The experimenta.l. animation lab at the Harry W. Bass Jr. School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology (BAHT) at the University of Texas at Dallas is now happy to partner with the Aardman Academy.
Our lab is a space for creative research and critical practices in animation that welcomes the participation of undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and national and international collaborators. We encourage experimentation via a variety of animation techniques, tools, and interfaces.
Opportunities related to our partnership with the Aardman Academy welcome and include students from our entire school through uniquely tailored events. Students from experimental animation and stop-motion classes will particularly benefit from personal feedback from professionals on the Aardman team. In our school, we believe that if you can imagine it, we can make it. Our lab and studio culture blends art, technology, design, engineering, science, and the humanities to create an environment rich with possibilities.
Collaboration is the heart of our school and Animation & Games program, as exemplified in this exciting partnership with the Aardman Academy.
Updates and open events related to the partnership will be updated here and on social media. Stay tuned!
Planning: During class on January 23rd, I volunteered to present a workshop on rotoscoping for our lab on February 3rd. With this limited time, I had to develop a simple idea that the lab members could participate and complete under 1 ½ hours. I spoke with Dr. Veras a few times and we decided on simple tools to use: filming equipment, Photoshop, After Effects, and a drawing tablet. For the reference footage, I found a film on my phone of a musical jewelry box from Neha’s China and Crystal, my family’s store. I wanted to have the lab members draw an object instead of a portrait since portraits can vary in style quite a bit. I took the 23 seconds of film and cut the time down to a 3-second loop. I then took the cut film and imported it into photoshop, converting the frames into 36 layers to split among 12 members. I labeled each consistently in accordance with sequence and then split them into 12 different photoshop files. I uploaded these files to Box to share with our members, along with an excel sheet to assign the files, and a short list of instructions on how to complete each file. The instructions went along the lines of, “keep drawings on a separate layer, use the assigned colors only, and do not draw the background”. I accompanied my presentation with a brief PowerPoint lecture so I could give detailed instructions on the process of importing, exporting, and organizing files for this type of animation.
What did I learn? Students will not strictly follow directions and they will do their own thing for an assignment that is not graded. Looking at the final product, however, I think that this rebellion was beneficial to our final piece. Students should have fun in the lab, experimenting and trying new things. It is funny because one student’s submission that went totally against all the rules ended up adding a sense of humor, charm, and eye-catching quality to our animation. It highlighted the fact that this is student-made artwork, so you are combining many different personalities and skill levels into one output animation. The organization was KEY to managing this project with multiple participants. I was able to export the file so easily once everyone submitted their section. However, even with organization, I need to keep my files accessible and not have too many folders or instructions. With such a short time to create, I must make my lecture brief and to the point so instruction is clear.
What am I going to do next? Another workshop idea I have still falls under the method of rotoscoping. However, I would like to have it done individually with a focus on animating fluids – such as water dripping or bubbles. There is lots of freedom with animating water, and I think it is a wonderful way to study natural movements. I would incorporate texts and images from Joseph Gillard’s Elemental Magic because it was an eye-opening and influential reading in my own animation practice.
Notes for the future: I should use a tripod to maintain stability because you can see the background jump when the dinosaur pops up with the original background. I think it would engage students more if they could film their own references, but because I was more focused on technique, I did the right thing by filming my own reference to use in the group project. If I do another group project, I should limit each member to drawing only two frames of animation so we can get it done during our lab. Overall, I genuinely think that the experimenta.l. lab members did a wonderful job, and I would call this workshop a success. I was able to show students a new technique, and we ended with a quirky animated loop.
Dr. Rainer Schulte, Director of the Center for Translation Studies, conceived the project as a multidisciplinary collaboration featuring new poetic visions for Arthur Rimbaud’s sonnet “Voyelles,” written in 1871.
The collaborative project gathered choreography, animation, music, and poetry to demonstrate the poem’s different poetic translations and visual interpretations. According to Dr. Schulte, “Rimbaud revolutionized the forms of poetic expressions. A strange title for a poem: Voyelles. The title does not suggest a topic or a subject. Words are made of vowels. Rimbaud goes to the beginning of language. The power resides in the vowels and letters that the poem is made Vowels are signs and sounds that build a word. Rimbaud wants to live with each individual vowel since the vowels open new vistas of how to enter the poem and live inside the walls of the poem.”
Dr. Christine Veras created the animations for the project in the Experimental Animation Lab. For her, this collaboration “extends my research into a sensorial collaboration using poetry, sound, dance, and animation. In exploring these bridges between technology, performance, and materiality, I continue my creative investigation as visual and sensory translations. This process of creative research through experimentation encourages and facilitates the recombination of old, new, and still emerging technologies. Such connections are only possible by knowing the past and understanding the applications and implications of animation’s more experimental and material processes. The results of such possibilities invite viewers to experience animation beyond traditional narrative formats.” See below a few behind-the-scenes images of the animation:
The project will be screened at the Open House event at the School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology on October 7, 2022. It features the choreography of Michelle Hanlon, sound effects by Kevin Hanlon, editing by Cathrin Yoder, animation by Christine Veras with assistance from Philip Martin, narration by Kathy Lingo, and coordination by Rainer Schulte.
