Symbols In Subversive Soviet Animation

From watching "The Hand", "Breakfast On The Grass" and "The Glass Harmonica", I picked out reoccurring symbols of subversion that were present. The most significant symbols included hands; destruction/control of beauty/art; dull/dark colour themes; contrast of poverty with wealth; and marching/drumming sounds.

Hands

Destruction/Control Of Art

Dark Atmosphere











Additionally, animation made outside of Soviet control with "Animal Farm" includes hand signals, poverty, dull colours, marching/drum sounds and sense of imprisonment/dictatorial fear.

I am going to start researching the critical theory surrounding these films and the general symbols to add depth to my research.

Exaggeration

In the TV Paint induction, I created an animation featuring a personified nail being hit by a hammer to demonstrate exaggeration.

What Went Well

• Over-exaggerated facial expression
• Shaky effect adds to nail's nervous personality

Improvements

• Face feels unconnected to the nail
• Add impact to hammer hitting the plank (bang noise)
• Mouth movements out-of time with scream

Coming Week

• Look at exaggeration in the body as well as the face

Anticipation

I chose the action of strumming a guitar to exemplify anticipation. Timing was important for this, and it could be controlled by fudging how many frames each drawing lasted.

What Went Well

• Anticipation not too exaggerated
• Action is expected

Improvements 

• Character's legs inconsistent in frames
• Pencil drawn is not neat

Coming Week

• Buy a light-box to help draw frames 

Subversion in Animation

I have decided to research into subversive animation in a world of propaganda and political correctness. Within this, I want to look at animation that internally defies governmental values, either targeting the dictatorships of the Nazis or the Soviet Union in the 20th century. So far 'The Hand' - Jiri Trnka, 'Breakfast On The Grass' - Print Pärn, 'The Silly Goose' - Hans Fischerkoesen, and 'The Glass Harmonica' - Andrei Khrzhanovsky are of potential interest. I will be noting down ways in which these films successfully get away with being subversive. I will do this by looking out for features that are similar in all of them. From this I can get a better understanding as to what makes an animation subversive, dependent on their environment.

Squash and Stretch

We experimented with squash and stretch by animating a ball bouncing. The ball was made of a rectangular foam pod, which was placed on its smaller face when the ball was circular, and placed on its side when in the squashed position. I then made a flipbook involving a character subjected to squash and stretch, based off a digital practice.

What Went Well

• Better easy-ease spacing in travelling bounce
• Didn't need to change the shape of the real-life object

Improvements

• Ball didn't stretch before hitting ground in first bounce
• Second travelling arc is peaky and poor framing
• Ball in first bounce is misplaced in frames

Coming week

• Use squash and stretch to enhance action/expression

Arcs

I drew a pendulum in 12 frames of 2s for a basic arc motion. I then applied arcs to a stop-motion object. I animated a jumping dog chasing a bouncing football, both incorporating arcs. 

What Went Well

• Easy ease spacing made pendulum swing more naturally
• Arc helped with positioning of dog

Improvements

• No floor meant difficult to judge when ball bounced/dog landed
• Dual shadows made it less clear
• No squash and stretch on football
• Motion is too slow

Coming week

• Use arc shapes to determine positioning

Improved Versions

• Speed changed from twos to ones 
• Middle pendulum frame removed
• Emphasised easy-ease spacing

• Speed is doubled

Spacing and Timing

I animated my mouse character using 6-7 frames to get the basic action. Each image lasted 12 frames initially, making the movement jolty. Fudging the timing made the wave and sneeze actions realistic.

What Went Well

• Easy ease spacing helped with this

Improvements

• I had to adjust the keyframes as the wave action was not emphasised enough

Coming Week

• Focus on keyframes, ensuring I don't need to adjust later on

Straight Ahead and Pose To Pose

I created a stop-motion animation of a creature walking using straight ahead and a pose-to-pose 2D-drawn animation of a figure jumping across a ditch, where the first and last frames are made, followed by the breakers and in-betweens.

What Went Well

• Natural stop-motion movement
• Pose-to-pose helped show how the action would be carried out

Improvements

• Pose-to-pose was hard to work with
• Stop-motion figure had no armature

Coming Week

• Practice more pose-to-pose

Improved Version

• Less linear and stiff movement in actions

Timing

I used the appeal mouse character to establish timing through blinking. The character's eyes were open for 1 second (24 frames), followed by 2 frames to show how my character was always on the lookout.

What Went Well

• The blink felt natural

Improvements

• First attempt was unsuccessful as the whole face moved
• Poor framing on second attempt

Coming Week

• Experiment with frames for natural timing

Spacing

We created a stop-motion animation involving putty travelling across the screen. The putty was used to demonstrate linear, ease in, ease out, and easy ease spacing.

What Went Well

• Ease in, linear, and easy ease films were successful
• Tape and a ruler marked out putty's position in each frame

Improvements

• Ease out film was unclear
• Take more frames when movement is slow to differentiate it from when movement is fast

Coming Week

• Use spacing to create natural character movement

Staging - Storyboarding

I storyboarded the nursery rhyme Jack and Jill across six frames, with a dark twist, involving Jill pushing Jack down the hill to his death. I also created a digital establishment shot.

What Went Well

• Storyboarding helped pick out the key aspects of the nursery rhyme
• Gloomy weather in establishment shot fit the dark mood of the story

Improvements

• Use different colours for the action, sound, dialogue, camera movements
• Explore different ways to interpret the nursery rhyme (eg. an upbeat version) 

Coming Week

• Understand terminology like tracking, panning, 180 degree rule

Improved Version

• Added colour coding for better clarity.