Reviewing animation/work generally – week 12

Reviewing animation and work generally – week 12
Letterpress animations
I am reviewing and reflecting on the effectiveness of smaller stanzas and words.
For the last few weeks I have concentrated on latter part of the animation, using letterpress as the medium for Ken’s voice.
‘Just an’- Here, I used a mixture of 3D letter-block, hands on processes, deliberate shadows and inking the letters. The results are effective, with a strong emphasis on hand made qualities and anti vector methods. Three s’s have been deployed to emphasize a slight lisp within the voice pattern.


‘Countdown sequence’
Route 1: Three different experiments were used, and one method was edited out. 54321: The first experiment was a straight countdown sequence from left to right.
It did not seem to project the right tone of voice, appearing too straight, static and ordinary for the sequences to come.

Route 2 A large-scale experiment was attempted on A2 paper. The numerals were off screen and cropped into to increase dynamism of the work and to tie in to the large scale ‘T’ which appears in middle of the animation. This process was really difficult to create using stop frame animation because it required two people. My way around this was to produce the numerals and photograph the frames as 6 static shots (not ideal). I may return to this and get assistance.

Route 3 The third way of working was to adopt Brownjohn’s typographic twists as references and produce these in letterpress; 5ive, 4our, 3hree, 2wo, 1ne. I decided to combine routes 2 and 3. The outcome is interesting and slightly filmic, the added dimension of the pen nib scratching on the paper has given the animation a slightly uncomfortable and disturbing overtone, which is perhaps an accurate depiction of Ken’s character.

‘MUG/in a MUG sequence’
Route 1: Two different animations were used, and one route only remains in the final animation.
The first animation shows each letter being hand pressed and the ‘U’ is emphasised by the deliberate selection of a condensed sans serif letter, it is also slightly larger than the ‘m’ and ‘g’. The reason for highlighting this particular letter is due to the strong intonation of the letter during Ken’s speech, it is strongly delivered and representative of the East Midlands accent. This route is more successful and will
be taken forward into the animation.

Route 2: This animation has more of an emphasis on the letter ‘g’ whereby the g repeats and fades. The serif ‘g’ has been chosen for its quirky nature (similar to Ken) and serves to contrast well to the sturdy traditional ‘M’ of ‘MUG”. Reflecting on the speech, I have decided that the emphasis is better represented through the letter ‘u’. Another experiment following on from animating the word has been moving the paper around after the letterpress has taken place (similar to the swearing sequence with the Lennon work from last term). Seeing the animation and listening to the soundtrack, I have edited this part out as it is too busy and fast paced.

‘ORDINARY sequence’
Route 1: Ordinary-long
The first animation shows the letters forming and being pressed vertically down the page, the result is effective and interesting but draws too much attention to the word, therefore not representing the meaning very well.
Route 2: The second animation shows the letters appearing horizontally across the screen in a standard fashion (nothing surprising). This version is more relevant to Ken’s speech and the definition of the word.

‘YEA!-!’
For the repetitive word ‘yeah’, creating the letter H from exclamation marks was incidental but useful. The word, when spoken dissolves into laughter, so the use of the exclamation marks seemed appropriate. I have previously represented gentle laughter with exclamation marks and oil pastel lines (a nod to Len Lye’s work) to denote soft laughter. Bolder, more strident laughter has been represented using the words ‘Ha Ha ha Ha’ in letterpress of different typefaces, that are deliberately mismatched and woodblock animations repeating and offset, moving ‘off baseline’ slightly chaotic and less constrained.

‘I know it is’.
This short sequence has one key feature that is very subtle but deliberate. The tight kerning and angle of ‘KN’ within ‘know’ and the heavy ink pressure within the word KNOW has been formed to show Ken’s confidence about his speech at this point, which quickly fades into laughter through exclamation marks.



Other (Poster for the EXPO)
In terms of the MA exposition and preparation for the printed part of the submission, I have been considering producing an A2 letterpress poster with either projected text to denote the narrator or a separate acetate layer. The poster will express some of the methods and decisions made within the animation to allow the viewer to understand the processes and even show some of the animations that did not make it into the work (out takes). The entire conversation will be presented in this way with 4 parts represented; Kens speech, narrators speech, research methods, linguistic referencing.


Animation reflection- Positive aspects:
I can see an improvement form previous animations, it makes me want to revisit Delyse’s animation.

Colour palette is gloomy and dour relevant to the personality
Large scale ‘T’ is memorable and reflects qualities of Ken’s voice
Letterpress peals of laughter “Ha, ha ha” are effective and fluid
Using digital text for narrator provides a strong visual contrast
Using ‘crazy letter’ method for Ken is effective
Creating transcription convention for narrator allows Ken’s voice to be the protagonist and is based on sound research
The notion of handmade has continues from previous work in screwing up paper and hand rollering ink and showing the letters being pressed into the paper.
Different ways of ‘yeah’ sustains interest in animation (ripped wallpaper, woodblocks with white ink, woodblocks inverted, yeah with H as !-!)
Distorted static word ‘white’ demonstrates my understanding reflection and analysis of previous work

Areas to continue with:
Countdown sequence needs to be more like large scale ‘T’ (showing the roller and movement)
Play with sound (countdown and paper rip, tea being made or stirred,
a kettle being set off and coming to the boil at the end).

Perhaps 3D mug can be used with lettering at the end of the sequence
(it is beginning too look flat)

The blend around the email interface doesn’t look right, |
it should be crisp and sharp

Work on the timing of words appearing on screen, fades etc (in particular for the narrator)

Complete bringing last set of letterpress animations into the work.

Bring all 3 Quick Time animations into Final Cut Pro to edit effectively.

Static word ‘yeah’ as inverted image is not quite working (is it the colour, too zingy, perhaps needs to be more sepia, wood coloured?)


First draft for MA Exposition catalogue
The copy needs reviewing with tutor feedback:

Tracy Allanson-Smith
MA RPT Graphic Design

‘Typographic Conversations’
My project explores the relationship of the typographic representation of oral language through the main medium of animation. What are the parallels between typography and spoken language? Can scale, variations, composition, layout and careful selection of type represent the personality, individuality and subtleties integral to human speech? Throughout my project I have been reflecting on research methods from the area of linguistics to enhance this work.
t.d.allanson-smith@derby.ac.uk