Published between 1982 and 1995
Of course, you need not only copy life, but in the process of characterization you need a real starting point to work from. Walt Disney made a comment to that effect (but you can read all about that in ‘Disney Animation – the Illusion of Life’- for yourself). From the Muybridge books you are able to appreciate the balance and weight of real creatures in motion.
An interesting incident is captured an plate 74. A pigeon has wandered in front of a performing acrobat and has been scared into flight and been captured by the cameras. There are more intentional studies of ‘Animals in Motion‘ in the so titled second book.
Ever heard of the Ricochet being applied as a term in animal motion? Well, it is the word used to describe the progress of a kangaroo (boooing!)
At first sight, the book says, it appears that no rules can be drawn about an animal leaping, but there are general tendencies which are illustrated.
MARK FULLER TALKS ABOUT THE ANIMATION COURSE AT LIVERPOOL POLYTECHNIC AND THE MAKING OF HIS FILM ‘GALLERY’
After three years at Liverpool Polytechnic under the guidance of Ray Fields, I feel I am only now beginning to benefit from his seemingly unique philosophy concern¬ing the development of a young film maker.
To move away from a reliance on technical understanding and rational thought I feel is not necessarily a mistake at times, and has for many proved profitable in terms of develop¬ment of the true spirit of art and ideas, the awareness and depth of vision that can be liberated from areas below the conscious self, where true creativity originates, can take art, and animation as the new art form, away from its traditional portrayal of life, which has been my grounding up to now, towards a more internal approach hopefully with depth of meaning universally.
There are obvious ideas of being a spectator, which I hope I have recovered from now, which is also suggested in the title, this I think came from my interest at the time in existentialist ideas found in the outsider. Apart from this as an influence it was quite a personal film, which I am aware of now finishing college, has its pitfalls, for if the work is too precious or only understood by close friends it plays a very limited role, something I would not wish, even though it is only personal experiences and immediate surroundings that can be of real value, as source for me to comment upon with feeling.
‘BUSBY’ WAS CHOSEN AS THE MOST POPULAR FILM AT THE ANIMA FESTIVAL HELD LAST SEPTEMBER. GEORGE DANIELS GIVES US THE BACKGROUND TO THE FILM. I don’t know why I wanted to pay tribute to a man who, 50 odd years ago was well known for his unique musical direction and dance routines, the like of … Read more
Animation enters the gaming arena
Animation history is about to have another “first.” The videogame phenomenon, which recently invaded the animation world via Saturday morning and computer animation graphics, is about to feel the wrath of the animated drawing, itself, as DRAGON’S LAIR premieres this summer (Refers to 1983 in USA).
Developed by Advanced Micro Computer Systems, distributed by Cinematronics, and animated by the Don Bluth Studio, DRAGON’S LAIR uses the laserdisc to accomplish what computer graphics have yet to do, create life-like animation for arcade games.