The project will Premiere on October 20, 2022, at the ATC Gallery space at 5 pm.
Guido Devadder is an experimental animator from Belgium. He holds a MA in Literature (KU Leuven) and Visual Arts – Graphic Storytelling (LUCA School of Arts). He co-founded graphic narrative anthology Ink (Oogachtend Publishing) and published in numerous other magazines and comics anthologies in Belgium and the Netherlands. Gradually, his focus shifted to experimental animation, where he investigates hybrids of old and new media. Besides working with analog film, his practice concentrates mostly on combinations between pre-cinema and digital animation. His short film Status Quontinuum won the Audience Favorite Award at the ESMoA Video Art + Film Festival in 2021.
Devadder is affiliated with the Animation department at LUCA School of Arts (Campus Sint-Lukas Brussels) since 2001. He currently teaches Image Research and Drawing and is working on a practice-based Ph.D. entitled From Post-cinema to Pre-cinema and Back: Media Archaeology of Loop Animation.
In this talk, Devadder will introduce two complementary perspectives: the evolution of the shutter in the 19th and early 20th century (framing time) and on the other hand the contemporary approaches, which make it possible to transgress the limitations of the frame in prototypical film (unframing time). He will address the animated machines and also talk about direct/drawn-on-film animation.
The workshop invited students to join in a socially engaged collaborative effort in depicting a happy representation of the future with stories of hope, resilience, and inspiration during the COVID-19 pandemic. The current situation around the world has shattered many dreams and aspirations. By demonstrating a reciprocal relationship between artistic production and social and political mechanisms, the participatory nature of narrative storytelling, empathy, and direct dialog has become essential in bringing those discussions to the forefront. This workshop utilized the stop-motion animation technique to highlight the importance of mental health and well-being and demonstrated how socially engaged art can act as a communal vehicle for advocacy, intervention, and healing. The duration of the workshop was four weeks, with the first week focusing on idea generation, sketching the puppet, constructing the armature of the puppet, and creating the body mass.
The second week concentrated on sculpting the face with Sculpey.
The third week centered around embellishing the puppet by sewing the attire and other accessories, hairstyling, defining facial features, etc.
The fourth week concentrated on creating stop-motion walk-cycles for each of the puppets using DragonFrame.
I had a lot of fun teaching students to design stop-motion animation puppets using everyday materials such as wood, wire, screws, nuts, and bolts, and sparking their creativity in a different way. The studio has been equipped with the latest technological tools for capturing high-resolution frames for the animation using DragonFrame. Dr. Veras has been supportive in designing this workshop and getting the supplies for students to use for that purpose. Phillip Martin Carl (Building Services Coordinator) was super helpful in carving the wood pieces for the students and having them ready to be used. The goal was to introduce the technique of stop-motion animation to the students and have them explore the medium in the experimenta.L animation lab in the Arts, Technology, and Emerging Communication department at the University of Texas at Dallas.
Description: Hello experimenta.l., Gizem Oktay is facilitating a series of workshops that will start next week, called Collective Emergence with GAN-1st Session. Lab participants are welcome to attend in person (limited to 10 people) and online/remotely through Teams.
For the first portion of the workshop, we will use EbSynth to create a stylized movie sequence of our choosing. Here is what you need to do before the workshop: What would be your choice of movie to stylize? It can be a personal favorite, a one that you thought of working well as an animation, or simply a fun one!
Choose your scene. Make sure that the scene you chose does not change drastically and do not introduce a new character, object, or a different scene during the timeframe of your choosing. Make sure the scene you chose is no longer than five seconds! (Remember rule number 2. Make sure the scene doesn’t change in these ten seconds.)
Choose keyframes from the sequence to paint over in the workshop. (You can image sequence as PNG and pick out 2-3 keyframes to paint over).
If you are painting over a character, make sure one of your keyframes is one that fully shows the face from the front. Green screen rule: Your video does not have to be green screen, that being said, it would make your job easier if it were, as some masking might be required).
Watch this video for preparation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RLtHuu5jV4
Registering Movement -Collective Emergence: Here is your HOW TO NOT for the workshop on Tuesday. I wanted to share an example with you guys so you better understand the importance of painting over keyframes (I mean, “key” keyframes). Sorry for the bad quality of the video! I’ll show the main version on Tuesday.
Dates: TBA Semester: Fall 2021 – 1stSession (09/21) 2ndSession (09/28)
Participants: Week 1: Martin Cho, Bryce Alexander Sheehan, Danny Elizabeth Laboda, Dr. Christine Veras, Eesha Muddasani, Xochitl Juarez.
Description: Each participant will create their own unique frame from the galloping horse animation. The frames of Muybridge’s Galloping Horse will be distributed among participants.
Guidelines/Instructions:
Week 1: The first 12 frames were assigned. The submission deadline is next Monday [Feburary 8th, 2021] @1pm. Here are the details about the submission:
Submit 1 frame of the galloping horse
Aspect ratio is 16 x 9, resolution 2K
File format PNG
Name your file following the format with you name and frame number: LASTNAME_NAME_frameXX
You can change colors, add elements, using different techniques, the sky is the limit! As long as you keep an identifiable shape (of the horse).
