What is experimental animation?

Experimental animation explore non-traditional

techniques and mediums for creating time-based
imagery. Penciled considered “traditional” despite the
newness of the technology involved. Some common
forms of experimental techniques include stop-motion
(photographing physical models), pixilation
(stop-motion, but with people) and collage or coloured
pencil animations. However, experimental animation,
by definition, is not easy to categories. To truly
experiment is to explore the unknown, to search for
something new, and to risk the unexpected.

S o u r ce: Stev e Ga lga s , Un i ve rsi ty of Te xas, 2014

Stop Motion
Stop-motion surround a wide range of
practices that all involve capturing the
frame by frame movement of a material
object that is reused over and over. The
objects employed in stop-motion are
diverse, ranging from found objects and
such natural materials as sand partiles,
to hinged paper cutout, pixilated
humans, and puppets. Puppets can be
made from a variety of materials
Materials including latex or
including latex or fabric, wood, or fabric, wood, or plasticine.

plasticine.

S o u r ce : F u rn is s , M. ( 2 01 7). Ani mati on: T he G l obal Hi story. T ha mes & H ud son.

Experiments in Stop Motion
The postwar period saw a surge in the
production of independent produced,
experimental films of varied kinds using
specialized methods. While working in Paris,
the Russian Alexander Alexeieff (1901 - 1982)
and the American Claire Parker (1906 - 1981)
created stop - motion animation using their
own invention, the pinscreen a frame lit N i ght on B a l d M ounta i n (1933).

from the sides and punctured with pins that

could be adjusted to catch more or less light,
producing darker or lighter shadows. Film
title, Night on Bald Mountain (1933).

S o u r ce: Fu rn is s , M. ( 2 01 7) . A ni mati on: T he G l obal Hi story. T hames & H ud son.

A Swiss couple Gisele (1923 - 1993) and Ernest
“Nag” Ansorge (1925 - 2013), who lived in Zurich,
known for thei sand animation. Creating
complexity in their visual designs, they used a
multiplane rig and devised methods for
incorporating color on the underside of glass
layers, applying paint or color acetate, as they
did in ‘The Chameleon Cat’ (1975), a film about a
shape-shifting cat. Coloured sand, sometimes lit
from below, could be used, keeping colors
separated on different levels. The artwork used
Gi sel e (192 3 - 1993) a nd
as art theraphy for patients at psychiatric clinic. E rnest “ N a g” A nsorge
(192 5 - 2 013),

S o u r ce: F u rn is s , M. ( 2 01 7). Ani mati on: T he G l obal Hi story. T ha mes & H ud son.
Experiments in Stop Motion

L eona rd T regi l l us (192 1 - 198 9)

Canadian Leonard Tregillus (1921 -

1989) started to work in clay
animation immediately after World
War II, while studying at University of
California, Berkeley, he earned a
doctorate in chemistry.

S o u r ce: F u rn is s , M. ( 2 01 7). Ani mati on:

T h e Glo b a l His to ry. Th a me s & Hudson.
The films he made during that
period (assist by Raplh Luce and
Jack Chambers) including No
Credit (1948) and Proem (1949),
place him within the active,
experimental postwar film scene P roem (194 9)

that was growing in the San

Francisco Bay area. Both film is
abstract imagery, with character
performance. For Proem is set in
the context of chess match. He
continue with clay animation.

N o Cred i t (194 8 )
Pixilation

Pixilation define as an animation created using the

movement of animate figures, usually people,
photographed in crements) ; modified-base
techniques (drawing, erasing, and redrawing on a
single surface): variable-speed shooting (generally,
filming and acting in slow motion and then projecting
the footage back at normal speed); optical printing and
streoscopy. It is also define as a form of stop motion
animation, in which you animate live actors instead
of clay figures.

