & Technology in County Dublin.

  • ‘Backseat Bingo’ by Liz Blazer

    Liz Blazer – Backseat Bingo – Animated Documentary from Liz Blazer on Vimeo.

    Liz Blazer’s ‘Backseat Bingo’ is a joyful exploration of sexuality in the lives of senior citizens. The talking head format is brought to life by Blazer’s illustrative style and eye for caricature. As viewers we are granted extraordinary access to the interviewees personal lives, the results are often comical and touching but above all the experience is intimate.

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    Urbandictionalry.com indicates that the title of this film is a 1950’s term for kissing in the back of a car. We live in a highly sexualised society, which also places huge emphasis on youth. I have great respect for Liz Blazer for challenging age prejudice by highlighting the importance of sex throughout adulthood. The liberal attitude amongst some of the female interviewees also challenges conservative gender stereotypes.

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    The choice to include a photograph of each participant at the end of the film makes it clear that the use of animated documentary in this case was not a device for protecting identity. Instead animation is used to inject vibrancy and illustrative flair. Although the likeness is often striking, it is a little strange that the caricatures make each participant look younger than their photographs. I wonder whether this design choice was to protect vanity or maybe it was simply a product of the simplified drawing style.

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    Occasionally the stiffness of the animation becomes evident; a background figure that dives into a swimming pool does so without bending a limb. Ultimately this is not the emphasis of the film. Blazer is concerned with distilling personality into these simply constructed 2D puppets, and I feel she does so conscientiously and to great effect.

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    Backseat Bingo’ was a student film made in 2004 at the School of Cinema – Television, University of Southern California.  The film travelled internationally to over 180 film festivals and won 25 awards. The source of this film’s resonance is emphasised when in the final credits Liz Blazer declares her thanks to each of the participants for sharing their ‘wisdom and humour’.

  • ‘Dole Animators’ Trailer

    Dole Animators is a group of benefit claimants based in the UK who are working together to make an animated documentary about the reality of the impact of the governments recent welfare reform.

    The final film will use a mixture of stopmotion and collage animation.

    Animateddocumentary.com’s Ellie Land is working with the group in partnership with Ruth Patrick, a researcher from Leeds University.

    The final film will be released in Autumn 2013, you can watch the trailer here:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=fTsXDVHYOBw

  • ‘The Animadoc Dove’ – new award to be given to Best animated documentary at DOK Leipzig.

    Great news over at the documentary and animation festival DOK Leipzig, they have just announced that this year they will be giving a prize to the best animated documentary in the festival. There is still time to enter!

    To find out more, read their press release here:

    http://www.dok-leipzig.de/festival/festival-news?start:int=0

  • ‘BBC Knowledge Explainer DNA’ by Territory Studio

    BBC Knowledge & Learning commissioned Territory Studio to create an animated explanation of the structures, processes and purposes of DNA.  The result is an exquisitely mesmeric graphic exploration of the mysterious structure.

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    With only three minutes to work with, and an incredibly rich topic to explore, the challenge for this film was to gage the appropriate level of information to cram in. A less well-crafted film could have resulted in the sequence becoming indecipherably dense, or worse not informative enough to have any value. The producer, Sam Hart, and creative director, David Sheldon-Hicks have overseen a project that is meticulous in its development and final outcome.

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    For many of us the structure of DNA inspires memories of stale classrooms, stuffy teachers and lifeless textbook graphics. However the ‘Explainer DNA’ does not suffer from such negative associations. Rather than trying desperately to modernise this documentary Will Samuel, the art and animation director, develops the aesthetics of schoolbook biological imagery, revelling in its nostalgic triggers while snapping the sequence sharply into the 21st Century. When the pre digital print texture and colour pallet is applied to pristine motion and 3D modelling a retro feel is crafted.

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    The attention to detail is extraordinary. When the human set of chromosomes are spread out in sequence each of them wave subtly as if held against a gentle current.  Details like this when combined with Room 24’s down played sound design make for a sumptuous audio-visual experience.

