Category: sound experiments

abstract animation, Collaborative Projects, cutouts, Experimental Animation, sound experiments

Wintry Mix

In December 2022, the jazz guitarist and Associate Professor of Jazz Studies at UNT, Davy Mooney, reached out to our lab to collaborate on a unique experimental animation of the song Wintry Mix from his latest album, Way Back. Here we share the behind-the-scenes of the creation of this project that just got completed in time for the launch of Mooney’s new album.

Christine Veras and Philip Martin collaborated to create unique hands-on frame-by-frame animations for Wintry Mix in the experimental animation lab. The process started during winter when they captured videos and images of the Texas landscape, as that was one of the inspirations for the song:

They animated using a variety of techniques and tricks: In a multiplane structure, we shot through ice, we used calculator rolls to paint sequences, strips of paper cutouts to simulate the guitar strings, we used torch lights to create light effects captured frame-by-frame, and we even animated time-lapse sequences of plants seem through a kaleidoscope to mimic the saxophone vibrations. All to create textures and movements to help the animation reinforce and play with the melody.

All the animations were captured using Dragonframe, the industry-standard stop-motion animation software. Once exported, the material was edited in Adobe Premiere Pro, mixing and remixing the animations, layering, and overlapping them to match the mood and rhythm of the music. The entire process was a playful experimentation.

The complete video for Wintry Mix was launched in June 12, 2023. See the complete animation below:

Wintry Mix Animation

Watch here the audience reaction to the film compiled by the Experimental, Dance & Music Festival 2023:

Here is an interview the festival did with Director Christine Veras: https://matthewtoffolo.com/2023/09/01/filmmaker-christine-veras-wintry-mix/

abstract animation, Collaborative Projects, Collaborators, cutouts, Event, sound experiments

American Idiot Collab

Students in the Experimental Animation Course created in our lab original animations that will feature on the stage during the American Idiot play produced at the University Theater at UTDallas. The play première is on Thursday, October 27, 2022. Tickets can be purchased here.

Play synopsis:

“Slinging razor guitars, thundering drums, and an anti-hero named Johnny. Not the prelude of typical entries in the canon of musical theatre. But these elements herald a groundbreaking American musical all the same: with the burning passion of characters who yearn for something more, songs bursting with emotion, and a story that dares you to feel and celebrate and hope.

The music of Green Day and the lyrics of lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong captured the zeitgeist of a generation with its Grammy® Award-winning multi-platinum album. American Idiot puts those raw emotions front and center in a highly theatrical and thoroughly satisfying rock opera that burns up the stage.

Monster hits like Boulevard of Broken Dreams, 21 Guns, Wake Me Up When September Ends, Holiday, and the title track soar like they were written for the stage under the direction of Tony Award® winner Michael Mayer (Spring Awakening), choreography by Olivier Award winner Steven Hoggett (Black Watch) and music supervision, orchestrations and arrangements by Pulitzer Prize winner Tom Kitt (Next to Normal).”

In the project, the animation students met with the play director Christopher Treviño and the projections designer, Safwan Chowdhury. Segments of three songs were chosen, and the students started to animate them. See below the credits of the animations for each song:

See below a few behind-the-scenes images of the students while animating:

Once the play is over, we will make all the animations available for viewing on the lab’s YouTube channel. See below for a sneak peek of the work and get your tickets to see the animations on stage with the amazing performers.

Watch here the completed animation pieces:

Lab activities, sound experiments, stop-motion

Hope: Technical Challenges

Editor’s note: Elham Doust-Haghighi, is a graduate student at ATEC/UTD and a collaborator of the experimenta.l. animation lab. Here she discusses her work “Hope,” a project she completed for her animation studio II graduate course, produced at experimental.l.

Written by: Elham Doust-Haghighi

I produced the short piece “Hope” as an assignment for a graduate course, animation studio II,  under the guidance of Associate Professor of Practice Nelson Lim. This project aimed to overcome a technical challenge with the theme of hope and consequences. The two challenges explored in this project were adapting the 3D CG character to the real three-dimensional stop motion scene and projecting the mouth, animated with the stop-motion technique, on the CG character’s face. Therefore, I made the animation scene with clay, cardboard, and wires in the experimenta.l. and photographed. Also, the mouth was animated in the experimenta.l. using clay stop motion techniques. Also, the CG character’s animation is done in Autodesk Maya but is compatible with the stop-motion characteristics.

In producing this project, I overcame some of the aimed challenges, but some remained unresolved. What I was able to solve was to match the CG texture, light, and animation style with the clay scene. Also, the stop-motion adaptation of the mouth on the CG face was executed successfully. However, what remained unfinished is the rendering of the character’s shadows over the log and the ground. Due to my unfamiliarity with this specialized part of animation production, the shadows were not rendered with expected success in Maya but reconstructed in After Effects software. Despite my best efforts, I am not satisfied with the visual result of the shadows, but I like the rest of the work and enjoyed the process of doing the work and struggling with solving the problem.

Final animated result