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Not just for kids: engaging an online adult audience with animation
Abstra
ct: Recent work on “The Lost Book” suggests that interactive, cross-artform work may be successful in engaging adults with animation. “The Lost Book” web series involved animation, literature and music. The six-part story was written by visitors to the website. Nearly 60% of participants who expressed an opinion, all over 16, felt the project had made them more interested in watching animation online or at the cinema. This paper will present audience feedback on “The Lost Book”. The aim is to stimulate discussion about the possible benefits of cross-artform projects and/or Web 2.0 in increasing the overall adult audience for animation.
Biographical statement: Helen Jackson is a director at Binary Fable, an award-winning young animation studio based in Edinburgh. Binary Fable specialises in 3D CGI animation – in particular using digital media platforms to bring animated storytelling to adult audiences. Another focus for Binary Fable is partnership and collaboration – with other creative organisations, across different art forms and even with the audience. Helen is very interested in how audiences interact with film, digital media and animation. She is on the organising committee for the Edinburgh International Film Audiences Conference, a bi-annual event most recently held in March 2009.
FROM THE FIRST TO THE FIFTH SCREEN : the evolution of narrative animation across contemporary screens.
Abstract: Five m
ajor screens dominate our contemporary viewing experience: cinema, television, the computer, mobile and urban screens. Each plays a unique role in the way we perceive the animated film. The ubiquity of screens and saturation of information and media images in everyday life calls for a considered approach to narrative structure. To create meaning for audiences, it is necessary to consider the qualities of each screen and the relationship of author, narrative and audience to each other, and to the screen. This paper charts the evolution of narrative structure in contemporary animation as it travels through the major contemporary screens. It explores the shift in narrative structure required to create meaning across these screens and the possibilities that new screens present for narrative animation.
Biographical Statement: Deborah Szapiro is a doctoral student and sessional lecturer in the School of Design, University of Technology, Sydney. Her research analyses narrative and aesthetic screen elements in the creation of meaningful audience interaction. Her aim is to provide a design methodology that can be applied to individual and multi platform projects for the five major contemporary screens and for future screens. In addition to pursuing an academic career, Deborah is a creative producer with a track record for producing award-winning animation. She is founder and festival director of the Japanime Film Festival which debuted as the main film event for the Sydney Olympic Arts Festival and is co-director of the Sydney International Animation Festival (SIAF).
From Active to Proactive: New Opportunities for Real-time Simulation in Animation
Abstract: Thi
s paper will seek to discuss the aesthetics of animation, in particular, how and why animated imagery influences the viewer. In addition we will discuss our attempts at defining a visual language with contemporary animation toolsets. Our aspiration is to determine if a methodology that dynamically manipulates the visual nature of a cinematic work of art is capable of bending it's aesthetic according to a diagrammatic template. We will discuss the historical context for these kinds of systems and project where this technology and opportunity for defining a new intimate aesthetic may lead. 
Biographical Statement: An animation industry expert, academic and researcher, Mark's interests are in emergent computer animation techniques including synthetic sculpture, motion and related forms in popular culture. His research interests are in characterization and storytelling with real-time and rendered imagery exploring visual and behavioural representation in the animated form; including the creation of intelligent animated forms with richness in personality and emotive evocative states that are flexible enough to respond to the viewer within a predetermined simulated performance. With a focus on visual aspects of artistic research, he is currently conducting basal studies in the emotive impact of non-objective imagery. He plans to leverage his findings into more aspects of visual narrative and storytelling.
Liu Linyi is a Research Associate in School of Art, Design and Media (ADM), Nanyang Technological University. Her current research area includes theories of interactive narratives and storytelling, audience’s anticipation and perception as well as player’s role in an interactive storytelling environment. She is also interested in the ontological relationship between video game and linear cinematic narratives. As a researcher with strong background of Film and Communication Studies, she is endeavouring to seek interdisciplinary approaches for contemporary animation studies and dynamic cinematic experience.
ct: Recent work on “The Lost Book” suggests that interactive, cross-artform work may be successful in engaging adults with animation. “The Lost Book” web series involved animation, literature and music. The six-part story was written by visitors to the website. Nearly 60% of participants who expressed an opinion, all over 16, felt the project had made them more interested in watching animation online or at the cinema. This paper will present audience feedback on “The Lost Book”. The aim is to stimulate discussion about the possible benefits of cross-artform projects and/or Web 2.0 in increasing the overall adult audience for animation. 
