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Experimental Animation and Visual Effects; Illusive Applications of Innovative Visions
Abstract: The relatio
nship between animation and visual effects, as seen in the early resurgence of visual effects in 1970s Hollywood, will be examined through the contributions of five artists; John Whitney, Sr., Adam Beckett, Jordan Belson, Chris Casady, and Dennis Pies. This renaissance was prompted largely by the need for effects artists for the production of “The Star Wars”. There had been a lull in the need for visual effects after the 1950s and when pre-production began in 1975 the remaining experts had retired. Directors turned to experimental animators who were familiar with innovating new techniques and exploring alternative visions.Biographical statement: As Adam Beckett’s biographer, my research has taken me from the fine arts arena into the unlikely world of Hollywood visual effects. Recently, I co-hosted a screening of Beckett’s work, an event held by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences’ Science and Technology Committee to honor his creative contributions to the industry. In addition to writing and research, I teach animation studio as an associate professor in the Kinetic Imaging department at Virginia Commonwealth University, and have made two award-winning animations. I oversee the Adam Beckett Project at The iotaCenter, in Los Angeles.
“Drawing Upon the Unconscious: Text and image in two animated films by Robert Breer and William Kentridge”
Abstract: Rob
ert Breer and William Kentridge are both artists with international reputations, who make animated films that are typically projected within the context of the art gallery, or avant-garde film screenings. This presentation will explore two short animations in which words and drawings have an important presence: ‘Bang!’ (1986) by Breer, and ‘Automatic Writing’ (2003), by Kentridge. I will explore how both the semiotic and symbolic realms, as posited by Julia Kristeva, are manifested in these two animated films, making for a filmic experience that resonates with a viewer’s perceptions, as well as their unconscious.
Biographical statement: Miriam Harris will be submitting her PhD for examination at the end of February, 2010. The title of her thesis is ‘Words that Move: How words and images are amalgamated within animation and the graphic novel’, and she has written chapters on Len Lye, Lynda Barry, Robert Breer and William Kentridge, graphic novels by the second generation after the Holocaust, and Michaela Pavlátová and Eastern European animation. Miriam has had several essays published over the last five years that deal with the intertwining of text and image. She is a Senior Lecturer in Graphics and Animation at Unitec New Zealand.
Chris Marker: animator and avatar
Abstract: “If I 
could, I would withdraw into Second Life forever, like Brandon on Tahiti.” (C.M.) The aim of this paper is to explore the ways in which Marker throughout his career has applied a particular notion of the animated image to his own creative process. From his well informed writing on animation in the early fifties, to the design of his alter ego - the cartoony cat Guillaume - to his recent avatar Murasaki on Second Life: Marker makes a strategic use of animation. Refusing the label of filmmaker, Marker – like any animator- plays upon the interval to trigger memory and generate his own, mythical time by accumulating individual images to provoke a subjective perception in the viewer.Biographical Statement: I’ve started the third year of my phd-research for Ghent University. (The living line: animation and the visual arts - a media-archeological enquiry). The oeuvre of Marker will comprise a chapter in this. After having curated a large exhibition on Marker and written on him within the framework of the visual arts, I would very much appreciate the opportunity to test these ideas in the company of animation scholars. As a curator and filmprogrammer I apply an expanded notion of animation, working on exhibitions and projects with Robert Breer, The Quay Brothers, Priit Pärn etc. See also my presentation at the ‘Pervasive Animation Conference’ (Tate, March 2007)
nship between animation and visual effects, as seen in the early resurgence of visual effects in 1970s Hollywood, will be examined through the contributions of five artists; John Whitney, Sr., Adam Beckett, Jordan Belson, Chris Casady, and Dennis Pies. This renaissance was prompted largely by the need for effects artists for the production of “The Star Wars”. There had been a lull in the need for visual effects after the 1950s and when pre-production began in 1975 the remaining experts had retired. Directors turned to experimental animators who were familiar with innovating new techniques and exploring alternative visions.
