Animated Inspiration: Ice Creams

Okay, I just love these dialogue-free animations. This is due in part to how they are more accessible to a wider audience that doen't speak the language of the animator. The other reason is because they force the animator to really show off their skill at translating body language into their character animation. Definitely watch this animation by UK's Bird Box Studio in full-screen mode to get the most out of the character animation.





At its core, this is a short gag film, but what really sells it is the motion of the characters. Not only do they have mass but they have believable motion that is specific to the person. The little girl is slower and a little unsteady in her own skin, almost bordering on being overcautious. The little boy's motion is energetic and innocent, bordering on foolhardy. And the father is quickly overwhelmed as he tries to be everywhere at once. Just watching how the characters move, my suspension of belief transitions seamlessly into the animated medium and I'm left believing that the animator saw something like this happen in real life--and all it took was a few simple exaggerations to create a funny and absurd film.

Animated Inspiration: Animated Evolution

Here's a bank commercial with animated origami animals. There's two things of note here--one that I focused on and the other that was pointed out by a friend.

One: the denominations of the bills are increasing through every stage of transition from one model to the next, so kudos to the animators for the attention to detail (and thanks J'Ben for pointing this out). It's a very nice and subtle touch to both the models and the film.

And two: after the first model, the animators use a series of moving camera angles and close-ups on a particular body part to mask the transitions from one figure to another. I'm assuming that this is done due to the excessive complexity of one paper origami figure folding and refolding into another more complex origami figure. It looks like one of those "we can do it, but not in the time and budget allotted for this project, so let's try this instead" moments in filmmaking. And I'm not knocking it. It works and works well for this animation. I have to think that the animators went through several renditions of this commercial as they had this incredible, very complex idea and needed to bring it down to the realm of what they could achieve with the resources they had. My first year film at R.I.T. was like that. I had a great idea for a motion comic (before motion comics were the big thing) but lacked the skills to pull it off in the time we had for the project. Ultimately though, through an honest evaluation of my abilities (and a little tough love), Erik helped me choose a concept for a short animation that was better suited for both my skill level and the time we had to complete the project. 'The Chameleon' ended up winning second place at that year's SMTPE/RAVA festival, so Erik's opinion certainly held true on that project.

Animated Events: International Animation Day 2010

Free Screening of International Animation Shorts to celebrate

International Animation Day.

International Animation Day is a global event to celebrate the art of animation. In over 50 countries, on all continents,  people mark October 28th as the birthdate of animation as they screen, share and celebrate international animation art.

At Grand Valley State University: Two Screenings:

Allendale Campus:
Wednesday, October 27, 3-4:50 PM
154 Lake Superior Hall

Holland Campus:
Thursday, October 28, 7-8 PM
Room 130

For more information: contact:

Deanna Morse morsed@gvsu.edu
Jennifer Peterson jennifer@petersondesignstudio.com
Gretchen Vinnedge gretchen@grcmc.org