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    Andrew S Walsh’s script, created in collaboration with the molecular biologist Dr. Matthew Adams, is impressive. When covering aspects of the topic that are common knowledge the subject still feels fresh. I feel this may be due to the authority with which the information is imparted. It was pleasing to see the gaps in our knowledge concerning Junk DNA and genetic modification being explored diligently. I must say however the ending is slightly abrupt.

  • ‘The Beloved Ones’ by Samantha Moore

    Samantha Moore’s 2007 UK Film Council commissioned animated documentary explores problems of stigma and denial in a Ugandan community through the eyes of two women dealing with the effects of HIV/AIDS in their respective families.

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    The materiality of this animation technique is charmingly tangible. Two examples are the hut roof fashioned from torn corrugated cardboard and the illusion of perspective constructed through horizontally wrinkled brown paper. Many of the images in this film are complimented by the appearance of textile patterns. They are ever present in the sky, images of water and on the bodies of the chickens we see crossing the screen. I wondered whether this was simply a stylistic choice or did it hold symbolic significance. From an overview the patterns seem to be noticeable in positive contexts, but I feel I might be jumping to conclusions if I was to assert that they represent hope or optimism.

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    The most striking moment in this short documentary takes place when we hear Anna recount her husband’s attitude of denial towards HIV/AIDS. ‘He has never taken a blood test, he has lost three girlfriends but still he doesn’t believe.’ As these words are uttered her husband’s body shrivels, metamorphosing into a deathly skeleton. Such imagery is powerful in its simplicity.

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    One shot niggled at my animator’s eye; when the memory book is being discussed the camera moves backwards from in the hut and out the door. The cinematic illusion is broken by the visibly pixelated edge of the doorframe. Such a significant loss in resolution is unfortunate.

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    In a recent article written for Animation Studies, Samantha Moore discusses audio problems she experienced while filming in Uganda. Moore was forced to use voice actors due to the low quality of the original recordings. Although she had an initial ‘…fear that the documentary status of the film could be compromised by this jettisoning of original sound…’ Moore argues that both the unusable original voice recordings and the audible re-enactment ‘carry the indexical trace of the words’. The choice between the two options was ‘…not aided by an argument about which is more genuine.’

    Samantha Moore’s work has been featured on Animated Documentary several times. We look forward to many more films from her.

  • ‘Allergy To Originality’: A New York Times Op-Doc by Drew Christie

    Drew Christie’s animation explores notions of originality through the vehicle of an uncannily informative conversation between a cinema box office attendant and an inquisitive patron.

    The animated sequence was commissioned by The New York Times’ Op-Doc forum, an online sub-section of the editorial department. This initiative hosts ‘short, opinionated documentaries, produced with wide creative latitude and a range of artistic styles, covering current affairs, contemporary life and historical subjects.’

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    The pencil drawn short takes it’s visual cues from a rich assortment of internet imagery. These drawings are adjacent references which snap to the dialogue in such a quick succession that the viewing experience reaches the fringes of an information overload. The scrappy mark making and looseness of the mimetic drawings act as a buffer, slowing our recognition of what is depicted, further inhibiting the intake of information.  Such a process challenges the viewer to identify the visual references and establish their connection to the densely informative dialogue. Although I was not able to spot all the connections I found this an engaging and rewarding viewing experience.

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    The documentary element in this animation can be justified by the casual introduction the film makes to complex ideas such as poststructuralist philosophy. Michel Foucault and Roland Barthes were among the first to articulate the illusion of originality in the arts.  In their respective essays, ‘What is an Author?’ and ‘The Death of the Author’, they proposed originality was scarcely achieved, if ever, while suggesting that creative endeavors, such as writing, are simply the amalgamation of an incalculable collection of conscious and unconscious influences. By referencing Wikipedia content this film exquisitely crafts sweeping summaries of such notions while tying them irrefutably to contemporary popular culture, specifically Hollywood cinema.

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    The comedic value in this short animation is found in the juxtaposition of encyclopedic rhetoric in the context of every day conversation. Further tension is crafted as an element of one-up-man ship creeps into the dialogue. However I find this animation’s purest social commentary is found in the implausibly informed box office attendant. This character embodies a contemporary world where anyone is a few clicks away from appearing to be an expert.