Week 2: This round we will continue to animate the galloping horse and you will be assigned different frames. There are different (and optional) guidelines this round. A color palette is suggested and you are invited to select a 0.5 second sound for your new galloping horse frame (this is a new experimentation that we are adding on to the project). Sound files should be submitted in MP3 format.
Galloping Horse Animation:
Participants: Elham Doust-Haghighi, Emily Banditrat, Sara Mcclanahan, Naznin Sulatana, Mayson Gunnar Bray, Kirstin Stevens Schmidt, Martin Namwook Cho, Austin Maddux Sewell, Gina Rattanakone, Rachael Kathleen Drury, Neda Ghassemi, Philip Carl Martin, Jacob William Reeder, Zack Nguyen.
Start Date: January 25th, 2021 End Date: February 8th, 2021 at 1:00 pm (CST/Dallas Time)
Description: Do you enjoy food!?! Join us for a collaborative art piece that will be revealed on March 8th! Using any 2D software, 3D software, or camera, each contributor will produce 5 frames on a circle template provided by the facilitator.
Guidelines/Instructions:
For this project, you will only need any 2D or 3D software that is able to create on the circle template and produce 5 PNG or JPEG files. If you would like to illustrate on paper and submit it as a PNG/JPEG I have uploaded the template (print out at least 5 copies for this Project). During this lab, we will be drawing a total of 5 frames inspired by sound with Pizza in mind. The final compilation of these frames into an Animation.
Phase 1 (2 Frame Drawing) (5 minutes each)
Draw 2 frames inspired by Sound 1.
1st Frame are illustrations ONLY on the outside of the circle.
2nd Frame are illustrations ONLY on the inside of the circle.
Phase 2 (2 Frame Drawing) (5 minutes each)
Draw 2 frames inspired by Sound 2.
1st Frame are illustrations ONLY on the outside of the circle.
2nd Frame are illustrations ONLY on the inside of the circle.
Phase 3 (1 Frame Drawing) (10 Minutes)
Draw 1 frame inspired by sound 3.
Illustrations are drawn on the inside of the circle. HAVE FUN!
Template: in the Food Project Channel on Teams. Materials: Any 2D software, 3D software, or camera! Size: 1280 x 720 Format: PNG or JPG (No MP4 files) Naming: LastnameFirstname_FrameNumber.png/jpg Bonus Frames Naming: LastnameFirstname_BonusFrameNumber.png/jpg Length: 5 frames (or more if you already completed 5 frames and would like to draw more). Inspiration: Sound, pizza, bold and simple shapes, be free with your strokes, no pressure. Instructions: Outside and inside the circle, provide an environment and pizza.
Facilitator Message: Thank you again to everyone that could participate in our experimental lab on March 8th! Attached to this message is the outcome of what we have created together. I would like to thank you all once again for trusting me with your illustrations to create a different type of collaborative video. https://youtu.be/dYCVa4BLygg Please attend our lab today at 1 PM so we can all talk about the result of our food video and also collaborate together on a new project!
Participants: Dr. Christine Veras, Naznin Sultana, Gina Rattanakone, Sara McClanahan, Elham Doust-Haghighi, Padsala Devanshi, Martin Cho, Emily Banditrat.
Start Date: March 8th, 2021 1:00 PM (CST/Dallas time) Due Date: March 10th, 2021 11:59 PM (CST/Dallas time)
Description: A short multimedia abstract animation linked through sound using a square shape.
Guidelines/Instructions:
The lab participants will create a short abstract animation linked through sound. Sound clip provided for inspiration.
Do not animate to the beats, all audio will be removed and an overlapping audio will be applied.
MUST use a square shape in some way
Materials-Anything you want-Get Creative!
Size: 1280 x 720 (HD)
Format: mp4
Naming: LastNameFirstName_Abstract.mp4
Length: 5 seconds (120 frames) Less is fine More is better!
Frame rate: Up to you
Create the animation on your time
Facilitator’s Message: Thank you for participating in the Abstract Project this last week! I know 120 frames can seem like a daunting task at first but everyone went above and beyond with this and absolutely exceeded my expectations. I hope you enjoyed the final edit. I had a lot of fun working with the various mediums and design choices you all submitted. As I mentioned in the lab today, I spent a lot of time carefully choosing which animations should be paired and fade into one another as well as considering which beats should be hit in line with the sound. I am incredibly happy with the way y’all animated to these guidelines and were inspired by the music. I hope you all enjoyed this experiment, and if not please provide feedback during our meetings so we can improve our future projects!
Participants: Emily Banditrat, Martin Cho, Gina Rattanakone, Naznin Sultana, Elham Doust-Haghighi, Philip Martin, Zack Nguyen, Sara McClanahan, Jacob Reeder, Dr. Christine Veras.
Start Date: Feb. 22 Due Date: Feb. 28 by 5:00 pm (Dallas Time)
