Animations (2)

09.02.16x 4

Fadetest 2 Misc FX

Fadetest 6 pencil GS 2

Fadetest 6 pencil sketch

Fadetest 6 pencil sketch REV

 

 

 

‘09.02.16 x 4’ is one of a series of videos created while exploring the idea of animating photographs that had been transformed into illustrations. By applying the different effects in increasing or decreasing increments I was able to create an effect where the different figures emerge out of abstract shapes. They are still recognisable as people but I was interested in testing the speed at which the forms emerged, as it related to ideas of time and the age of the subject and photos.

‘Fade test 4 Art 1’ was a version of the first fade tests but with the illustrative effect added which is not shown here as the file would not export correctly to a movie. The version with the backgrounds is the more successful this time around as the effect renders the backgrounds more alike and creates different marks to those seen in the actual photos.

‘Fade test 2 Misc FX’ is a similar experiment but with a series of different effects applied to the same pair of images. The end result isn’t always subtle, but when certain effects are placed in the right order and one of the people in the photos ‘vanishes’, the animation achieves the effect I was aiming for.

The three ‘Fade test 6 pencil’ tests were a deliberate effort to create something as slow and subtle as possible. I was now thinking of how one of these animations might be shown in an exhibition setting and how to capture the attention of the viewer. If they viewer thought they were looking at a static image but then looked back and saw that something might have changed then they might be more likely to watch the barely perceptible changes. I also wanted to do something that was the complete opposite of almost every visual stimulus in the modern world, something that tested the attention and forced the viewer to watch something differently.  Again, these tests were inspired by ideas around aging, change, memory and perception.

The last two pencil test animations focused on transforming the images from actual photographs to illustrations (or vice versa) – from reality to fiction if you will. The ghost-like effects created as people’s features fade away would later appear in a version of the printed narrative.