Reflection on animation progress

Laughter
Letterpress experiments have led to a better development in my animation, namely looking at laughter. Originally I had thought that using organic lines, similar to Len Lye's would be effective. After experimentation and reflection I looked at letterpress variations within typefaces, creating the word H and A using intaglio ink and wooden letters. Using a mixture of sizes, serif and sans serif fonts seemed appropriate to the sound of Ken's laughter. The slightly wheezy and broken sound is reflected in the lightly pressed prints and the imperfect letters that have worn over the years. Overlapping the stop frame animations and scrolling downwards gives the effect of the sounds being slightly out of control and oscillating. I found it useful to reflect on Barnbrook's lecture whereby he created the typefaces Tourette and Expletive to be 'off the baseline' to represent being slightly divorced from civilisation. Another approach where the laughter is less prominent is the use of exclamation marks. This is a quick visual reference to laughter, I am considering using 'text' language for laughter 'LOL' within the narrator's speech as a reflection on the zeitgeist of language today and how it is affected by technology.

White
A similar overlapping effect has been produced for the word 'white'. My next aim is to really emphasise the fluctuation of the word white as the speaker laughs half way through the word. This will be created using either a scanner or photocopier to extend the letters as far as they can go, perhaps challenging legibility as it is so clearly pronounced.

Going forwards and backwards
Having worked on these stop frame animations I am keen to go back to the Delyse's animation and apply the new methods I have adopted in this animation. In Ken's animation I have introduced a simpler approach, not straying away from the medium of Letterpress for Ken's speech, using digital transcription for the narrators voice. Allowing the main speaker to be the protagonist (visually). The backdrop video of the speaker writing adds an authenticity to the ethos of being handmade. Using digital type and the interface sets a tone of voice separating speaker from narrator and reflects the different lifestyle and favoured forms of communication.

I am considering reanimating Delyse's speech and I will focus on either creating her words using ink letterforms or coloured wool. Wool,as a medium, would work particularly well on two levels, firstly the tests linking to the 'clicking of the tongue' were effective, secondly Delyse creates wool by hand, she cards, spins and knits, so the whole process is very much part of her life and is a creative flowing whole, (akin to the forming of language). I would allow the narrator's voice to be digital but not constrained to an email format. Exploring the use of caps and spacing, more along the lines of 'crazy letter' method explained in previous reflections.

Personal voice and working methods
I am finding a new way of working that is based on reflection, research and intuition and that I am finding enjoyable. As soon as I was able to ink the plates for letterpress or unravel a ball of wool ans start to apply glue to paper, I knew the work produced would be more fluid and natural for me.