Computer Animation Arts

And so it begins, ladies and gentlemen - your first undergraduate project brief, and your first foray into the fast-paced, high-energy culture of Computer Animation Arts! I'm not alone in looking forward to seeing how you respond to the challenge of your Invisible Cities project, but before you get stuck in, just take a few moments to take a look at these examples of previous student work. By clicking on their names, you'll be able to view all blog posts associated with their respective Invisible Cities projects. Don't get preoccupied with the polish of the final paintings, give your attention instead to their methodology - that is, how they arrived at the final three paintings. Review their research and reflect on its presentation.  What impresses about their work?  What might you do differently?  Take time to think about the ways in which the students have organised, presented and published their bodies of work.  Happy browsing! Ellie Row Animat...

Morphopolis is a computer game created by two architecture graduates Ceri Williams and Dan Walters distinguished by its densely detailed, near-psychedelic environments.   Morphopolis 's micro-landscapes have been hand-illustrated - and the craft shines through.  Part William Morris, part Yellow Submarine, the world of Morphopolis is a bejewelled, immersive delight. Morphopolis from Ceri Williams on Vimeo .

"Tim Walker’s photographs have entranced the readers of Vogue, month by month, for over a decade. Extravagant staging and romantic motifs characterise his unmistakable style." Tim Walker is a fashion photographer and filmmaker whose richly constructed sets and fragmented fantasy narratives should have immediate appeal for the CG Arts & Animation student. Indeed, I couldn't help but think of Lydia's recent Twenty To Nine digital set project while enjoying Walker's imagery. Walker's photographs are dreamlike and prickle with uncanny effects.  I love their theatricality and visual splendour.  Walker's worlds are like The Cook, the Thief, his Wife & her Lover meets La Belle et La Bete via Edward Scissorhands .

Episode 60 from Feng Zhu - a demonstration of digital painting-  in real time.

"F.W. Murnau's German silent classic The Last Laugh (Der Letze Mann) stars Emil Jannings as the doorman of a posh Berlin hotel. Fiercely proud of his job, Jannings comports himself like a general in his resplendent costume, and is treated like royalty by his friends and neighbors. The hotel's insensitive new manager, noting that Jannings seems winded after carrying several heavy pieces of luggage for a patron, decides that the old man is no longer up to his job. The manager demotes Jannings to men's washroom attendant, and the effect is disastrous on the man's prestige and self-esteem."  http://www.moviefone.com/movie/the-last-laugh/1020137/synopsis Freidrich Wilhelm Murnau's 1924 German film Der Letzte Mann or The Last Laugh ushered in a new era of cinematic techniques which would greatly influence the way audiences engaged with cinema by turning the camera into a character within the film itself. In my last couple of posts about silent...

“In a small-town hairdressing salon, a young barber, Joe (Uno Henning) is trying to court Sally, the beautiful manicurist (Nora Baring) and asks her out. She rejects him in favour of the security offered by an older, wealthier farmer. In a jealous rage Joe slashes the farmer with a razor and is sent to Dartmoor prison for attempted murder. He escapes over the moors to find Sally, who does not know if he has come to kill her or ask her forgiveness, and it's at this point that the film begins. The rest of the story is told in flashback.” (BFI Filmstore 2008) “...though many filmmakers, Asquith apparently included, believed that silent storytelling had reached such a high level of refinement that mere chatter would never be enough to extinguish it. This, of course, was not to be, but “A Cottage on Dartmoor” provides ample illustration of how elegantly and assuredly expressive silent film had become, and how hard it must have been to believe that this magnificent medi...