More animation for Strutt’s North Mill Belper
I’m making very short animation sequences using a convoluted, complex (relatively) slow process.
Method
The gif (top) is the result of drawing the animation in Illustrator, then laser cutting the individual frames from corrugated card, followed by relief printing the frame matrix with black ink onto 40gsm newsprint. When the ink is dry the sheet is cut into individual frames that are then scanned and photoshoped before assembly and timing in AfterEffects.
The process needs refining. I like the finished result but it’s a bit too ordered or regular. I was hoping for more of the unexpected and that the various format changes and translations would add a greater range of ‘mistakes’ or random events into the workflow.
As I make these sequences I’m thinking about slow animation that is beyond the control of the animator and that through an engagement with a range of machine processes (both analogue and digital) I can attempt to foreground both animation’s craft legacy and its constructed nature. A project to make animation visible again.
Maybe animation is sited in the frame after all and not in the gap between frames?
My sequences will form part of a larger work made with Stuart Poynton and Marc Bosward (sound). It will be projected onto the windows of Strutt’s North Mill Belper this weekend (7pm on Saturday 29 March).