S o u r ce: F u rn is s , M. ( 2 01 7). Ani mati on: T he G l obal Hi story. T ha mes & H ud son.
Norman Mc Laren
He born in Stirling, Scotland on 11 April 1914. He
when to study at the School of Fine Art in Glasglow
in 1933. There, he discovered cinema. From 1934 to
1936, he made some 16mm films which obtained
praise from school directors and which stood out in
local festivals. They were live action films, encriched
with slow motion, special effects and colour among
them. Hell Unltd (1936) a pacifists film that
attached the nationalists with a harshness
uncommon to Mc Laren, took an appealing, direct
stance against war and militarism.

B en d azzi, G. ( 2 01 5) . An imati on: A Worl d Hi story : Vol ume II:

Th e B i rth o f a Style- Th e Thre e M arke ts. Focal Pre ss.
He when to London and New York for film
making project. John Grierson who had been put
in charge by the Canadian Government to
organize a national office for film production,
invited Norman Mc Laren to renew their
collaboration in Ottawa. In 1943, Norman Mc
Laren was asked to organize a separate
department of the National Film Board of
Canada that would be dedicated to animation
and hire the most promising young animators,
student of arts schools and amateurs. They are
George Dunning, Jean-Paul Ladouceur, Rene
Jodoin and other more.

S o u r ce: B en d a zzi, G. ( 2 01 5). Ani mati on: A Worl d Hi story : Vol ume I I :
T h e B i rth o f a Style- Th e T hre e M arke ts. Focal Pre ss.
Pixilation - ‘Neighbour’ (1952)

Film title ‘Neighbour’ (1952) applied the

frame by frame technique to live actors.
His colleagues Grant Munro and Jean
Paul Ladouceur played two neighbours
who like and respect each other until a
matter of boundaries (a flower) leads to
hate, violence and mutual destruction.
The effect of the frame by frame process
on human movement called pixilation Cl i p from the fi l m ‘N ei ghbour’ i n 1952 , by
Gra nt M unro a nd J ea n Pa ul L a d ouceur
since then are suprising and awarded an
Oscar.

S o u r ce : B en da zzi, G. ( 2 01 5) . Ani mati on: A Worl d Hi story : Vol ume I I :

Th e B i r t h o f a Style- Th e Thre e M arke ts. Focal Pre ss.
 He received a lot of telegram in India
because he involved in a social
project. A few more project such as
Blinkity Blank (1954), by engraving
black stock with pin and small blade,
A Chairy Tale (1957) and Le merle
(1958) with abstractionism. The

A C h ai r y Ta le ( 1 9 5 7) b y N o rman M c Lare n
concept McLaren expressed in his
films have various degrees of
acceptability the antiwar
indignation of ‘Neighbour’ is
sincere, but the fable of human
greed and egotism as a source of
war is quite simplistic.

So u r ce: B e n da zzi, G. ( 2 01 5) . Ani mati on: A Worl d Hi story : Vol ume I I :

T h e B i r t h o f a Style- Th e Th ree M arke ts. Focal Pre ss.
Cutouts

Cutouts were used in several popular British

series including Bully Boys (1914), by Lancelot
Speed, Studdy’s War Studies (1914 - 1915) and
John Bull’s Animated Sketchbook (1915 -
1916), by Anson Dyer and Dudley Buxton.
John Bull’s Animated Sketchbook (1915 - 1916)
length 7 minutes, the artist’s hand reappears
briefly to paint background or other 2D
elements. Cutouts are used for figures, which T hi s i s a fi l m show i ng a ha nd
d ra w i ng a n a ni ma ti on of K a i ser
are moved in repeated cycles to speed up the W i l hel m I I . I t’s thought to be a
pol i ti ca l ca rtoon prod uced
process of animation. d uri ng the F i rst W orl d W a r.

S o u r ce: F u rn is s , M. ( 2 01 7). Ani mati on: T he G l obal Hi story. T ha mes & H ud son.
 Australian animator Harry Julius to create
one of his country’s first animated films, a
Cartoons of the Moment topical called The
War Zoo (1915) in which the countries that
were engaged in World War I were
represented by different animal characters. Ca rtoons of the M oment topi ca l ca l l ed
T he W a r Z oo (1915)
The miserable fez-wearing turkey
represents the battered Turkish forces. The
ferocious German eagle is approached by
the dove of peace and the British lion still
the king of all. Cartoons like this one,
screened about 1915, were a direct and
light-hearted form of war news and
propaganda for the public at home.

