What did you find interesting or exciting in the lecture?
The lecture was enlightening in stretching the boundaries of animation. The creativity intersects with modern science and technology in the quest to study cave paintings. I find it similar to the concept of ”proto cinema”; The walls’ movements, or undulations, sunlight, and flames were used by the “artist ” as part of the composition. The limitation of light sources made images appear like frames in an animated film. It is mind-blowing since I often perceive animation with modern and advanced technology. Lights also showed their significance with magic lantern devices. Apart from sunlight, the only light sources available at the time of invention were candles and oil lamps; similar to cave paintings, artists apply black paper or paints to limit light sources, creating shadows and reflections in the desired shape. It is also interesting to see some suggestions of movement by alternating between pictures of different phases of a motion, and how change and diversity are achieved through repetitions. Motion pictures, as the lecture mentioned, is the basis of all animation. I find it rooted in the concept of optical illusion, like the praxinoscope, the moving picture with exact timing, and the choreography of both movement and sound. After all, the animation is a continuous developing process with its inspiration and evolution rooted and tied in all aspects of lights, sound, images, and creativity.
Why did it appeal to you?
Out of the things I have mentioned, the fire and cave paintings signaling the dawn of pre-cinema devices seem most appealing. First, it demonstrates the intelligence of our ancestors, material availability are not limiting the boundaries of our creative minds. The relative documentary “Cave of Forgotten Dreams”, gives a better insight into” proto cinema”, exemplified by the image of a Bison with eight legs suggesting actual movement through space with the addition of limbs. Despite this earliest attempt at motion graphs. They also invented the principle of sequential animation by showing juxtaposed or superimposed images of the same animal.
Second, Palaeolithic artists designed graphic narratives that depicted a number of events befalling the same animal, transmitting an educational message. We are witnessing “a frozen flash of a moment in time”, not only movement but narrative.
Last, Cave art wasn’t the ‘art’ back then. It was their own language. Art might seem very ironic and untouchable, but if we look much closer, art was there for us thousands of years ago. Hence, cave art is the starting point for understanding the essence of “Art”.
What kind ideas did it spark for your own work?
The use of light sources was inspiring. I have been working on topics of modern isolation. The lecture on cave painting inspired me with the negative space created by shadows. It achieved animation by the flickering of a lamp moving across the wall. This reminds me of Kara Walker’s monochromatic depiction of black figures. I noticed a better understanding of lights could alter the perspective of storytelling by guiding the viewer’s eye to a desired point. Another takeaway is what I referred to as changed through repetitions. For instance, I was long interested in the loop of human life and the replenishment of mother nature. The concept of the phenakistoscope is a perfect suit for such a topic, as our lives are a cycling and varied process. I could see myself working with similar methods to enhance my themes.
Is there a technique you would like to try?
Why do you want to try this technique? For example, what kind of connection can you make with what you are trying to do as an artist and what someone has done in the past? How does it bring to mind something you like or want to learn more about?
How the spinning utilized the optical illusion to treat our eyes in a phenakistoscope is interesting. It uses the persistence of vision principle to give the illusion of motion and cooperates with lights, reflections, and movements. I am interested in creating an interactive animated device to showcase the theme of the intertwining world. The phenakistoscopes and the magic lantern made me wonder if it is possible to cut out the image on a larger canvas and allow the light to penetrate. When spinning the round canvas, it reflects a moving shadow to the wall. I think it could represent memory and history-related objects. The lecture left me with endless wonders starting with how to define animations. I used to associate animations with technology and movements. The lecture allowed me to think metaphorically of animation as a river, fed over time by many tributaries. No one tributary made the river the force that it is today; indeed, it is difficult to point to the headwaters, since so many tributaries have nourished the animation industry. Hence, I would not say all the technique covered in the lecture is the history of the evolution process of animation but rather “ tributaries” that give inspirations that all have the possibilities to be developed into meaningful and creative ways to present future animations.
Here is an phenakistoscopes I did for interest: (click on the link for web gif) file:///Users/Daisy/Desktop/Phenakistoscope.gif