S o u r ce: Fu rn is s , M. ( 2 01 7) . An i mati on: T he G l obal Hi story. T hame s & H ud son /

ht tp s : / / ww w. n f s a . go v. a u / c o llecti on/curate d/war-z oo
In Argentina, cutouts were used for 70
minutes El Apostol (The Apostle), directed
by the Italian cartoonist Quirino Cristiani
(1896 - 1984) release 1917, it seems to have
been the first animated feature ever
produced. Using models and visual effects to
satirize the Argentine president Hipolito
Yrigoyen, who is shown ascending into the
Qui ri no Cri sti a ni E l A postol
heavens to purge Buenos Aires of its (T he A postl e), 1917

problems. Cristiani also made other

feature-length animations, as well as
advertisements, topical works as medical
films.

S o u r ce: Fu rn is s , M. ( 2 01 7) . Ani mati on: T he G l obal Hi story. T hame s & H ud son

 Clay

The great American stop motion animator

Willis ‘Obi’ O’ Brien (1886 - 1962) got his
start at an Edison studio, Conquest
Pictures. His earliest work The Dinosaur
and the Missing Link (1915), about a
group of caveman characters who vie for
the attention of the lovely cavewoman
Araminta Rockface.
Th e D i n o s au r a n d th e Mis s in g
Lin k ( 1 91 5 )

S ou r ce: Fu r n is s , M. ( 2 01 7) . An i mati on: T he G l obal Hi story. T hame s & H ud son

Willie Hopkins was producing clay aniation for a series of 53 Miracle
in Mud segments about 2 minutes each. A lot of his work are lost, the
surviving segments Swat the Fly from 1916 shows the sculpting of
three clay caricature that turn back into a lump of clay at the end of
film, using the hand of the artist convention. Helena Smith Dayton
was one of the first female animators in the history of American
Animation. Late 1910 she work in clay but none of her film survived. In
Great Britain, F. Percy Smith used stop motion in such documentaries
as To Demonstrate How Spiders Fly (1909) one minute film showing
a spider model spinning a web.

S o u r ce : F u rn is s , M. ( 2 01 7). Ani mati on: T he G l obal Hi story. T ha mes & H ud son

Puppetry Animation

Puppetry is a form of theatre or performance which involves the

manipulation of puppets. It is very ancient, and is believed to have
originated 30,000 years BC. Puppetry takes many forms but they
all share the process of animating inanimate performing objects.
Puppetry is used in almost all human societies both as an
entertainment - in performance and ceremonially in rituals and
celebrations such as carnivals. Most puppetry involves
storytelling. The impact of puppetry depends on the process of
transformation of puppets, which has much in common with
magic and with play. Thus puppetry can create complex and
magical theatre with relatively small resources.
Czech animator Karel Dodal (1900 - 1986), influence of the Fleischer
studio’s Out of the Inkwell films is evident. Bimbo’s Unfortunate
Adventure, 1930 stars Dodal as the live artist alongside a drawn
clown character who is clearly rotoscoped. It was his first story -
based, animated short not created as advertising.

S o u r ce : F u rn is s , M. ( 2 01 7). Ani mati on: T he G l obal Hi story. T hames & H ud son.

Sand Animation

Sand animation is also known as sand art. It has a term which has two
meanings. It is the name given to a style of live performance art, and
also to a type of animation. In the former, an artist creates a series of
images using sand, a process which is achieved by applying sand to a
surface and then rendering images by drawing lines and figures in
the sand with one's hands. To increase visibility and to add further
artistic aesthetic, a sand animation performer will often use the aid
of an overhead projector or lightboard. In the latter, animators move
around sand on a backlighted or frontlighted piece of glass to create
each frame for their animated films. Caroline Leaf is a pioneer of
this type of animation. It has also been intermittently used in recent
years by Belarusfilm.